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Apple Ipad Portrait
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Omitted features
CNET and Gizmodo listed features that were missing from the iPad at launch that they believe customers expect, including a camera for video chat, a longer and narrower "widescreen" aspect ratio suitable for watching widescreen movies, the ability to multitask (run more than one application at once), a USB port, HDMI output, and a more flexible wired-data port than the iPod dock connector. Apple's iOS 4 unveiling and demonstration on April 8, 2010, promised multitasking for the iPad and multitasking was added to the iPad with the release of iOS 4.2 on November 22, 2010. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Gizmodo noted that the iPad will officially support installing software only from the App Store. CNET also criticised the iPad for its apparent lack of wireless sync which other portable devices such as Microsoft's Zune have had for a number of years. The built-in iTunes app is able to download from the Internet as well.
CNN and Wired News defended Apple's omission of a number of features, including support for Adobe Flash, noting that YouTube and Vimeo have switched to H.264 for video streaming. They also said that "multitasking will not matter at all to the target user", as its absence is responsible for "a large part of the iPad's ten-hour battery life." Of the aspect ratio: "16:9 ratio in portrait mode would look oddly tall and skinny ... 4:3 is a compromise, and a good one." Of the lack of a USB port: "The iPad is meant to be an easy-to-use appliance, not an all-purpose computer. A USB port would mean installing drivers for printers, scanners and anything else you might hook up."
People have been divided over whether to consider the iPad a personal computer. Forrester Research has argued that the iPad should be considered a form of personal computer in spite of Apple's restrictions on creating and editing files with the iPad. In contrast, PC World argued when the iPad was announced that it isn't a personal computer due to Apple's omission of several key features, including Adobe Flash.
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