I Bought an iPad

The Story

I remember Allied waste Tricor manufacturer grand rapids mi the days (weeks really) leading up Micardis 40mg - 60 pills to the Remeron 30 mg iPad announcement.  There were enough rumors buzzing around the techsphere that, if you lived there, you might think you were in a bee hive.  What would it be called?  What features would it have?  How much would it cost?  You name it and there was a rumor floating around about it.  As the info-junkie that I am I was up on all the news and excited to see what would be announced.  I watched the announcement via Engadget’s live blog.  And I Biaxin dosage was a Acyclovir and pregnancy little underwhelmed.

Then all Aricept 10 mg of the Estrace 1mg - 90 pills commentary started hitting.  “It’s just a big iPod Touch,” was the one that seemed to be repeated most often.  And I agreed.  That is what it looked like.  My original conclusion was, “What can this thing do that I can’t do between my iPhone and laptop?  Nothing.  I’ll wait and see.”  And then the iPad started selling – a lot.

I think that is what got my attention again.  Not just that it had one month of incredible sales – that is to be expected.  But each month after that saw the same trend.  Then a friend of mine bought it and loved it.  Then something called iBooks came to the iPhone which changed my opinion about reading eBooks.  Then I got several opportunities to use my friend’s iPad.  I was hooked and I wanted one.  But I let it lie – until I could save up the money for it.  So I saved.  And then I bought it.  And let me tell you – it is a big iPod Touch.

A Big iPod Touch

Now let me tell you why that is a good thing – even the thing that makes it a wonderful (probably not exactly magical as Apple describes it) device. Take an Ciprofloxacin side effects iPod Touch, blow it up (not literally please), and what Cholestoplex 2 bottles do you have?  A large, accessible, touch screen Viagra 25mg - 120 pills device with Buy Omnicef Online a great operating system and a huge battery.  The combination of those things makes the iPad a great device.

The screen real estate on the iPad makes it capable of so much.  Way more than on a phone.  Reading books on it is a great experience.  Typing on it is a breeze (for me, your mileage may vary).  The screen makes reading lots of content a joy, not to mention some of the apps that have come along that are so innovative (more on those in a minute).  The screen size on this thing matters – a whole lot.

The iPad is accessible.  You can see what I mean by that by walking through the process of using a laptop.  For me it was: get it out of the backpack, find a place to sit, open it up, turn it on.  Using a laptop is a commitment.  Once I have it out I am committed to sitting with the screen at an arm’s length while it makes my legs uncomfortably warm (read: sweaty).  When my wife comes over to talk to me I have to disengage from the laptop and set it aside so she knows I am listening.

Not so with the iPad.  Pick it up and it is ready to go, using just my fingers to do the work.  And it doesn’t matter where you are.  Sitting, standing, or laying.  If my wife wants to talk I don’t feel nearly as committed to it as I do a laptop.  It is easier to put down.  This may sound funny if you have never used it but I promise it is true.

The iPad is built on the same operating system as the iPhone/iPod Touch.  Granted, I miss the multitasking that I have on the iPhone now but I am sure that is coming.  Aside from that you have the same ease of use on a larger screen.  And you have the same great ecosystem of apps and developers to draw from.

This brings me to the battery.  It just goes on and on which is key in a mobile device.  Apple says that you can get nine hours out of it – that is a big deal.  And there are reports out there of people doing better than that with their battery.

What I use it for

The best way to describe the way I used my laptop was causal.  I browsed the web, and checked email.  The iPad does these things and more in a smaller package.  I read books on it, consume news and information, take handwritten notes with it, listen to a little music, and play some casual games.  I browse the web, check email, and do some word processing.  I could do most of these things on my laptop, sure.  But normally I didn’t want to get it out so I would do these things on my iPhone.  So now I have the accessibility of the iPhone but with a larger screen and I can do quite a bit more.  I am sure the longer I have it the more useful it will become.

Apps

Here are a few of the apps I use that shine on the iPad:

• ESV Bible +:  The ESV Study Bible.  It includes the study notes and cross referencing of the print version with some additional articles.  You can also take notes in it.  I can see myself using the iPad in church.
• Notarize:  An app that allows you to take handwritten notes using a stylus.  They stylus works pretty well.  You can import PDFs or other documents and mark them up.  This will be a great tool at work.
• Flipboard:  News reader that is just plain awesomeness.  It takes news feeds from Twitter and puts them in a magazine type format for you to flip through.  This is one of the apps that sold me on the iPad.
• Pulse News: Another News reading app.  You can subscribe to twenty-five different websites news feeds and they are delivered to you in nice little presentation.
• Carcassonne:  This is a board game put to the iPad.  I look forward to seeing many other board games come to this form factor.  It plays great.  Oh and this is an iPhone app and it looks great.

It Ain’t All Roses

Like everything else in life it can’t all be great.  Here are the problems I see.

• I am sure the lack of a physical keyboard will turn some people off but you can purchase a physical Bluetooth keyboard but that costs some money.
• I would have liked to see a front facing camera for video chat especially now that Apple has introduced Facetime.  I am sure this will be added soon.
• To get the 3G enabled iPad you have to shell out quite a bit of money and I wasn’t willing to do that.  Many apps lose their functionality without WiFi but I haven’t been in many of those situations yet.
• There is a lack of printing functionality.
• Apple is in control of the app store.  This isn’t a huge issue for me but for some this is huge.
• I would like to see some type of file system put in place so I can take files I have saved in Pages and move them to my Dropbox.
• The iPad cannot stand on its own, meaning that it has to be synced to a computer through iTunes.  We will see how this plays out but I’m not too happy about it.

Conclusion

No device is perfect.  We can all point to things that need to be changed.  But does the iPad deliver usable and innovative features that set it apart?  Most certainly.  I don’t see myself using my laptop very much anymore.  If I want to do some real productivity work (like Excel) I will go back to the laptop or desktop.  Otherwise you will see me with my iPad for all my casual needs.

Another question hangs out there as well.  Will the iPad help usher in the time of the tablet?  I think so.  I am excited to see what other companies can bring to the consumer market but they had better hurry.  Because the tablet for the masses is here in the iPad and it looks like an oversized iPod Touch.  And I think that is a good thing.