Our new iPads

I stood in line in front of Best Buy to try and get myself and Abby an iPad. I had already planned on getting the 32GB model while she gets the 16GB. Why didn’t I pre-order it or go to Apple you ask? Because of Best Buy’s reward zone points plus Best Buy has no interest for 18 months, that’s why. There were about 20 people in line right before they opened. The manager came out and said that they normally handed out tickets but for the amount of people in line, they will have plenty – plus another truck arrived minutes before with more. So much for worrying about getting one but I was excited to get ours so I didn’t mind standing in line for 30 minutes. I was in 4th and the guy in front said he has been there for 3 hours haha.

Anyway, we got our iPads and it’s better than I thought it would be. First off, I have a 13” Macbook Pro, a Compaq Mini netbook, a HTC MyTouch 3G phone – so why would I want or need an iPad? What can I do with it that I can’t already do now with my portable devices? And finally, many have made fun of the iPad asking “What is it for?”. Well here is how I look at an iPad device and how I would use it.

• Instant start up. The iPad powers on with a touch of a button and is useable right away. No waiting for boot up. I do leave my Macbook Pro on and sleeping most of the time but the battery drains – slowly but surely.
• Size. It is the right size for what it can do. It’s smaller than my laptop and netbook (weight) and it can do the common things like surf on the internet, check emails, read files, and some word processing – I say some because of the virtual keyboard, it can get tiring typing on it. You can however use a bluetooth keyboard if you don’t mind carrying another item. It is larger than my phone but my browsing experience is better on the iPad because it’s larger.
• iPhone OS. I just love the iPhone OS. I had the first gen iPod touch and iPhone 3G and I missed the user experience after I got rid of them. The functionality and ease of use, no one has been able to match – although Google Android is getting there. But I’m a Mac user and I guess I expect to have a similar experience on other devices other than my computers.
• Apps and games. Similar to the iPhone OS experience, there aren’t many apps or games you can use/play on mobile devices that give the same experience as they do in the iPhone OS.
• Ebook reader. This is one that I didn’t care too much for but I’m glad it’s there. There are other ebook readers out there like the Amazon’s Kindle that do a good job. But the iPad not only can do what other ebook readers can do, it can do more , it can be more.
• Portable video player. It is an excellent portable video player. You can play videos purchased from iTunes, videos encoded with Handbrake or other software, portable formats that come free when you buy the Blu-ray or DVD version, online videos from apps created by ABC network, Netflix (subscription fee), Youtube, etc. And I’m betting more to come, it’s just a great platform for developers to develop on.
• Battery life. It last longer than my other portable devices even when watching video.

There’s so many things you can do with the iPad even if you already have other portable devices. Many compare it to the iPhone and iPod touch – but just a bigger version. It’s more than that. Yes it’s bigger so your internet surfing experience is better – close to being on a computer… still no Flash support. With HTML5 standards coming soon, this shouldn’t be a problem in the future. Also, the iPad comes with a more powerful processor. Typing on it is a lot more smoother than my iPhone 3G. Apps and games load quicker and more responsive.

I definitely recommend getting one.