Some of you already know that I gave my iPhone 3GS a little rinse with Austin lake water several months ago. What you may not know is that I did so after taking several pictures and capturing some video with it, and it wasn’t until recently that the phone was in good enough shape to recover those fleeting moments.
I went outside a few minutes ago to take a picture of the loneliest sight that I have to face almost every day. To my very pleasant surprise, I found this instead:
In the time it took me to conceive of my photo concept and walk outside to make it happen, Donnell came home.
So…I bought an iPad. I probably shouldn’t have, for many reasons, but I did, and now it’s all used and I can’t take it back, and I do feel a little guilty. It’s the sort of guilt, though, that goes away when I have the device in my hands or on my lap and I’m actually using its magic…
Anyway, here are some quick observations:
It’s dense. Being used to the Kindle, I was expecting something a little lighter. That’s not to say that the iPad is heavy, but it’s certainly heavier than I thought it would be. It’s also very, very solid–a nicely-designed, minimalist piece of tech.
The battery is amazing. With regular, semi-constant use I could easily see getting 20 hours of use on a single charge.
Touch-typing is out of the question, but hunting and pecking can be very speedy with a place to set the iPad. For substantial amounts of typing, I’d consider a Bluetooth keyboard or the Apple keyboard dock essential.
It’s fast. Applications start up with almost no delay at all. Scrolling and zooming of pictures and web pages is instantaneous. The hardware just sort of gets out of the way and lets you do whatever it is you’re doing.
Reading e-books is easy. I haven’t spent a lot of time doing so on the iPad yet, but my experience so far leads me to believe that eyestrain isn’t a concern, and neither is legibility. The iPad might not have the incredible resolution of the iPhone 4, but text is very legible and the wide selection of fonts and text sizes available in iBooks ensures that I’ll be able to adjust if my eyes get tired and I simply…must…continue…reading.
I’m still getting a feel for what apps I’ll use on a regular basis. I’ve resisted spending a ton of money on high-def versions of my iPhone games, but the truth is that scaled-up iPhone apps usually look like ass. Upgrading is more of an inevitability, I’m afraid.
I’ll post some app lists soon. Happy Independence Day!
I love the Hipstamatic app for the iPhone. Not all of the photos shown below were taken with it, but I think the one exception is pretty enough that you probably won’t mind.
Longform.org — A collection of some really great long-form journalism, best read with…
Instapaper — Useful on the web, better on the iPhone…I can only imagine how good it is on the iPad.
Blosics 2 — is a pretty great little game. Consider yourself warned.
How to Cook Everything – The iPhone App — Hell, yeah. The entire content of the book, with a built-in grocery list system, recipe timers, and other cool stuff. Currently (as of 4/29) $1.99. Get this, even if you don’t have an iPhone (yet).
No excuses: I’ve been busy. Busy enough that I haven’t given a second thought to posting anything here.
Work’s kicking the crap out of me. It’s so incredibly strangely frantically busy that I can’t get a single task done without ten more interrupting. I’m not sure that I actually finish anything, but I know that I’ve started it all. My responsibilities are growing exponentially, expanding into areas that don’t make any sense and involving me in projects about which I have no knowledge, input, or expertise. I feel like I lose my sanity from 7:00AM until 4:00PM each day. Nothing makes sense.
