I waited for a long time to buy an iPad. I am not a first generation adopter of anything and the first iPad (2) I got was the one for my Grandmother. I always thought of the iPad as a luxury device and always found reasons not to buy it. I still feel it’s a luxury device in that you can do without it. That said, I also feel it’s a device that is well worth the investment. Here’s why –
1. Commute and Flight friendly. The iPad is built for commutes and flights. I love the fact that it is light weight, sleek and enables me to get a lot done without any cumbersome booting process (yes, I am a Windows user). And it’s battery last longer than all 3 laptops I use.
2. iBooks, Reeder and The Economist. I can’t think of a better device to read books, feeds, blogs and magazines. Thanks to my Singapore credit card, I don’t have access to Kindle yet but it’s a problem I plan to fix as soon as I find a bit of bandwidth. The large screen makes it SO much better than any phone.
3. Forced Single Tasking. The nature of iOS makes you single task simply because distracting yourself is a very obvious act. Unlike a laptop where you can minimize whatever you are working and surf the web for “just 2 minutes”, the iPad makes it obvious you are switching. Brilliant for those on the attention deficit side of the spectrum.
4. The Logitech Keyboard. I do a fair bit of typing thanks to above average use of email and writing for blogging. And here, the Logitech keyboard for the iPad has been a blessing. Aside from it’s convenience, it also makes for a brilliant stand that works well even if I’m not using the keyboard.
Image Source (Not a Creative Commons photo but Logitech dare not sue me for free marketing :-))
5. High Quality FaceTime and Skype. If you have close family, friends located elsewhere, this is a big win.
6. A Portable Whiteboard. One of the biggest uses for my iPad is using it as a portable whiteboard or thinking tool. It is easy enough to store ideas in the Notes application, easy to write out emails and blogposts
7. Looks SO damn good. Sorry, but this just had to be in.
Things I miss: A great Blogger/Windows Live Writer app and a seamless OneNote app would make it near perfect!
Of course, this is purely a view of my usage and in addition, big attractions of the iPad in general are Games, YouTube and the numerous other apps that provide some version of online television.
Overall, I’ve been absolutely loving my iPad and it’s replaced my laptop as the ‘must have’ device in my bag. And my back, for starters, is very grateful…
A Learning a Day 
