iPad Musings Part 1

Two weekends ago I arrived outside a store in Maroochydore the morning after the previous evenings release of Apple's new tablet computer, the iPad 2.  Having seen on the news the Apple stores sold out the previous evening I didn't hold out much hope this electronics store would have stock, and half expected a big queue.  In the end it was just me and two others who arrived before opening and we did manage to get our hands on one of the few new units they had.

This was my first iPad; I had decided a year ago I'd buy the next version which I anticipated would have a camera (it does) for video chats with overseas relatives.  So what is the "magical and revolutionary" device like?  Apple fanatics are evangelical so sometimes it's hard to work out if the gushing is based in fact or blind adoration. This is where I come in - I don't get on with Macs generally (not their fault, my brain just doesn't find them remotely intuitive like a lot of people do) so can bring some proper perspective to reviewing the iPad.  In a nutshell - it's very, very good.  Not perfect, but a brilliant device nonetheless that for a lot of people will almost replace their PC completely.  Its a shame you cant use it without a PC or Mac though - more on that later.  Over the next few weeks I'll go into some detail about what it does (and doesn't) do well.  For now I'll just say it has completely changed the way I consume media - news, videos, music, Facebook, email - and the tablet format is firmly here to stay.