I purchased my iPad on April 3rd at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store. I didn't expect the lines to be very long and they weren't. I arrived around 9:20 AM and found my place in the "reserved line". After about five minutes, I was led in to the store with dozens of Apple employees cheering for me. I thought that was ridiculous. Cheering for people who are spending upward of $500 on a personal technology device? Really? I think Apple needs to rethink this approach. I'd much rather see big signs saying "thank you for supporting Apple!" along with enthusiastic clapping. That's just me...
After thinking through my space needs a few weeks back I opted for the 32 GB wifi only iPad. 16 GB wasn't enough and 64 GB seemed like overkill for an extra $100 over the 32 GB. I also picked up a dock and case. The store was setup so each customer purchasing an iPad could work one-on-one with an Apple staff member. The Apple staff did a GREAT job of getting me registered, giving me a quick tour and answering some of the questions I had that were still unknowns prior to the device going public. I had already watched the iPad videos on the Apple web site on Friday and I've used an iPhone and Touch so the learning curve was already low.
I wanted to share some of my thoughts after using it for a day and a half. The device is absolutely all it was made out to be. All of the critics who say the iPad is simply a larger iPhone just can't appreciate how an increase in screen size can dramatically change a user experience. I think in time those voices will die down as people begin to use the device and see the potential. The colors produced by the screen are bright and vivid. The screen size combined with the dramatic screen colors are a joy to experience. Besides the screen's color it is incredibly responsive. I was actually surprised by how responsive the screen is to "pinch" and "expand" type gestures. The iPad is also very fast compared to an iPhone or Touch. The processing speed provided by the iPad is remarkable.
I'm working my way through a number of applications. In the builtin application arena, Safari has a nice Expose like view of all of your open Safari windows. iTunes, the App Store, Mail, Photos, etc all look great. The Calendar looks fantastic with a week view that's incredibly valuable. Hopefully we'll see a week view on the iPhone one day. The absence of a Weather and Stock program is more than made up for by third party applications. On the third party side I've tried a number of news, productivity and weather applications and they do a great job of showing off the device's potential. Not much of a gamer so I won’t comment on those. As with any device, some applications are better than others. One of the things Apple mentioned since announcing the iPad was the device's ability to use iPhone and Touch applications. Be aware that the experience of "expanding" the iPhone and Touch applications using the "2x" option is terrible. I remember when I first switched over to an HD TV. I couldn't stand to watch non HD after that. I'm having the same experience with the iPad. If I can't use an iPad specific app then I'm not using it. In the short term, the library of iPad applications remains small relatively speaking. That will change over the next few months and I think those developers who held out will want to get on board quickly.
Many have made an issue of Flash not being on the device and I have to say I think it's all about nothing. Multiple web sites are already moving over to HTML5 to play video. Apple has a page dedicated to "showing off" those web sites. Lots of big names are on board. True, some Flash based sites won't be along for the ride, but oh well.
There's also been a lot of criticism for the iPad not including a camera. While this wasn't a deal breaker for me I do think that a camera absolutely has a place on the device. It would have been nice to have a front facing camera for video conferencing.
One thing I'm very pleased about was the ability to use wireless bluetooth keyboards with the iPad. I'm typing this entry on a bluetooth keyboard while my iPad is sitting upright in an iPad dock. I happened to be using the Apple wireless keyboard from my Mac Mini. I can control brightness, iTunes controls (including volume) from the keyboard. I feel like I'm working on my keyboard. Awesome. I would like to see more keyboard shortcuts added to programs such as Mail, etc so hopefully those will come. The onscreen keyboard is more than adequate for basic needs. It is a bit awkward to use sometimes and my wrists are complaining a little about the typing angle.
My biggest complaint so far has been the weight. Even at a pound and a half I still found the device heavy to hold after five or ten minutes. I don’t know what’s needed to take some weight off this thing, but that should be a high priority for Apple. The device’s weight is its number one setback. Considering the weight, I would not recommend an iPad as a primary book reading device.
And speaking of books, after trying iBooks and the Kindle's iPad application I would still prefer to use Amazon's Kindle environment where I know I have all my purchased books available on multiple devices from different hardware vendors.
I'm still annoyed by the lack of multitasking, the inability to customize home screens and the inability to group programs under "folders". All of these, and many other issues on my list, are all software related and we're likely to learn more from Apple this summer on what the future of the iPad's OS changes will be.
Overall, even with the weight's toll on regular usage, the device is fantastic. The battery life so far has been superior and I've experienced few problems if any. The iPad isn't perfect and has some refinements throughout that can be made, but for anyone looking for a tablet like device the iPad is a winner.
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