Why the iPad will suck and why the Courier will.. probably suck as well.

So unlike most of Apple's target audience, I know my way around a computer and am completely unwilling to shell out thousands of dollars for one. I've used Macs before and they have their uses, but the day I willingly pay money for one is the day I shove bamboo under my fingernails. 

And so we move on to Apple's next piece of flashy hardware that I file under 'flashy gimmicks that are hilariously overpriced and lacking in real functionality', or the iPad.

So at first glance it would appear the iPad is just an iTouch with a bigger screen. And you'd be exactly right. It uses the exact same OS as the iPhone/Touch, and has more streamlined browser and music player. There's also a bunch of new stuff Apple is excited to sell to you, like eBooks and an iWork suite, which has stuff like word processors and things. 

Why it will suck: If the Apple logo wasn't a good indicator (yes I'm that petty), a big one should go off when you read the words 'no browser flash supported'. Meaning a lot of the things that web browsers use to enrich our lives and be awesome will be disabled. 

But probably the ultimate reason the iPad will suck is the price. For 16 gigabytes (spaces achieved on jump drives now), you'll have to shell out $499, before taxes and whatever else you'll need, like apps and such. For 32gb, you'll need to want to dump $599 down a hole, and 64gb tops out at $699. 

But people will buy it, because thats what they do. The iPhone/Touch worked because it was small, the size of a large phone, fit easily into pockets / purses and had a phone somewhere inside. In comparison, the iPad is huge, the size of a netbook or larger. Apple may pick up the crowd that buys netbooks, but I have a feeling they're thinking this is the next logical 'step' in handheld devices. Maybe a step backwards. 

Next we have Microsoft's Courier, which actually looks decent. Unlike Apple, it appears Microsoft put some actual thought into their tablet computer. Sporting a stylus and two screens, there seems to be a lot more 'realism' in the graphical interface. Things like flipping a photo over to make a note, dragging pictures around, etc. There's a lot less information out on Courier, so I'll jump straight away to why its already much better than the iPad. 

Why Courier is so much better than iPad: Firstly, its shaped like a book. You can fold it up, put a nice leather case around it, and leave it in a bag without worrying about mussing up those lovely touch screens. This also leads into the fact it has two screens, leading to a lot more multitasking capabilities and multi-application interactions. You can also 'store' information in the fold between the screens, just to keep things out of the way. All this may mean its heavier, but at this point its not really a big deal is it? 

See Apple, while its all nice and fine you've made your iPad light as a feather, its still a gargantuan piece of machinery. The iPhone/Touch needed to be light and slim because we were sticking it into our pockets and using it as phones. You guys did well on that, and I applaud you. But now you're into tablet PCs that can fit life size keyboards on them, a little more weight here or there isn't going to worry anyone. I'd much rather have something with a little more to it than a piece of glass that I'll constantly fret over breaking. 

Moving on, the Courier has a stylus. While you could have used a pencil or whatever for the iPad/Touch/Phone, a lot of complains were heard over generally messing the screen up a lot. Styluses get rid of a lot of that, and if you do it right may hide that you're on a computer. You're just scribbling in a notebook, right? And scribble you can, writing notes and such using the stylus should be nice. Though what the stylus can't do is multitouch, but thats when we resort to our fingers. 

Why the Courier will probably suck eventually as well (though I hope it won't): Microsoft, like Apple, has a nasty habit of forcing their other products down our throats, in the delusion everyone wants to use them. So we might get blindsided by limited use of Bing.com, Hotmail, Live Messenger, Live Games, or whatever else. 

One thing is that there's no sign of a keyboard. In the video at the link above, the presenter writes in a URL while web browsing. Unless the handwriting software sucks (or your handwriting sucks), this will cause a lot of problems. Hopefully they've already anticipated this and are including an on screen keyboard. Microsoft definitely looks like its on the right track (you know, actually thinking of new and interesting features) with its plans for Courier. If the price is right, people might actually buy it.