iPad 3G Review

I have an iPad 3G version that I got right on launch day, and honestly, it has been my primary device for the past half year, much to my surprise. The bigger screen is much more pleasant for viewing texts and websites. I’m a big fan of your blog and a few others, so a device that I can whip out, turn on, navigate to a web site and read anywhere I go is almost a godsend.

I’ve also found myself traveling a lot in the past months, and the GPS capability coupled with the bigger screen on the iPad meant I could see the entire area surrounding me on Google Maps, and know exactly where to go. I often travel on foot, and while the iPad might be a bit large to put in my pocket, a small side bag can fit the thing just fine. Holding the tablet with one hand briefly for ten minutes is also not that big a deal. Honestly, that’s all I need to see where I need to go.
Another thing I like about the iPad, aside from being an excellent surfing device and navigation device for my use case, is that it can be used to find whatever I need from the internet. Instructions on how to fix my bike, plan my travel tickets, product reviews for things I’m about to purchase, price check on things I’m about to purchase, look up facts for a conversation, look up definitions for things I don’t understand. Now, arguably, all of those things can be done on my smartphone as well, but, as they are more pleasant to view on the iPad’s screen, I found myself catering to the iPad more. Plus it saves the battery on my phone for… phone calls. Prior to owning the iPad, my phone wouldn’t even last through a whole day from dusk til dawn, and that’s crucial to me as I wander about a lot on weekends.
Now, there are actually a few things that the iPad does that I just can’t do on my phone. I can actually type a few pages of reports or even do my web programming work on the iPad without feeling much fatigue. Some reviewers have noted that they probably wouldn’t write the next Great America novel on the iPad, and I agree. But I would say that writing 10 pages of that novel is not too much a chore on the iPad. Since owning the iPad, I have gotten so used to the touchscreen that my touch-typing speed on the iPad can reach well over 60WPM in landscape mode, and it’s not all that bad in portrait mode. Autocorrect off, of course.

Then, there are a number of iPad apps that I really can’t live without. eTextbooks is a great app for me as I still go back to school every now and then. The app links itself to a vast library of textbooks for some colleges, and luckily, mine was on the list, so I could find most textbooks on there and at half off their hard copy price as well. So instead of fitting a few heavy hard covers into my measly side bag, the iPad was all that needed to be there. Note taking on the iPad is also much more pleasant. The microphone can be used to record the session, while I type away on the keyboard, or use my capacitive stylus to doodle in graphs and other things related to the subject. VNC on the iPad is also a much more pleasant experience. I can view the entirety of my desktop on the iPad and still actually be able to see things on it. I need VNC to occasionally connect back to my home, fire up my computer, and grab a document or something that I forgot to take with the iPad, then I can just download it off with the iPad. Aside from websites, videos embedded in websites are another reason for me to stick with the iPad. It’s not a fullscreen video or a flash version, it’s a dedicated HTML5 player. So instead of clicking on the video, watch it, then read the article again, I can watch the video, or just listen to the sounds while I do other things. Even getting out of the app now allows me to still be able to listen to the sounds of the video playing in the web browser. That’s just phenomenon. And it does that with nary a hiccup! Case in point, I’m listening to your voice describing the Galaxy Tab usage as I type all of this away.

In my opinions, a WIFI version would be good enough for home use, but if you really want to bust away, you might want a 3G version. From what I can see, the only reason why most iPad users leave theirs at home is because… it turns out they only have WIFI at home. WIFI is indeed rampant nowadays, but they all come with some form of security. Unless it’s a Starbucks location or at the airport, I don’t see how you can catch a rougue WIFI signal to see what the new title image for Google’s home page is like, and the signal would not be too good in some cases. Then if you have to pull out your phone, do some gestures and activate WIFI tethering, then it’s very tedious as you will have to do that all the time. I find having a 3G iPad the be all and end all convenience. You just pull it out, and do your thing.

So that’s my take as a very happy iPad owner. Some of the points are actually there because of the recent 4.2.1 update that enabled multitasking for the tablet. It’s even more usable now, and the web browser alone is very satisfying for me.

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