The One (And a Half) Month Later iPad Review.

So the iPad has been out for a over a month now and I have been using it that entire time.  You knew that I would have one of these right out of the gate or what kind of Gadget Geek would I be?  I wanted to wait a bit to write this because a lot of the reviews that came out right when it launched were either geek-fueled love-fests or Apple hating diatribes about everything wrong with not only the iPad but Apple itself.  Also, I have written many a review of a gadget only to change my opinion (sometimes for better but mostly for worse) less than a month after using it.  So, I decided to put the iPad through its paces to see if I would actually use it or whether it would be a really expensive paperweight.

First off, let me say that I was really torn at first on whether or not to get an iPad.  The gadget addled part of my brain that is always looking for the ultimate geek toy didn’t question the fact that I wanted, nay, NEEDED the iPad.  The practical side of me questioned if I really needed what was arguably just a huge iPod Touch, especially considering the fact that I already have a desktop computer, a laptop, and two iPods.

Like everyone else (well every other geek at least), I was stoked about the rumors of an Apple tablet, but the supposed specs for the then unnamed iPad got really out of control.  People began to think that this would be the ultimate personal computer and you would never need anything else.  The Kindle would be dead, people would all cancel their cable TV, and world peace would commence shortly after it launched.

When Steve Jobs finally showed his ‘magical’ device to the world, everyone couldn’t help but to be disappointed (including myself).  Apple had let the fervor get a little out of control, and while it did give them great ‘buzz’ it kind of bit them in the rear.  People complained about everything from the lack of a camera, to the size of the screen, to even it’s name (I actually assumed that is what the name would be before it even launched, if fits with the Apple naming scheme).

I was so disappointed that I wrote the whole thing off and actually spent the money I had saved up for the iPad on a new camera instead (well, PART of a new camera).  But then Apple started showing little bits and pieces of what the iPad could do in interviews and on the web.  I got hooked all over again – though still with that nagging voice in the back of my head saying that I didn’t really need it.

Eventually, I made a deal with myself and just said that I would wait until my birthday in the summer to get one.  That would give Apple time to come up with accessories for it and for developers to come out with really cool apps (plus, I wasn’t sure if I wanted the regular version or the 3G enabled one that only just launched about a few weeks ago).  My wife gave me two months until I broke down and bought one, it ended up being three days.  I couldn’t buy the iPad on launch day since I was out of town but I did get to play with one two days later (Monday) and the next day I owned one.

I haven’t regretted a single day since.  I can wholeheartedly say that the iPad is my favorite gadget of all time (until the Apple comes up with the next big thing that is).  I use it far more than I ever thought I would.   Even my wife, who was pretty skeptical about me getting one (since she has on more than one occasion given me an ‘I told you so’ after I regretted buying some new gadget or another) wishes she had one.  Though the fact that for the price of an iPad she could buy a pair of designer shoes prevents her from getting one.  I use it a lot at night in bed while my wife is watching TV and when I would either be reading a news magazine, or a book, or be surfing the web on my laptop.  Now I can do both with one device that is eminently more capable than the sum of its’ parts.

The iPad is so much more than an oversized iPod Touch.  All you have to do is surf the Internet on an iPad and you will see just how different they are.  Surfing the Internet and touching links with your fingers instead of using a mouse just feels ‘right’.  I don’t know what it is, but just doing pretty much anything on this thing is really cool, even typing a review article.  I have typed this entire article using the Pages App and the on-screen keyboard.  While it took a bit of getting used to not having keys click under my fingers, I got to the point rather quickly to where I was typing almost as fast as I do on a regular keyboard, which is pretty darn fast.

No matter how fast the iPad is, it wouldn’t matter if it didn’t have great Apps to run really fast.  Apple and a lot of other developers have delivered them in spades and it has only been out for a little over a month!  I can’t wait to see what kinds of games and Apps that are out for this thing by this fall.  One note, Apple made a big ballyhoo about being able to use iPhone Apps on the iPad but I wouldn’t bother.  Even when blowing them up to the full screen size, they still don’t look right and don’t perform nearly as well as Apps that are made specifically for the iPad.  Just wait for them to update the iPhone version, it will be worth the wait.

