James Young (Art & Design)

Despite the various “glaring omissions” that have been well debated in the past week, I agree that the iPad will be a success. It may not fully blossom, past the early adopters, until a v1.5 or v2, but it’s going to be very popular. As a UI designer I want one to develop for, as a consumer I want one because it looks so fun to play with. Anyhow, this Charlie Rose segment (presented in iPad-reistant Flash) sums things up well:



Found via: TechCrunch

1. Controls integrated into earbuds rules out 3rd party headphones (notwithstanding 3rd party headphones w/ new iPod shuffle compatible control$)
   
2. Lose the earbuds and you get to pay $29 to replace them - this kind of defeats the purpose of a ‘cheap’ iPod - like your kid isn’t going to lose or break these headphones in like 4 days
   
3. No click wheel, no screen - it doesn’t look like an iPod - this could just as well be mistaken for a bluetooth headset or a really thick tie clip
   
4. Yet another non-iPod-standard USB charging cord
   
5. It appears that it will not work with existing headphone-jack-related car audio solutions 
   
6. Ditto on above for portable or home speaker sets
   
7. Only two neutral colors, one reason you might want to get a bright green shuffle is so you can find the tiny thing when it’s lying around the house
   
8. 10 hour battery life claim is 2hrs less than the 2nd generation shuffles
   
9. VoiceOver is a gimmick that can’t outshine the flaws above - hooray you have a blind / screen-less iPod, and now it can aid you with voice assistance technology! But where’s the brail on the earbud controls? Also, seeing as Amazon just got bullied about text to speech for eBooks, I wouldn’t be surprised if the RIAA cries foul about Apple robo-speaking copyright protected band, album, and song names
10. The price jump is lame. It could make someone want to either buy a refurb 2g shuffle or nano.

iLounge.com recently released its 2009 iPod + iPhone Buyers’ Guide. The PDF download is heavy on content (as well as ads), and it’s been a yearly tradition for iNerds 5 years now. The 2009 version has a new section called “Know Your Colors” that shows various models, in a color family layout. A new take on the usual color chart.

Get the full guide here.