My iPad Review
Jun 2, 2010 Apple
I have now had my iPad for roughly a month and people keep asking me, “what do you think?” Here’s my completely candid review:
If you can accept it for what it is, the iPad is pretty slick. The iPad is not a phone (please stop asking me, “what do you think of your big iPhone that doesn’t make calls?”) and it is not a laptop. It has, however, taken the place of a third device I have been using: my hackintoshed Dell Mini. I used that for when I didn’t feel like lugging around my MacBook Pro. This year I am going to be traveling a lot and I plan on just taking my iPad. When it comes to media consumption, it is wicked cool. When it comes to email and web surfing, it’s great. You can’t use it as your primary computer, though.
Here’s the good, bad, and meh:
The Good
Logos Bible Software - I have found the iPad to be a great tool when doing message prep. I sit it next to me and use it to quickly look up passages I am chewing on. A few taps gets me to a passage faster than flipping through my Bible or using the mouse and keyboard with my computer. I also have access to many of the 800 books in my library. Notice I said “many?” You find out more about this when you get to “The Bad.”
Reading – I like reading books on the iPad. In fact, I think it is going to become the primary way I read books (especially in light of the fact that I don’t have room to store all the books I read in my little office space). iBooks and Kindle are essentially the same with one glaring difference. Kindle lets you take notes. That means I will likely only purchase books from Amazon for the time being. However, iBooks does let you import ePub files which is excellent because there are a lot of free books out there in ePub format. Right now one of our office staff is busy downloading every Spurgeon book for me for free. :)
News – When I am waiting for appointments, my favorite thing to do is read the news. I have downloaded several free news programs and the iPad is now my favorite way to keep up on the world.
Other notable good stuff - Netflix, Justin.tv (even though it’s only in iPhone format, I can still watch hockey for free on this site), Games (my kids are constantly asking to play games on my iPad), Dropbox, and GoodReader.
The Bad
YouVersion – I’m a little surprised at how little I like the YouVersion Bible HD app. I love the iPhone app, but this just doesn’t seem to do it justice. One big glaring miss is that you can’t follow a live service (which we use at Riv) on your iPad. Of course you can use your browser but I like the native app better.
Keynote Integration – This is really frustrating for me. I use my iPhone when I am teaching at Riv. It syncs with my computer so I can control my Keynote notes on a screen that sits on the stage. The only way I can do this on the iPad is to use the iPhone app which looks terrible on the iPad screen. This seriously bums me out.
Logos Bible Software - This one makes both The Good and The Bad. The reason it’s on the bad list is the lack of access to all of my library. In particular, my favorite commentary hasn’t been ported over to the app yet. I still have to use my MacBook Pro if I want to access it. Grrr….
Data Plan – AT&T just announced they are changing their monthly data plans from $29 / unlimited to $25 / 2GB. This is not good since I am entering a 3 month season where I am going to be on the road a lot and plan on burning through the data. Luckily if I sign up for the unlimited plan by this weekend, I can keep it for that period. In the future, though, I am not looking forward to the limit when I am in a busy travel season.
The Meh
Typing – It’s not as bad as I thought, but it’s not easy.
Bento – I thought I would use this App all the time to keep track of appointments and notes from meetings. I don’t really like it.
Twitter – I’ve found I don’t like to Twitter or read Tweets on my iPad. Not sure why. I like it better on my iPhone.
Taking Notes – OK, I can’t believe I am saying this, but I kinda wish I could use a stylus to handwrite notes on the iPad. I find I carry my iPad to meetings, planning on taking notes on it but I take notes on paper anyway. Still haven’t found the right way to use it to take notes without looking like I’m surfing the net and ignoring the person I am meeting with.
iPod – I don’t have any use for this on the iPad. Video from Vodcasts looks amazing on the screen, but I only listen to music, sermons, podcasts, etc when I am driving or working out so I like my iPhone better for those.
Tags: ipad
