I've been running my iPad for about a week now so I need to say something on it right?
I got the 32 gig wi-fi only version.
Out of the box you have to install iTunes to setup your iPad. I hate iTunes and I thought it was going to break my computer it took so long to load up after I had to reboot it. You put a lot of info in and you'll eventually get your iPad registered.
Right off the bat they have this mobileme program they want you to sign up for. So if you're iPad gets lost and comes online, you can go to a website and see where it via GPS and track it down. That's pretty snassy and could be very helpful if I lose my iPad. Not sure how it will work if it gets stolen though since it needs to be online for the GPS part to work.
The smoothness of the iPad is going to win you over hands down. The way everything flows from one screen to the next just makes it inviting. It's setup to very easy to use and figure out.
The resolution looks great and it's really crisp. You won't be disappointed with quality. Already watched some netflix movies through it with no problems.
It's very light weight and easy to carry around. I've been looking for a case and if you want a case that's going to protect it, plan to spend $40-$60+ to get something worth having. If not, all you're doing is putting a shell for looks, a sleeve that can still be pushed in to crack the screen, and all they will do is stop it from being scratched. You definitely want to see a case in person before you buy. This is the case I will be buying when Best Buy fixes their inventory and gets it back in stock. That or find the 8 they say they have but don't.
I've been downloading a bunch of different applications. Mostly looking for the ones that everyone seems to use and looking on my own for some as well. You will find that unless you know what you're looking for, just browseing for a app on the iPad is not easy. It's actually a pain really. They need to revamp how you search for stuff across the board on the iPad. From the app store to the ebook store. It's way to difficult to find something at random. You litereally need to know what you want and search for it.
Something to keep in mind, everything you download, if you use the settings app from the first screen on the iPad. It list everything on the iPad and all apps you download. So if they add any additional settings to the apps you download, you need to check that out as you might want to make changes to it right off the bat. Kinda like the Flipboard app having turn the read option on for your RSS feeds otherwise you'll be playing clean up after the fact when you look at your actual reader program.
An issue I've ran into, which seems my friends that have the iPad have the same issue, is that when you launch an application, it will just close itself back out once it gets fully loaded up. Some apps do it way more than others. I don't know if it's an app glitch, ipad glitch or what, so I'll be researching this one in the near future.
All the apps I've gotten from bibles, games, tools, etc... all seem to work very well though. I've seen some lag in some HD games that have been put out but not much outside of that.
I setup my mail client on it through Cox and Gmail. The Cox email though would not delete the emails once I deleted them from the iPad. So you can imagine how much mail I had to download after going for days on the iPad without pulling down any mail from my Cox account. So what I've done now is I've setup my Gmail to recieve all my Cox emails. So now when I delete, they are gone. I'll start managing all my emails through Gmail now and forget using the Cox email. Guess I'm done using Outlook at home now.
Which by integrating my mail into Gmail, it opens up new doors and simplifies other issues. The iPad automatically pulled in the Google Calendar, so anything I make and change will show up there. So no worries on my Outlook calendar only being viewable on my home computer now. Plus I plan to get an Android phone and with Gmail being my base email, no matter where I look at my email at, I will see my mail, calendar, contacts, etc all via Google now. My next goal is to actually create a real contact list.
Since a tablet is smaller than a laptop it's so much easier to use for following a guide like Lego Star Wars right now. Makes it easy to put on your lap, setting it on the arm of your couch without getting in the way or bending to see that laptop screen. It's definitely more convient for sure.
Overall, there are some quirks with the iPad but everything else out weights the quirks. You won't be disappointed at all if you get one. Only problem now is Xoom from Android is fixing to come out followed by the iPad 2. So I'll be behind as we didn't wait for the new stuff but I like what I have without a doubt. We can't always be current in this world.
