gdgt

One of my favorite things about being an early adopter is when I pick up a device more for the novelty than anything else and I'm completely surprised by how useful it turns out to be. I had this experience first with my first iPod, when I discovered podcasts. I had it again when I first got a Kindle and my reading increased about 5 fold. And I've had it once more, in almost too many ways to count, with the iPad.

Let me be clear, the iPad is not a computer. You can't do anything on it that you couldn't on a laptop or desktop PC. The difference with the iPad though, is that you'll find it allows you to many of those things in ways and places you would never bring a PC to. Let me give a few examples to better illustrate my point.

A few days after I got my iPad, I discovered that it fit nearly perfectly on the reading ledge for my treadmill. Now my treadmill faces a blank wall, so up to this point workout entertainment has been strictly auditory. With the iPad though, I can now watch videos while I work out. The result, I've been exercising about twice as often in the two weeks since I bought my iPad.

Another example. I used to love reading comics when I was younger. However, as an adult there's a certain stigma attached to having a comic book collection in the house. The Marvel and Xcomics apps on the iPad mean that I can now enjoy comics without actually having to keep them laying around my house. The result is that I've completely rediscovered a form of entertainment.

One more example. The other night, while getting ready for bed with my wife, somehow the topic of old cartoon theme songs came up in conversation. I picked up the iPad from my nightstand and we spent about 30 minutes reminiscing over YouTube clips of old cartoons. Now you might say I could do the same thing with a laptop, which I could. However, my laptop wasn't in the room and it's unlikely I would have gone to fetch it simply on a whim. With a 4-5lb laptop, it more or less stays in one place unless I anticipate that there will be a need for it. With a 1.5lb iPad, it follows me wherever I go, almost always nearby should the need for it arise.

Those are just 3 examples of how the iPad has proved useful in the short time I've had it. True, they're small things, but they add up quickly to form a completely different experience with a computing device than what I'm used to.

Sure the device is not without its flaws. Flash would definitely be welcome. And I'd kill for a USB and SD slot. But the technical story of this device doesn't have a whole lot to do with what makes the experience of using it so special. It's a completely different computing experience, and trying to boil it down to a spec sheet comparison just doesn't do it justice.