One of my favorite Apps for the iPad is a cookbook – believe it or not.  Actually it is two cookbooks, Epicurious and BigOven.  Both tap into huge databases of recipes, many with pictures, and serve them up on this beautiful screen and it is so much more fun to ‘surf’ than a real cookbook.  You can then buy a stand for your iPad and have it right next to you while you cook and during really boring lulls in the cooking, you can play a game or two or just surf the web.  Another cool App is Star Walk, which is an awesome planetarium and star map right in your hand.  It even uses the compass in your iPad to change the view if you hold it up and turn different directions, so you can use it to figure out what star it what when outside at night (it even can change the screen to red on black to help preserve your night vision).

If you love your Kindle or have been thinking of getting one, the iPad outdoes the Kindle in virtually every way (other than reading outside in bright sunlight, and even that is not that bad). Amazon has a Kindle App for the iPad so you can read all the books you have already bought and Apple has their own iBooks App that has its’ own bookstore in iTunes.  Both are very similar when it comes to reading books and even buying them, though the iBooks titles are typically pricier than the Amazon ones (which is a whole other issue that I don’t have time to go into here).

A lot of tech pundits said that the iPad was too basic for a techie like me and too complicated for everyone else; I couldn’t disagree more.  The iPad has turned into a prefect companion device for me and has been seeing a lot more use than my laptop over the last month.  As for tech neophytes, the iPad is simple enough and feature rich enough to take the place of many peoples’ home computers or at least their netbooks.  If you are really thinking about getting a netbook computer, reconsider and check out an iPad first.  If all you ever use a computer for is surfing and checking your email, I can’t think of a better device for doing just that, than an iPad.  Anyone who uses a computer for pretty much anything short of full on graphics applications or bleeding edge gaming can probably do everything they do on a desktop or laptop computer on an iPad.  A friend did point out to me that you do need a computer to sync up your iTunes music and transfer over your pictures.  Though if you are just starting out and don’t have an iTunes library, you can just buy you music and download it directly to the iPad, and as for your pictures, there is a new adapter that allows you to download your pictures straight from a SD memory card and into your iPad.

Pictures are another place where the iPad really shines.  Flipping through a virtual photo album and showing off your vacation pictures on the iPad screen is nothing short of a ‘wow’ moment.  In fact, the iPad can double as one of those digital picture frames with the press of a button.  You put your iPad in a stand and it will run a slideshow of all of your pictures for anyone to see when you aren’t using it.

I could go on and on about the virtues of the iPad, but really all I have to say is that you owe it to yourself to take a look at one at your local Apple store or certain Best Buy stores, especially if you are in the market for a new laptop or netbook.  I haven’t even scratched the surface on everything the iPad can do or will be able to do as soon as someone writes an App for it and it is already my go-to computer in my house.  I bet for most people, it would end up being the same for them as well.  Here is a link to one of my favorite websites, Gizmodo and their take on an iPad replacing their laptop (Gizmodo Article).

The iPad is priced as follows:

Wi-Fi only

16GB $499

32GB $599

64GB $699

Wi-Fi + 3G (3G data plan sold separately).

16GB $629

32GB $729

64GB $829

Unless you are going to be using this a lot for surfing the web where you know you won’t have Wi-Fi available (which has become pretty widespread and will only continue to get better) I would recommend that you get just the Wi-Fi version.  The 3G data plans, while somewhat reasonably priced and not tied to a contract, are a tad skimpy with their bandwidth.  Plus surfing the web using the 3G network on your iPad after blazing around using Wi-Fi will make you feel like somebody broke your iPad.  Plus if you really need to check your mail or the web while away from a Wi-Fi hotspot, just use the phone in your pocket.

As always if you have any questions, or would like me to review a certain gadget, feel free to write me at jeff@healthandleisureonline.com.  Have a great summer!  If you can tear yourself away from your cool new iPad!

Gadgets & Gear: September 2009

Anyone who knows me or has read this column for the last several years knows that I have never been a big fan of Apple. Though if you’ve been paying attention, you will have noticed that my anti-Mac / anti-iPod stance has softened significantly over the last year or so.

In fact, I have pretty much said in this column that there really is no reason for you to have an MP3 player that is not an iPod. As I’ve said in the past, it was never because I thought that Apple made bad products, but that I never really bought in to their ‘I’m cool because I have a Mac/iPod’ conceit. But now things have taken a radical change…

I’ve officially gone to the Dark Side.

Not only do I have an iPod, but also the iPhone, and now I have replaced all of my computers (two laptops and one desktop) with Macs. It was a slow process at first, kind of like the Emperor from Star Wars whispering little things in Anakin Skywalker’s ear that started him down the path towards becoming Darth Vader.

