Real Mom’s iPad review

9 Apr

I guess two days late is better than never. Between being obsessed with reading (using iBook) and the little bit of technical difficulty I had while trying to use my parent’s possessed network I never got this out. So here it is!


So I’ve had a few days to play with my iPad, test different apps and features, and form initial opinions. I’m thinking that I will do a monthly review for a few months to keep up to date on any changes and updates that might come down the line. By the way, the above is my actual home screen.

Before I get into all the things I love about my iPad, I want to get into what my first and biggest problem is. I was very disappointed at how my iPhone apps worked on my iPad. Let me be a little more clear, iPhone apps that have not been updated to be fully iPad compatible pretty much suck. Some are totally unusable since they quit soon after being launched. As for the ones that don’t quit, they’re just lame. They show up in their normal iPhone size in the middle of the iPad’s screen, but when you tap the button to make them fill the screen they get a little blurry. I think I’m going to take all my iPhone apps off my pad until they are updated. See below. Ok, the second picture looks a lot clearer here than in real life.

By far my favorite part of my iPad, much to Bill’s disappointment is iBook. I LOVE it! In less than a minute I can be reading a book of my choice, and I’ve become pretty obsessed. I checked with Amazon, and the book prices are the same there if you wanted to use the Kindle app for the iPad. If you like to read, iBook is the way to do it. You can adjust the font style and size depending on your taste, which I love since I need words on the larger size even with my new glasses.

A few summers ago I became obsessed with Harry Potter and spent six weeks using every available minute reading. Most of this time was late at night with the light on of course, which drove Bill nuts. With my iPad I can read with the lights off thanks to the super awesome backlit LCD screen. You can adjust the brightness for reading in any kind of light.

Moving on, I have really been enjoying the email app. On my iPhone, I used to just see what mail I had, but it’s too small for me to do much about most of that mail. On my iPad it’s much easier for my to respond to things like survey requests and things with attachments. Deleting and moving messages around couldn’t be easier too.

Surfing the internet is awesome. Ok, I don’t have the 3G version because I figured that would be overkill since I do have an iPhone, so I can’t speak on how that works (or will work once it comes out). On my WiFi network, the Internet seems just as fast as my MacBook. I prefer the landscape orientation since it makes the text a little bigger (do we see a theme here? I think I’m borderline blind).

The battery life is decent. I can go all day ( reading most of the day) and still have the battery at more than 30%. I know my MacBook would never hold out that long, not even close. Not even my iPhone could come close. I haven’t actually timed how long the battery lasts, and unlike on my iphone there isn’t a timer that shows the time used since the last charge, at least not that I could find.

While 1.5 pounds sounds super light, it does get a little heavy after a while. I feel like the muscles I need to use to hold it, especially while reading, have never been used and are weak. I think that in time my body will adjust and I won’t even notice the weight anymore. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on that one.

As far as accessories go, I have the case that Apple sells.. It’s pretty cool since it not only protects my iPad, it folds so it can sit on an angle for typing, or sit up as a stand for video watching. It’s flat black, which I find a little boring, but I’m sure I’ll have more color choices later. When I go out with my iPad, I put it in a Vera Bradley mini laptop case. It’s a perfect fit and has pockets on the outside so I can bring my power cord if I need to.

Ah, the power cord…not a big fan. With your iPad you get a wall charger with the standard Apple USB cord. Well, that cord is the same length as the one for my iPhone, in fact it’s the same cord. It’s too short! To use your iPad while it’s plugged in, you’d probably need to be sitting on the floor next to an outlet. Thank goodness the battery life is so good, or this could be a real handicap for iPad. I think I saw that you can buy a longer cord, but that’s not something I’m willing to invest in until I know I need it.

Overall, my First impression of iPad is a good one, but I figured it would be.
My plan is to keep exploring my iPad and give you another review around May 5th.

Anyone else out there the proud owner of a new iPad? What do you think?

MyLifeinmommyland@me.com

— Post From My iPad

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