One month with the iPad

In the month leading up to the iPad release, I was on the fence about picking one up. There was no question that I wanted one. A friend pointed out that since the iPad wouldn’t support Flash, the ability to watch videos on sites like hulu.com and more importantly, Netflix, well, that was a bit of a showstopper for me. That all changed when Netflix announced they had developed an iPad app. Game On!

I picked up my iPad the second day they were out. I had already made the decision that I wasn’t going to get the 3G version since I believe that I’ll use it mainly around the house. Plus, I already have a Clear wireless account, so picking up a Clear Spot would give me wireless access anywhere around town.

So, after a month of owning it, here are my thoughts on the iPad.

Initial Setup

When I first got the device home I immediately plugged it in and told it to sync everything; contacts, music, videos, photos… I have over 16GB of music, so the initial setup took quite a while. Actually, from what I recall, it took roughly twice as long as when I set up my iPhone syncing roughly the same amount of data. Now, that could just be a perception thing because while it was syncing, I was dying to play with it.

Since I have been an iPhone user for a few years now, it takes zero time to get used to the controls. I found the settings app, turned on the WiFi and connected to my home network in a matter of seconds. I heard that some people had issues with their WiFi, but not me. As soon as I was connected I loaded up Safari and checked out my sites to see how they displayed on the iPad. The pages loaded fast and they looked great.

Initial Reaction

Damn, that’s a good looking screen! Seriously, you have to hand it to Apple, they make gorgeous displays! The screen is big, bright and beautiful.

iPhone Apps on the iPad

During my initial sync I included all my iPhone apps. I’m not 100% certain that they ALL worked on the iPad, but during the first week I tried using several and there wasn’t any technical issues that I ran in to. However, apps designed for the iPhone would load up in an iPhone sized box in the middle of the iPad. There is an “X2” button on the window that would resize the app to take up more of the iPad screen. The result was usually a pixilated version of the app. The iPhone apps lasted 3 days on my iPad before deleting them all. I’d rather wait for for an iPad version of the app to come out.

iPad Apps

The first thing I noticed when searching for iPad apps, there just aren’t that many of them (yet). This is just an Early Adopter’s Tax. There are more apps being released every day, so it’s just a matter of time before that issue is taken care of. I also noticed that iPad apps are a tad bit more expensive.

Here are some of the apps that I’m loving so far:

Netflix – Search, click, wait 30 seconds, watch. This app is awesome. Since this was the app that caused me to buy the iPad, I’m happy to report that I LOVE this app.

Kindle – I’ve already completed 1 book and am half way through a second. Buying books through Amazon and having them delivered to the Kindle app is dead simple! Something really cool happened earlier this week, I had pre-ordered a book in Kindle format. It had automatically synced to my account the day it came out. Brilliant.

Twitterific – I was initially bummed to find that there isn’t a Tweetie app for the iPad (yet), Twitterific is a pretty solid substitute in the interim. Holding the iPad sideways you get a nice menu down the left that lets you get to your DMs, Replies, searches and lists really easily.

ABC Player – Much like the Netflix app, being able to instantly watch shows (like LOST) is awesome.

Penultimate – This is a pretty handy little app for scribbling notes at a conference, eliminating the need for pen/paper. Though, I think I need to find a stylus if I plan on taking a bunch of notes.

… and finally, the games: Words with Friends, Angry Birds, Pinball and Plants vs Zombies. The first three are games I was addicted to on the iPhone. The iPad versions of each are all just visually stunning. P vs Z is something I hadn’t played before, but am now HOOKED! There’s no question that the iPad is going to be an amazing gaming device for years to come!

The Keyboard

At no time do I ever see myself being able to “touch type” with the iPad. First off, I use a Dvorak keyboard, but second, there just isn’t any tactile response to it. I’m fairly proficient using my own version of a hunt-and-peck, and I assume that will just get better over time. I just picked up a Logitech diNovo Mini wireless Bluetooth keyboard. My initial tests using that are very promising.

What Can’t It Do?

So far there have only been two times where I wasn’t able to do something I wanted to do using the iPad. Both times it was related to using Flash in a browser. While it was a tad-bit annoying, honestly it’s not something I’m going to lose sleep over. It won’t be long before site developers are looking at their Flash elements and seeing what they can do to provide an iPad compatible version in it’s place.

Summary

The iPad isn’t for everybody. The naysayers like to point out that it’s an overgrown iPhone with no camera or phone. That’s fine. It’s going to take some time before the Killer Apps start showing up that really separate the iPad from the iPhone, but in time you’ll see. These really are two different devices with two different functions.

There hasn’t been a day since purchasing the iPad that I haven’t used it at least once. It’s nice to be able to read in bed without needing a light on. Watching a movie on an airplane or sitting on the couch and browsing the web or answering emails or Twitter or playing Plants vs Zombies… In short, I love it!