I have had my iPad for almost a week, and I wanted to give you a short review of my experience with it. This isn’t a review of the iPad, as in listing features that it has or doesn’t have and telling you what I like or don’t like. Maybe the better word would be that it is an overview of my experience with it.
It replaces 80% of what I used my iPhone for
I realize now that my iPhone was just that, a phone. I was constantly using it for reading rss feeds, checking Twitter, checking email—it was my primary means of doing that. It still is when I am on the go, but when I am at home or someplace working, the phone has been replaced with the iPad. The form factor makes it easy to handle while doing these tasks, but the large screen makes it so much easier to do these things. I realize now how much time I spent hunched over my tiny little phone screen.
Previously, if I came across an article that was a bit too much to read on my phone, I would go to my MacBook Pro to view those. Now, it is all iPad. The screen makes keeps me from the mobile web and allows me to use the real web. I don’t have to zoom and pan; I can just view it as it was meant to be viewed. Originally I feared that the 1024×768 screen resolution would bother me; it has been a long time since I have used a computer with that low of a resolution. Something about how you are holding the screen, and how close you are able to get to it, makes that a non-issue. The ability to quickly zoom into an area of interest on a web page also helps.
Looking for ways to replace my laptop
The laptop, which has become the new desktop, is not going to be replaced completely. I am not going to try to give up my dual screens for coding and graphics work. It is perfect for that. In the new world of touch computers, that is where the old way of doing things is still going to win. Setting up large work areas with multiple screens and being able to move quickly between different tools with just a keystroke or two, all the while keeping everything else in view, can be very productive and very intuitive.
But there are many things that I will be trying to accomplish with the iPad instead of running to the laptop. One area is all the pre-work work that I do. Brainstorming, writing, planning, sketching. Those are all things that I can do on the iPad and have constant and easy access to it.
In fact, one of the ways I justified the expense of the iPad was how far behind I am in writing proposals for work. By keeping the iPad with me constantly, I can work on this anytime. I use simplenote as my text editor which is constantly in sync between my phone, laptop, and iPad. It works great and is a big help.
So I am really enjoying the iPad, and am looking forward to seeing how it changes my work methods over the summer.