I had the opportunity to get a loaner iPad in connection with another project, so I have been playing around with it. What it does is very slick.
In essence, however, it is a passive device. You use it to check email, check the web, look up an address, check Facebook, play songs, etc. While the screen is nice and big, the iPad seems to do very little you can’t do on an iPhone or a Droid – just with bigger text.
The keyboard is so clunky that typing large amounts of text is simply not practical. This fact is reflected in emails I receive all the time that say something like “sent from my iPad. Please pardon the typographical errors.”
In addition, the iPad’s shortcomings have been widely reported – no multitasking (though this may be coming), no USB port, no camera, no Flash for playing videos, poor battery life, etc. On the other hand, my 3-year old granddaughter loves to play learning games on the iPad. No need to use the mouse, keyboard, etc. You just poke at a picture. Sort of like Fisher-Price toys that teach kids to count or spell.
So that’s the iPad: a Fischer-Price toy for adults.
For a more comprehensive review, see Ubergizmo.