I wasn’t going to do it, had reservations about it, didn’t think it would provide value…but my wife is awesome and did it for me. A couple of weeks ago she comes home with a shinny new 32GB Wi-Fi iPad!! With everything I heard about it being just a bigger iTouch I wasn’t sure what to expect. There were so many negative reviews to go with the positive reviews my fear was this would turn out to be one of those purchases you regret a couple of weeks later. I was wrong…this thing is awesome. Yes, it is a bigger iTouch or iPhone without the phone and for me that really separates it from the rest.
What I Like
The Size
It’s not often I agree with Apple, they make great consumer products that for the most part are pretty to look at and make pretty things but for work I use a PC. Having said that, with the iPad I’ve finally found a portable device that I can use for just about anything I want. This is mainly due to the size, at nearly 10in it is an excellent size for reading a PDF, doing a quick search on the web, checking email, etc. Things I’d do on my iPhone but found hard because the screen is smaller and my eyesight isn’t what it used to be.
The Screen
There is only one word that I can use to describe it…amazing! Anything displayed on the screen is crystal clear, pictures videos, web, apps, everything. There isn’t much more that I can say about the screen, it is just amazing.
Speed and Apps
As expected apps run blazingly fast on the iPad, mostly I suspect due to the fact they were built for the iPhone and ported over. Once developers realize what they can get away with they will start making apps that push the limits of the hardware. As for the apps themselves, more and more are being added to the app store everyday but when I first stated loading stuff the selection wasn’t great. The will surely change as more apps are moved to this platform.
What I don’t Like
As with everything there are pluses and minuses, like I said earlier, I’m not an Apple fan. They make great consumer products but there is an arrogance there. You are only allowed to do what Apple allows you to do. I cannot change the icons, theme, colours, etc. I cannot access the file system and load my own files and programs. Even in the app store you can only install what Apple has approved.
Some of the issues I have will supposedly be resolved in iOS4 so I’ll hold off until I upgrade before I pass judgement.
What I Use it For
I’ve had the iPad for about 2 weeks now and it has become an indispensable tool. The apps I’ve found to be the most useful are CloudReader for PDFs, ToDo and Evernote. The iPad has become my home office away from home. It won’t replace my PC, from a working perspective it won’t change the way I do things but it does make it easier. As a multimedia device it is fantastic, the screen is fabulous for watching movies or playing games.
All in all I am very happy with this device, it works very well for what I intend to use it for. It won’t replace my laptop and for the most part any work that I need to do will be done there but the iPad will definitely be used to augment by work life.
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