iPad, first thoughts.

The UPS driver told me he couldn't see any use for it.  He held up his iPhone and went on to talk of his laptop.  I couldn't argue with him, if he couldn't see the use of it then it wasn't useful to him.  I know plenty of people who don't think computers in general are useful.  I asked him how many he was delivering, he replied that his entire truck was filled with iPads to be delivered.  Usefulness it would seem, is relative to the user.

The "why use it" argument goes back to the devices introduction.  Apple calls it a "middle" device, it's not portable computer like a laptop, nor is it a device you can pull from your pocket and use anywhere like a phone. True but middle device is a bad label. After using it for the last day it seems that it's more like an imperfect next generation computer.  Let me lay out a few things I learned while confirming that the iPad is neither a phone or a laptop.

It is not a phone:

It's way to big to be a personal communication device.  It's socially acceptable to pull out a phone size device and tool around on the Internet, but the iPad's size makes it obvious that you are ignoring the situation around you.  An iPhone allows for casual surfing while waiting in line or generally disinterested in your surroundings but the iPad sticks out like a sore thumb.

It is not a laptop:

The iPad is not a laptop class machine mostly because it is not a computer the way we understand them today.  A laptop is a computer, it's a crunched down version of that huge gray box humming next to our desk.  It's size enables us to be mobile, free from our desks and offices so to speak.  An iPad can't do everything a computer does but it is portable to an extent that has never existed in the computer world. Laptops are mobile but they are not portable.  Laptops are big clunky beasts that need to be booted up, put to sleep, charged, plugged in, opened up; they are not portable by any stretch of the imagination. The iPad is portable, it travels with the convinance of a small book.

I started this blog entry on the iPad, but writing on it got old quick so I switched to my laptop.   I have grown up on a keyboard and it still remains a fundamental piece of computing.  Getting used to the keyboard on the iPad I think will be my biggest challenge.  I would be interested to see what is like to use a hardware keyboard with an iPad.

The iPad operation system has effectively killed the mouse cursor.  The keyboard is here to stay but the mouse, and it's touch-pad/JMouse/trackball counter parts are all dead.  I say good riddance (and if Flash is reliant on a mouse cursor then I say good riddance to it as well).  Touching the iPad screen it feels elegant, it's right out of Minority Report.

So what is the iPad?

To me it is a portal to the Internet, nothing more. At a certain point in my computing life accessing the Internet trumped all other uses of a computer.  One thing the iPad can do, is access the Internet. I will take that first and wait for everything else to catch up.

Kevin Kelly compares the entirety of the Internet to a single entity, the only machine created by man that has never stopped working. I am a fan of "the Internet" and the iPad is the best tool for using Internet since "Hello World" so I am by default a fan of the iPad.

Other notes:

• My iPhone now seems like an iPad nano.  It's seems really small now compared to three days ago.

• I can hold it to read and watch shows with little effort but typing of any length is notably uncomfortable, so far I use my thumbs while holding it up.

• Twitter + the iPad =  Happiness

• It handles web browsing so well that no App is really needed for Facebook, you can just use the full site.  (Except for one little detail, no local file system means that you need an app if you want to post pictures and stuff like that.)

• The battery is hardcore. Lasts all day under heavy use.