Main Weakness of New iPad: Not Enough Storage Capacity

Here we are here just commenting the storage part of the new Apple iPad that just arrived after feverish speculation.

And it’s probably its main weakness, a lack of storage, the maximum being 64GB of flash memory. For a smart phone, it can be enough, not for a device that is supposed to partially replace your notebook or netbook and to store photos and videos. It cannot really be used as a portable computer – and there is no multi-tasking or camera.

Apple finally didn’t chose to integrate a 1.8-inch 160GB HDD like it did on the iPod Classic.

There is no USB connector. Like on the iPhone, there is a proprietary 30-pin to USB cable to connect iPad to a PC for synchronization with a computer using iTunes, but not to connect an external storage device.

Apple doesn’t want to give the users the possibility to add more storage using add-ons from third-party providers. 16GB is at $499, 32GB at $599 and 64GB at $699, which means $200 more for 48GB, a profitable operation for the manufacturer.

But maybe it will be possible for other companies to find a way to add storage. There is no SD reader integrated into iPad, but, as a camera is missing, Apple offers an optional Camera Connection Kit that can be used to import photos and videos with a direct connection to cameras, and, more than that, to attach a SD card reader to transmit data to the iPad. It’s not for storage expansion. But technically, it seems possible to imagine to replace the SD reader by another peripherals. But it’s not sure, as we have not tested the device. Maybe Apple authorizes only the importation of data signifying that another external storage unit cannot be used as a regular USB HDD. Probably iPad OS doesn’t authorize a direct two-way transfer but you can count on jailbreakers community to do it.

Camera Connection Kit
To import photos and videos from an external camera using USB cable, or from a SD card using the SD Card Reader.

Of course, there is the possibility, as with iPhone, to subscribe to an online backup service but once more, it’s not a way to expand the available capacity of the iPad. That’s just for backup or archiving.