A Frustrating iPad Drawback, no Hyperlinking

I have been using the iPad more and more each day and I have been leaving the Dell laptop in my office. The challenges with the iPad however are growing because there are so many things we take for granted with a computer that I am finding cant be done on this slick device.
Printing is one of the drawbacks of the iPad, iPod and iPhone but it is worth noting that HP has an app which let’s you print photos on an HP printer. This works great in my house but not in the office by the way. Then there is the Pages application for the iPad which costs less than $10 but doesn’t have the ability to do many of the things we take for granted with Microsoft Word.
An example of a drawback is the lack of hyperlinking. When I post a blog entry I often hyperlink in a word processor first and cut and paste into the blog interface. But not only does Pages not allow hyperlinking, the clipboard on the iPad won’t accept hyperlinked text. Basically a lose/lose.
Now I can add hyperlinked code in HTML in my blog entries but I am not a huge fan of adding code to blog entries if I don’t have to.
Then there is the connectivity of a laptop – allowing one to plug in a memory stick or video camera such as a Flip. Yesterday at the Streaming Media show in New York I had to sync videos with the laptop and not the iPad as the iPad has no USB ports.
There are a few areas however where the iPad rocks. The battery life is absolutely amazing. I have been using this device for about 4.5 solid hours today and I have 61% of battery life left. Then there is the ability to do presentations on the device – people seem to love using it and seeing the web on it.
So when I do post to my blog from the iPad – and this is one of those instances, expect me to use the email to blog interface we have set up. I can’t add tags or categories but at least I can communicate.

  • Collin LeGault
    May 12, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    Is it not possible for you to use one of the many blogging applications for the iPad? If I go to work on a car and I need a socket, I am not going to reach for pliers. Sure I can get the job done with pliers, but why would I when a socket will do a much better job? Its the same with using a word processor to write your blog, sure it can do the job, but that’s not what it was intended for. I don’t think you can fault a device because an application that you want to use to do something it wasn’t intended for, doesn’t what you want it to. Doesn’t seem to be a fair complaint.

  • Rich Tehrani
    May 12, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    Well if the iPad is competing as a netbook replacement then my readers would likely want it to do whatever the netbook can do. Otherwise, they can buy the netbook and get all the things they are already comfortable getting from a modern computer.
    Is hyperlinking text an unusual feature? Perhaps… But as there is more and more social sharing one would imagine you should be able to somehow achieve what seems like a simple task.
    Now to get back to your great analogy of comparing computing platforms to tools, I believe I explain with utter transparency what has me disappointed with the iPad. I also enthusiastically recommend this device overall.
    Each person has different reasons for purchasing a device and if hyperlinking test is not something a person plans on doing then the iPad is a gem of a wrench.
    As always, I attempt to protect my readers from buyer’s remorse and prepare them as well as I can for the real-world experience they will receive from using products I evaluate.

  • Allan
    May 23, 2010 at 2:32 pm

    I agree that connecting a USB device (like a card reader or printer) and the ability to print over a network would go a long way to making this the perfect device.

  • Victoria
    May 24, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    I’ll qoute yourself
    “Each person has different reasons for purchasing a device and if hyperlinking test is not something a person plans on doing then the iPad is a gem of a wrench.”
    Well i guess that is your answer there. I mean the hyperlinking is not a big issue to me at this moment in time. However lets not forget it is only the first generation, only God knows what apple will bring up in the second one. Makes me thinking about the 3rd generation.

  • Collin LeGault
    May 25, 2010 at 8:38 am

    Just to make sure that someone straggling in is clear, you CAN hyperlink on the iPad. It is not a function of the device, but a function of the chosen application for a task. You can not hyperlink in the word processor Pages on the iPad. You CAN, however, hyperlink using the many blog applications that are on the iPad. Choose your tools (applications) wisely, and be careful with over-generalizations. I use my iPad to write my blog entries, and am able hyperlink just fine using a tool that was designed for blogging.

  • Rich Tehrani
    May 25, 2010 at 11:47 am

    Collin, thanks for the comment – what tool do you use to hyperlink? It is worth noting that the cut-and-paste on the iPad does not copy web links – making the ability to cut content from Pages and pasting it into a blog impossible.
    On a PC I often blog in MS Word and paste into Movable Type – I find this the best way to blog and I think I should be able to do the same n the iPad.

  • Collin LeGault
    May 26, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    I use iBlogger, it publishes directly to a bunch of different blogging software. The iPad can definitely use some help in its cut and paste department for sure.
    aa far as the use of MS Word to blog, perhaps you should lobby Microsoft to write Word for the iPad, might help with their market share. 😉

Leave Your Comment


 

Loading
Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap