Gadget Castle

It may be the company that has taken the gadget world by storm and rewritten the rules for success in the world of technology; it may have got the whole world talking and raving about its products and the quality of its technology; and it may outsell all the competition put together; but I still think Apple and its i-prefixed products are overrated, not to mention overpriced. And the reasons I wouldn’t buy from Apple are:

• Too expensive: Forget the fact that Apple’s products are overhyped and overrated – if I were to include these reasons on my list, people would say I was prejudiced and biased and actually envious of the company’s “impressive” track record in the sales and publicity department. The bottom line is that all gadgets that have names prefixed with the letter i are overpriced, sometimes even costing double what a competitor’s product costs. To illustrate further, an iPod nano with a 2.2 inch screen costs around $150 while a similar MP3 player from a reputable competitor with a larger screen and more features costs just one third of this.
• Not standardized: Ever tried copying your songs from your iPod to your computer or to any other MP3 player? If you have, you would have racked your brains to find where and how your songs have been stored. Apple does not allow you to move your songs easily because they believe in copyrights and licences, right Mr. Jobs? Well, any product that is not standardized to interact with other gadgets is just not my cup of tea.
• Lack ordinary features: The iPod has no microphone, FM radio, or recording facility and cannot be used as a mass storage device like most other MP3 players of its calibre. Also, there was no support for MMS or video on early iPhones and  early models of the iPod did not feature a Search option. The latest product from the house of Apple, the iPad, lacks video playback or the ability to multitask, and it also does not feature a USB port or a camera, all of which are pretty much the norm for any gadget today.
• There is less tech support: So you claim your Mac is much more superior to the lowly PC with its horrid Windows OS, but if anything does go wrong, how much tech support do you have? With the more popular Windows OS, every Tom, Dick and Harry in tech support can talk you through a troubleshooting session blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs. A Mac on the other hand is a killer when it comes to figuring out why your screen just went completely black.
• Feature instant upgrades: Why buy Apple today when you’re going to be hit in the face a month or so later with an upgraded product that is much cheaper than the one you were suckered into buying? Ask any Apple gadget owner with a grouse and they’ll tell you their story. It makes no sense to hype your product, get customers to buy them, and then revamp it almost immediately and bring down the price just because your sales figures are poor.

So yes, even though my Windows may crash at times and I curse Bill Gates and Microsoft, there’s just no way I’m going the Apple way.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Barbara Williams, she writes on the topic of Computer Technician Programs . Email her at:  barbara.williams07@gmail.com .

Few days back Apple released it’s tablet, iPad and created sensation all across the world. I see everyone talking about its feature so interestingly. Many, by now might be knowing its feature, but you should be aware of its lack of support to many stuff. Today I would like to take this time up writing  about its disadvantages. Here are some of the disadvantages of iPad, which could let you wait for its successor.

No Support To Flash Player: iPad doesn’t support Flash player, so you will not be able to play most of the videos online or play games which uses flash. Of course it will let you play YouTube videos. As many of the websites uses flash player to view their content, this can be a big drawback.

No Multi-tasking: One of the big disadvantage of iPad is its nonexistence of multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is one of the key future of the modern day devices, iPad’s nonexistence of multi-tasking gets me amazed. So, if you are playing a game and quickly want to browse a website, then the only option you have is: to close the game application and browse. That means you cannot let your application run in the background.

Lack Of Webcam: Yet another strong disadvantage of iPad. Its so hard to believe that the device developed for the people who like browsing doesn’t support video conference. You cannot use webcam while using instant messenger. It will not let you grab a picture for your personal blog.

No USB Support: Universal Serial Bus which is suppose to be big breakthrough in the technology, is not supported by the iPad. Almost all of the peripheral these days are connected to devices through USB. So, no USB drive, USB headset and USB related stuff.

Other Drawbacks: Apart from these disadvantages iPad have many more drawbacks:

• iPad reads e-book but doesn’t have e-ink, the one which make the screen look like real page of a book.
• Supports only application from Apple App Stores.
• No external memory slot

Price tag is much high

With all these disadvantages, the thing that comes to my mind is: “iPad is marketing 2G”. iPad certainly  not a 3G device.

One of the source claimed that Apple is working on 10-inch tablets and also 13″ and 15″ model, all of them running on Mac OS X. The source claimed that this touchscreen prototype, which is built by Apple is made of aluminum and is in the the shape of i-phone. The source also claimed that Apple’s tablet is built in China and runs on Mac OS X 10.5. But the source is still unclear whether it is built for demonstration or as a production unit. Call it a rumor or a secret. It’s good to have a mobile gadget that fits in your pocket, so I think Apple will have to think twice before delivering the 13″ and 15″ models.