A friend asked me to share my experience with a newly purchased iPad. Resting on a table, an iPad appears to be a traditional black diary or an agenda. But with just a switch on the right hand corner, it turns into an organizer, address book, newsroom, weather channel, calendar, small television, radio, book shelf, music player, photos viewer and an interface to the world. While iPad provides functions that an iTouch provides and a variety of other applications, here is my personal experience:1. Accessing my favorite sites and blogs in bed using Fedledder Reader is convenient and easier than a laptop. Zooming in and out of pictures, text and important parts of a site helps aging eyes. Though brightness of screen adjusts automatically, manually changing is easy. News, weather, Podcasts, technical articles and blogs are literally on finger tips and on the right sized screen.
2. While I have used Kindle in past, iPad provides a better user interface for reading books. Navigating within a book is intuitive and effortless. iBook provides capability to change font size, font type, screen type (Sepia or Regular), brightness. Dictionary access, text highlighting and Notes functions are built in. Feeling of a book even in portrait mode is pleasant.3. Accessing media (Photos and Music) from a Window 2007 Media Server Desktop computer using AirPlayer is trouble-free. With Media Server PC in study room, viewing our photos from anywhere in the house on iPad screen is nice. Making music Playlist on Window 2007 Media Player and accessing anywhere in the house using iPad is convenient for entertaining or for personal music pleasure.
4. With Contacts, Emails and Calendar synchronized flawlessly with Google, no need to turn on a computer to check schedule, an address or send a short email.
5. Transferring and reading Word, Power point and PDF documents on iPad are easy with an application called GoodReader.
The friend who asked me to share my personal experience compared a rock with an iPad. I have added some additional points to his first four points.
On a personal note, my daughter insisted me to buy this iPad for myself on my wedding anniversary. Within a span of seven days, she has changed the owner from Dad to Family to herself. I will let readers guess the reason and her favorite application.
