Unexpectedly—and delightfully—I have an iPad. Some quick thoughts.
Unboxing, setup, speed
- The box it comes in is far bigger than the iPad itself to accommodate the power brick, small as that is. Maybe Apple want to start with a big box so they can boast about reducing its size in the next update. (And, less cynically, it's easier to invent a not-so-small box first and then put in the effort to shrink it later.)
- None of Contacts, Calendars, Mail accounts, Bookmarks, or Notes are automatically synced. I find that strange.
- I'm finally going to need to sort out a multi-computer solution for email. I've been using local mailboxes in Mail for years.
- Finally have a reason to put movies into iTunes. Speaking of movies in iTunes, I can't stand the often false distinction between "Videos", "Podcasts", "iTunes U" content, and so on. Please let me organise things as they make sense to me.
- Apple's Remote isn't native??
- Processor speed is fine but not blow-me-out-of-the-park. Can stutter on PDF scrolling, for example. (Not that my MacBook doesn't have troubles sometimes, too.) I figure if you think about it as a large iPod, the speed is impressive. If you think about it as a small Mac, the speed just feels like what you'd expect.
Apps
- It's annoying when iPhone apps sync in their iPhone form, and you have no idea that there's an "xyz-app for iPad" waiting to be bought in the app store. Almost duplicate iPhone/iPad apps are not so great.
- Dropbox is a great method for light-weight file organising. They should really work their viewing features so that other apps such as GoodReader don't have a reason to exist/eat their lunch.
- Badly need a BibDesk-like application for less light-weight file organisation.
- Instapaper is absolutely fantastic for translating casual browsing on my MacBook into long-form reading for some time later.
- OmniGraffle is A$60? I'm so tempted but that's a tough call.
Ebooks
- iBooks not available for Australia. Bum.
- Amazon Kindle app is very nice, even the buying process is easy despite going though the browser.
- I want to start reading magazine/periodical/newspaper content, but I don't really know where to start. I feel like my reading tastes are too varied/particular to subscribe to entire magazines-worth of content.
- Pretty impatient for ebooks to take off in a big way. I access to any book whenever I like. E.g., three random books I've always wanted to read but have never seen in bookstores: Momo, Mr Pye, Broom of the System.
- I dislike but will accept using different apps for different stores. It would be nice if there could be a universal interface to all ebooks regardless of their origin.
Games
Preface: I'm not a game player, usually. I used to play Peggle, until it ate up too much of my time.
- Totally hanging out for Mimeo. Any suggestions in the meantime?
- I would love to play the old Warcraft games on this thing. Warcraft 2 was the last game I really played intensely.
- Typing with thumbs in landscape mode is bareable. Haven't tried real typing yet.
- I just found Prince of Persia from the old days. Oh wow, gotta go now.