*Not an iPad

It’s my blog, I’ll do what I want. :p

First off, don’t expect me to answer the question of who it’s for. I don’t know – I know I like using it, it fits my needs pretty damn well, and I’m really happy I bought one. Beyond that, I don’t know.

I can say that most of the folks that have spent any time using mine seem to enjoy it, and can begin to see how it might fit into their life – and the others think it’s a neat toy, and then dismiss it. Which is how it should be, really. It’s not something needed, it’s something wanted.

The iPad really is a big iPhone, not a small laptop. That’s both it’s greatest strength and it’s biggest weakness. What I mean to say is, that allows it to be dead simple to use and maintain, but not near as easy to modify or personalize. This is something I knew going into it, and not something that’s been an issue – I can set my wallpaper, which is more than can be said for any netbook running Win7 Starter. I can’t use Flash, of course, but that’s not something I rely heavily on anyway.

It’s great for email, Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader and text/image based internet in general. It is awesome for video, and pretty good for audio. The built in speaker is okay, but I’m very glad for the headphone jack. The screen makes reading easy and enjoyable (I’ve read two books already on it), and the ability to use Amazon Kindle is a major bonus.

The keyboard takes some getting used to, much like the iPhone. It’s pretty good, and close enough to fullsize that there’s not much of an adjustment. The lack of tactile feedback does make typing a lot slower than on a keyboard, but it’s at least as fast (if not faster) than using the iPhone.

It has supplanted my laptop, and is a great second computer – for those who don’t actually need a portable computer.

Hopefully in the coming week I’ll be able to crank out a review of the device, as well as some thoughts on iBook vs Kindle. We’ll see.

Btw: This post? WordPress for iPad.
The keyboard is so win.

Stephen Fry: Actor, Writer, Apple Enthusiast

Mr. Stephen Fry, actor, writer, friend of Douglas Adams, and Apple Enthusiast, has written a non-review review of the new Apple iPad for Time magazine.

In short, he fancies it quite a bit. That is not at all shocking.
What is, however, is the amount of space he dedicates to the memory of Douglas Adams.

Early in the article, he recounts the joy in owning his first Mac (in fact, the second Mac sold in the UK. The first sold? Why, to Douglas Adams, of course), and how that user experience changed his relationship with computers. It made computers fun again, their use akin to playing with a shiny new toy.

He says about as much for the iPad – in many more words, perfectly and artistically ordered, of course. As an aside, I must admit a certain level of admiration for Fry’s writing style. Truth be told, the four page article can be boiled down to a preference for Apple products because they are fun to use, and that fun makes it easier to focus on the task at hand, rather than dwell on the fact that one is, in fact working.

It is his closing paragraph, however, that caught my attention the most- and solidified my own feelings on the nebulous device I’ve never laid hands on:

[For] me, my iPad is like a gun lobbyist’s rifle: the only way you will take it from me is to prise it from my cold, dead hands. One melancholy thought occurs as my fingers glide and flow over the surface of this astonishing object: Douglas Adams is not alive to see the closest thing to his Hitchhiker’s Guide that humankind has yet devised.

Indeed, this is what I’ve wanted to hear since day one. Yes, I’ve compared the iPad to the PADD, but at the back of my mind I’ve also thought of it as The Guide, as in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Not the book, but the plot device from which the books name derives.

The same can be said for both my iPhone, and my iPod Touch. And, of course, the iPod Video before that, or my Macbook, or my iMac. All of them designed to be inviting and warm, to exude a sense of calmness at the user, and – in general – be functional without requiring one to think too much about what it is one is trying to do.

I’ve promised myself that I’m not going to buy one of these things until I’ve had a chance to use it, to evaluate it, so make sure it’s what I think it is – and it can do what I need/want it to do.

But, I’m fairly certain that once those niggling doubts are satisfied, it shall become as ubiquitous as my towel: Always at my side, should I need it in a pinch to fulfill one of it’s many uses.

5:22:29 PM: I’m going to annoy everyone on my Twitter thing by liveblogging the iPhone update. Yay technology!

5:22:43 PM: Installing now btw…

5:25:41 PM: Verifying. Hrm, blog seems to not actually be getting these updates.

5:29:05 PM: Okay, the blog is working. My phone? Not so much yet.

5:30:56 PM: Oh, what’s this? A warning that an app I have contains stuff not suitable for those under 17? Crazy…

5:32:15 PM: What’s this? Done already? Huh… Wonder why so many other people had to re-sync everything, but I didn’t.

5:33:47 PM: “whats this? what’s this?” Who am I, King of frakin’ Halloween?

5:36:46 PM: Checking out some settings. There’s an App Store entry in Settings now.

5:38:43 PM: Trying the Find My iPhone thing now…

5:40:22 PM: Getting some strange feedback on the blog. I think I’m also going to setup a new twitter account just for liveblogging.

5:43:33 PM: Found it to within a several blog area… refining it to within twenty feet. Not bad.