I Got My iPad - AT LAST!
May. 5th, 2010 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elrhiarhodanA while back, I blamed my prolific flist for making me order the latest and greatest in Apple gear, since I was going blind reading your wonderful smut on my iPhone.
Actually, that was a cop out - I was planning on buying it anyway (as if you didn't realize that in the first place).
I got the shipping notice on Wednesday night, kept refreshing the FedEx tracking page all through Thursday and Thursday night, and again on Friday morning. I had pre-signed for it (since I wasn't sure if D was going to be home all day), and I was glad that I did. He wasn't home, but they left it in between the door and the storm door. I called D about 12, and he retrieved it for me.
It took great willpower not to rush home at lunchtime (doable), but I did leave work at 4 (about 2.5 hours earlier than normal). I made it through dinner, washed up, checked the mail, put up a load of laundry - all the while watching the package just sit there. Basically, I was teasing myself.
I did the whole unboxing photo set thing - and the package is typical Apple bling. I could go on and on about the sexiness of Apple packaging, but I'll spare you.
Anyway...the iPad itself is incredible. The first thing that impressed me was the speed. I though my 3rd gen iPhone was spiffy, but this thing is like Justin Gay, it's THAT FAST.
The screen quality is fantastic - of course, there's the whole fingerprint thing, but the oleophobic coating is better (i think) than on the iPhone. I've watched Star Trek IX on it - and I'm completely blown away. There are a number of apps I use that haven't gone iPad native yet, and most of them look pretty good, even the games. In fact, the only one I dislike in 2x mode i Journaler - it doesn't scale well at all. But since access to LJ through Safari is fine, I don't see any need to use it on the iPad.
Reading books on the iPad v. the Kindle. For me, the iPad is better by an order of magnitude. It may be that my Kindle DX has a bad screen, but the glare makes it unreadable at times. I haven't sat with the iPad in direct sun yet, and I suspect that it will not be a perfect experience, but the brighter screen has significantly reduced the feelings of eyestrain. And speed is a big bonus here too. One of the things I've hated about the Kindle has been the lag time in page turns (about 2-3 seconds per page). Since I read quickly, this has always been a problem (the more times the page is turned, the quicker the battery drains). The pages are "live" on the iPad - it's more book-like than the Kindle in that respect. Flipping back and forth is a pleasure. No wonky buttons, just a flick of the finger.
I still have to figure out how to get non-Kindle (Amazon's Kindle app is native for the iPad) and non-iBookstore books onto my iPad - the ebooks I buy from Samhain, etc. Stanza hasn't gone native yet...and the scaling is not perfect (similar problem with the Journaler app).
The iPad is on the weighty side - a few ounces more than the Kindle DX, and it feels a lot denser. Maybe because there is a minimal amount of plastic used in the construction??? Aluminum and glass are the primary case materials.
I am using the keyboard/dock right now - I was not a fan of the chiclet style keyboards that Apple's shifted to - but I'm getting accustomed to it (I prefer a keyboard with a more mechanical action).
I had bought the Apple brand case for it, but returned it. Since you need to remove the iPad from the case to use the keyboard, the Apple case was completely impractical - it was impossible to take the iPad out. I nearly tore it to pieces the one and only time I tried. I exchanged it for a rubber InCase one, which doesn't have any protection for the front, but comes with a nice stand. I carried the thing around in a ziplock bag for one day, then sacrificed only of my black on black Nagoya obis. The width of the obi was perfect for the iPad, so it just meant sewing three straight seams.
I'm not going to drone on about how much I love my iPad (but I do, so very, very much). It's perfect for what I want, and excatly what I need.
Anyone want to buy a gently used Kindle DX?
Actually, that was a cop out - I was planning on buying it anyway (as if you didn't realize that in the first place).
I got the shipping notice on Wednesday night, kept refreshing the FedEx tracking page all through Thursday and Thursday night, and again on Friday morning. I had pre-signed for it (since I wasn't sure if D was going to be home all day), and I was glad that I did. He wasn't home, but they left it in between the door and the storm door. I called D about 12, and he retrieved it for me.
It took great willpower not to rush home at lunchtime (doable), but I did leave work at 4 (about 2.5 hours earlier than normal). I made it through dinner, washed up, checked the mail, put up a load of laundry - all the while watching the package just sit there. Basically, I was teasing myself.
I did the whole unboxing photo set thing - and the package is typical Apple bling. I could go on and on about the sexiness of Apple packaging, but I'll spare you.
Anyway...the iPad itself is incredible. The first thing that impressed me was the speed. I though my 3rd gen iPhone was spiffy, but this thing is like Justin Gay, it's THAT FAST.
The screen quality is fantastic - of course, there's the whole fingerprint thing, but the oleophobic coating is better (i think) than on the iPhone. I've watched Star Trek IX on it - and I'm completely blown away. There are a number of apps I use that haven't gone iPad native yet, and most of them look pretty good, even the games. In fact, the only one I dislike in 2x mode i Journaler - it doesn't scale well at all. But since access to LJ through Safari is fine, I don't see any need to use it on the iPad.
Reading books on the iPad v. the Kindle. For me, the iPad is better by an order of magnitude. It may be that my Kindle DX has a bad screen, but the glare makes it unreadable at times. I haven't sat with the iPad in direct sun yet, and I suspect that it will not be a perfect experience, but the brighter screen has significantly reduced the feelings of eyestrain. And speed is a big bonus here too. One of the things I've hated about the Kindle has been the lag time in page turns (about 2-3 seconds per page). Since I read quickly, this has always been a problem (the more times the page is turned, the quicker the battery drains). The pages are "live" on the iPad - it's more book-like than the Kindle in that respect. Flipping back and forth is a pleasure. No wonky buttons, just a flick of the finger.
I still have to figure out how to get non-Kindle (Amazon's Kindle app is native for the iPad) and non-iBookstore books onto my iPad - the ebooks I buy from Samhain, etc. Stanza hasn't gone native yet...and the scaling is not perfect (similar problem with the Journaler app).
The iPad is on the weighty side - a few ounces more than the Kindle DX, and it feels a lot denser. Maybe because there is a minimal amount of plastic used in the construction??? Aluminum and glass are the primary case materials.
I am using the keyboard/dock right now - I was not a fan of the chiclet style keyboards that Apple's shifted to - but I'm getting accustomed to it (I prefer a keyboard with a more mechanical action).
I had bought the Apple brand case for it, but returned it. Since you need to remove the iPad from the case to use the keyboard, the Apple case was completely impractical - it was impossible to take the iPad out. I nearly tore it to pieces the one and only time I tried. I exchanged it for a rubber InCase one, which doesn't have any protection for the front, but comes with a nice stand. I carried the thing around in a ziplock bag for one day, then sacrificed only of my black on black Nagoya obis. The width of the obi was perfect for the iPad, so it just meant sewing three straight seams.
I'm not going to drone on about how much I love my iPad (but I do, so very, very much). It's perfect for what I want, and excatly what I need.
Anyone want to buy a gently used Kindle DX?
