Florian Seroussi's Blog

5 days with the iPad

Here are my thoughts after 5 days of regular usage of an iPad.

• The device has an autonomy of >10 hours which is really amazing considering it’s running on Wifi most of the time.
• iPad’s screen quickly becomes covered with finger prints obscuring the image. I’ll be waiting for a screen protector like this one.
• Wifi is flaky. Not sure if it’s a hardware problem but shutting wifi off and then back on again solves the problem on my unit. Hoping for a firmware update to solve it permanently.
• Lack of a native clock application is unacceptable. Apple has it on the iphone and ipod. It’s the #2 feature of any computing device. How did they miss it?
• No native calculator is also a big fail in my opinion. Why should I pay $4 for a basic 30ko application that should be built-in?
• Apostrophe key is not present on main keyboard. You need to go one layer down. Very annoying. Hopefully another bug easily fixable via a firmware update. For the apostrophe shortcut, just hold the coma via @madamelolo
• I didn’t know the iPad had a microphone. Nice tip from Andy Abramson. Works great when using Skype (BTW Skype app is not yet iPad friendly).
• Seamless video playback. I watched 2 movies so far with great brightness, perfect picture, almost no pixelization.
• Picture frame feature will make any hotel room look like home. Simply launch it from the lock screen (not obvious at first) and enjoy your family pictures full-screen with a bunch of possible slideshow effects.
• Unless I missed something, Safari can’t remember your passwords. Don’t feel like buying 1password application to fill the blank. Will wait for an update. Go to setting–>safari–>autofill to save login/password via @madamelolo
• Keyboard is pleasant, efficient and precise despite what some tech journos wrote. I type most of my emails on the tablet and I find it extremely accurate.

Most people I met that haven’t bought one yet are saying to be waiting for a newer version. Although a newer version is always coming there is supposedly somewhere between 400.000 to 700.000 units sold so far. If I was into hardware I would build a line of accessories based on this iPad case with integrated webcam, solar panel, or extra-battery. The iPad case is the perfect extension to add functionality to an already powerful device.

Last point after a few days showing off the tablet around is the sociability of the object. Andy also mentioned it to me. As soon as I pull it out my backpack, it brings immediate attention from strangers asking millions of questions. Becomes annoying after a while to be honest.

Tags: apps, cose, covers, finger prints, ipad, wifi

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 12:19 am and is filed under Apple, Geek, iPhone, itunes, Technology. 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.