I’ve had my Ipad 2 for a few weeks now, and let’s just say that every other device I bought before it has turned out to be useless in comparison. For the longest time, I was convinced that I would find no use for an Ipad, figuring that it was one of those devices that doesn’t really do anything I need. Boy, was I wrong. Let me explain the features that have made this device my daily technology “thing”.
1. Email. I can check both my regular email and my work email on the same device. In addition to this, it also updates my calendar with my work calendar, so that I am always able to check my schedule and not have to rely on my office computer to do so. That’s really nice.
2. News. I used to use a Kindle to read the Washington Post. Now, I read the Washington Post on the Ipad. It also means not having to lug around the Kindle every day. Even my Kindle books can be read on the Ipad, using the Kindle app (at least for now until Apple decides it no longer likes Amazon).
3. Web surfing. Yeah, that rocks on the Ipad. It rocks on my computer, too, but when you can do it all on one device, it’s great.
4. Movies/TV/Music. All of it is on my Ipad. I can watch or listen to anything I want. Some movies I couldn’t watch on the Ipad because they weren’t in Itunes. Well, I bought a program that converts them. We’re fine with that now, too.
5. Comic Books. I can actually read DC and Marvel comics on the Ipad using their subsequent apps. The price of the comics is a bit expensive, but it’s possible to do so, and one day I might just start buying them that way. Not sure yet, though.
6. Pages/Numbers and Powerpoint-like software. I’ll be able to put all of my school-teaching powerpoint slides onto the Ipad and bring it into school to do my lessons. It may takes some configuring, but I suspect it will make life much easier than trying to maintain other devices and flash drives and all that crap.
7. Apps Galore. There are many games, productivity software and so much more that are available for the Ipad. I found a drawing program that I’m starting to use to draw my Stickman comics. It’s making it so that I can do a lot of things I couldn’t do before, without having to be tied down to a computer.
Negatives:
1. It’s not my main computer. It’s not as powerful as my main computer. It’s not in a Windows environment, and yes, I hate all things Mac. I’m not one of the fanboys of Apple at all, so this part of the equation does not make me happy.
2. Can’t play WoW on it. Even though World of Warcraft is designed to practically play on an Etch-A-Sketch with such low requirements the game has, it still can’t be played on an Ipad. Nor do I think it ever will be. This means that I have to still use my main computer to play the game. Which is fine because even if the Ipad could play it, I doubt I’d get the processing power my PC gets when playing the game.
3. Apple makes the thing. Yes, that’s a negative. Apple still has its walled garden, and I fear that it’s going to end up blocking off something I like to do because Apple tends to be moronic when it comes to things like that. They’re having a fight right now with Amazon, which means I may lose my Kindle ability on the Ipad eventually. It has problems with Google, which may mean loss of access to that environment. Apple has that “can’t play well with others” problem, and because of that I’m always fearing that my device is going to be as useless as my Motorola Xoom. What a mistaken purchase THAT was.