7 things Apple should change for iPad 2

Apple's iPad has already become one of the company's most divisive products.

Opinions are split on whether Apple's giant iPod touch points towards the future of personal computing, or whether it's a superfluous peripheral that'll soon be filed alongside relative disasters such as the Cube.

Our money's on the former, but cast aside subjective views on Apple's latest slice of shiny excitement and questions nonetheless abound.

Depending on what direction Apple ends up pitching the iPad ('standalone computer for the masses' or 'advanced peripheral'), major features appear to be absent or unannounced. And then there's the question of whether to risk buying iPad version 1 or wait for iPad 2 before parting with your cash.

What follows is what we'd like to see in the next iPad, having weighed up the pros and cons of existing announcements and readily available information.

There's a good chance some of these wishes will have to wait until iPad 2, but we're hoping Apple has some cards to play and will further enhance its device before the March launch-date.

1. More multi-tasking

It's often wrongly reported that iPhone OS doesn't support multi-tasking. Built-in system apps (such as iPod and Mail) run in the background, but those installed via the App Store can't.

Apple's aiming to make iPad as stable and simple as possible, and so a return to a desktop-OS-style free-for-all regarding multi-tasking would be ill-advised.

However, we'd like to see user-definable multi-tasking settings, perhaps akin to an advanced version of iPhone OS's notifications - after all, although switching between apps that utilise save states isn't painful on iPhone, there are certain apps (such as Spotify, or IM and Twitter clients) many people would like to run alongside the likes of iWork.

2. Printing from iPad

One of the most exciting moments in the iPad demo was the unveiling of a device-specific version of iWork. Apple's reworked its office suite for its touchscreen device, and will sell the apps - Pages, Numbers, Keynote - for $9.99 each, which will convert to just £5.99 on the UK App Store.

The brief demos showed how capable these apps are, but no mention was made about printing. We're hoping AppleInsider's 'sources' aren't fibbing when they talk about direct network printing from iPad apps, because without this functionality, iPad will sit squarely in the 'peripheral' category, rather than be suitable for purchase in place of a Mac or PC.

PRINT FROM IPAD: We're not entirely digital yet - will iWork apps and Mail be able to print hard copies of documents? [Photo by Paul Curthoys at MacLife.com]

3. iLife for iPad

Philip Schiller demoed iWork, claiming that even a spreadsheet app (in the form of Numbers) is now fun to use. However, Apple's most exciting suite is the creative powerhouse iLife.

Although there wouldn't be much point in porting iDVD to iPad, making music via GarageBand, superior photo management and manipulation via iPhoto and movie editing using iMovie would seem a good fit for Apple's touchscreen device.

4. A front-facing iPad camera

Only crazy people want to be able to use iPad for taking photos. A 10-inch flatscreen device is more than a little unwieldy for such endeavours.

However, we already know a number of people that consider the lack of an iPad webcam a deal-breaker. Video chatting never became ubiquitous in the manner shown in sci-fi movies, but it's popular with some, especially anyone with friends and family overseas.

Perhaps a lack of hugely widespread popularity for video chatting is what led Apple to omit a camera from the initial iPad, which also helped the company hit a lower price-point. Don't be shocked to see a camera in iPad 2.0 (or some kind of web-cam accessory), though.