Coming from Android and Windows environments, I would have been appalled if there were no folder option. It was one of the first features I looked for when I received my iPad 2.
Customization of the screens is still limited compared to other environments. Widgets would be useful. The rigid "grid" design is a PITA. And the absence of the ability to select a "home" screen is likewise disappointing. The limitation f six "always visible" apps is frustrating at times.
Still, with folders the iPad provides a usable level of customized organization of a large set of apps. Hopefully, the iPad's user interface options will continue to evolve.
One tip that I picked up from other users was to put a collection of essential apps into a folder and then to dock this folder as one of the six "alway visible" icons.
This has worked out very well.
Good point. My bad for not mentioning that approach (which I use). There's no question that the single level hierarchy enabled with folders (i.e. you cannot put folders in folders) provides an organization tool that most users will find sufficient to meet their needs.
It's not a big problem for me. Once you've learned and accepted the limitations Apple imposes for the iPad user interface (which derive in part from limitations that are less problematic on the small screen of iPhone, I suspect.) a relatively efficient setup can be constructed.
Still I find many of the limitations both puzzling and annoying. Why can't I put an icon anywhere on the screen rather than in the rigid grid structure next to another icon? As noted above, why can't I put folders in folders? Why can't I have a weather or news widget that stays updated and is displayed in real time? Why do I have to explicitly open iBooks and examine my library before I can access the book I'm reading? Why can't I just put the book on my screen and access it with a single touch? Same question for a music playlist.
In fact, I know (or suspect I know) the answers to some of these questions. Apple's pseudo-multitasking is partly to blame. A decision on Apple's part to simplify management code at the expense of user convenience is another. (And that may be a good decision if it means performance of the iPad is more predictable.)
By the way, that last point is especially important, I suspect. Studies of user experience have long established that the speed of a user interface is less important than predictability. If a particular action always takes, say, three seconds to complete, a user will believe the device is performing faster than a comparable device that varies between one and three seconds to perform the same action, despite the fact that on average the latter device has better overall performance.
I strongly suspect that Apple places limitations on a user's ability to customize the user interface in order to maintain the widely praised "smoothness" in the performance of the iPad (and iPhone.) Letting users fill up screens with widgets, for example, may impact overall performance unpredictably. And for most users, that's a bad thing.
