As we all know, technology can be a blessing or a curse, a diversion instead of an aid, a time drain instead of a time saver. I try to keep this in mind whenever I'm thinking about employing tech tools because I don't want to fall prey to a fad. But in this latest iteration, I can roundly give a thumbs up to the iPad, although it's utility is not necessarily apparent before you use it. So here are 12 reasons I like the iPad.
1. It's light and a great "take & go" tool. You might say, "But isn't a laptop suppose to be light and easy to carry?" Yes, it is. But the iPad hits a sweetspot I didn't know I had regarding the weight of a portable.
2. It's feel substantive. Despite the light weight of the iPad (1.5 lbs), it feels strong and substantive. The metal housing is great to hold, touch and have in my hand; so much so I deliberately did not buy a "skin" for it so I could enjoy the tactile feel of holding and working with it. It has the feel of those engineering HP calculators of years gone-by which made you feel you were holding something important vs. the cheap plastic versions.
3. It's snappy and fast. The processor speed makes tooling around in the iPad really quick and fun. There is a sense of instant gratification. You never get that feeling of impatience in the actual iOS environment, unless you're on the internet, which is not a function of the iPad itself.
4. The screen resolution is amazing. You do feel like you're holding a piece of glass. You do feel like you have the internet in your hands. The images and clarity are really vivid and sharp; feels like HD. It's a joy to look at.
5. The size is right. I have an iPhone, and it's great, but I don't think of it as a laptop. I think of the iPad as a laptop b/c of it's screen size (9.7 in). It really does feel like a laptop experience, not a phone experience. I don't want the iPad to fit in my pocket. I've got my iPhone for that. I want it to fit in my briefcase where I have to pull it out deliberately to do my work.
6. I'm reading a lot more. By golly, the fusion of form and wireless convenience has moved me to a lot more reading. I pull out my iPad to read regularly, and I'm reading more than I have done in years! I thought for sure I would not like an ebook format. I guess because I can have multiple books on my tablet, and not have to lug around multiple physical books, something clicked by having a mini-library on the iPad.
7. Except for heavy content creation (sermons, powerpoints) which I do at my desk, the iPad does everything I want from a consumption standpoint - viewing emails, checking facebook, twitter, news, gaming (Scrabble, Boggle, Angry Birds). It's instant-on feature is great. No powering up. Turn on the home screen and you're good to go.
8. The Apps are fantastic. I now know why some people are alarmed that apps could drive people away from the internet. A well written app beats the internet. It's a "specialist" little piece of software that takes over the web function in the area of your choice and executes it much more efficiently. E.g. Newspaper apps work much better than surfing their sites online. Games as mentioned above are totally fun to play in digital forms.
9. Pinch and expand works really well. There is no lag time in resizing pages, text; it's instant, not like a new or re-rendering of the screen. This is amazing. Actually, the whole iOS environment works great.
10. Sharing sites, images, youtube videos, is easier and more intimate. Sharing stuff on a laptop works for sure, but it doesn't seem quite as personal. The iPad makes it more "communal," personal, and packs a "wow" when you look at stuff together with someone else. It feels more like sharing a physical photo album.
11. Battery life is looonng lasting. On my recent 12 hours trip overseas, I never ran out of charge, while reading two books, journaling, playing games and surfing the net. Another great convenience factor.
12. It's an educational, productivity, social and spiritual resource tool. This is the effect of what the iPad does for me taken in aggregate. To have all these functions in one device is really nice.
A few caveats: 1) The on-screen keyboard is adequate, but not a killer feature. For those needing to do lots of writing, this may be a downside although you can purchase a keyboard. 2) Safari, the surfing browser, doesn't allow for multiple tabs on the same screen, but forces you to have individual screens for every page. This is a bit of a pain if you want to multi-task a lot, and toggle through screens; but it's livable. 3) There's no USB port for transfering data. Again, the iOS is not an actual desktop environment, so you're a bit limited. There are "cloud" workarounds, which work well, but not necessarily ideal.
So there you have it; 12 reasons I like/love the iPad, (and 3 reason i don't). Oh, and and one more thing...."Thanks Mom for introducing me to the iPad!" She was so excited about the usability of the iPad, she evangelized me to it and bought me one! Long live Moms!