Matt Buchanan says what I’ve been saying since the iPad was debuted last January:
Basically everything that was bad about the iPad—still is. It seems terribly silly and antediluvian that the iPad, this beacon of the post-PC world, is still so tightly tethered to the PC. Syncing it to your computer is still the very first thing you must do after ripping an iPad out of the box. Not very magical! For all of its other un-humanlike qualities, Android at least has this right where the iPad does not. This is kind of the core problem with iOS in general—as much as AirPlay alleviates the feeling that the iPad is a silo of computing tranquility, it still doesn’t feel holistically connected, which has the pernicious effect occasionally of bursting the pleasant computing bubble you’re in, landing you back on the earth with a resounding thud.
The iPad, as a post-PC device is horribly crippled compared to even an out of the box Windows 98 PC. I’m not arguing that the iPad isn’t as functional as that computer, but I’m arguing that, out of the box, a Windows PC from 12 years ago is more advanced than the iPad simply because you didn’t need another device to get up and running and sync to. It’s one feature I desperately wish Apple would photocopy of Android. Power on smartphone, activate over the air and sign into your Google account. Every setting, app and personalization just appears…like magic.