iPad in da house

I've increase my apple family by one, I now own a shiny new white iPad 16gig and surprise surprise I love it… Shocker. I make this statement not to state the obvious but because I expected a lot from this device it has and it delivers, and  them some!

I've been living with this new piece of tech for 3 weeks now and I already use it in most aspects of my personal and working life. This seemingly simple little device opens up new way of doing everything, watching TV, Reading news, Catching up on blogs & magazines, gaming, catching up on email, producing spreadsheet, taking meeting notes the list goes on and on and on. So with that in mind here's my 1st impressions after a short time with my new best friend...

Form factor

The 3rd generation iPad is thin, holding it in my hand it's hard to believe so much can be done with so little. It's a little weighty after holding it for a while but a trade off I'm more than willing to make for the awesome battery life. Better get down to the gym and work on throughs guns!

Battery life

I charge it every night and that's always been plenty to get me through the day which usually involves 2-3hrs of streaming video and 4-5+hrs of web browsing and gaming.

Spec

I went with the 16gig WiFi only model. I chose this model based on cost alone being the cheapest model, big mistake! Being so used to using an always connected iPhone for the last 3 1/2 years has made me come to expect some things from IOS. Case in point, I'm really missing notifications from the apps especially on email. Having to hunt for an available WiFi when I'm out and about, usually at work, is a plain in the ass to say the least. I can tether to my iPhone but it's not an elegant solution having to make the two devices talk to each other every the I just want to check email or sync Evernote, not convenient. 3G is the way forward next time.

As for the hard drive 16 gig does not go far at all! I very quickly filled up my drive space in just one day! I can be an app whore but I was strict with myself and kept it relatively low. Then I added roughly 10 albums and a couple of movies and I was full! none of my podcast were even added not good. I'm finding myself having to manage the storage very closely! When I take it on holiday later this year I'm going to think very carefully what I'm going to put onto it. One thing I should point out is I have photo stream turned on. Because I recently did a shoot using a more powerfull camera my stream is full of hi res image taking up around 4gig of my memory. I love shooting photos and photo stream is awesome for my work flow and so I can't be without but if your a photographer and want to use this in your work then your going to need to go big on the old memory. 

Screen

Retina display, you've heard and read loads about it but let me simply say is georgeous! Photo's look great but I tend to notice it more in websites, text looks sharper along with the images. 

Photography

The camera on the iPad was never a strong contender in previous models but in the 3rd itteration they stuck in the same lens that the 4g iPhone uses. It's not bad, while i'm never going to be doing photo shoots with this thing if i'm stuck in a pinch to snap a photo of something then this will more that do. While I wouldn't be using my iPad for shooting I most defiantly will be using it for editing a sharing. Photo stream makes getting my photo's, especially iPhone photo's, just about effortless and using iPhoto and other apps editing and sharing not only easy but fun too. 

Video

Watching video is awesome amazing retina display is a dream. There a tones of apps to get video onto your iPad I have a whole screen dedicated to them and all without downloading to your iPad it's self taking us valuable space, of course you need a good WiFi connection to make it work. I'll talk more on the various apps and what they do in later posts.

Web Browsing

9 time out of 10 i'll go to my iPad before the macbook or iMac just because the experience is so much better, websites look better on the retina display and browsing using a touch screen UI just seems so natural. Web pages load lightening fast and because it's so portable it's always close to hand. 

Apps

Now this is a blog post all of it's own, no serval blog post all of it's own. Needless to say this is where iPad really shines apps are the gateways to everything, you name it and there really is an app for that! Apps that i've been using on my iPhone for years seem basic compared to there iPad counterparts in both functionality and design. I'll be following section up with more posts very soon. 

Newstand

Newstand is great, its the one stop place for you to subscribe and manage all your favourite magazines. I've been reading some of the various magazines on offer such as Wired, Empire and PC Magazines. All of which take there print editions of there mag and created iPad versions creative interactive version of them. I done think i'l' be buying paper a magazine again. Magazines are available on a subscription bases or there are per item options.

Keyboard

The keyboard is surprisingly easy to type on despite being software and not hardware, most of this post was written on my iPad! It also has a simple dictation function which allows you to speak what you want to type and it converts it to text. It's a little strange to get used to to begin with but once you do it's pretty cool and surprisingly accurate. 

