She gets to be one of the first mothers/housewives to play with one, which is a bit of a personal achievement in itself.  So I should make a badge for her that says: 'iPad Early Adopter.'

Those who wait till the retail release in Australia will have almost another three weeks before they can get one.  May 28th will be the day the iPads go on sale in Australia.

It's been a fun week using our iPad.  It's different from using either a laptop or an iPhone in a lot of ways and is unique in that.

There are times when reading a web page on the iPhone is a bit of a chore, especially when you have to pinch-zoom.  On an iPad, it's a full browser experience and way more readable.

So it doesn't have a hardware keyboard.  Then again, it's a bigger, better onscreen keyboard than the iPhone.  Okay, so it's NOT my fastest touch-typing, but it's still faster than the one-finger peck on the phone.

Of course, some pundits say the iPad can't multitask (like a lot of men can't), but it's not too long off before iPhone OS 4.0 brings multitasking.  One criticism of the iPad disappears the moment that happens.

I'm looking at the fact there are a few places I can't really take my Macbook, especially with its 3-4 hour battery life.  On the other hand, the iPad is a lot more portable and has double the battery life.  I can see this little device being a major asset at any day-long conferences.  Twitter clients are available, Facebook is accessible via Safari, heck, the email client is fantastic too.  So all you need after that is a good office suite on it.

However, I can't really comment on iWork apps yet, as the App Store on my iPad won't be accessible until after May 28th.  Even downloading apps via iTunes on my computer, Pages, Numbers, etc., aren't available to Australians yet.

Not to worry there.  Office2 HD is available.

It's really going to come down to how much imagination you've got to work out inventive ways and places to use an iPad.

For me, the iPad has replaced netbook computers.  Netbooks filled a void for a while, but the iPad goes a few steps better.  Instead of just being a midget laptop, the iPad becomes something unique.  And really, that form factor beats any tablet PCs I've seen in recent years.

I'm sure I'll find SOME faults with the iPad, but not during 'New Toy Week.'