A little over a year ago I jumped into the Apple scene with an iPod Touch. This was the first Apple item I ever bought. I always tought their products were overpriced and I could do the same in Windows, but all the talk about the iPhone had me intrigued, and i wanted to get one but at the time an iPodT was my best option. Needless to say I was blown away by that little gadget.
Months later i even jumped ship after 10+ years at Verizon to AT&T and the iPhone. Over time i noticed that most of my web time was being spent on the iPhone. My PC was mostly used for downloading movies and stuff i would later add to the iPhone & iPodT. I was even using the iPhone to control the PC from the couch lots of the time. When the announcement of the iPad came, i knew i wanted it. Why you ask?… already had an iPhone, an iPodT, and a netbook for when i am out of the house?!? .. Hey, i never said i “needed” it, I just figured that the bigger screen will be more pleasant and easier to use for what i do….. and when they mentioned the price, let’s just say that it put me over the top as everyone (including me) was expecting this tablet to be sold for over $900.
As the day came closer to the release date I considered to pre-order, but figured i’ll pass and get one after the initial bugs are worked out (as in any v1 product)… Days before release day i changed my mind, Why should i wait? …. So, the night before, after work @11pm I stopped by the closest Apple Store to see if there were people in line because I read people already started lining up at other stores… When i got to the store in Memorial City Mall i was greeted with a high-five by one of the Apple dweebs. They were already preparing the lines for the expected 300+ people….. I was the first one there and I could’ve gone home for a few hours but I figured what the heck, if i stay i am guaranteed an iPad…. so i stayed.
I was glad that after 30 minutes or so another person came in to wait in line, so i didn’t feel that foolish for staying. We chatted about the iPhone, our expectations on the iPad, compared netbooks, apps and then each of us watched a movie to pass the time.
By 5:30 the line had grown to 11 people and that’s when things started to pick up… You’ll see a couple more show up every few minutes … The Apple dweebs showed up again to give us water bottles, coffee from Starbucks and some pastries. It was kind of weird being there with so many Apple people, as i was still a PC more than Mac. At 9am there were 100+ people, newspaper and tv reporters (houston chronicle and channel 39 news)… Next thing you know the iPad was unveiled to about the first 25 people in line.
Soon about 20 who preordered it were let inside with the first non-preorder person in line….. That was me, and believe me, I got out of there asap as I figured there was too much chaos in there, plus there were a bunch more others waiting for their turn to buy one.
If you read this far, I am sure you want to know if it was worth it or not….. like i stated in the newspaper. (funny that the story they wrote was hyped somehow) ….. After 5 days of constant use i have to say that the IPad is the bombizzle, it is awesome, It is all that and a bag of chips. Everyone that sees it likes it, they want to try it, ask info about it… They are intrigued…. They usually have the same question… is it a laptop?… of course i tell them it is not… A laptop can do much more, but what the iPad does it does it so well, and most important, it does what i want it to do, what i expect it to do and hopefully with OS 4.0 much more (like multitasking, printing, and wireless sync) …..
So to those looking for more info about it, here is a simple list of the stuff I use it for:
- web browsing… 95% of my favorite sites don’t rely on flash so i am not missing it.
- Pages is your iPad word processor …. $9.99
- it has a mic so you can use some apps that let you make voip calls, record memos, audio chat.
- you can use it for 10 hours before recharging, yes you can. – gmail is a breeze to use here – common social websites are there or you can download many free apps for them.
- not worrying about antivirus or worried about receiving a virus/malware/spyware at this time 
- gaming… Tons of free game apps … Personally I am waiting for Street Fighter IV HD …
- drawing/painting … It’s like finger painting but without the mess… Autodesk Sketchpad Pro is awesome $7.99
- reading news, free apps to local or national/world news. I read it first here then find them in the newspaper….. Bye bye chronicle subscription.
- reading books Tons of free classics, you can even import your collection.. Better than reading on the PC … More convenient than carrying all these books/magazines.
- reading comic books … Reading via the marvel app was awesome … Even get free books to start…. Other comic book apps let you read your comic book collection stored on your PC..
- watching movies … Air Video let’s you watch the movies stored on your PC via iPad/iPhone/iPodT
- control your PC via remote desktop or as a mouse.
- blogging …. Typing this post via Word Press app.
- instant message / text messaging … Done via apps … Some free some can cost some moolah.
- map directions … The google map app even lets you street view (a hit with the older family members who wanted to see the old homes in Mexico)
- watch TV shows … CBS site let’s me watch my fav shows.. No need for flash i say … ABC viewer app let’s you do it a well but a bit easier. More to come.
- SD photo and camera reader/viewer $29 (comes out in a couple of weeks)
- physical keyboard .. At first i thougt of buying one of these but after using the screen keyboard for a while I really see no need for it yet. $60 (wireless or docked)
- plays your iTunes library (music, movies, podcasts, tv etc)
What i can’t do or don’t like:
- no support for flash …
- screen smudges… Looks ugly when off, but isn’t a problem at all when screen is on.
- no multitasking (this will be possible in the fall with v4.0)
- no native printing. (hey apple or lexmark, I just bought a lexmark interact printer and i need to use it somehow lol….)
- no DVD drive… Who cares, really.
- wifi hiccups. It is reported that a lot of people have no connection or slow connection. I haven’t had that problem tho mine disconnects a few times a day and asks me to connect again. ( i could enable automatic connect in settings to fix his problem)
btw… now i consider myself as a PCMAC guy … somewhere in between.
