Here are my thoughts about the iPad after a week of using it. My keyboard dock arrived today, and makes typing much easier. I am writing this on my lap using the keyboard dock. The screen keyboard is much easier to use than contemplated, but I have a bad tendency to hit the m and n instead of the spacebar. That doesn’t happen with the dock, and the dock works more conventionally. One cool thing about the screen keyboard, though, is that it changes configuration to match the task at hand. I did most email on it for almost a week until the keyboard dock arrived today.
What is it? It isn’t a computer running the Mac OSX or Windows. It isn’t a big iPhone or iPod Touch. It isn’t an e-Reader like a Kindle, Nook or Sony Reader. However, it does many of the functions that each of those devices do, in a new and incredibly easy fashion.
It won’t replace your laptop, but you can tote it easily in many settings where you don’t need the full computer. In Court, I am now able to take notes: access my calendar, emall and address book: read any file documents I’ve downloaded to the iPad; do legal research; access the web; read anything on my Kindle or the iBooks app; read newspapers and magazines; play client ed videos or do online CLE, etc.
I’m likely to bring the iPad to CLE programs and to meetings where I plan to take notes. I’m likely to do some writing on the iPad, but not major briefs or legal documents.
One major frustration is the absence of multi-tasking. I can only use instant messaging for example, when all other apps are closed. That means I don’t know if someone is trying to IM me. This will be solved in the Fall with the upgrade to the iPhone OS (they will update the iPhones in the summer and the iPads in the fall, per Apple’s announcement).
The absence of a visible file/folder system is confusing. Applications simply recognize and list documents that can be read by that application. The new OS will also let you see some sort of file folder structure.
When the iPad comes out of the box, one must connect it via USB to a Mac or PC with iTunes. I had not updated my MacBook Pro to OSX version 10.5, so I had to do that first. I was already having difficulties resulting from lack of space on my MacBook Pro, so this was a full day enterprise, culminating in a trip to the Genius Bar in the nearby Apple store when the updated iTunes didn’t recognize the device. While I was there, the genius fixed a malfunction of my Mac Mail program, but failed to back up my preferences. So I had to manually set up all of those preferences over the next few days. Rumor has it that the new MacBook Pro’s hit the stores this week. I’ve been waiting to upgrade for the new intel chips, so I’ll be on the new computer soon.
But I have been enchanted by the iPad since the Genius got it up and running. It makes my MacBook seem cumbersome — large and slow. There is no boot time on an iPad. It is instant on, instantly working. Similarly, it takes no time to start up an application or open a file. Applications close instantly with whatever document or activity you were engaged in saved. Websites open at the speed of light.
I have the 64 gig version with wifi. I did not buy the 3G model because I intend to use the Mifi cellular hotspot device which lets me have five devices (my iPhone, my iPad, my MacBook Pro and two friends) on line at the same time. The first one Sprint shipped was defective, but the new one is here and ready for me to configure.
The screen is large, and clearer than any computer display I’ve ever seen. Television and movies are unreal on this device (you can get them thru the Netflix app, the ABC app, Hulu.com and the iTunes store). I’ve just tested the free TV at ABC and it is quite amazingly pleasurable to watch on this device.
How will I use it? Reading, websurfing, taking notes, writing short pieces, watching video, playing games, etc. It is seductively small, light, and accessible. Have I said clearly enough that everything is INSTANT! No waiting for things to open or close or download.
Email is actually easier on this device, but not for storage since you can’t set up dedicated mailboxes or save emails to client folders on a computer hard drive. All of that gets done on my computer, but I can read and respond on the fly with copies going to the computer for filing.
You can’t print directly from an iPad. You can move files to it via usb using iTunes, but you can’t use a flash drive or a physically connected external drive. Moving files is basically done through the cloud.
Apple’s Pages app theoretically recognizes word .doc files, but in practice has not located the .doc files that I have downloaded to this device via Apple’s cloud application — iDisk. I haven’t configured the Air-sharing app on the Mac yet — but that application which treats an iPad or an iPhone as if it was another drive on the computer may solve the problem. Apple touts iWorks, which includes a website for sharing, storing and collaborating on Pages documents. But I have an old version of iWorks on the MacBook, and am not going to upgrade there since I plan to get the new MacBook ASAP.
The QuickOffice App that imitates Microsoft products on the iPhone just crashes on the iPad. People are having good success with Google docs and various applications that work with that platform. I haven’t set up Google docs.
I can open and read .doc and .pdf files that I have moved to the iPad via iDisk using the GoodReader app. The iPad opens all document, spreadsheet and pdf attachments to email and lets me read them, but there appears to be no way to save them or edit them.
There is no way to add fonts to the iPad — one is stuck with the bundled font set.
There are a number of well-reviewed applications that let the iPad serve as a remote terminal for your PC or Mac. This seems to be the way to go if you need to access files or functions on the road.
When you set up the iPad, iTunes syncs your iPhone apps to your iPad and there is no extra charge for running them on the iPad. Some prove unnecessary because things just work better in Safari on this device — I took off the dedicated Huffington Post and Facebook apps, for example. Those sites are beautiful in Safari and don’t need the abbreviated apps. Other apps have improved iPad versions, so I deleted the iPhone clunky version and downloaded the dedicated iPad app.
All of my dedicated law iPhone apps, including the various versions of the California Codes and Rules of Court, work beautifully on this device. Fastcase lets me access every case and statute in the country. I haven’t tried Westlaw yet in Safari, but I don’t anticipate any difficulties. My apps that count court days and deadlines work beautifully. LawBox connects to various family law blogs — one can set it for the subscriptions one wants. There are a number of web-based judicial council forms sites that may be functional in a pinch.
This is my fifth e-reading device. I began with the RCA Rocket with its dialup modem. I still have a Sony Reader full of books. I’m on my second Kindle (a Kindle 2) and I also use the Kindle App on my iphone. But I’ve not used the Kindle more than once since the iPad arrived. Books on the Kindle app are more beautiful, display more content (meaning fewer page turns) and have color illustrations. The hyperlinks are fast and effective. The IBook app is also absolutely beautiful.
I haven’t found that the backlighting is causing any eyestrain. I like reading it in bed with the lights off. I love the color pictures and the hyperlinks. I still need my New Yorker subscription on the Kindle because the digital New Yorker is not user-friendly – one must keep zooming in and out. But I hear they are working on a tablet version. I plan to cancel my Kindle LA Times and NY Times subscriptions as I have been reading them on the iPad all week in their web incarnations.
So this device already seems indispensable because of size, speed and versatility. I lug my MacBook around to lots of places where the iPad will work well. Having an iPad in my purse instead of a Kindle gives me much more functionality. I can do most of the same things on the iPhone — but not all. And the iPhone now seems so small, cramped, awkward and slow.
Next step: I plan to add Timeslips remote to my Timeslips program (running in Windows XP under Parallels on the MacBook Pro) and then download iSlips to the Kindle so that I can bill the work I do on this device. I’m also thinking of downloading the WordPress app for blogging rather than pasting this text into WordPress at our blog site.