Ipad Review

Apple announced earlier this week that it had sold 3 million ipads in just 80 days. One of those is mine and while I truthfully have been too busy to play with it in earnest (other than downloading a bunch of apps), I know enough to tell you that it is an awesome piece of technology.

In the beginning, I did not need the 3G function because I seemed to be surrounded by Wi-Fi. However, I took the ipad on our latest photo shoot last week and quickly discovered that while on the road, 3G is a necessity. What is great is that you activate the service directly from the ipad and receive a nice email that explains when your service expires and what to do if you don't want to roll it over. That's right--unless you cancel, you get charged for the next month once the first month expires. Note to self: remember to cancel 3G unless it is needed in July.

Photos are amazing although it is a bit annoying not to be able to delete a photo directly on the ipad--you need to do this on the desktop and then resynch the ipad--which I did by the way and it worked perfectly. Watching video and TV (yes the ABC app is FREE) is also fabulous and movies equally astounding. The screen in short is impressive.

This is perhaps the greatest machine ever known for reading email, although that alone would not make me buy it. What sold me was the fact that it cold be used as lap top and truly , with the addition of an external keyboard, it can. the word processing app (pages) is impressive in its own right and lets you email a document in word. I don't think you can print from the ipad--I'm sure you soon will be able to--so the concept of exporting everything to the desktop is critical.

I do love it but not for reading books--at least not yet. To me it feels too much like a computer while the Kindle feels more like a paperback. This is probably because I am used to the Kindle but there is a bit of a glare on the ipad that is not there on the Kindle. I will say, however, that for traveling, it is hard to beat the ipad. It basically does everything you need while on the road and is lightweight and easy to carry.

I know the second generation will be worth waiting for for those of you who are waiting but if you can't hold out, you won't be sorry. It is just the beginning of the next revolution.