My first days as a wireless iPad User

The iPad, well hmm so far I must admit and my experience has been limited, the thing is a beautiful indulgent lovely digital toy. Now if your thing is having the latest greatest gadget or being the coolest kid on the block this baby is for you. Me….I’m a little more practical. And no kidding you can see where this thing is going. Say good bye to the printed newspaper or magazine, as the newspaper experience really is wonderful. Big sexy clickable pictures….very nice. Sliding page turns…good. The whole back light while reading conversation has yet to be played out so we shall see.

The primary and as far as I can tell only really big drawback right now is the wireless situation, which for me is out-of–control. Granted I have had an extremely unusually unwired week in that I have been in long client meetings in office parks in the suburbs of Chicago. And then planes, trains and automobiles, while traveling for work, to finally get to shooting on get this…an unwired sound stage in LA!

The thing is, what I really wanted was a lighter cooler sleeker computer. I fully expect to be able to maximize my morning commute on the train while lightening the load on my back. I want to check my email, review bids and write letters of congratulations on the train. I want to get a cute little bag to carry it in. Right now, I am out of luck Charlie. (at least until the end of April)

There are some things that are purely Apple and purely wonderful, like the photos display beautifully. I mean they just look so pretty with the image popping in all that wonderful black. Shining back at me from that sleek surface, my kids really are beautiful but this is re-donkulous! And photo event has a great interface, double tap on what looks like a pile of snapshots and they all fly out into an organized display. Oh and the application icons float across the top of the background like a puck on ice. It is fun to just drag your finger across the screen back and forth and watch them float seamlessly on their own plane. As you would expect the sound quality is wonderful; warmer than the iPhone and more fully bodied with a nice balance in the mix. Volume wise the output through the machine is totally reasonable, although for my 3-chord rock fix I could always use more juice.

I can’t wait to try the book and internet experience but this lack of access, which is in fact raising all kinds of issues for me is shutting me out. I am so used to being connected that these 48 hours of forced wireless-ness (even my freaking’ hotel room was offline this morning) is really making me wonder why the hell wireless isn’t everywhere and free. I want Universal Healthcare and Universal Wireless! These are my rights! It’s like information is being withheld from me, and now I am thinking about the digital divide and how it really is a class issue and what’s going to happen with this kind of democracy anyway?

So I put it down or rather hand it off and every single person I have shared this technology with is in love. They want to play my games. They want to look at my photos. I am getting especially good feedback from the girls in the room, on this Delta Make A Mess app that, Pixel did in fact develop. I swear I just handed it to them blind. (they especially love the faucet washing). I hand it to our very prolific Hollywood director and all he can say is “J’adore…j’adore” but he is also the kind of guy, who shouts, “Check the gate” on a video shoot so we both laugh.

The vast potential of the thing is intoxicating though… I mean you can see it. Entertainment unparalleled at your fingertips. Print publications become and indulgence for the rich and shameless. Right now I am loving the eco friendliness of it all and once I get it loaded I am all in.

I want this tool to work, although sucking down another ~$30 a month to be connected is going to irritate me. I mean let’s do the math here, you have your home internet, I got cable for speed even thought there are cheaper services out there that’s $70 bucks, plus my iPhone which is something like $120 a month or, and then I want the mobility and full functionality of the iPad so that is probably at least $30 bucks a month, which puts me at two hundred George Washington’s a month for total connectivity. That doesn’t even include the $500 of the pad itself and the $10 app purchase suddenly I am thinking you gotta really budget for this thing or else it becomes that giant sucking sound in your wallet…again. Plus it is yet another thing to sync.

Ah but the PA’s can’t get enough. I am having trouble getting it back and I really do want to load it up and ride the net.

“J’adore!”