As the world was rolling in the new year, Apple was rolling in the iPad. Was this a good idea? I say nay. According to Apple, the iPad is “our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” The iPad for me, and seemingly everyone else, is a complete disappointment.

According to the hype, the iPad is a laptop that is fully touch screen, with no keyboard. Sounds cool, right? At first, I thought so. Then I heard what this new addition to the Apple company cannot do.

Before I start listing the iPad’s failings, let’s start with the name. iPad is an awful name. It makes me think of an Apple feminine product, not anything technologically relevant at all. iTablet would have been much more fitting than iPad.

There is no multi-application feature for the iPad. This means that you cannot run more than one thing at a time — Microsoft Word, Safari, etc. — like you can with a laptop. You would have to keep opening and closing applications, which is honestly just a hassle when you have something important to accomplish.

There is no built-in camera. Granted, there isn’t a camera in the iPod touch either, even though there is a video function on the new nano. But the iPad isn’t an MP3 player, and there are cameras built into virtually every portable computer nowadays, so why not this one?

Although you can surf the Internet with the iPad, there is no Flash support built in. Many Web sites are run on Flash, and embedded videos and online games almost always use Flash, and both will sadly be off limits. This makes Web browsing annoying, and less functional than it would be on a laptop or desktop computer. To use YouTube, an iPad user will have to close Safari (remember, the iPad can’t run two programs simultaneously) and open up the YouTube app. Sound aggravating?

The huge 10-inch screen, which could have been really great, was not that great at all. According to www.sfgate.com, the resolution is only so-so. Steve Jobs stuck with an older 1024-by-768 resolution instead of the new and improved 1280-by-720. For a product that is, according to Apple’s Web site, “essentially one big screen,” it would have been appropriate to incorporate the most up-to-date definition with the touch screen usability.

To me, the iPad is just a bigger iPod touch. You can surf the Web, listen to music, check e-mail and watch videos, just like with the iPod touch. The vanilla iPad isn’t even 3G enabled, so unless you’re willing to pay Apple for the ability to pay AT&T for the data plan, you will be using Wi-Fi for browsing. Just like, well, the iPod touch.

There are also no USB ports in the iPad, which is just annoying when it comes to uploading anything. Yes, there is Bluetooth capability, but not everything is Bluetooth compatible. File sharing is just that much more of a hassle.

Basically, the iPad is an iFail. It needs new hardware, new software and a new name. As an avid Apple supporter, this was a huge letdown.