Picked up my iPad 3G at the Pittsburgh - Shadyside Apple Store last Friday. Due to (a) a half-marathon run on Sunday; and (b) not wanting my two year old to see the iPad (lets see how long that lasts!), I only got to play with it a little bit so far. But today at work, I have started to see how this machine will work for me in real life. So far, I have setup my work email, calendar and contacts (works as beautifully and easily as my iPhone). My observation so far:
1. Reading and typing email is a pleasure. I actually like reading email on the iPad 3G better than my laptop. You are directly interacting with the email. Put the iPad into landscape mode and typing onto the iPad is practically as fast as typing on my latop. I am able to type quite fast, and I make very little mistakes (which the iPad corrects most of the time anyways). That is 60% of my work.
2. I can view any excel, word, powerpoint file without a problem. Viewing powerpoint is definitely a pleasure as I scroll with my finger.
3. We do a lot of zip file in our company (our server automatically zips files above a certain size). At first, this was a problem. But, cheap easy solution: Goodreader for $0.99. I can open zip files, read them, etc.
4. I was reading news articles and books over the weekend - this definitely was very nice. A lot of great apps and books. Combining iBooks with Kindle app, you get pretty much anybook you want, and all the classics (think James Joyce) are free.
5. I viewed videos from my library. Once again, terrific. I also viewed abcplayer over wifi (it doesnt work over 3g - boo) and it worked great also. Lastly, I tried netflix - over wifi, it was very clear; but over 3g the video got a little bit pixelated, but still very watchable. Hopefully that will improve.
So, as everyone thought, for consuming content, the iPad is amazing. My next step is to now create content. I'll be downloading the Pages, Numbers, Keynote package soon for creating content. One myth to disspell related to creating content though - many people said, and still say, typing would be hard for long periods of time. I must disagree. Typing on the iPad is simple and works well. I am sure, much like I connect my netbook to a proper keyboard when docked, it would be better to type on a keyboard; but when traveling or on your lap, typing on the virtual keyboard of the iPad works just fine.
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