I actually sat here thinking about what to put as the headline for this post, but that’s all I could come up with. I was literally at a loss for words.
I’m not a fanboy – though I own a number of Apple products. I’m not even a normal Mac user.
Regardless of your affiliations, thoughts, or entrenched feelings, the world actually did just lose one of the great minds of our time.
Godspeed Steve Jobs.
After watching the pandemonium during yesterday’s iPad launch I have to admit, the last thing thought I’d be doing on Easter Sunday was going to the U Village Apple Store, but that’s exactly what I did.
So, for all those crazy a-holes who camped out to get their iPads – I win. You may have got your iPad 24 hours before me, but I spent my Saturday watching hoops on my cinch while you sat in a lawn chair in the cold with grown men wearing sweatpants.
Now, $500+ later I’m holding the supposedly “magical” iPad in my hands complete with my Pike Place photo as the wallpaper). Here are my initial thoughts:
In The Box
Apple didn’t go overboard here; iPad, cord, charging block (which is actually the old style). Of course you get the little info booklet and the Apple stickers.
Design
You can’t say Apple did anything “wrong” with the iPad’s looks, but they didn’t really “do” anything other than imagine a larger iPhone. That said, the device is incredible to hold. It’s light and fits my hands fairly well – not sure how an individual with smaller hands would fare.
Experience
It freaking turned right on. Not joking. The dude in the store made me defile my iPad right there in front of everyone, so that explains the lack of boring unboxing photos. The UI feels faster than that of my iPhone 3GS when it comes to opening apps. Swiping and pinch gestures also seem to be a but quicker, which is awesome.
Typing
Admittedly, this was one of the things I worried most about. I have big dumb fingers, but typing was fairly easy to pick up. In portrait mode, I’m actually able to type thumb-style, which is OK and actually more accurate than my full hand typing (for now).
Apps
Oh the apps. I’m actually in the process of downloading apps now, but I have got a couple on here already.
iBooks
I downloaded iBooks, since they suggest it at the beginning of your iPad journey and it seems pretty cool. They give you a free copy of Winnie the Pooh, which is cool and awkward at the same time. The UI in iBooks is great and very easy to read.
TweetDeck
I know there are “better” Twitter apps out there, but I really like TweetDeck and use it across all my screens (PC, iPhone, and now iPad). My only complaint here is that it’s not synching my columns, but that’s probably on the TweetDeck side.
Pages (from iWork)
I couldn’t justify buying the whole package, but if I’ve got my mail and whatnot on here, being able to create docs is important. I’ll play around with this a bit more.
WordPress
Well, here’s the twist, people, I’m using the WordPress app right now! Boom! It’s functional, like in the way that a wagon functions as a vehicle. It works… But it’s not pretty and it’s definitely not a car. It gets the job done, but pics and formatting aren’t even really functional.
Others
I also downloaded USA Today, The New York Times and Facebook. USA Today and NYT look great on the iPad and their usability is top notch. I’m hoping that Facebook gets an iPad app out shortly, because the experience is kinda ugly when you 2x the resolution.
Last Words
I don’t know if I like this thing yet. I guess that’ll come with time and better apps. For right now, it’s cool and I definitely don’t hate it. One thing: when you type on the iPad and then pick up your iPhone, it feels like it’s tiny.
More to come, I’m sure. I don’t know that many people (personally) who have picked up the iPad, but I’m sure that’ll change soon as I got a text from my friend Shauna as she was heading to the Apple store to pick hers up.
Sent from my iPad
I’ve been going back and forth over whether buying an iPad is worth it or not – eventually my gadget-fiend portion of my brain took over an I just whipped out my credit card and bought one (due to ship on April 12, which is also Mariner’s opening day).
When I thought about it, I realized that the iPad could cut down on a lot of things I’ve been accumulating over the past couple years: remotes, media players, crappy netbooks from Dell, etc. I look at the iPad not as the world’s shiniest eReader, but as a device (no, Jony, not a magical one) that will allow for consolidation in the average household.
Now, granted the iPad doesn’t have a ton of out-of-the-box capabilities, but the app world is wide open for development of time/space/effort saving applications ranging from home security management to apps as simple as a remote control for your home theater PC.
I don’t see myself whipping out a PPT using Keynote on a flight from Seattle to SFO, but I do like the idea of watching a movie on that flight and having the ability to see the screen at a good angle because I’m not worried about the weirdness of a keyboard + screen on my tray table.
I think you’ll see the success or failure of the iPad in the next 5-8 months as devs scramble to get their apps on the iPad’s larger, and more easily manipulated screen. The only question is: if a developer builds a great app and no one hears about it, does it exist?
I know we’ve all seen the iPad videos/commercials, but have you ever really listened to them? I’m guessing most people really haven’t since Jony Ive is still out roaming the streets and not locked up in some rubber room somewhere.
Magical? It’s a giant iPhone, you limey bastard, not the freaking Rosetta stone. You know what would’ve been magical? You could have listened to the millions of fanboys running around ready to shell out thousands of dollars (those are like your pounds, but less pretentious) for this thing and given it the full functionality it needs (cameras, USB, SD, etc.) instead of thinking how you were going to eff everyone in the A when you release iPad 2.0 in a year and make everyone buy a new one.
Also, am I the only one that thinks he looks stoned out of his gourd in this video?
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