Next week I’m starting a 6 week contract that will have me travelling a fair bit. Knowing I’d be sitting on planes & in hotels for a big chunk of that I know I wanted to be able to entertain myself easily, and I figured this was as good a chance as any to get an iPad. You know: play games, surf the web, play games, watch movies/TV, play games, etc. Consume rather than create. Then I remembered listening to @Rog42 being interviewed in a @CoalFaceTech podcast (Ep14) talking about he uses his iPad for creation so much more than consumption. This got me thinking – can I do it too? A self-declared #Geek evangelist who has a very obvious lean towards Microsoft technologies?So, the challenge I’m setting myself is to use the iPad as my laptop for the next 6 weeks. In the office, out having coffee, as I travel, onsite nationally and internationally. You can follow my progress as I’ll tweet using #iPadAsLaptop hashtag, and I’ll be dropping posts here for more long-winded deconstructions of my experiences, including these initial impressions…
I had touched/used an iPad only briefly before getting my own. I knew what they looked like, & how heavy they are (compared to an iPhone). I didn’t really realise until I was using it next to my PC that they aren’t that big. Still entirely usable and I don’t think I’d want it too much bigger to make it too much heavier, but just smaller than I thought. That the iPad is still running iOS v3.2.2 was also a surprise, but then I remembered the announcement that iOS v4.2 will come to the iPad when it’s released in November. Come on folders. I spent a fair chunk of Sunday past watching the V8 Supercars race at Bathurst & tweeting using the iPad and am pleased to announce I am pretty much up to speed with the on-screen keyboard (just have to get used to some different key placement compared with the iPhone). I picked up the 64GB 3G/WiFi model.
When I’ll be using it in the office, I’m gonna want a keyboard. Was thinking about the integrated keyboard/dock that Apple have, however it locks the iPad into portrait and that isn’t always gonna work for me. So, I *think* I’ll be getting the Apple Wireless Keyboard & the PADACS ergonomic iPad stand (the latter allowing me to sit the iPad however I like at whatever angle I like and use it accordingly). Not committing to purchasing either until I see my workspace next week. Certainly my intention is that when I travel to site (in my suitcase) they will come with me, so their mobility is an important factor in selection.
Like all good fanatics, one of the first things I did was seek the collective wisdom of the Twitters to see what apps I must purchase for my iPad. There were a lot of people with opinions, which was good as many people recommended the same apps many times over. Also a few hidden gems too, or ones I may not have considered previously either due to cost or failing to see their application. Early purchases/downloads include Pages, Numbers, SoundNote (thanks @ireckon), LogMeIn Ignition, 1Password (I’m still to setup my DropBox sync-ed database, but that’s to come shortly), Reeder, Twitter (of course!) & some games including Angry Birds HD, FlightControlHD & RealRacingHD (it’s not all about the businesses). I already have MobileMe, DropBox Free, Windows Live & Gmail accounts so all my cloud storage is taken care of for the length of this trial.
So far? I like it. I haven’t really pushed it in a business scenario, but that will come. I did get the chance to use SoundNote in a couple of meetings yesterday and it worked great. It didn’t allow me to save the files when I synced it to iTunes (like Pages does), but I could sync the audio to my DropBox & be done with it. There is great hope. Everything is still shiny. I will not fail…