Early Christmas: My New iPad
Christmas came early. I’m now the proud owner of a shiny new 16GB, WiFi-only iPad, courtesy of my loving wife (she’s the best!). I’ve only had a few days to play around with it, but I’m already really impressed.
I’m not going to do a full-blown review because the iPad has been out long enough that reviews are a dime a dozen. Instead, I’ll give a few of my own impressions/opinions.
Overall Design
The iPad is a solid device. I think it’s a little on the heavy side but I don’t plan on holding it over my head for extended periods of time. The screen is bright and crisp – making game graphics and movies a joy to view. Finally, to my surprise, the battery life is really good. I thought I’d be charging it at least every 2 days with normal use. I’m pleasantly surprised it lasts much longer.
Keyboard
Here’s where the iPad separates itself from the iPhone. The virtual keyboard is large enough to type with both hands. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but I can pound out an email with relative ease. In fact, I think I’ll be writing blog posts and working on other writing projects when my laptop is not readily available.
Apps
I recently downloaded PlainText and DropBox for iPad so I can sync up my writing and access my projects on the go. The games available are very impressive. The only game I’ve downloaded so far is the popular Angry Birds. I’m not a big gamer, so I probably won’t be filling my iPad with a lot of games.
My only complaint regarding apps is the WordPress App. It downloaded easily but I’ve had a hell of a time getting it set up with my blog account. It’s still not working right.
Video
I logged into my YouTube account and had no problems watching videos. As I mentioned before, the screen is great and videos are clear and crisp. And the size of the iPad makes it easy on my eyes.
iBooks
iBooks is on my iPad although I haven’t had a chance to test it out. It comes pre-loaded with 1 book – Winnie the Pooh. I opened the book and loved the design and overall layout of the pages – it’s like reading a real book. I probably won’t be reading an ebook on my iPad anytime soon because I have such a large backlog of books I need to read first. My only concern is that the LCD screen will be hard on my eyes.
For now, I’ll stick with the eye-soothing e-ink on my Sony Pocket Reader.
Internet Browser
The large screen makes surfing the net a breeze. It’s comparable to surfing on my laptop.
Other thoughts
Some of you might remember that I recently wrote a post entitled Thoughts on my iPhone – 3 Years Later. I said, in part:
But over the last 3 years I began to realize that the iPhone had so many features that I didn
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