Got my iPad

[Sven Johannsen]

Hmm, can't believe I seem to be the first, 'got my ipad poster here'. And me a Microsoft MVP. Well it was too intriguing, and I do have the geek gene that is really non-denominational, even though my heart is with the other guys.

So this is just gloating and a few very early thoughts. It was charged up, though it seemed to be charged pretty well when I got it out of the box. Pretty sparse, as is Apples MO. iPad, charger block, sync cord, little box with warranty and instruction card. No not manual, not sheet...card. identifies the buttons for you, that's about it. Then it wants you to hook it up to iTunes. Tells you this when you plug it in to charge it. Then I hooked it to the iPhone cable that perpetually hangs of my PC. (yes, PC, not Mac. Remember I'm a PC ) This was not the wholly blissful experience I expected from Apple.

I plugged it in and it connected, but then wanted my Apple ID. It said if I ever registered anything with Apple I probably have one. Wait a minute, this is the iTunes I sync my iPhone with, doesn't it know who I am? OK, here's my ID and password. Yes, we know you. We see you have attached an iPad to this machine before (no I haven't), would you like to set it up as new, or restore from the previuos iPad, named Sven' iPhone. Gee that's stupid. Ahh, No, just make a new thing...O...K..

So we get some options of things we want to sync, and I say no to most everythoing so I can go in and do them individually with a bit more control in a minute. Grind grind, whir, whir, and the iPad is sync'd and can be removed. OK, so hit the tabs, sync my contacts, this, that, the other. Then I get to the Apps tab. Sync Apps is not checked, everything is grayed out, but all the apps that I've bought are checked in accordance with how I have them for the phone. Hmm, if I check sync apps, is this going to load all those on the iPad too? Hmm. Well, I unplug the pad and plug in the iPhone to see if it still understands it. Yea, it's OK. Back to iPad. Let it go to done, you can unplug. Go to apps tab and check sync apps. Yup, every last icon slides over to the virtual iPad. Fortunately you also get the Apply button at the bottom. So now I just needed to uncheck every application i n d i v i d u a l l y, so they woiuld install on the iPad until I decide if there were any worth putting on there. Then Apply. great, no apps, that's what I wanted. Back to iPhone. Good, it is fine, it kept the app complement seperate.

So I wonder. Can I hook up both the iPhone and iPad at the same time? Sure can. (If you wonder why I wasn't sure, I'm a Windows Mobile guy. Can't do that with Active Sync. At least it only talks to the first device you connect) Itunes puts both devices under Devices and you can select which one to play with. Very nice.

So, little distress, at initial setup, but probably unwarrented. Worst that would have happenned was that it installed all the apps, and I would just let it un-install them. I might have preferred all the apps to be initially unchecked, or certainly would have like an un-check all button. (or check all button for that matter), but, hey, it was just some extra effort.

Other interesting thing is that the charger that comes with this thing is pretty small and specifically designed for interchangeable AC prongs. Possibly international support? The connection would fit the figure eight plug found on many laptop brick AC cords too. ( http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=6511) So if you can find one of those for your mains connector, you could cludge.

Well, next I'll actually turn it on an play with it.

[Sven Johannsen]

Well, I'm freakin' impressed. I spent some time just playing with what it came with, and mercifully it didn't come with a ton of stuff I didn't want, as many Windows desktops/laptops do. Actually didn't come with a lot on it, but you already knew that. iPod, Pictures, Notes, Safari, Utube, and some others. It of course offers iTunes and App store to ensure you can continue to pour $ into the new toy. Animations are quick and fluid, as you would expect. Browsing is certainly way more pleasant than on an iPhone...it's a 10" screen for pete's sake. Doesn't take long to hit the Flash barrier, but that's a reality, and shouldn't come as a surprise. It may become more surprising as one discovers how much flash there really is.

Once you start checking out the available apps, you get a better feel for how usefull this thing is going to be. While I checked out some news sites via Safari (designed for iPad BTW. How does Apple get this to happen??) I downloaded some dedicated news readers and aggregators. No doubt this could seriously cut into daily papers for that news blast with the morning coffee.

I grabbed the iPad iWork components and just went through the into files. Those are gorgeous, and with some Office compatibility, since that is what I use at work, they could easily support me on a business trip. I'll have to play with a BT keyboard to see how that goes.

Reading some of the news blogs I even found a bizarre offereing. WinAdmin, iPad Edition. I expect some already know of the iPhone version, but this is an RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) client for Windows platforms. Imagine being a Windows Admin at a Starbucks when you get that call that it appears a service on the server has stopped. Yea you could get to it with your Win netbook, or even you iPhone, but imagine getting to the console with your 10" instant on iPad.

That brings me to one thing that I think this has over everything that has come before. This isn't the first tablet, or first touch screen, or even first slim comuting platform, but AFAIK, this is the first one with the phone like instant on. My word that makes a difference. Wife and I were in the family room this morning and she grabbed her big Dell laptop and fired it up, Couple minutes later, she was up and ready to go. I grabbed the iPad, and hit the on button as I picked it up. I was ready to go before it hit my lap. That is a big deal, and a feature that is worth half the price IMHO.

I bought a 16G, mostly because I wasn't entirely sold on becoming a fanboi, the cost, and really no solid need for the device. Not sorry, but if you are an Apple fan, don't hesitate on the higher capacity models, though I think $100 for 16M is a bit steep. Had it been $50, I might have come home with the 32G.

My only complaint, and it's not a gigantic one, is that 1.5lbs seeme heavier than you might expect. I don't think you are going to be holding this for very long in the DMV line with a coffee in the other hand. I think this is definately a sitting in a comfy chair sort of device. Emminently more portable than a notebook/laptop/netbook, especially since the battery life means you wont need a power adapter within arms reach all the time. With that said, I wonder if I would spring for a 3G version at all. The vast majority of the time I am fixed, I can arrange to be near WiFi, Home, Office, Coffee shop, Public library, Airport, etc. I think the month-to-month plan AT&T is allowing is much more condusive to having a 3G, just in case, but I wonder about the price to benifit trade off. In any case, my Wife has a MiFi with Verizon, so that is an option I have.

Thought I'd end with a little bit about power. I saw some flareups on the net about the iPad not charging from some USB ports. There is some truth to that. It comes with a charger that looks like it was pixel-doubled from the iPhone sugar cube charger. It's about 4 times as big. I charged my iPad with that, and it actually seemed prety well charged when I got it. After that I hooked it up to the cord that normally charges/syncs my iPhone and proceeded to setup, load, play for a couple of hours. I did not notice a loss in charge. Took it off the USB cable and played sitting in the LaZBoy. Naturally I used up juice. When I read about the USB charge issue, I hooked it back up to the PC, and sure enough, it said, not charging. BUT, I turned off the screen and let it sit for a while, and the charge percentage did go up. In fact, I left it overnight and it charged back to 100%. So, it seems that with the screen on, it can't quite charge the unit, but it does seem to hold on to what it's got. With the screen off it charges fine it seems, though I can't really comment on how fast it does it. I figure I'll charge from the wall wart and just use the PC USB for syncing and loading stuff. If the iPad is close enough to the PC to hook up, I'm close enough to be using the PC anyway. I do have two other chargers that do work with it to charge, a Monster thing actually intended for the Zune*, and my Callpod charging setup. The Monster one is kind of nice as it has a 6' cord so you can be a good way from an outlet. It ends in a USB socket, so the iPad charge cable plugs into it.

*http://www.amazon.com/Monster-AC-SlimCharger-Zune-Black/dp/B000JLL11C