My iPad: A Personal Report

June 28, 2010 / Updated: June 28, 2010 / Lena Shore
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I wanted an iPad. I don’t think I could honestly say I needed one. I made up my mind to get one the same day my neighbor did. We decided it would be fun to get up before dawn and camp out at the Apple Store on the release day. (Yes. I’m one of those people.) So it was one clear April morning we found ourselves standing in line and having fun chatting with other early adopters. A few hours later I was lucky 13 — the 13th person in my town to get an iPad.

Since then, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my iPad and what I do with it and why would someone need one.

Did you get the 3G?

Nope. I decided I would be using it mostly at home on the wireless and didn’t want to pay for a plan.

Can you work on it?

Well, it depends on what kind of work you want to do. For $9.99 each, you can get the components to iWork (Pages (layout program), Numbers (Spreadsheet program), and Keynote (Slideshow Presentations). Those seem to have people pretty much covered.

Is it easy to type on?

It has an onscreen keyboard that when used horizontally is very similar to a laptop keyboard. So it isn’t bad. I like it. No, it’s not the full size keyboard with the tactile response you may be used to, but it works very well. I do know people who prefer the “glass keyboard” to their normal computer keyboards.

What do you use it for?

I use mine to separate my work from my play.

Social Activities: I get my personal email and check my Facebook account. I tweet. I keep up on Linkedin.

Movies and Music: I watch movies. I can stream Netflix movies with it and manage my account. I can rent or purchase movies through iTunes as well as music. I can listen to music, but find myself doing other things.

Games: Lots of games. My favorite right now is Plants vs. Zombies by PopCap. Super fun!

Internet: I surf to all my favorite sites like I would on my computer.

Planning: I keep track of projects using Things by Cultured Code.

Reading: I keep up with all of my news and RSS feeds. I can also read electronic books, PDFs, etc.

Voice Recognition: I have a Google app that you can talk to and say “What was the movie that John Travola was in with Olivia Newton John” instead of typing it. I can also use a dictation program to write an email, note, recipe, etc. instead of typing if I want.

Do you have a case for it?

I got the official Apple iPad Case that Apple sells (pictured in this article). I love it. It does everything I want and washes off easily.

What apps does it come with?

  • iPod (listen to music, audiobooks, and podcasts)
  • Mail (send and receive email from all your accounts)
  • iBooks (Read and purchase books and soon you’ll be able to read PDFs as well)
  • App Store (Browse the entire store and find free and really inexpensive apps)
  • Safari (Surf the internet)
  • Photos (Browse all of your photo albums in a very natural way)
  • Calendar (Keep appointments)
  • Contacts (All of your contacts at your finger tips)
  • Notes (Keep notes)
  • Maps (Look up addresses and businesses and have it give you a route)
  • Videos (Watch videos and movies)
  • YouTube (Browse and watch Youtube videos)
  • iTunes (Browse and download music, movies, TV shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, iTunes U)

What are your favorite 3rd party iPad apps?

  • Google Analytics (check out your website hits)
  • Plants Vs. Zombies (Fun, addictive game!)
  • Dragon Dictation (Talk to your iPad and make it type for you)
  • Pandora (Create and listen to your own radio station with the music YOU like)
  • Things (Project and t0-do list)
  • 1Password (Keeps all your passwords handy and safe at the same time!)
  • Early Edition (Put all of your RSS feeds in this and read it like a newspaper)
  • U-verse TV (If you have AT&T U-verse for your cable/internet/phone you can use this free app to browse your television schedule and program your DVR)
  • Netflix (Watch streaming movies from Netflix)
  • TweetDeck (Follow your tweeps!)

What size did you get?

The iPad comes in a 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. I got the 32GB thinking that I was going to  be sharing with my husband. Apparently, I’m no good at sharing iPads. I ended up getting him his own because I couldn’t be without mine long enough for him to share it. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have gotten the 16MB. But, if you like to keep a ton of movies on your iPad, a larger one might be better.

How much room do you have left on yours?

I have about 1/2 of mine filled up. Right now I have 6 movies, 3 pages of apps, 10 podcasts, a few books, and 5 days worth of music. Maybe I really did need the 32GB. The music and the video is what takes up the most space. I’d say 90% of my used space is music and movies.

What do you like the most about your iPad?

Probably the lock on the screen. When you rotate your iPad, it rotates the screen. But, you can lock the screen so it won’t do that. Why would I want to do that you ask? I can lay on my side on the bed or sofa and watch a movie or surf the internet. What could be more decadent?

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