iPad Review – Still cool after all these weeks

I was reading Unshelved iPad review and realized that I haven’t chimed in on the iPad since I picked it up a few weeks ago. I’ll try to keep this short.  “coolest piece of technology I have seen in… well, coolest piece of technology I have seen, ever.

  • I have a 64GB iPad 3G-  I waited until the 3G model came out so I wouldn’t be tethered to a wifi hotspot. I purchased the Apple iPad case, the card reader and the VGA out cable.  I also ended up purchasing another charger since it nice to have one at school and one at home- although it does charge through the iPhone car charger.
  • I bought it to replace my laptop on trips and with its size and weight it will do that easily. Although I’m still trying to decide if there is a way I could do this comic on it.
  • I purchased a number of apps to play around with including “Brushes” which I love- it turns the iPad into a sketchbook.
  • Reading on it couldn’t be a nicer experience, both books & comics one nice thing is I can read in bed without having the light on to bother Sue.

There are somethings that need to be worked out:

  • Since this is new technology there are some bugs when surfing… I never realized how many site have little bits of Flash or need to be translated into a touch environment instead of a mouse.  This comes up when I’m trying to scroll down a list on a site like Facebook… I end up scrolling the page not the pop-up list.  The same issue with Flicker and managing my photos  no “click & drag.”
  • It should have come with a cloth of some kind (like the iMac & iPhone) since I tend to have to clean the screen- I never realized how much junk is on my fingertips.
  • the VGA out cable seems to only work with keynote though I haven’t tested it extensively, it would be nice if I could display my screen through a projector especially when teaching.
  • picking nits- while the keyboard is fine size wise, the layout of some things is taking a bit of time to get used to.  The placement of some keys (shift for example) is in the wrong place so I end up typing numbers or symbols… I’ll get used to it.

Do I regret my purchase?  No, I’d do it again in a heartbeat… Sue already wants to steal mine (and has for one day), fortunately for me her birthday is coming up.

I agree that the iPad is really the next big thing… it will change the face of personal computing.  It is perfect for those folks out there who aren’t “power users” and just want to check their email, read a book, and go online.  Like one of Apple’s early taglines for the mac “The computer for the rest of us.” With the iWork suite of programs it even makes it great as a mobile office in a snap.  My parents should get one- except I’m not sure what Flash games my mother still plays, besides that it should meet there needs.

Again, the coolest piece of technology out there… I can’t wait to see what will happen with version 2 or with the next (first) OS update.