Personally I believe 16:9 is more useful than 4:3 with the exception of bringing 1:1 copies of current magazines to screens, which is why I presume they chose this aspect ratio. 16:9 landscape is better suited to videos, while 9:16 portrait is better suited to displaying documents since it's generally accepted that less width (within reason) makes it easier to read (if you don't understand this, consider how difficult it would be to read the content in this post if it spanned the entire width of your screen). Imagine a developer coding for a 4:3 aspect ratio, including the ability to rotate the display seems like an awful waste of time to try and re-jig the layout slightly for very slight benefits.
Why can't your turn the widescreen pad round, let the accelerometer do its job and experience more content vertically? I'd go so far as to say that 16:9 or similar is more of a multi-purpose size as it allows two sizes (16:9 or 9:16) compared to 4:3 which, offers very little advantage when rotated.
Personally, I think the biggest oversight is the lack of iPad to iPhone/iPod sync. I mean, this was supposed to be halfway between an iPod and a laptop, would it not make sense that this device could be self sustaining without a laptop/PC to sync with? I was under the assumption that the iPad would be more like a netbook in that sense, but as it stands it's just another device that fits in incredibly tiny niche that I know I have no use for.
Pokemon charity marathon aims to catch them all at the same time
Jul 11th 2011 11:49PM (Joystiq)Why 4:3?
Feb 3rd 2010 7:50AM (TUAW.com)Why 4:3?
Feb 3rd 2010 2:28AM (TUAW.com)Steam has over 25 million subscribers
Jan 29th 2010 7:04PM (Joystiq)What's missing from the iPad
Jan 27th 2010 6:49PM (TUAW.com)Alpha version of Intel's Moblin OS released for brave netbookers
Jan 30th 2009 10:23AM (Engadget)Black Friday Giveaways (part 10): the LG Prada phone
Nov 29th 2008 12:27AM (Engadget)HP's 2730p EliteBook tablet PC reviewed, seriously loved
Oct 2nd 2008 12:31PM (Engadget)