iPad thoughts – the first 2 weeks

Very interesting device.   For me, it is definitely a consumption device.  Netflix, web-surfing,  news and blog reader, drawing and playing games with my kids, and some YouTube.      The video quality is amazing, the magazine reader is excellent, the battery second to none… Very good for easy blog postings and lite-email writing during my daily activities.    However one of my biggest pains in using it are:

1. lack of multi-tasking:   It is really hard to  be at a post I want to tweet or want to my EverNote or bookmark  or even take a note in my Notes, without having to close the application.  It drives me crazy! –
2. the lack of Flash (or Silverlight) – I do use YouTube some,  but most of the business sites I need to use daily still use Flash or Silverlight for displaying training videos, webcasts, presentations (Slideshare.net) and such .   I totally get Flash is an issue – and to some extend I agree with the goal,  but it is a huge inconvenience not to have this capability.  
3. Why do I need to use the iTunes desktop to subscribe to podcasts???? – My iPad is online all of the time… This one is IRRITATING! –  I had to buy a podcast software to auto-pull and track my podcasts.  But while the software is playing a podcast, then I can not make notes, or surf the web for research (back to #1)  ARGH!!!
4. easy copy and paste:   this is really about the ability to quickly switch applications back and forth… The way it is implemented it is  tough to get some content via copy / paste into another document..   There got to be a better way to do this…

In the past few days, I notice that I have been going back to my tablet PC  or laptop more that I thought I would given the fact that I have an iPad on hand… because of the I use the iPad for fun things mostly – I would love to use it more for research if I can figure out a way to write my notes easier without closing the web browser or my podcast software.

I find myself waiting for something better…    Some of the things in the horizon include:

• The new OS 4.0  release from Apple rumored to be coming soon after the released for the iPhone in June, promises to address some of the challenges / issues. 
• Looking at the release of the WePad – the EUR:499 German Android-based tablet reader which support multitasking, flash and good copy-paste.     
• The news of HP buying Palm (for US$1.2 Billion) is a great sight of relief for those of us who believed in WebOS –  This in combination with the news that Microsoft has decided not to release the Courier Tablet -  adds up – although not officially – to the potential great news of a WebOS-based tablet – We can only hope!

All moving forward in  the right direction.

PS -   Originally, my article was going to include the iPad experience of my family as well , but a great article on May 2010 PC Magazine:  At Home with the Apple iPad describes exactly what we have experienced… There is a family just like us out there!