So after my last rant about the iPad, I got to thinking about the real, practicle uses of it. Sure, you can listen to music, watch videos, and play games and such, but I do already have an iPod Touch for that. I think that the fun factor on the games will increase with the bigger screen, but that’s not near a good enough reason to drop 500 bucks on the thing.
Here are some of what I feel could be practicle uses for the iPad:
1. For starters, iBooks. Now, I’m not that big of a book reader. When I sit down to read a book, it’s very specific to me, and normally very gere specific, and when I’m done reading it, I have no desire to read it again, nor do I care to have it collecting dust, and cluttering up a book shelf after the fact. Now my wife on the other hand is the exact opposite. She will read all sorts of books over and over again, and clutter up a bookshelf. With the iPad, problem solved for both of us. Download a book, no clutter, no wasted space. Read it, and we can choose to keep it on the HD for future reading or dump it. It’s actually a very “green” idea if you think about it. No trees were harmed during the publication of this book.
2. More times than one, I have seen my wife lug the laptop into the kitchen to reference a recipie. And then she’s trying to find a place to sit it so it’s out of the way and it doesn’t get wet, but she can still read it. I feel like the iPad will be compact enough to where she can take it into the kitchen with her and easily place it to where it’s out of the way yet still be able to see it.
3. However this is a small feature, the digital picture frame is great as far as I am concerened. I have always wanted a digital picture frame, but the big ones, especially around 10 inches, tend to be a little on the expensive side. Now sure the iPad is not cheap, but it’s a whole lot more than just a picture frame.
4. For the 4-5 times a year that I travel for work or vacation, the last thing I want to do is have to to take another bag along with me for my laptop, especially when all that I am going to do with it is update my Twitter and facebook statuses. The iPad should easily slide into a backpack or bag that I would be taking with me anyway. Now sure I could do the same thing with my iPod Touch, but I wouldn’t be able to upload a cool picture to facebook that I just took on vacation with it like I will be able to do with the iPad with an accessory.
5. I have a 2 year old, and a wife that has control of the television about 98% of the time. With the screen size of the iPad, it would be very easy to watch a tv show with headphones bought from iTunes, while the television is otherwise occupied. I wouldn’t dare try this with my iPod on a regular basis. Can you say eye strain?
So there are some, and if you get to talking about future tense, especially with the magazine subscription rumor, that just adds to the list. I get Rolling Stone twice a month, and Maxim once a month, while my wife gets several women’s magazines monthly, and Entertainment Weekly, well, weekly. Do you know how much clutter I can save if they were to offer subscriptions to these magazines? Wow….
Worth the 500 bucks? No, but what ever is worth the money? It’s all in how you look at. Am I still buying one? I have all intentions to.
Until next time
–Kev
