48 Hours of iPad

Ok so I’m now in the road to recovery thanks to muchos support and help from all the Aquarius Crew, my mates and of course Kerri. Ice packs and copious amounts of pills have me feeling pretty alright, although I do look like an extra out of Rocky!

But all this bed rest and not being able to work has some up sides – I’ve sent most of the past few days on my shiny new iPad, exploring, playing and scrutinizing so that I can bring you a first had review of the device which I’ve been waiting for so long to get my hands on. So let’s get started…

Out of the Box;

Like all Apple products my iPad was ready to go pretty much straight out of the box – pre loaded with iPhone OS, all it’s native apps and – best of all – fully charged!
After frantically unwrapping my new purchase And switching it on the first thing it displayed was the connect to iTunes display, a slight anti climax! However I had come prepared with my MacBook for such an event and dutifully hooked it up.
The next bummer came in the form of Internet access. Despite me asking my Apple rep two or three times during the purchasing process if I needed Internet access to register it I was assured I didn’t. Turns out I did! Luckily I hadn’t left the car park and simply walked back to the store, hooked into their wifi and got started.
Once I synced up my pre downloaded apps everything was ready to go :)
Note; when in the Apple store there is the option to let the staff register and sort out your iPad there and then, so you can avoid bringing along a laptop.

First Impressions;

Having never actually seen or laid my hands on an iPad before the launch day i didn’t quite know what to expect from it. From the word go I wasn’t disappointed. As soon as it boots up you are immediately impressed with the bright, vibrant screen, with plenty of space to organize apps. The speed is impressive too, it reacts to swipes and pinches uber fast. Some people have written off the iPad as merely a large iPod or iPhone. But it’s more than that – it’s a pimped out version. Its like calling a rally car merely a more flashy looking version of it’s roadworthy counterpart. Plus the fact the iPad IS much bigger is one of the attractions.
All the multitouch gestures work beautifully and don’t feel cramped like they sometimes do on the iPhone. You use your whole hand, not just the tips of your fingers.

Keyboard;

I didn’t opt for any additional keyboard dock. And I’m glad I didn’t. Despite the virtual keyboard the iPad is great to type with. It takes a slight adjustment but I can type almost as fast as on a physical one. Plus the inbuilt software is already correcting my common mistypes!

Apps;

One of the biggest selling points for me about the iPad (and the one I mentioned most during my interviews) is the app store. For me the iPad is to some extent a blank canvas on to which you can impose your own personality and use onto. And in this sense the app store becomes your brush and paints.
If you want the iPad to be a gaming device you download games.
If you want it to help with productivity you download things such as Pages and Keynote.
If you simply want it for web and email browsing everything is already there.
The possibilities are really only limited by the app developers, who I must say (from what I’ve seen) are utilizing the software to produce some amazing things.

Internet;

I won’t spend too long on reviewing this aspect of the iPad, most of Apples ads do that.
All I’ll say is the Internet looks superb, works perfectly and above all it feels natural to explore it with your hands.

Email;

The email interface is simplistic genius. It’s stripped back to make it easy to navigate and organize. Rotating to portrait removes the task bar and brings the sleeted message full screen. Is sounds gimmicky but believe me you’ll make use of it.
As with most things iPad makes email a joy to use, and it’s my medium of choice for replying – more interactive than my Macbook, more space than my iPhone – the perfect mid ground.

Battery;

Apple boasts a 10 hour battery life. That in itself was a selling point in it’s own right, being more than three times what my Macbook can last these days!
I’ve charged mine once in the last 48 hours and have heavily hammered it with games, video and Internet time – so despite my lack of actual figures I can easily see Apple bring right.

Photos;

As a photographer this was one of the things in was most looking forward to exploring. The large bright screen is perfect for displaying images in full quality and the auto rotation makes it easy to pass around and show off your images.
I can’t wait to to integrate it in my business when I return home – a sleek, professional looking device that I can hand over to clients to view my portfolios or sample edits which they’ll immediately be able to handle and use.
The gestures within photos is also my main show off tool for the iPad – a gentle opening of fingers on an event previews the images within, and exaggerating that gesture fully opens the album. And when viewing an image full screen and quick anti clockwise rotation of fingers closes the image back into the album – beautifully executed!

iPod, iTunes and App Store;

Using the iPod isn’t actually something I’ve used. For me that functions something great to have as an extra but not something I’ll use too often – I barely used my iPhone for that!
The iTunes and app store on the other hand I do use. I like the interfaces and the easy to use layout means I can easily browse and buy apps….perhaps to easily for my wallet to cope with!
The app store defaults to iPad apps too, meaning you can instantly get the most from your downloads.

Accessories

The only accessory I actually bought (besides the case – which is reasonably basic but works just fine) was the camera/USB kit. The only downside I’d the fact it sometimes takes a while to launch – although I’m putting that down to the sheer volume of images currently on my card. Other than that it does the job. I’m yet to use the USB adaptor to see if it reads my CF reader though.

Niggles;

As with most new devices (and more so first gen in hardware and software) iPad inevitably has a few things I’d adapt or change.
For starters the simple omission of a clock app (which is native throughout the whole iPhone and iPod range) is rather annoying. This means I cannot use my iPad as an alarm clock, which would be great considering the battery life over my iPhone.
One of the main reasons I bought the iPad was for displaying and storing photos. But I’ve quickly found I can’t merge or rename albums I upload. This will no doubt prove more annoying once I have morrow images on the device.
Mutlitasking is something most tech buffs would now moan about. It would be nice, but given the speed of my iPad I can live without it.
Another thing most people would complain about is the lack of camera, particularly forward facing for iChat. Come on guys, Apples smart, this ommision is purely business. If you knew you could launch and successfully sell a device for a year and then add in something small like that and resale to the same people PLUS a whole extras market you’d do the same. So quit your whining!

All of my niggles (bar the camera) are software issues, and simple software issues at that. And without iPhone OS 4 launched late summer hopefully they’ll be addressed – in which case I’ll be a very happy man!

All in all;

So in conclusion the iPad has definitely lived up to what I hoped and more importantly whay i wanted. No it isn’t perfect, but it’s dam close. And I can live with that.
It’s quickly established itself into my day to day life and is my device of choice for many tasks, whether this composing a large email or simply updating my Facebook status.
But most of all it’s made doing those things interactive and above all, fun.
It takes the day to day and out them – literally – at your finger tips.
So even if you are anti iPad, go to an Apple store and play with one.
But go there with an open mind.
It won’t disappoint.

Image courtesy if Gold Coast Bulletin