My iPad thoughts

I work in IT so I think know something about the technology that we are faced with today. I also enjoy gadgets and people who know are never surprised when I turn up with a new bit of technology under my arm.

As far as gadgets go, I don't swap and change them often but I like to have a new phone first. I don't bother if the whole of the office already has one and so mainly for this reason I never wanted an iPhone. I know this is daft but that's just the way I am. It was however the interest in the iPhone that had me looking to replace my Nokia N95. A phone I was happy with, but did fancy a change.

Between looking and getting a new phone I was lucky enough to win an iPod Touch, and this was my first introduction to the Apple interface.

After looking around I decided to have a look at the HTC Hero (as no one had got one of these!) It did everything the iPhone did really, but to try and get back to the point quickly, each night, sitting at home I preferred the iPod Touch.

Then the iPad video was released and when it was shown I was critical about it. "Its just a big iPhone or Touch", "Why would anyone want to use it?". If you had an iPhone the iPad gave you nothing new.

Jumping forward a bit, I did end up falling for the Apple hype and on buying an iPad I found I was right. It is just an big iPod Touch, oh and a SIM card in it. It was still not a complete beast. No camera and some of the iPod standard apps were no longer included and nothing new.

But then the Apple marketing kicked in again. The reason why I used the Touch over the Hero was because the complete package worked very well. You plug your device in, it backs itself up. You go to the well organised App Store, and you choose an app. It syncs your music and your apps to your device and you unplug it and it works. The updates work seamlessly and everything takes care of itself. On the iPad the original apps work. OK they are small or can look funny but you have access to everything you had originally, and the new apps look great, exactly what you would expect if your an Apple user.

Compare this to the Hero and you find getting your device to sync first time is tricky. Marketplace is hopeless. Upgrading your device wipes everything and you have to start again. no useful backup process.

So the main difference between Apple and others, is purely the end to end solution. With Apple it works with others its tricky. No one else seems able to match this end to end process and experience.

Anyway, sticking just to Apple now, what is the new iPad supposed to be? Is it supposed to be a big iPhone or iPod Touch, or is it supposed to be a small laptop?

Now that I have used one albeit for a small amount of time, I don't think it is supposed to be either. it's the iPad! Apple have come up with a device that no one thought they needed and made it wanted.

The beauty of the iPhone and Touch is its size and capability. As well as the points I mentioned above, what it allows you to do while being mobile is perfect. You would not walk down the street and start tweeting, texting or updating facebook on your iPad. You couldn't be at home a secretly get out your iPad and check your mails without the wife noticing. You couldn't honestly replace your laptop with an iPad and carry on doing everything you want to do.

The iPad gives a great experience when you want an iPad. Apple lovers will buy one just because its Apple and they will not give up any other Apple device to have it. Others will buy it because they want the instant on and great browsing experience without having to wait for a laptop.

So all in all, am I happy with my purchase? Yes is the answer, because it gives me everything i wanted the iPad to give me.

Hope you enjoyed the read and any feedback would be great.