The iPad, thoughts so far

I’ve had the iPad for almost two weeks now, and I figured it was time to actually write up a post about it.

I bought the iPad primarily to use as an ebook reader. I’m a huge fan of my iPhone (despite its limitations) and have always wanted to read ebooks on it. I find the screen comfortable enough for reading, but it was the size that always put me off reading full books.

Enter the iPad. I’d thought of getting an e-ink reader like the Kobo (which was just released here recently) or the Kindle. But the iPad could be used as a reader and so much more. I was sold well before it was released.

And yes, I bought Plants vs Zombies for it. I’d already been addicted on the iPhone, and it’s extremely pretty and fun on the iPad.

Other apps of note, which I also run on my iPhone – Air Video and z-Subsonic, used for streaming video and audio respectively from my PC. Both awesome apps on the iPhone, and even more so on the iPad, Air Video especially. Also really nice was the fact that the iPad versions were free, since I’d already purchased the iPhone versions.

Onto eBooks. Right now, there’s a selection of apps – the iBookstore, Kindle, Kobo/Borders and Stanza. I’ve been a devotee of Stanza on the iPhone for a while, so much so that I hadn’t played much with the other apps.

iBooks isn’t that useful for us in Australia, since there’s actually not much available of interest in this region. But I do like the app itself – it gives you a decent amount of control over the way you read.

I do like the Kindle app, and would probably like it even more if I had a Kindle. But my app of choice right now is the Borders/Kobo app – it mostly has the same books for us that are available for Kindle, but is linked into the Borders Australia site. I love the night reading mode especially, since I’m most often using the iPad to read in bed at night. Even better, it synchronises between the iPad and iPhone versions (which, of course, the Kindle app also does). And should I ever decide to buy a Kobo eReader, it all syncs up as well.

And to make things even better, we have Dropbox, which gives me a perfect way to share documents between my computers and the iPad (I run it on the iPad, my iPhone, my MacBook and my desktop PC). Combined with GoodReader, which is awesome for pdfs, and I have another great way to read documents.

My one wish right now is to find an app that will let me open word documents and rtf files and let me track changes and add comments which will then synchronise with Word on my MacBook or PC. I thought about buying Pages, but have read that the comments get lost when you take documents from the iPad. It would be really nice to read manuscripts on the iPad and be able to annotate them. Quite possibly the app I need exists already, and I just haven’t found it. If anyone knows, clue me in?

Overall, the iPad has been an extremely worthy purchase already for me. And I imagine it’s going to get even better as more apps are released, as well as OS4.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

The iPad, thoughts so far

I’ve had the iPad for almost two weeks now, and I figured it was time to actually write up a post about it.

I bought the iPad primarily to use as an ebook reader. I’m a huge fan of my iPhone (despite its limitations) and have always wanted to read ebooks on it. I find the screen comfortable enough for reading, but it was the size that always put me off reading full books.

Enter the iPad. I’d thought of getting an e-ink reader like the Kobo (which was just released here recently) or the Kindle. But the iPad could be used as a reader and so much more. I was sold well before it was released.

And yes, I bought Plants vs Zombies for it. I’d already been addicted on the iPhone, and it’s extremely pretty and fun on the iPad.

Other apps of note, which I also run on my iPhone – Air Video and z-Subsonic, used for streaming video and audio respectively from my PC. Both awesome apps on the iPhone, and even more so on the iPad, Air Video especially. Also really nice was the fact that the iPad versions were free, since I’d already purchased the iPhone versions.

Onto eBooks. Right now, there’s a selection of apps – the iBookstore, Kindle, Kobo/Borders and Stanza. I’ve been a devotee of Stanza on the iPhone for a while, so much so that I hadn’t played much with the other apps.

iBooks isn’t that useful for us in Australia, since there’s actually not much available of interest in this region. But I do like the app itself – it gives you a decent amount of control over the way you read.

I do like the Kindle app, and would probably like it even more if I had a Kindle. But my app of choice right now is the Borders/Kobo app – it mostly has the same books for us that are available for Kindle, but is linked into the Borders Australia site. I love the night reading mode especially, since I’m most often using the iPad to read in bed at night. Even better, it synchronises between the iPad and iPhone versions (which, of course, the Kindle app also does). And should I ever decide to buy a Kobo eReader, it all syncs up as well.

And to make things even better, we have Dropbox, which gives me a perfect way to share documents between my computers and the iPad (I run it on the iPad, my iPhone, my MacBook and my desktop PC). Combined with GoodReader, which is awesome for pdfs, and I have another great way to read documents.

My one wish right now is to find an app that will let me open word documents and rtf files and let me track changes and add comments which will then synchronise with Word on my MacBook or PC. I thought about buying Pages, but have read that the comments get lost when you take documents from the iPad. It would be really nice to read manuscripts on the iPad and be able to annotate them. Quite possibly the app I need exists already, and I just haven’t found it. If anyone knows, clue me in?

Overall, the iPad has been an extremely worthy purchase already for me. And I imagine it’s going to get even better as more apps are released, as well as OS4.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.