Life with the iPad So Far

I have had the iPad 3G for about a month now… and it launches in Canada today… here are some observations from someone who’s been living with it for a while.

The Good

1. It’s pretty cool. I’m an all-around geek, and have always loved the idea of tablet computing. I wanted to love the Tablet PCs when they first showed up en masse around 2005, but it really felt like a bolted on experience to Windows. This, by contrast, is a very enjoyable experience, with a beautiful screen and finger-based control of the OS nicely embedded. Some apps are excellent, but I’ll delve in to that next time.
2. It has replaced my laptop at home quite often. I surf, consume content, read email… you don’t need a full blown machine for that (let’s not talk Flash). Consumption on this thing is actually fun.
3. Like a netbook, it’s rather inexpensive. If I want to bash around on something, I’ll use this. My Macbook Air is pricey, so I’m conscious of how I use it. Travel, couch surfing, whatever – it’s cheaper if I drop it vs. the Mac.

The Bad (With Some Ugly)

1. Being productive is a pain in the butt. I took the iPad with me on a trip, and my laptop as well. Here’s what I found:
   - If I got IMs from friends, it was super jarring switching contexts. Yes, I know multitasking will be addressed in the next OS rev in the fall, but, from what I’ve seen, it will be only marginally less jarring to switch between apps.
   - I was trying to find a deal for hotels in the US. Having multiple “tabs” (i.e., windows) open and switching is a real pain. Plus Safari reloads randomly the pages you were looking at in other tabs, so you have to wait. This is terrible for something like Google Reader, where context is important. Apple, put tabs or something here. Don’t just copy the iPhone.
   - Safari can render the pages you want, but often (say on priceline.com) you want to do things that expect you to be using a mouse… To be precise with a finger, you need to zoom in to the page. Then zoom out. Rinse and repeat…

   

2. The Ergonomics are odd. What I found:
   - You need the Apple case or a stand or something… to actually set it down and create content, it requires you to hunch over. At least a laptop holds the screen up by itself. Note that no picture on the ENTIRE Internet has a picture of anything other than hands!
   - The keyboard is odd. You can get sort of used to the non-tactile feedback, but, like the iPhone keyboard, the number keys require you to hit shift (huh?!), which is just another odd quirk that can slow you down.
3. It feels… unfinished. It really is cool and fun to use (though I do like toys). But honestly… it feels like it was “good enough” to ship. I know Apple will iterate and make it far better, but it truly feels like a large iPod. For example, when viewing email and holding the iPad in portrait mode, you will only see the last message  you tapped on. To see the list of messages in the inbox, you tap on a pop up that lists your messages (look at the image above). Once you tap on the message you want to read, the popup goes away and you’ve lost the list of your messages. Very odd.
4. It is heavy! It’s not a light sucker and does not fit elegantly into a small bag. I have a Sony Reader and it is a better form factor and weight for book reading, while the iPad is almost unwieldily. Magazines and  newspapers are more appealing to read this way, for the record. But it’s still heavy.

The iPad is an excellent 1.0 product filling a rather ill-defined niche and has some issues to overcome, some easy, some more difficult. I’m glad I bought it, but I will say this: if I go on a vacation, I will take my iPad. But I will also take my netbook / Mac.

Did you get one? Do you have one? What do you think?

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