My
review
of the Apple iPad 
Guess what? Yes, I bought
the latest iPad! Let me tell you, the iPad
is a killer. Once you own one, you'll never let go. I had
mine for just over 3 days and no way I'm letting go of it.
In case you have been under a shell and do not know what
the Apple iPad is, let me tell you more.
After the success of iPod
and iPhone, Apple has come up with the iPad. You can either
say the iPad is an oversized iPhone or a smaller Net notebook...depending
on how you look it it. In fact, I'll describe it as a cross
between an oversized iPhone and a no keyboard Macbook.
I'll describe the iPad
closer as being the iPhone than the Macbook. Firstly, the
iPad is
touch-screen,
so it does bear an uncanny resemblance to the iPhone. The
screen size is much more generous compared to the iPhone
and colour and resolution is simply fantastic.
For those of us who wished
that there was a bigger iPhone, this is it. With a more generous
screen size, everything looks much bigger now. In addition,
for those of us who had problem keying with the iPhone, the
'virtual keyboard' is much more generous now.
What can you use the iPad
for? Plenty. Most, if not all iPhone apps will work on it.
In addition, there are now iPad apps that are specifically
designed to work with the bigger and better resolution screen.
My favourite are the free
games available out there; I have downloaded Tap,
Tap revolution, Real Solitaire and
Touch Hockey and just couldn't put my
iPad down. All games play perfectly and respond well to
finger touches. A fully
charged iPad can run for hours without running low on battery
power; a problem that early generation iPods and iPhones
had but did not seem to occur to even the first generation
of the iPad. Even if you are not into
games, you can use iTunes, iPod, Youtube, Contacts and Calendar apps that come with it. Otherwise, go online and use the
App store to download the many free or paid appls available.
The other great thing about
iPad is that you purchase cheaply office apps such as Spreadsheet,
Word and Presentation software and use the iPad as a office
tool. It is indeed a Macbook, iPod and soon, an iPhone all
rolled into one one device that is totally wireless, light
and mobile. Hook up to a speaker or use a seperate Composite
cable and play the iPad directly onto a TV or projector;
it's that simple.
What else did I use the
iPad for? How about live monitoring of forex exchange, news
feed, hotel search, live traffic webcam, voice recorder,
job search and many more. There are just so many useful and
intuitive appls out there that are free or at only a small
fee. It's like carrying a walking encyclopedia, GPS and computer
on your hand. I had my iPad out of the
box and it auto-configure itself to my wireless network in
less than 20 seconds. How much easier could it get?
Make sure you get a carry
case for the iPad so that you do not scratch it. Some models
of carry case also act as a 'stand' so that your iPad is
prodded up on the table and makes it easier for you to see
and type on the iPad.
After lushing so much about
the iPad, what do I not like? Well, not much, except the
new iPad does not come with a camera or 3G but I'm sure a
later model will have all these feature.
Many of the iPad great
features are dependent on wifi; forex monitoring, traffic
webcam, retaurant locater... so you need to be constantly
on the net or you can lose many of the greatest features
of the iPad. Gosh, there is really not
much not to dislike the iPad for. If anything, the only thing
I can think of is that the iPad is too light and mobile;
if you are carrying the iPad together with a pile of books
or documents, do not be surprised that it 'blends in' and
you forget soon where you have left your iPad!
Don't forget to put in
a password into your iPad once you open your new box so that
if it does 'walk away', your data are at least protected. .-- Katherine Xie
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