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YOUR OPINIONS, RANTS & RAVES
I just read “Evolution, Revolution, and
the iPad 2 (May/11, p12),” and I have
to say, I agree with your opinion of
the second-gen iPad. I waited in line
for five hours to get mine. The speed
and thinner shape are great, but
my biggest “want” was the camera.
Imagine my surprise the first picture
I took was so grainy it was worthless!
I’m so disappointed in the camera
quality that I haven’t done much of
anything with the cameras at this
point. I still love my new iPad, but wish
they had not rushed production of an
inferior product. Phone cameras have
come so far; there’s no reason that
the iPad camera should be so low-res. If they weren’t ready to produce
a quality camera for the iPad, they
should have just waited.
—Lareina Saindon
You’re right—the iPad 2 cameras
are pretty much junk. But I doubt
it’s because Apple rushed—they
probably already have the next
several generations of all their
hardware planned out. More likely,
they plan to gradually improve the
iPad’s feature set so that Apple
fans will always have some new gear
to lust after. Also, their decisions
are likely influenced by the cost of
components like the 5MP camera
that graces the iPhone 4.—Paul
EVOLUTION
8 JUL• 11 maclife.com
Scroll On
After reading your article about Lion’s
upcoming features, I went to Apple’s website
to see if they had any other features you
hadn’t mentioned.
I was happy to
see that the blue
scrollbar at the
side of every
window is history.
With all the work
Apple is putting
into focusing on a user’s content, those
distracting, ugly bars were a big oversight,
so it’s good to see iPhone-style scrollbars
instead. I couldn’t believe they hadn’t added
this feature already.—Tim Harding
Hmmm…I kind of like the scrollbars.
Different strokes for different folks,
I guess. But either way, I can’t wait for
Lion!—Susie
Pom-Poms?
It’s not unexpected for Mac|Life to rave about
the forthcoming Lion operating system. But
for the sake of the readers, put down your
pom-poms for a moment and prepare users
for the problems many are likely to face.
Based on developers’ statements, it appears
Rosetta will be gone from Mac OS X. This will
break an untold number of programs, some
of which cannot be upgraded to an operable
version. Apple has become rather callous
toward its users in this regard; Panther and
Leopard both had similar effects. It also seems
the fascination with turning a cell-phone
operating system into a desktop model is
moving ahead full steam—yet another major
interface revision. Some of us are happy with
what we have and don’t need more bells and
whistles getting in the way of our work.
It’s time for Apple to recognize that it needs
to serve the customers who are Steve’s age
as well as those who are waiting for their first
driver’s license. Despite its flaws, Windows
seems to be turning toward adulthood at last,
while OS X is on display in the window at Toys
R Us. I expect better of Apple.—Jeff Fishbein
It’s clear that Rosetta was always a stop-
gap measure to ease the transition between
PowerPC and Intel processors. Five years
is a long time for a technology company to
support legacy features, but unfortunately
that does mean that some apps that people
rely on won’t run under Lion. The good news
is that Macs are incredibly well-built, and
you’ll be able to keep using Snow Leopard
(and its optional Rosetta install) on your
Mac for a long time to come.—Roberto
Lost…and Found
Find My iPhone is a great security feature.
I left my iPod touch at the gym, and when I
went back, it wasn’t there. I looked it up on
my iPhone and was able to find it by sending
a message to it. It would be great to have my
MacBook offer the same
feature—especially the
ability to wipe its memory
to keep financial info safe
in the case of a theft or
loss.—Kelsey Ferguson
Find My iPhone is a great feature, and all
the editors have used it at least once to
track down a misplaced device. Hopefully,
the rumors of a similar feature coming to
Lion will turn out to be true!—Nic
Timing Is Everything
I want to have multiple user profiles on an
iOS device. If I want to log in, I can use my
passcode. And my kids could log in with a
different passcode and have restricted access
to the settings. Also, I’d like to be able to set
a time profile for different functions. Since I
don’t have Wi-Fi at work, I turn it off (along
with Bluetooth), then turn them on when I get
home. Rather than do that every weekday, I’d
like to have the iPhone turn these features
on and off automatically. It would also be nice
to stream video like Hulu or from a network’s
website to my Apple TV.—Matt Clement
I’ve recently fallen in love with AirPlay, so
here’s hoping that Apple enables it for video
on more third-party apps, the way they
have for audio. A guest account is my No. 1
request for my iPad, and I’ve missed the
time-based profiles that my Motorola cell
phone had in the 1990s. Sheesh, Matt—it’s
like you’re living inside my head!—Ray
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