It feels like all the hot debate about the lack of Adobe Flash on iPhone and iPad has died down. Somehow everyone seems to think its OK that a $700 device whose main purpose is browsing the web, just doesn't render a large portion of web content.

Even I had stopped complaining about it until I had another infuriating no-Flash-moment today. I was on the bus on the way to work, going through news on the iPad when I found out about the Bombay blasts. Both my sisters live in Bombay. After calling them to confirm they were ok, I tried to find video coverage from Indian TV stations, which are a lot more comprehensive than anything on CNN or BBC. One of the best Indian TV stations - NDTV has an entire section of video devoted to this news. Of course, I could watch none of it on the iPad. It was beyond ridiculous!

Apple needs to stop pretending that its lack of Flash support on iOS has any other reason than the fact that browser-based flash games will completely cannibalize app store revenues. We don't care about your business model conundrums, Apple. Just get Flash on the iPad.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4225/the-ipad-2-review/

This article is one of the most comprehensive reviews of not just the iPad 2 but the overall iPad and tablet experiences I have read.

As an almost fanatical iPad 1 user and now iPad 2 convert, I agree with many of the points in this review. The iPad is definitely a liberating experience - the ability to do so much more computing on the go than you can with your smartphone is awesome. At the same time, its almost that very aspect of the iPad that is its biggest let down - the iPad tricks you into thinking that its a full computer, whereas your smartphone never makes any such pretences. So when you enounter things like a flash video on your iPad that it refuses to play, it somehow feels idiotic... imagine if your browser on your laptop simply stopped supporting flash. Similarly, simple things like HTML (or at least Rich Text) email seem like a necessity for a device purporting to be a full computer. And of course alt/cmd tab to switch between apps, better copy-paste and all the other problems the article describes.

I still am a believer in the iPad and tablet computing in general. There are many activities and modes of "computing" that I find more enjoyable on the iPad than on my MacBook Air - including browsing the web, reading Flipboard for news, taking notes, etc. But if it is to replace the notebook as your primary computer for personal use (if not work) then a lot more evolution is needed. The "post-PC" era that Steve Jobs mentioned like 50 times in the iPad 2 launch event, is not here yet...