unculturedswine

Unless you’ve managed to be dead for the last 36 hours, or stuck underground in rubble because of an earthquake, you’ve most likely heard about the newly released Apple iPad. The hype really built up in the last few weeks as to what it would be called, what it would do, how many wars would it prevent etc. And yesterday we were finally given a look at it.

And people in certain areas have claimed complete disappointment. To which I ask, why? What are you disappointed about? You’re disappointed because it’s not a dual-core Intel chip, or doesn’t have 2 cameras for taking photos and/or doing video chat? Bummed because Farmville isn’t native on it? It’s pretty annoying, and quite reminiscent of the complete and utter disappointed voiced by Apple faithfuls at the release of the original iPod (actually quite an amusing thread to read).

I’ve thought it over, and read a few blogs on people excited about it, so I decided I’ll chime in and give my 5 reasons why I’d like one. I’m still not at a 100% I WANT IT NOW mode, and it’s definitely not a need, but here’s why I’d like to have one.

1. First and foremost, for me, is it’s a terrific way to show off a photography portfolio to potential clients. Apple used stellar IPS Technology and an LED Backlit display on this thing. What does that mean? It’s instantly bright, and the colors are very accurately reproduced from just about any angle. So I can happily use this device to show color accurate and sharp, bright versions of my favorite pictures to people who may be interested in hiring me. Quite frankly, there is a very high likelihood that it’s a higher quality display than they have personally. And the way they can interact and flip and see a slideshow is just awesome. It’s a beautiful device for sharing photos.

2. Surfing the web. Have you watched the short video on this thing? It’s beautiful, it’s just the right size and weight to hold in your hands, and it begs you to reach out and touch the internet. View websites full size, navigate around at the touch of a finger, as they say in the video, hold the internet in your hands. Not on your lap, not on the desk, but in your hands. The iPhone redefined mobile browsing, this has the potential to literally redefine browsing. Think about it. You can’t lie down in bed and surf with your laptop over your head. If you’re watching TV and surfing on your laptop, you pretty much get one position of sitting. This introduces many more.

3. A full blown, email everywhere machine. I have a 5 personal and 2 work email addresses that I check everyday, plus a few more that I check out every now and again. My personal all reside entirely on my desktop, with a few on my iPhone for using on the go. The iPhone has a decent email client, but it’s not nearly robust enough to want to keep all on there. The iPad sure seems like it could replace that on my desktop. Then my email is comfortably with me everywhere.

4. It’s light, it’s thin, it’s extremely portable. This thing is just the right size, just the right weight, and about as portable as a piece of paper. Meaning it’ll fit into your backpack, briefcase, shoulder bag – anywhere. And it’s easy to carry, it’s not a nuisance to carry around should you need it. It’s much more portable than a laptop, and, in my humble opinion, does pretty much everything a lot of laptop owners use their laptops for. How many spend $700-$1500 for a decent laptop to do the following: Facebook, email, pictures and surf the web? Why not do that on something that an awful lot easier to carry around? (Yes, there is a lack of flash and that’s pretty important for some websites, like Hulu, and Farmville. Hopefully that’s coming…)

5. Books. I’d read more books. I swear. The very nice thing that this thing does over the Kindle App on my iPhone is a book looks, well, like a book. It can be one page or a two page spread, but it looks and acts like a legit, real book. I have a hard time reading a book on my iPhone merely because of the scroll rate, every few seconds I’m scrolling because of the limit of characters you can legibly fit on there. I find it much easier to read a real, physical book. The interface and graphics of the iBookstore app are just great, and very inviting to read. Add in the 10 hour battery life, and it should keep you happily reading for as much as you could handle in a day.

In closing, let me just say that I don’t think Apple dropped the ball on this thing. And the terrific bonus you get is what you see is not all that you get – Software updates will seamlessly add new features and applications that aren’t currently ready. Add the 140,000+ and growing Apps that are already available, and this device can keep you occupied for a long time. Now, there are loads of other positive reasons to have this, but these are most important and useful to me. And I know, there are shortcomings as well. But everything has a shortcoming. You can’t beat around that bush. That said, this delivers and will deliver for quite a while. Just wait until you get one in your hands – then you’ll want it. Most of you, at least.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 8:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.