iPad and Me

I’ve never pre-ordered an Apple product before, especially if I haven’t touched it before.  I’m just a very nervous person about electronics.  I worry about the investment and of course my wife’s approval process is just as tight as Apple’s app review process.  So it was no shock to anyone who knows me how stressed and freaked I was. 

I could not out down the iPhone UPS app, tracking every non-movement.  I should have known better, Apple wasn’t about to ship these out just to sit in a UPS warehouse.  After all, I was plotting to extract it from one of the local warehouses by any means necessary!

So there I sat Saturday, impatiently waiting for the big brown truck to deliver my source of heartache.  Then it came, the knock on the door – totally interrupting my rerun marathon of “The Office” (yes, the US version and Steve IS the best boss!).  I was suddenly a ninja; I was at the door in the blink of an eye.  It couldn’t have been anyone else, I told all my friends to bugger off for the day.  I singed and rudely shove the UPS guy out of my way and slammed the door.

With rabid eyes I destroyed the packaging, annihilated tape bounds and pulverized cardboard prison walls to free my beloved device of the gods.  My iPad had finally arrived.

I’m not sure if my wife had added her input or reaction, I wasn’t paying attention.  I switched off the fierce, “destroy any and all obstructions mode” and took my time carefully unwrapping the plastic.  As if we were a young couple with a camera, I took some very sexy pictures of the un-boxing with my iPhone (what, thought I had a Android phone?!).  And it was hot.  Totally hot.

The box was deeper than I expected, especially after discovering the contents.  Inside the box, a small manual much like the iPhones, a power unit, USB cable, and of course the infamous Apple stickers – this time, I actually need them!  I was really surprised that Apple didn’t include a wipe cloth for a product of this size.  I am fortunate to still have this microfiber cloth from one of iClear kits.  I suspect that cost was the only factor for the lack of this, however I am still really confused as to why this box was so deep.  I will bet we see a reduction to the box size if the iPad popularity increases.

Once I carefully unsheathed my iPad, I immediately went to my iMac and began the initial setup process of cable and iTunes.  The whole process was really quick and I was up and running in about 15 minutes.  This without a doubt will vary for those of you who have pre-ordered the 3G version.  I will suspect that there will be an additional step or two for the cellular side, though not as painful as the iPhone.

My unit came with a full charge so off I went to download all the new apps I could.  The night before, I had loaded up my iTunes account with some phat cash in preparation for my hungry app-etite (patten pending!).  Right off the bat, a Twitter client of course.  On launch day, there were a few to choose from that were redesigned for the iPad.  Of those, TweetDeck, Twitteriffic, and Twittelator were the biggest standouts so I picked those up.  Next on my plate was the iWork suite of apps, and woah, those are a killer bunch!  These were one of the biggest selling points for me.  Without even launching an app, I moved onto task management apps.  The first I downloaded was Taska, a gorgeous GTD style todo list app, courtesy of AlphaBit.  I picked up a few apps I had on the iPhone which I couldn’t live without like iMExchange, Osfoora, and Beejive IM.  Finally, I wanted to launch iBooks and actually see this for myself.  After the download finished, I launched the app and saw the a nice little Winnie the Poo book awaiting my eyes.  It was all true, this thing was just as awesome as Steve Jobs said it was!

After reading a chapter to my daughter (she really thought that the page thing was so cool, she even flipped a few), I started to launch a few apps and configure them for my various accounts.  Everything looked so crisp and vibrant!  The onscreen keyboard was comfortable in the portrait mode but in landscape, this thing SCREAMS!  I couldn’t believe how easy it was to type on the landscape keyboard.  I will even go as far as to say it is more comfortable than my MacBook Air.  Even while at the desk in my home office, it feels so natural.

The transitions between screens both within an app and while closing apps, completely took me by surprise.  Apple has beefed up the processing horsepower so much, it literally feels like the pages stick to your fingers and apps launch at the speed of lightening!  Even the screen rotation is seamless, as quick as you turn it.  There isn’t a lag what so ever!  I only encountered performance issues with TweetDeck; it’s speed is suffering a bit, perhaps due to the amount of accounts I have configured, because it sure ain’t the iPad

Finally, I got most of my mandatory apps loaded and configured including email, notes, etc.  I needed to put some music on this, right?  First the must haves: Meshuggah, Porcupine Tree, and of course Rome Apart!  In addition to those, I had to add a few albums am reviewing.  I bring this up because I didn’t want to have an identical music library to my iPhone, it just didn’t make sense.  I wanted to only have the music I needed so that I can focus on keeping the iPad a productivity beast.  When I launched the iPod player boy was I surprised!  The whole player is very much like iTunes on the iMac or MacBook!  You can even create new playlists on the iPad!  This is great in those times that you need a break from the shuffle mode – like a rainy day mix of sad songs or a ridiculously chipper mix of happy kids music for long drives with the little ones.  Yeah, while I drive, my wife is likely to use the iPad to reminisce with photos of our honeymoon and what not.

Speaking of photos, the Photos app is amazingly slick.  Not much is offered in the way of editing but they just look stunning on the iPads gorgeous display.  Even compromising photos of, never mind lol.  Let’s just keep it to, “man, this thing looks killer!”  The slideshow function is great way to make the iPad a desk companion when you are forced to use machines of lesser style.  My coworkers will likely stare endlessly at photos of my kids as they bend, fold and fade one after another.

The iPad’s a dream to hold, especially on the couch, which is one of the most frequently used locations for my casual browsing and social networking.  The weight is comfortable when used on your lap, however I did get a bit tired of the one handed approach.  Considering the portrait keyboard was pretty manageable with thumbs, I still prefer the landscape one for most to nearly all of my writing.  So far, I haven’t really felt any eye strain or headaches from the LCD, perhaps because of my conservative use of the brightness levels.  That may change when I start to read more at night – especially Twitter!  You UK friends are killing my sleep quality!  Of course thats just a joke!

So far I haven’t experienced any bugs yet, as a passer by just asked me.  I am confused about the “free wifi at AT&T locations” part though.  My vocalist, Kieron, couldn’t log into the Starbucks wifi which is AT&T.  I’m sure a quick search on this will reveal some tips or solutions but hey, he is on his own with that.  He has an iPhone after all.

24+ hours of iPad use and I am extremely excited to turn it on again.  The applications developers are creating will defining the success and function of the iPad.  right now, some developers are just creating “bigger” versions of their popular apps, completely missing the opportunity to capitalize on the vast screen size.  Over time, more creative layouts are bound to arise.  There is no doubt in my mind as to whether or not my purchase was justified.  The iPad is here, things will change.

Be sure to check out our 30 second un-boxing and 3 minute overview videos.