Here are some scattered thoughts on the less-than-week-old device:
I’m sorry, the way I (and, probably, you) use the internet – it’s so much better on a large screen with keyboard access. iPad is much better than the iPhone for browsing, but I don’t think it beats a desktop.
one thing I can do on it that I cannot on any other computing device: play piano. Here multi touch + large screen really shines.
The iPhone version of PvZ is so much more playable on the iPad. I don’t think I’m going to upgrade to HD as the LD (?) version is just peachy.
The iBooks app is nice, but I’m looking for a white text on black background option. Is that there and I’m not seeing it?
I, like the rest of the iPad world, bought pages. And I, like the rest of the world, got really bored and frustrated really quickly which brings me to:
Typing is kind of a nightmare. I miss the iPhone feature which shows you the letter you are typing before you release the key. The screen is really just the wrong size for typing — to small for standard, two hands, two large for thumbs. And how the hell do you hold it when you type? It just doesn’t work in my lap. Bad angle. On the desk it’s an odd angle as well.
Watching movies with your lady friend in bed on the iPad sounds romantic, but it is largely impractical. It’s tough to hold at a good angle for two people and the speakers, though loud, are not really loud enough.
The Dragon dictation app is much better than the iPhone version. Plus, for some reason, I can talk to my iPad with a lot more fluidity than to my phone.
I’ve only played one game of Scrabble, but I think it could be pretty cool with some revisions. I don’t think they used screen real estate properly, though. The board should be as big as it possibly could be and all other elements should go in the left column.
That toy app “Bubbles” for iPhone? Totally awesome on iPad.
The accelerometer seems to be a lot more accurate. I’m having a lot easier time steering in Cro Mag Rally and Monkeyball.
Minim, as expected, is a lot easier to manipulate. So is MazeFinger+.
I’m looking forward to an iPad version of the Facebook app. I actually prefer that site’s apps to their web interface.
I’m also looking forward to an iPad version of Google Reader. Right now the mobile version doesn’t use the screen size properly and, well, same for the regular desktop version (though the desktop version comes really, really close).
Gmail is awesome. It’s better than the Apple mail client (which, of course, you cannot delete). I use the Apple email client just to tell me when I have new emails then open Gmail to read them.
The videos app takes one too many clicks (points? touches?) to play a video. 1) open app and see thumbnails of videos. 2) touch thumbnail to play video. That’s all you need. What’s this inbetween step of seeing a larger screenshot along with movie info? Play the damn movie!
People describing this as “magic” are being pretty hyperbolic. It felt like magic with the iPhone because, well, I’ve never touched a screen and had it respond. It’s cool having a larger screen, but if you’ve used an iPhone or iPod touch, you can imagine pretty well what you’re getting.