Early iPad Impressions
20 April 2010, evening time
Monday afternoon my coworker dropped by with an iPad he picked up for me from the US. (This is the same guy who managed to get me an iPhone a year before they came out in Canada. I’ll have to name my children after him or something.) I’ve been lusting after an iPad for a while now. After being stuck in my bed for a few weeks after breaking my leg, I see the appeal of a computer designed to be used when you are straight up chillaxing. (Well, I wouldn’t call my weeks in a cast chillaxing, but you know what i mean.) There have already been a ton of reviews going on about how awesome the iPad is. I’m in total agreement. This thing is quite enjoyable thus far. I’m not sure I can really say anything of substance till i’ve been using it for a few weeks. Instead I’ll offer up a few quick thoughts on the machine.
The keyboard works fairly well, better than I would have thought. Typing in portrait is pretty difficult, but doable. Typing in landscape is much easier. I can type fairly fast in landscape mode, and really have only had one issue come up: the keyboard feels close enough to a real keyboard that I keep reaching for the non-existent apostrophe key. I’ve hit enter so many times by accident. I need to remember to let the OS autocorrect the apostrophe into the word I’m typing automatically.
The iPad fast. (Considering I’ve been using an iPhone 3G running the buggy iPhone OS4 beta, the iPad feels wicked fast in comparison.) This is most notable when resizing web pages using the pinch to zoom gesture. The whole computer feels quite snappy. Considering the processor is actually fairly under powered its impressive what Apple have done.
The screen is like a god damn mirror. I’m not sure if this will eventually drive me made or not. (I hate glossy screens. What a stupid idea for a monitor.) Anyway, putting that aside the screen is gorgeous: It’s bright and the viewing angle looks to be enormous.
I typed this up on my sofa. Because the whole screen is just one app, its very easy to focus. It will be interesting to see studies comparing how people work on the iPad versus a normal computer. It’s distraction free computing.
I need to figure out what Decepticon to name my iPad after and I’ll be all set.
Ratbat.
by Dave on April 21 2010, 7:09 am #
Although I appreciate your friend getting the iPad for you – only so you would stop complain about getting one – we are not naming our children after him. You can name your iPad after him.
And I still stand by what I said earlier about the iPad, it’s just like a big iPhone. Also, we have way too many computers and computer related things in our condo. There should be a limit on the amount of computers you can have in 600 sq feet of space. 3 laptops, 1 desktop, 2 iphones, 1 ipad, a million harddrives is not what I signed up for when we decided to get married. I demand less technology in our house.. please? 8o|
by sh!ma on April 21 2010, 8:47 am #
3 laptops?! Time for a garage sale.
Awesome that you got one. I’m very curious to hear what apps you wind up using etc.
by D on April 21 2010, 12:08 pm #
Shima’s being a bit disingenuous. One of the laptops is Shima’s iBook. The other two are on loan: one is from my workplace, and I can’t wait to give it back; the other laptop is from Shima’s friend. But yeah, we do have all that other stuff. You can never have too many hard drives. One day i’ll set up a file server in the living room and run cable so I can have a gigabit Ethernet network. That’s the dream.
So far i’m really only using the built in stuff plus the game Strategy, Twitteriffic, and Instapaper. Instapaper on the iPad is really nice. I’ll probably post about what I buy and how I use the iPad after having it for a couple weeks.
by ramanan on April 21 2010, 1:58 pm #