First, my wife got an iPod Nano for Christmas a few years back which I had to set up for her since she didn’t know how, and I noticed how nice it was to navigate and use (though iTunes still sucked on PCs at the time). That led to me buying an iPod Shuffle for myself, which is still my favorite little music player.

Later I bought the iPod Touch when it first came out, then early this year I bought iPhones for both of us. Finally, after heading back to school to start my Masters degree, I was tempted by all the Macs I saw around me in class and so I bought MacBooks for my wife and I. It took three weeks of using my MacBook to convince me to ditch PCs forever and that is when I chucked my 2-year-old PC for a sleek new 24” iMac.

And I’m never looking back.

I thought I might miss that old computer system that I have been using since I was a little kid and ran on BASIC or the earliest versions of Windows, but I really don’t.

The ease of use of these Macs is just amazing. Loading programs takes just the time to transfer the data off the disk to the hard drive and doesn’t require writing entries to a registry and all that junk. Uninstalling a program just requires that I drag the icon to the trash bin and it is gone! I spent two days cleaning up my old PC to give to a family friend mostly because all the programs took FOREVER to install/uninstall with numerous re-boots all the time. Every hassle that I have had with my Mac has usually been because I was trying to make things more difficult than they really were; in other words, I was trying to do them the Windows way instead of the Mac way.

Now granted, many of my original arguments against Apple/Macs still stand. Want to upgrade your iMac or MacBook? Grab a sledgehammer, destroy the old one, and then go buy a new one (it’ll be easier that way). Want to buy accessories for your Mac? Be prepared to pay the Apple Tax, which inexplicably adds about 20-40% to the price of an equivalent piece of equipment for a PC. And I would still argue that if Microsoft only had to design a software package for a single design spec like Apple, they could make something that works just as well as the stuff from the geniuses at One Infinity Way. They probably wouldn’t be as slick looking (though the new Zune HD from Microsoft shows that they can make an incredibly slick device when they want), but I guarantee you Windows would work better if they didn’t have to make it work on thousands of different computer configurations.

I have gone from being a naysayer to an advocate with all the fervor of a convert! There isn’t enough time for me to write about all the little things that I love about my Macs, but I can sum them up with just a simple phrase: THEY JUST WORK.

Like I stated earlier, doing things on a Mac is much more straightforward than anything on a PC. All the little maintenance things that I had to do to keep my Windows Operating System from eating itself alive to all the little back-door workarounds to get something to work are no longer needed. One of the biggest knocks on Macs by ‘power users’ of Windows systems, is that they don’t feel that they have enough access to the system for their taste. While it is true that many of the things that Windows users are used to ‘tweaking’, are a little more deeply buried, they are still there if you know where to look. The beauty is though, you don’t have to use them.

I was a ‘power user’ myself and I knew tons of little tricks to make Windows work smoother, but I haven’t really missed not having to do that. It is almost like going from a manual to an automatic transmission, I can focus less on getting the car to move and focus more on driving (but there will always be those who don’t feel they are really driving unless they are in a stick-shift).

There are a couple other ‘drawbacks’ to the Mac compared to the PC in addition to the ones mentioned above, and those would be a relative lack of software and very little support for gaming. There are some software packages that only run on Windows and if you need one of those programs, you probably will not want to switch to a Mac. You can always load Windows on a Mac using Boot Camp, which comes already installed, and run Windows on your Mac when you need it, or better yet use a program like Parallels or VMware Fusion to run Windows (in a window, go figure) on your Mac.

If you are a big gamer on your PC, you are going to be sorely disappointed in the quantity and quality of the games available for the Mac. Sure you can play The Sims 3, but forget about a bunch of the Massively Multiplayer Online games or a lot of the shooters (though they do have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare which is arguably the best shooter of all time).

If you are worried about the compatibility of files for going between work and home, you can always get Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, which I personally believe is the best version of Office I have ever used, and I have been using Office from day 1. It beats the snot out of that abomination they call Office 2007 on the PC.

So there you have it from the man who swore he would never ever give Steve Jobs a single red cent of his money. I have gone to being one of Apple’s biggest supporters. Do yourself a favor and just go play with some of the computers at your local Apple store. Sure, you may not recognize where everything is at first, but the learning curve for Apple products is significantly easier than the PC one.

So if Apple is the Dark Side, and Steve Jobs is the Emperor, I guess that would kind of make me like Darth Vader…

I’m cool with that (as you can see from the picture below).

As always, if you have a gadget you would like me to review or some techie question you would like answered, feel free to email me at: jeff@healthandleisureonline.com.