Apple iPad
Last week, while out of town without my MacBook, I purchased a 16Gb iPad. Stupidly, I forgot that – like an iPod or iPhone – it had to be synced with one’s computer’s iTunes before it would come to life, so to speak.
Long story short, I used one of the public computers at the store to sync. (Before you think I’m crazy, I created my own log-in, synced, then deleted the log-in completely.)
Once we were home, I synced with my own iTunes library and the iPad also went onto our Apple network for the first time. Typically Apple, it worked first time. The iPad was now officially mine.
Looks-wise, it’s sleek, quite thin, with an underside that is brushed metal and a front that is black, like the iPhone screen. **The picture to the left shows the iPad’s brushed metal as almost white, unfortunately.) I bought the 16Gb iPad because they didn’t have a 32Gb available. Now I’m glad I bought the 16Gb, as it is probably the perfect size for my iTunes library, photos, etc. Even a 32Gb for me would have been overkill in retrospect.
The one thing I may have wanted – also in retrospect – was the 3G model. Like many others I was under the impression that it would be a tighter-than-tight contract with the phone company, but I see now that contracts can be had for as little as $15. per month. They are also month-to-month, and can be “topped up” if needed. I figured that if I were out and about and didn’t have wi-fi, I could easily get online with 3G like my (now-deceased) iPhone 3GS. However, I downloaded an app called Read it Later from the iPad apps at the iTunes store and this will take care of any reading that I might otherwise have done online.
The first app that I downloaded from the Paid apps section was Pages. As a writer I need a word processor/desktop publishing program, and since I use Pages almost daily, I downloaded this iPad version. It’s certainly not as powerful as the desktop version, but that’s a given, and the reason why the app is about $9.
While we’re on the topic of Pages, I can foresee that Apple will probably be putting in some more features in future updates. As is, Pages for iPad is pretty good, considering. I use a dedicated writing program on my Mac for my second novel, but while I’m away from my Mac and typing on iPad’s Pages, it does the trick. Handy is the feature that Pages for iPad and Pages for the Mac are synced. I’ve tried it and it works perfectly. One can also email the document(s) or export as .pdf files. I export as Pages files and lo and behold, there they are on my MacBook after the next sync.
Beauty!!
The Keyboard:
Well, I’m not a huge fan. Being a fast touch-typist since high school, and having used more than my fair share of keyboards over the last thirty-something years, I’m all-too-familiar with the layouts of different keyboards.
The iPad’s keyboard is virtual, that is, when it’s time to type in any program or app, the keyboard appears on the bottom part of the iPad’s screen. It is indeed QWERTY, but then for keys like the Tab key, the apostrophe, arrow keys, etc., one has to go into alternate keyboards to access numbers and symbols, which can be a pain, but at least they’re there.
Getting accustomed to touch-typing (I’m not talking pecking with a couple of fingers here, I’m talking fingers on home-row, like we were taught back when…) takes some time to get used to. When you become accustomed to scrunching your two hands together and hardly moving your fingers, then you’ll be somewhat adept at touch-typing on the iPad. Like the iPhone, there is no “push-down-feel” to the keys as on a Blackberry, for instance, and this in itself takes a bit of getting used to.
There is also an Apple iPad (physical) keyboard that comes with a dock, but I’ve read some reviews that don’t put this unit in a good light. A physical keyboard would definitely be an asset to anyone who plans on typing lengthy documents.
The iPad can be used in either portrait or landscape mode, changing as you tilt the unit. There is also a lock to lock the mode you’re in, which is very handy.
Apps:
Understandably, there are not as many apps for the iPad as there are for the iPhone yet. Nevertheless, there is a decent assortment of both paid apps and free apps. (One of those free apps is Text+ which allows me to send and receive texts while I wait for my new iPhone.) Some apps are also available for both iPhone and iPad.
My favourite app of all is iBooks – not to be confused with the old iBook laptops from years ago. iBooks is Apple’s version of the Kindle or the other book readers out there. I didn’t know if I would like reading from a ‘computer screen’ but, surprisingly, I have to admit, I find it far easier and far more comfortable than reading the actual hardcovers and softcovers we’re all used to. You can select white pages or sepia pages for your book – I prefer sepia.
iPad will also allow you to download samples of books from Apple’s iBooks store and it’s a great way to decide whether or not you like the book. Even better is that the samples aren’t just a few pages of a book, these samples are, in some cases, 20, 40 pages. I have downloaded a sample and ended up buying the book – which was $11.99 Other books, after reading the samples, I just deleted as I found I didn’t like the book. These iBooks appear in a “virtual wooden bookcase” on your iPad, so it’s easy to see what books you’ve downloaded. There is also an abundance of classics that are free at the iBooks store. I downloaded Honoré de Balzac’s, “A Street of Paris and Its Inhabitant,” a charming story, and a freebie from the iBooks library.
These books can also be synced across devices, so they can be read on your desktop Mac, your iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Very similar, as you can see, to iTunes music on different devices.
iPad is also able to be used as an electronic picture frame. It takes the albums you select in iPhoto and displays them on the iPad screen. Saves you buying a separate electronic picture frame, too!
I bought a case for my iPad at BestBuy as iPad can be a dainty piece of technology and I preferred to have it in a case that is zippered all around. I bought a white Slick Case from Canadian based ACME MADE, San Francisco model and love it. 
It keeps iPad protected securely inside and the case need not come off at all, even for charging iPad. BestBuy locally had a large variety of cases, but this one is sort of ’60s sleek and fashionably retro. All in all, trés handy.
Well, that’s about it for this review. I’ve left plenty of info out, as there is so much to write about iPad, but I’ll update at a later date.
So far, I’d give iPad a 9 out of 10.
