What the iPad Needs

Ok, so this is kinda film related.  New technologies are great and I love how much they help me streamline a lot of things.  And I keep wanting to get myself an iPad, but its still not good enough to warrant it.  I mean, how great would it be if I could use the iPad as a monitor when I am filming on location?  So I just wanted to put down my wish list for what the iPad could be... maybe in a few more generations.

1.  Full HD support

Make it capable of watching stuff at 1080p 30fps.  Right now the limit it has is 720p, and thats great, but it means that it cannot handle watching my footage as I take it.  Nor could it even be used to double check footage as it is collected.  I know its a little tiny machine and its wrong for me to make demands on it.  But you know what, they get these things right and I will buy one.  Until then, no thanks.

2. SD card support... (or at least USB)

I know Apple loves it when their stuff only talks to their stuff, but seriously.  Let me at least plug a jump drive into this thing.  Even better would be an SD card slot.  Let me take my cards directly from my camera and pop them in so I can do on the spot dailies for my cast and crew.  How awesome would that be?  Not only that, if it has a USB drive I can hook it up to a hard drive and would be able to view all sorts of video.  Not just look at the stuff from that day but all the stuff from the shoot to date if I wanted to.

3. Switchable Battery

If I am headed out on location I fully expect that I am going to burn through all the battery life this bad boy has (especially if it gets the ability to check my footage as I would like).  Some days I just can't sit around near an electrical outlet and things that have a set time before they die away from a power source.  Everything should be able to have a backup switch of some batteries.  Why not the iPad?  I don't care if its a separate block you plug into it (maybe this already exists).  But until I can be sure its going to be dependable for the WHOLE shoot, I can't risk using it for any of it.

Alright... maybe that is all I really need to make it worth the money to me.  Maybe.  But those are sticking points.  Get on your game Apple and make the iPad able to replace my netbook with me on set and I will like you a lot more.