The iPad 2 is the best tablet available, but it brings its own share of frustrations.

By Galen Gruman

I really like the iPad 2. I use mine every day for work and personal purposes, and I’ve even co-written a book about how to work it. But as good as it is, the iPad 2 is not perfect. Because I use it every day, I encounter its flaws and omissions every day as well.

Most of the issues are merely annoyances, but some have real consequences. Here are the 12 that bug me the most, in no particular order.

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1. Apps that go “pfft.” Blame it on memory management or just poor coding — I’m not sure of the cause. But some iPad (and iPhone) apps tend to quit unexpectedly. They’re onscreen one second and gone the next, with a home screen acting as if nothing had happened. Some apps, such as the New York Times app, have had this issue forever. It happens with Quickoffice when you try to open a file that’s too big or too complex to handle. The Economist’s app recently started going “pfft” after an update.

2. Apps that downgrade themselves. A related complaint involves apps that downgrade themselves, reducing their capabilities after an update. Netflix’s app did that a while back, making it fairly useless; more recently, Bank of America dropped multiple-account support from its banking app, and the New York Times dropped text-size preferences and its configurable sections icons — why?

These downgraded apps also tend to require more steps than their predecessors, another bizarre decision in a mobile environment. I suspect the reason is that these are really native-wrapped Web apps (BofA and Netflix, for sure) that got turned over to a Web-only or perhaps Android developer unaware of UI and user experience (UX) concerns. Mobile apps require even more UX attention than desktop apps, a concept that few beyond the Apple crowd seem to understand.

3. Safari’s premature refresh. To edit and write for InfoWorld.com, I use a Web-based Drupal content management system. Often, in the course of my duties, I need to switch to another browser window to look up something or to find and copy a URL. But often, when I return to the browser window containing Drupal, the page refreshes itself, and all my changes in the form are gone. This happens in other forms-based websites, not just our Drupal site.

I’ve learned a few tricks to reduce the occurrence of the premature refresh: Copy all text and URLs into the Notes app, then paste the whole shebang into Drupal (or whatever), and move the pieces around there. The refresh doesn’t seem to happen if I have a JavaScript window open in Drupal, by the way. Although iOS 4 lessened this problem, it would make more sense if Safari let users decide when to refresh the page and kept the rest in the session cache.

4. The Smart Cover’s obscuring of the 30-pin connector. The (optional) magnetic Smart Cover is both cool technologically and a lightweight cover that doubles as a stand. But when closed, it sticks out a bit past the edge of the iPad 2, which just so happens to make it hard to connect the 30-pin connector used to charge and sync the iPad. I can no longer do it by feel, as I can when the Smart Cover is open or with the original iPad and Apple’s cover for it.

5. Accidental volume changes when the Smart Cover is attached. The Smart Cover magnetically attaches on just one edge of the iPad 2, so when it’s attached, the side of the iPad with the volume rocker switch becomes the bottom portion. It’s a problem when I have the iPad 2 in my lap: The volume rocker sticks out enough from the edge of the iPad that it presses against by hand, leg, or whatever the iPad is resting on. Thus, the volume goes up and down, as if possessed.

6. Nonmodifiable alert rings. You can set your ringtone for when someone calls, but you can’t set the sounds for other alerts, such as when you have new mail. At home, it’s never clear whose iPhone or iPad is announcing a new message. I’ve also been to several business and personal events where an iPad (or iPhone) alert sound plays and we all look at each other asking, “Is that yours or mine?” The iPhone and iPad are now popular enough where the chances of there being several in a room or at a table are pretty high — Apple, help us tell them apart via sounds.

7. Lack of filtering on email. I’m on email all day long, and I shift from my iPhone to my Mac to my iPad for messages, depending on where I happen to be at the moment. But it’s really annoying that my iPad can’t run the same junk and other filters as my Mac, so mail is sorted and cleaned as it arrives. Sure, if I leave my Mac on, its mail rules kick in and the iPad updates its messages accordingly the next time it syncs, but who wants to leave a PC on just for that? The iPad 2 has enough horsepower to run email rules. Maybe creating them would be too hard in the iPad’s touch interface (I doubt that), but syncing them via iTunes or wirelessly should not be difficult.

8. Lack of warning before cellular data plan renewals. I don’t need 3G data access every day, since I have Wi-Fi coverage in my home, workplace, and favorite café. Thus, I tend to buy a 3G data plan just before I go on a trip. But Verizon Wireless doesn’t provide a heads-up that the 30 days are about to expire and give me a chance to opt out of the automatic renewal; in fact, it autorenews the day before your term elapses. AT&T is little better; on my original iPad, it sent expiration warnings the first two times I had service active, but then stopped, resulting in the same issue I have now with Verizon. If anything will make you believe in the need for regulation, it’s a carrier. Apple: Please use your clout to fix this.

9. Lack of support for TinyMCE and similar AJAX tools. Websites, such as InfoWorld.com’s Drupal site, use a wonderful open source JavaScript-based WYSIWYG editor that adds Office-like buttons to Web forms. But TinyMCE doesn’t work in iOS, so I have to do everything in pure HTML. Try writing or editing that way — it’s a pain.

TinyMCE is used by lots of site to allow rich text entry and formatting, and I really wish iOS supported it. (Android 3.01 does, by the way.) iOS is similarly unable to handle other AJAX tools, such as those that let UI drag list elements to reorder them. Note to Apple: Safari shuld be the same on desktop and mobile.

10. Inability to add, delete, and move email folders. The iPad’s Mail program does a great job with my Exchange and IMAP accounts, letting me see all my mail, as well as switch among accounts and drill down through folders as needed. But it doesn’t let me add new folders or reorder the ones I have, as I can do on the desktop. iOS has a UI facility called table rows just for this purpose, so why not implement it in Mail for folders?

11. Lack of voice navigation. I mainly mean the lack of built-in navigation in the Maps app. Android does this really well with its included apps, whereas the iPad requires I buy a fairly pricey app such as the $60 Navigon MobileNavigator (which I did, when it was on sale for $35; at least it also installs on an iPhone). If I were raising iPhone complaints — they share the same OS, after all — I would also whine about the lack of voice control for the device itself, such as for use when driving. There are a few voice commands related to the phone and iTunes apps, but they’re insufficient.

12. Calendar limitations with Google. I get frustrated when traveling sans MacBook with issues that the iOS/Google Calendar combo brings to the table, such as the inability to send invitations to events from the iPad’s Calendar app (you can do so from the Mac’s iCal version). The two also have problems with keeping appointments in the correct time zone, even when I enable the iPad to always render appointments in local time.

This set of issues didn’t make my top 10 list because it’s not clear who’s responsible — but it sure is annoying, whether the blame resides with Apple or Google. I suspect the problem is Google’s, given how Calendar has no such hiccups with my Exchange calendar, just the Google CalDAV one. But as CalDAV is essentially Apple’s technology, maybe it is Apple’s fault.

I’m sure you have your own frustations. Share them in InfoWorld’s comments section. Maybe Apple or whoever can do something will listen.

This article, “Where the iPad 2 lets you down: Top 12 complaints,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Galen Gruman’s Mobile Edge blog and follow the latest developments in mobile technology at InfoWorld.com. Follow Galen’s mobile musings on Twitter at MobileGalen. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.