iPad. Thoughts so far…

 

In one of my previous posts I mentioned I bought an iPad whilst at OpenWorld. Well it’s a few days old so I thought I’d write a little something about my thoughts so far.

I was originally very skeptical about the whole iPad thing. I switched from a 17 inch laptop to a 13 inch MacBook Pro to reduce the weight of the bag I was lugging round at conferences. At OpenWorld I got so sick the weight of the MacBook I decided to buy the iPad and I must say, from a weight perspective at least, it is a massive improvement.

Having not been part of the iPhone crowd I was initially very confused by the interface. Reading content was a breeze but editing and typing was truly arduous. Over the last few days I’ve got used to it and for the most part it is OK. I’m typing this blog post now using it. Having said that, without a separate keyboard it is not a good device for content generation. Simple text is fine, but cut & paste is a complete pain. Don’t even get me started on pasting hyperlinks into blog and forum posts. Too much effort.

Where it really comes into it’s own is for reading content. I’ve got Kindle for iPad and the books are really neat and easy to read. I’ve also moved some PDFs of the Oracle docs onto iBooks and they are much easier to read on the iPad than the Kindle. Very impressive. The screen does suffer in bad light compared to the Kindle, so if you are only going to read novels, then save a load of cash and use a Kindle. If on the other hand you want to browse the net, check emails and do some minor content generation, like blogging and twitter, then the iPad is great.

Two other factors that weigh heavily in it’s favour compared to a laptop are the instant on/off and excellent battery life. No more hassle at conferences and on planes. Just switch it on and go.

It’s early days, but I think this will now replace my laptop for everything except presentations with demos.

Cheers

Tim…

Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

9 thoughts on “iPad. Thoughts so far…”

  1. Been tempted. But the ipad here is just waaaay too expensive. For the same outlay I got myself a kobo e-reader – now loaded with most Oracle manuals and 110 or so books – and a little Samsung netbook that is incredibly light and has all the Windoze functionality I need. Including vpn and remote terminal access as well as the ubiquitous presentation software *and* 4XUSB ports: can’t live without the multitude of USB devices I’ve accumulated over the years…
    The only thing I miss is the gorgeous colours of the ipad screen.

  2. Pretty much sums it up for me too — I loved using the iPad at the conference. I’ve got some hopes for the clamcase (www.clamcase.com) as a way to improve the content creation…

  3. You can do presentations too!
    Use Presenter to display the ppt as a PDF and use the $29.95 video output to connect instantly to a projector.

    Supposedly Keynote displays native ppt files, but it does not display simultaneously on the iPad and projector, only on the projector.

  4. Hi.

    I know you can do presentations on it. Anjo Kolk did his ODTUG presentation using an iPad. I specifically said “presentations with demos” because I don’t think I’ll be running Oracle on an iPad any time soon. πŸ™‚

    Cheers

    Tim…

  5. I’ve been part of the iPhone crowd and since left, to head to android. Still getting used to it, but I love the SWYPE writing style. You ultimately get bored of single key tap typing.
    I wonder how the Samsung tablet will compare to the iPad.

  6. Hi.

    I got the bottom of the range one. 16G wifi. Not planning on putting music or films on it so extra storage is pointless. Certainly not going to pay a data charge, so wifi is good enough. πŸ™‚

    For once I’ve managed to not get conned into buying more than I need. πŸ™‚

    Cheers

    Tim…

  7. Tim,
    You should try GoodReader instead of built-in reader, much better for managing content. Many other features including Dropbox synchronization and PDF annotations.
    Patrick
    ps Just signed up for your PL/SQL masterclass in Hong Kong

Comments are closed.