My first weekend with the iPad

So naturally I was waiting in line for the Apple store in Palo Alto to open so I could get my Kindle immediately! Back in October, I was already planning this. The verdict? While I could live without one, I definitely don’t want to. And certainly my family won’t want to!

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Sophie trying out the iPad in Starbucks

It was a family affair:

  • My kids downloaded Scrabble and various Tap Tap games.
  • My husband played a good number of games of Solitaire.
  • I read the New York times — app isn’t nearly deep or rich enough. Why cut out all that content?
  • I watched movies on the fab Netflix app — though the screen is so mirror like I kept seeing my face in it. Didn’t like that — and it’s hard to watch with more than one person.
  • I watched part of a TV show on the ABC Player.
  • I downloaded one or two books, but I can’t see doing a lot of reading on this.
  • I accessed my Kindle library on the Kindle app. A definite improvement on the Kindle experience. But where is the ability to annotate?!
  • My husband played with the Weather Channel map and talked endlessly about where the snow was falling (and therefore where he should be skiing.)

I can really see this as a terrific travel device. It’s so, so much easier than carting around a laptop. If you’re not planning on a lot of work that involves typing, then it’s just right.

It’s not a device for sharing with others, unless you’re playing a game of some sort. Even then, it’s crowded for two.

Buy some really good screen cleaner and a soft cloth of some sort. Greasy finger marks show up easily.