I think therefore iPad

This thing is changing the game for me. Too much hyperbole? Probably, especially given the refusal of Steve Jobs to support Flash on Apple's mobile products (I can't watch video clips on news websites fer chrisssake); and there are a host of other useability gripes that make it frustrating to use - to name just a few (more complete list to follow when time allows):

- it claims to support Autofill, but the function clearly doesn't work. A bug.
- no apparent ability to 'delete to the right'.
- handles google mainstays Gmail and Google Calendar very poorly, rendering them viewable rather than practically useable - and these are my virtual life blood, Grrrr)
- it auto suggests words it thinks you want to type. great if you're texting, but this is a computer not an SMS device. I will re-read this and find loads of words I had no intention of including.

But lets look at the bigger picture. the fact remains that I now have a portable computer and am not tied to desktop in the freezing study upstairs. A laptop can do this? Yes, but it weighs ten times as much and gobbles power, and is much much bigger, relatively. I use this in my car. A godsend as I am in a car based job, as a community physio. The wireless sim card is not without the same patchy signal problems you get with your phone, but most of the time it more than meets my web browsing, google mapping, news and mail checking needs. And again, the size means I can pop it in my work bag, and not have to carry around an extra computer bag.

The most interesting observation for me, is how it has completely changed my relationship with my mobile phone. I have been glued to it for the last 3 years; a fact that has not escaped some of those in close proximity. Turns out it had nothing to do with using the phone. Of the 600 minutes I pay for, I use on average less than 200. This means I have been paying more than double the necessary monthly fee for the last few years. my fixation with the phone came from trying to get web access, to check mail, news, google maps. I only really noticed this once in possession of this iPad - I no longer check or even think about my mobile phone (to the frustration of M who notes it now takes hours sometimes for me to reply to a text as it simply is not on my radar to check the phone). So the mobile plan has been halved, voice mail turned off - it will now cost me to check on a lower tariff, how last century! The funds saved paying for the sim card in the iPad.

Not really got into the whole 'apps' or games thing really, as time is a premium and not something I have on tap anymore, to burn. I have found one though that allows me use Word, Excel and Powerpoint on/ via the iPad. Excel has been toyed with most, for toying with house budget spreadsheet. Time will tell how practical it is to try and work on presentations via this device, but not a major issue for me as presentations are few and far between now I am no longer a corporate, and there is after all, the desktop upstairs.

So to summarise my initial summary, this thing has a really filled in a gap for me that needed filling - it was most unsatisfactory trying to access the web on a sony ericsson camera phone. And it has changed the way I think and use my phone. For the same price, I could have bought an iPhone 4. While this would have been the more integrated approach (one device does everything) I am frankly tired of tying to access content on such a tiny screen.

So for now, iPad therefore I can :)

Locutus ...

ps .. clicking on this image is futile. You need a mobile device which is 'QR scanner enabled'. Any clue what am I talking about? No, me neither ... kinda. Apparently though you will have a clue in about 5 years when this trend is more prevalent. It is a 2D barcode (google it, or QR codes) that is individual and directs you to a website of my choice. Only found out about it via big bro this weekend so still exploring but couldn't resist posting my first ever bar code. I need to get this tattoed on my ass ... and shit, man!

I came. I saw. iPad!

Well I've done it. Early adopter status maintained, for the time being - my first post from an iPad. seems to support text only for now, in HTML mode only for any blogger users in the know, which is a little bit pants. That said, the flip side is that I have just done my weekly shop by going through the kitchen cupboards holding a wireless keyboard, connected to this iPad 'terminal' on the breakfast bar where I was then able to input said shopping list 'on site' without having to head upstairs to the study. Each item you are typing up into the ocado shopping list function is an individual searchable item in their database, which you can then add automatically to your shopping basket... 24th century baby! Keep wanting to say "computer, one more mueller light, raspberry". guess that may have to wait a little longer. Picard out.

:)