Summary

My new iPad really has changed the way I work and relax I really wouldn't be without it, i'm a little ashamed to say my iphone has been getting neglected. I really can see why sales of this awesome little gadget has greatsales numbers. They can be pricy I know but the good news is that older version can be picked up cheap and cheap, the iPad 2 is pritty much the same and the 3rd gen the main difference being the retina display. I can't recomened this enough, once you've played with one for a day or two you will find yourself wounder how you survived without once for all this time.

This post is just a very small summary of what I found so far. I will be following up with multiple posts about various aspects about iPad and iPhone and other IOS releasted things. If your not into apple you might like to take the blog out of your bookmarks. Just giving you fair warning now

Thanks for Reading and don't go changin'

G

Why I'm not buy an ipad (yet)

Well, the ipad has landed in the UK and is getting into the hands of the Brits. After all the speculating I’ve been doing I’ve finally had a chance to get my hands on one thanks to a friend who pulled the trigger on one during the pre-order phase which ment the luck b*tch got one the day before release.

People who know me might be a little surprised by what i’m about to say…. Since the ipad was 1st announced i’ve been a strong advocate for the device arguing with the naysayers. My feeling was to look at from a distance the ipad was not all that enticing. However I was sure that once people got a chance to touch it and play with it they would change their minds and instantly fall head over heals in love with it and soft music would play in the background and flowers would fall from the skys etc. Mostly I was right and, at the lastest count, the 2 million ipads sold proved me right…

What I was wrong about was my feeling about it. I wanted it soooo badly after I watched the announcement speech from Mr Jobs. Lotti agreed with me after she saw footage of the thing in action. We both decided we wanted it that much that we made a plan to sell her macbook to pay for it, rationalizing the decision because I had bought myself a 27” imac in January and so couldn't possibly need a laptop.

Now i’ve had time to come down from a new (Apple) gadget high and even had the opportunity to play with the ipad and  i’ve come to a realisation. I would be insane to sell a Macbook inorder to buy an ipad! YES, ipads are very very cool. YES they are the next new computing device. YES, they are extremely functional, sleek in design and very intuitive. But the simple fact is despite all this a Macbook can still do more because it has a full operating system were as the ipad is running of the same OS and the iphone.

For me the biggest issue a difference in operation systems causes comes down to TV. I’m all for apple's stand on not supporting flash but I watch a lot of TV content online because the nature on my job mean that i’m never home when the programs are scheduled to air. I mostly use Lotti’s Macbook to watched these shows because it’s portable and so I can be near Lotti and spend time with her while catching up on my tv fix. Most of the on demand TV sites use flash to play their programs meaning the what I would want to use the ipad most for would not be achievable.

Having said all this i’m in no way saying don’t buy and ipad buy a Macbook instead. remember an ipad is considerably cheaper than a macbook. I’m just not willing to sacrifice a macbook to do it. Incase you are wondering I still fully intend on picking one up when I can get the cash together, i mean come on! have you seen the ipad? it's amazing! When I do get my grubby paws on one I put up a review but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Don’t go changin’

G

Ipad is here

Finally Apple have announced there new 'tablet' device. It's called the ipad. Unfortunately I couldn't follow the live coverage as I had to work so I was picking up bits of info and what I was hearing wasn't really floating my boat.

Having gotten home and took proper look at the coverage from Engadget, Gizmodo, Twit.tv and the official apple video's I now really want one.

Now lets be clear I know I have an Imac, Macbook and Iphone so I can't possible need this device for any reason but guess what... I don't care! I admit part of my want for this is simply because its cool. Having said that I can see this being very usable in my house. I can envision it having pride of place in the living room ready to go when its needed. I can even see it replacing the macbook as we already have the imac for when a real computer is required. 

Price is very affordable, having said that no official UK prices have been announced. Like the Iphone the apps are going to be the driving force behind this device and if the apps already developed for the Iphone are anything to go by we are in for a treat. 

I do think it remains to be seen weather or not this device will take off but I have a feeling when people start to get their hand on these things they wont be able to resist the affordable and stylish ipad.

Ok thats my thoughts on the ipad, please feel free to post your thoughts bellow. 

Peace out 

G