iPad thoughts

On Saturday I got to hold an iPad for the first time. To be perfectly clear, I don't own one and this mini review is based on the demo units available. While it was attached to the counter (local Future Shop), I was still able to hold and witness people holding it every which way as advertised.

At the time, when I inquired about PDF reading in iBook, I was greeted with an answer of, not really -- you need to use a PDF reader app and its interface for getting PDFs on the device. After the WWDC keynote of course, we know that iBook now supports this natively.  This was the big thing I was hoping for as I have many tech manuals, text books, and magazines in PDF and was looking for a nice little color reader for them.

The first thing that I thought about the iPad when I held it was it was heavier than I expected. The second thought was that it was extremely solid. Felt like it would do some serious damage if one were to drop it on their foot from a height. (clumsy modes happen) The touch screen didn't seem as easy to pick up my finger pressing as even my iPod touch. There were a few times I had to tap multiple times before it launched the apps.

Over all, apps ran very smoothly. Safari web browsing was good, couldn't check the mail app because I would have had to put my own settings in there. The few non stock apps and games they had were interesting, though not the focus of the device for me. Pictures looked good. The built in speaker(s) sounded decent even inside the crowded and active Future Shop.

One of the things I did while there was stand back and watch as other people of varying backgrounds used these things. I noticed that the young folk were able to pick it up and use it for the most part no problem. About half of the middle aged folk were comfortable with the iPad, but the others seemed a bit put off by some of the options.

The real test for me is going to be when my mother finally makes her way in to the display stand at the store. I want to give it to her and see if she can figure out how to do things without my coaching. She's been using a Mac mini for the last few years now, so I'm wondering how her "out of the box" experience will be. I've got her primed to get a 3G version in the next couple years to take in the camper instead of a full notebook.