Emerge Inc. Blog

Normally, I wait a few months before buying the latest gadget, read the reviews and generally let my emotions settle down and my logic take over. But with the iPad, I went for it, stood in line (only about 90 minutes) on launch day and began using it within an hour of release.

Following are my initial thoughts after 72 hours of ownership:

• As with all Apple products, the packaging was minimal and well designed. I’m a fan of the ‘Designed by Apple in California’ imprint.
• The display is unbelievable – crisp, clear and bright. The only issue is the reflection when outdoors.
• The size is perfect. Easy to hold. Websites fit and are readable.
• The weight is a little heavier than I expected, but it is a good trade-off for a long battery life.
• For books, I’ll still probably use my Kindle because it is easier to hold and change pages with just 1 hand. Although I like that my Kindle books can be synced with the iPad, including the page I’m currently reading.
• The touch interface is very intuitive.
• The NPR app is one of the more interesting early apps. 3 rows slide right to left to show the different news stories available. Plus access to live and archived audio from hundreds of NPR stations around the country.
• The iWork for iPad suite (keynote for presentations, Pages for documents and Numbers for spreadsheets) are well worth the $10 each. In addition to the productivity benefits, they provide insight into how touch interfaces will be used in future applications.
• The keyboard will take some getting used to. It is a little small for normal typing and without the feel of the keys, it is hard to be confident your typing the correct letter without constantly checking (Apple does offer a full size keyboard attachment).
• The inability to edit Google docs is probably the biggest challenge I face right now with the ipad.
• Interacting with social media sites facebook and twitter are excellent. I prefer the web version to the mobile version for both sites.
• The speed is very acceptable both on my Wi-Fi at home and at the office.
• No camera means I can’t use it to video skype with my brother overseas, but other than that, it isn’t that important to me.
• The lack of multi-tasking is an issue. I have a short attention span and on the computer always work with multiple applications and web browsers running.

NOTE: I purchased the 16GB Wi-Fi version and the apple cover. With tax it came to a little under $600.

Overall, I’m very impressed. I still need to more fully integrate the iPad into my workflow, but I can already see a number of uses that make it well worth the investment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 9:08 am . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.