I’ve only had my iPad for 20 hours, and I was asleep for 7 of those, and a good portion of the remaining 13 hours I spent downloading apps, transferring my Stanza library, and generally exploring it to see how I want to set it up. So this morning’s really my first chance to see how it works as the everyday tool I’m hoping it can be.
What I’ve noticed so far:
- Typing in landscape mode is already getting pretty fast, even though it’s easier to type with three or four fingers than with my usual eight or nine. (Having to switch to the number keyboard for the apostrophe is really annoying, though.)
- It’s really fast, at least compared with my aging Intel MacBook. It only took about half the usual time for me to finish my morning email-web-FB routine. And I’m not tied to my desk or any place in particular while I’m at it–I can take it with me when the dog wants out, for instance.
- iBooks and Kindle are quite nice ways to read books. Much to my surprise originally, I’ve been a big fan of ebooks on my iPhone, and I wasn’t sure I would like the larger page size on the iPad. But the iPad gives me what I like best of both physical and electronic books (I’ll willingly trade the yummy smell of new books for the lack of paper cuts.)
- It feels somewhat larger and more substantial here in my lap than the demos at the Apple Store did. I suspect that’s mostly due to the contrast with my iPhone, and that in the Apple Store I was comparing iPads to MacBooks.
- The oleophobic screen coating really works. The neat little pattern of fingerprints in the shape of the landscape keyboard wipes right off with a soft cleaning cloth.
- Having to switch to the number keyboard for the apostrophe is really annoying.
The next few days should be interesting as the novelty wears off and I get down to trying some real work on the iPad.
Mary Griffith 