My iPad

Well I finally did it, two weeks ago I gave in to temptation and bought myself an iPad (actually a more precise version of events would be that my wife gave me permission to buy one!!!!!!!!!). So now i'm going to give a brief review of my new toy.... but don't expect a detailed breakdown of specs, size, weight, screen resolution, processor speed.....except to say it's a good size and weight, screen is good enough and functions respond fast enough).

Well first I'll start with what it's not... That is a laptop replacement. I couldn't really use it to carry out edits to documents or update spreadsheets, but realistically I wouldn't want to, the form factor doesn't lend itself to it (although apps are available if you want to try). If I brought some work home I would just fire up my laptop and chug away, (although I am erupting this on my iPad so it isn't that bad).

There is no camera for still or video picture capture, but then I wouldn't really want to be walking around trying to use something this big to capture those magic moments.

It's not a phone.... Well not exactly "not"!!!!!!! I have downloaded Skype and am making free or fairly cheap from the iPad (using the home wifi network..... I'll test out the connection over 3G when I get back to Blighty). But again I wouldn't really use it to make calls on the go as my mobile phone is glued to my @ss fairly permanently.

What does it do well:

Always on, unlike a laptop it doesn't take five minutes to fire up, so the web surfing, mailing etc is quicker to access than on a laptop. So for ease of access it's the first port of call.

Speed, the iPad is very quick and responsive so lots of time isn't wasted waiting around for things to load up. The interface is fairly slick and easy to use as expected.

Web surfing (Safari) over the wifi is a joy, as I said its always on, the screen is good to look at, fast to load and most sites i want to look at are accessible. It's much better to look at the smaller smartphones, although occasionally it does direct you to the mobile version of websites which can be a tad annoying when you have a large screen to use. The lack of flash will mean that you may not be able to get the best of all sites, but for now I haven't any major issues.

E-mail (native app), checking and sending my yahoo and gmail is great. Again as its always on it's quicker to check than a laptop, however, iPhone/Blackberry/Android users would boast of the same benefits with the added advantage of ease of use on the go. A point to note is that not all accounts are fully supported in the native app (e.g. Hotmail) but it's just as easy to check on the web browser.

Photos, again it's great here, the screen size is ideal for showing off holiday snaps etc when you have guests, much better than smaller phones, quicker than firing up a laptop and space saving compared to physical albums. The app is great to navigate around as well.

Ebook reader, this was a great plus for me. Now I generally wouldn't have bought a separate ebook reader (even though I love to read), but having one handy is great. The free native app is easy to use but you can also get kindle and other readers for free. There are a wealth of free books available (mainly classics) on all the different readers. The big plus here is the ease of loading up PDFs. I can fire lots of these over to the iPad and use it as a reference source (again the always on functionality is key).

Music player personally I would just steal my wife's iPod or use my phone, so not a biggie in that department (music/podcasts etc). But its not a bad thing to have thrown in.

Apps and games, a wealth of free games and apps are available, however, i used to find the AppStore on my wife's iPhone a tad easier to use. There aren't the same number of apps for the iPad as you have on the iPhone but hopefully that should change over time.

Contacts and calendar are useful tools to have and sync with my PC, but again it's one of those things that a decent enough mobile phone could handle for you.

Videos, the native app means you have to convert movies to the iPad format which can be a bit of a pain (but there are plenty of free utilities out there to do the job). As with the iPhone there is a dedicated YouTube player which is great. The screen dimension means that there will be black bands above and below the screen when watching widescreen but it's bearable. It's definitely a jump up from a smartphone. It also has advantages over a laptop if you fancy watching a movie in bed or on a plane. One cool app I have found is CineXplayer which let's you play avi files on the iPad.

Negatives

iTunes and backups. iTunes is just about ok for file transfers. But the library function is a pain as it doesn't automatically monitor folders to check when they have been updated for pics etc. However, the biggest problem is backups. This part of iPad/iTunes blows away the myth that Apple stuff "just works". Depending on what you have on the iPad backups can take hours, this is something that Apple need to address as it is a major user complaint.

Computer needed. You can not use the iPad straight out of the box. Before you can use it you need to download iTunes and sync it before first use. So if you haven't got a computer you will have a problem. If you buy one while you're out travelling without a laptop forget using it till you're back home.

Marital discord has increased slightly since the purchase of the iPad. Firstly, I'm not trusted to not damage it so I'm constantly being told how to store and look after it by the wife (but I guess anyone who knows my record on destroying things probably sympathizes with her). Secondly, my wife complains that I spend too much time on it and not enough on her. Thirdly, we're always arguing over who should use it.... And as usual it's an argument that she always wins by laying the smack down on me!

The usual suspects with anything "I" related are multitasking and a flash player. But this all depends on your usage. If you frequent sites that are flash heavy then this is not the toy for you. But for my web habits it's fine (especially since they made a standalone Farmville app). I'm also not going to use it for intensive work purposes so the lack of multitasking is no issue for me.

Future

I think the advent of a forward facing camera would be the killer tool in a net gen iPad. Using Skype on it is great and if I could make a video call I'd definitely pick up the next version. It would be nice to have some always on widgets on a home screen, but I don't think Apple are two keen on it.

Overall

It's a nice new toy, it's not a laptop replacement and does nowhere near as much, but what it does do, it does extremely well. I would recommend getting one but look at what you are going to use it for.