Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Was getting the iPad worth it?

Was getting the iPad worth it? That is the question that I have repeatedly been asked over the last month. The broad, general, without clarification answer is "yes, it was worth it".

What do I like about it?
The screen is big on real estate and the virtual keyboard works very well.
It doubles as a Kindle for my ebooks.
For media consumption it works well (videos, music, books, social networking).
There are a huge number of apps so I have a several screens sorted by use - work/productivity, web pages frequently visited, multi-media, networking sites and programs, personal fun (comics, recipes, yelp, translator).
Lighter and more convenient than a laptop and easier to use than a small mobile phone.

So, what don't I like about it?
There are so many apps that it is hard to know which ones are useful and which are crap. I wish that for the paid apps, you would automatically get a free trial of the app - even if it was just for one day.
Apple is still being stupid about not allowing Flash to work on it's mobile devices. That is a real pain for quite a few websites. At least I can itch most of the "instant play" on Netflix.
I am still searching for a secure FTP program, a remote desktop (from iPad to laptop) program, and a program to let me mount the iPad from my laptop as a remote drive. If you know of any, let me know.
With a little bit of effort, I can run the store from the iPad. That means that we can take orders and process them even when we go off to a festival.

All in all, I honestly ink that the answer to the question is yes.

Oh, one more pro: it's so easy to type on it that I have been doing more writing an before getting it. This blog, for instance. :-)

Ciao,

---Vinnie
Arsenic & Old Lace