My Thoughts on the iPad A Month Later

Review By: Jason Cipriani from www.berryscoop.com 

Right after getting the iPad I shared my first impressions with you guys.  They were mixed with excitement about a new product, yet confusion on how it would fit into my life.  After a month with heavy use on the iPad I can say that it has fit into my everyday blogging, browsing, occasional game playing life. Is it or can it replace a laptop?  Would I recommend it to a friend?  What would I change?  Read on to find out.

In my first impressions post I talked about having a hard time adjusting to the shape and figuring out how to hold it while typing.  That issue has been eliminated as I have adjusted to it, and in fact I can type almost as fast on it (without looking) as I can any wireless device I have used, including my BlackBerry.  One capability I really love is the fact that my Apple Bluetooth keyboard works on the iPad.  A few times now I have set the iPad in the dock and hooked up the keyboard to blog away.  In fact, I am doing it right now.  The best part about this isn’t that it is faster to type and enter information, it is the fact that the keyboard shortcuts for such things as copy and paste work!  There are some issues with the WordPress application with not always giving me the option to paste information I have copied from different apps on the iPad into the blog post.  This becomes a non factor with the keyboard as I can use the keyboard shortcut to paste the text into the post.  Even the shortcut for undo works, love it!

I have used the iPad primarily for blogging, email, and browsing the internet.  All of which is presented to the user in a fun interactive manner.  To be honest, it has become my device of choice to surf the internet on when I am around the house.  It’s small and light frame with a full interactive screen makes browsing the internet fun again.  Kind of like it was for the first year after you started browsing, you remember what I am talking about.  That is exactly how I feel when browsing the internet in the iPad.

The applications for the iPad have gotten me in nothing but trouble.  I have spent more on applications in the last month, strictly for the iPad, than I have total for every other device I own combined.  My favorite application by far is LogMeIn Ignition.  With this application I am able to log into both my work PC and my MackBook Pro at home anywhere I have a Wi-Fi connection.  This service has saved me a few times already.  There area  ton of other applications I have purchased but this isn’t the type of post to go through them one by one.  I love what developers have done so far, but feel there is so much more that they can do, and in time I am sure they will.

I have converted quite a few books over to ePub format and have enjoyed reading them on the iPad.  This is one of the biggest parts of the iPad that I want to use but need to free up my time to take advantage.

If I had to do it all over again I would get the iPad in a heartbeat.  I would also tell any family member, no matter the age (within reason) that they should purchase one as well.  My only regret is not getting a 3G iPad.  I haven’t had the need to use the iPad while out and about yet, but I have always said it is better to have something and not need it than to not have it and need it.  For the first time around Apple nailed it, with iPhone/iPad OS 4.0 on the horizon (this fall for the iPad) which will enable multitasking I can honestly see myself leaving the MBP at home while I take just the iPad on business trips.  The greatest thing about all of this is the fact that Apple can only improve it from here.