iPad Up Close
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George Hall Online
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Mother's Day iPadding
My partner Maria got a very special Mother's Day present today...full access to the family iPad for most of the day.
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.'
An OSX Version iPad?
Apple rumors are always an interesting read.
Sometimes the rumors are a bit skewed, sometimes they're incredibly spot-on.In recent months I think the rumors about the iPad tended to lean more toward pretty darn accurate. The debate over the iPad using iPhone OS rags on, though generally the majority of opinion on it is positive.The newest Apple rumor going around is that another iPad is on its way, but this one will have something more akin to OS X. I guess I wouldn't be surprised by that, as I'm sure Steve Jobs would be cluey enough to see if there were a market for both types of iPad and keep the OS X version at the ready.This article here points out that it was thought there were two versions of the iPad in development, before last week's announcement. In my family, my partner and the nine-year-old would favor the iPhone OS version, whereas I'd like BOTH the iPhone OS one AND the OS X one.So that's a pretty good example of the fact a market for both types of iPad exists. Of course, at the moment, rumors of an OS X version iPad are still just that, rumors. Steve Jobs won't be confirming anything right now. He's too savvy a businessman to dent the sales of the iPhone OS iPad or segment them by bringing an OS X iPad out too soon. In the meantime, we can drool and dream about the idea, though.Related Articles:
