Date: 2011-07-25 20:58:12 Created: 2011-07-25 16:57:38
Is there space for a tablet inbetween laptops, desktops and app phones? I have now had my Ipad for a year, so it might be a bit more possible to answer that question by now.
When I got my Ipad I had three main computers: my Imac at home, my Imac at work and my Iphone both there and everywhere inbetween. To make matters more interesting, after about six months of Ipad usage I also got myself an eleven inch Macbook air, the main motivation of which was to get on-the-go-development capabilities.
The best thing of all on the Ipad, I would say, is reading. Instapaper somehow makes it nicer to read on the Ipad than anywhere else. I regularly find myself pushing content to Instapaper from all of my computers to read on my Ipad, both later and right away instead of reading on a computer screen. Reading a nice clean and reasonably pure text is one of the greatest things things I do on the Ipad. I have not had many intense reading periods of books recently, but pdf files and, especially, e-books have been a nice eperience on the Ipad too. Ever since getting the Iphone I have been a heavy user of Wikipanion, and that trend continues - perhaps stronger than ever - on the Ipad. It is another excellent example of how a well thought out native client can improve on even a rather well-made web site.
Before I got the Air, the Ipad also took over pretty much all my web browsing, most reading of email and the vast majority of replies as well. I also did a lot of writing in Elements - a nice and clean Dropbox-based text editor. I actually kind of like writing on glass, but I am a whole lot faster and more accurate with a physical keyboard. So whenever something keyboarded is even remotely within reach I tend to put down the Ipad if I think my writing is going to be longer than a few sentences.
Not so much. I have played and greatly enjoyed a few games ince getting the Ipad, and know that there are many more out there I would enjoy ito play, but I have not had any serious gaming periods. But I have gamed more on the Ipad than anywhere else, and if the itch for games should reappear I am much more likely to look for something on the Ioad than on one of my other computers.
Browsing is one of the original wonders of IOS and is of course great on the Ipad too. I always prefer browsing on the Ipad over the Iphone. However, I am not sure where I currently surf more at the moment. Only the Ipad has 3G, so on the move it still wins out. When I am within wifi coverage though, it mostly seems to come down to which device is within the easiest reach The ease of writing on the Air seems to win out if both it and the Ipad are within equal distance though. In front of an Imac, that will of course be used. I love to write, and I like to code whenever the urge strikes, so a nice big keyboard is great for me.
And there is Twitter of coure. Twitter still feels most at home, most right and most stylish, on IOS devices. I prefer Twitter on the Ipad to on the Mac, it just feels more right. Twitter is also interesting in that it is so nice on the phone that I may well check it there instead of on the Ipad if I have both right at hand. But If I am in front of the Air or an Imac, I will not pick up the Ipad to check my tweets.
Here the Air - or another Mac - wins, hands down and every time. Chatting without convenient multitasking just makes me feel limited and inefficient. With a great chat client I could see the balance shifting, but I have neither looked nor stumbled upon or heard of any. But with one, I could even see myself having the Ipad as a sort of chat device beside another Mac while working. Pushing chat off to the side a bit more is rarely wrong, I could see that giving me a bit more focus. Then again, interacting between chat and other testks would be more difficult than if I just hide the chat on another space on the Mac.
I am still wearing down my Iphone 3G. It is starting to feel seriously slow compared to all my other devices, so the few times I make use of it now are when the others are out of reach and I just want some really quick checkup of something (email, tweets or so) . Almost always being in my pocket means it is often the very closest, so bathroom visits and lines of people tend to give it some exercise. But as long as they are reasonably nearby, the Ipad or a Mac will win and be used instead every time.