iPad

I’m not usually an early adopter, more of the revision 2 type. I didn’t jump on the iPhone bus until the 3GS. The iPhone is hands down the best phone/gadget I’ve owned. The iPad, I’m not sure yet.

I told Jacey that I felt that it would do at least 90% of what our ancient (and failing) Windows XP laptop would do. With the addition of Bluetooth keyboard or the keyboard dock, I stick by that … maybe even bumping up the number higher.

First, the gushing. The screen is amazing. When the home screen first appeared Jacey and I were both in amazement. The onscreen image seems almost more real than the real world around it.

It’s heavy, at least heavier than it appears and very solid feeling.

The rotation lock switch needs to be grated onto the phone. This is a seriously great feature that makes reading in bed a joy.

All of our iPhone apps work fine, but I don’t want to use them. The 2x zoom is blocky and a little distracting. Conversely, running the old apps in a little section of the big screen seems wasteful. I think most of these will be deleted shortly.

The iPad specific apps I’ve downloaded have all been great looking. The early developers really get the best ways to use the space. I have yet to download any turd iPad apps.

There is a design disconnect with some apps. Using the eBay app as an example. It’s really freaking nice looking and clear to use. It’s also nothing that couldn’t be done in the browser with the same (or less) effort as writing the app. eBay’s website is an ugly, unusable mess and the dev effort put into making a WebKit specific site that worked like the iPad app could have paid off on nearly every platform.

There are some really neat apps in the store … but they seem pretty expensive compared to the iPhone apps. Granted, there’s undoubtedly going to be more, or more easily accessible, features. For actually getting things done, the iPad has a lot of potential.

I wish that there were a subsidy for owners of iPhone apps that upgrade to the iPad specific versions. Paying a buck or two wouldn’t bother me but paying 150% of my iPhone version doesn’t hit me in the good value region of my brain.

There are some really interesting apps available but the prices are pretty high, which is hindering me from grabbing them at the moment. I have yet to buy any iPad apps.

The iPad store looks really nice but it’s not clear, and kind of difficult, to figure out how to browse all of the apps and not just the “Featured” and “Top Charts”. For reference: tap “Categories”, tap a category, tap “See All >”. At this point clicking the “Sort by:” selector lets you reorder the results. The store is even more biased to Apple blessed “Featured” apps and established chart toppers. This makes it hard for newer apps to get noticed.

Typing isn’t too bad. I type 35 – 40 WPM on the iPhone and hit at least that on the iPad. I get a few glitches but I’m sure those will work out with some use.

Browsing is fantastic! All of the familiar iPhone movements and gestures work as expected but almost all pages are viewable without zooming.

I’m assuming that as apps become available as more developers actually hold the device that it will become greatly more usable. For now, I think it’s a really neat toy that does mostly supplant our use of the ancient laptop. In the future, It may become an indispensable tool.