I like the iPad. It’s basically a large iPhone, but that’s no small thing; many of the apps that on an iPhone are inconvenient because of the size of the machine/human interface, come to full glory on an iPad.
On an iPhone the Maps app is largely a pain. Oh, it works, but the size of the screen means you’re constantly squinting and trying to move the map around so you can find yourself within the larger geographic context. On an iPad, it’s like handling a conventional paper map; easy to read even while driving.
One of my favorite apps is LogMeIn Pro. For a nominal annual subscription fee, you can use your iPhone or iPad to access your desktop remotely and control its every function as if you were sitting in front of it in your office. On the iPhone it’s a pain, the full-screen view of my giant 27″ iMac challenges even the best eyes. But on the iPad, it’s very workable.
When I’m watching TV in the evening, I keep my iPad close to hand and when I hear the email “bing” from my office desktop, I just log in to LogMeInPro (it takes about 5 seconds) and I can read and handle the email without getting up from my Zero Gravity Chair.
Last night was a laugh though. My wife is laid up with a disc injury and is in so much pain she can only find relief in bed. She was upstairs and I was watching TV in the living room. Unbeknownst to me, she had been calling out for me, but I couldn’t hear her from the distance and above the TV sounds.
I heard the bing from my office desktop (just a few feet away), and immediately accessed it from my iPad. The email said: “Can you please bring me an Advil, I can’t walk?”. I thought it was spam until I looked at the sender. My wife had sent it from her netbook, in bed.
I laughed out loud….a new iPad app….iCom; the iPad as intercom. Not crazy, huh?