My iPad Cans and Cannots

So, now that I've been using the iPad for all of, oh, one day, below are some of my observations. To naysayers and Apple-haters, I say, get over yourselves. Buying a new gadget comes down to like, need and want... If the iPad doesn't float your boat, doesn't meet your need, or you don't want it, well, don't get one -- hello! Sheesh!

Cans:

• Watch movies, both those I have stored locally or streaming through Netflix. Quality is great (as long as the video itself is good) and streaming is fine as long as the connection is a good one. I actually watch movies on my iPhone and iPod quite a bit, so this is really nice for me - no need to hold the thing right up to my face. I know I'll be happy when I'm on that 11 hour flight to Holland in the fall.
  
• Update my blog, with a little workaround (see below for more on this). I can't promise I'll blog MORE because I have the iPad, or that my blogs will be more interesting.
  
• Read all my Kindle books, mostly (see below for more).
  
• Play kick-ass high def Plants vs Zombies and Scrabble.
  
• The usual calendar and email stuff - the interfaces of both are really visually appealing and functional on the iPad.
  
• Web browsing: way way way better on the iPad then on the iPhone -- bigger and faster and generally cooler, mostly (see below).
  
• Type: I've seen a lot of critiques about the digital keyboard, but it's really just fine for what it is. I'm a touch typist -- I can type over 100 words a minute -- but I never expected that sort of capability on the iPad. If I want to write a novel, I'll do it on my computer (I sure as heck wouldn't buy an iPad so I could write a novel on it -- hello, function!).

Cannots (either I really can't do it or I just haven't figured it out yet):

• Upload pictures for my blog via the Blogger/Picasso web interfaces -- I have to use a workaround of emailing the pic to my blogger account, then copying the url from the automatically created blog and then deleting the automatically created blog and going to the blog I'm actually writing and pasting the link there. An annoying work around, but tolerable for now as I'm hoping I'll either find a solution or, if not, Google will provide one. Basically, if I'm in my blogging edit window and I click on the button to insert an image the button used to navigate to the image is not usable. I could still update the blog the same way I did on my iPhone, which is just doing it through email, but I like being able to preview and do other things that are easy to do in the blogging web interface. Or I could use a 3rd party app like BlogPress.
  
• Read my Kindle books outside in the sunlight. I knew this wold be the case -- afterall, it's the case with my iPhone and with my MacBook Air. But still... maybe I can try some sort of protective cover to help minimize the glare? We'll see. For now, the Kindle stays.
  
• Okay, I know Apple is thumbs down on the whole Flash deal, but still, it's so widely utilized on the web not being able to use it when surfing on the iPad is a bit annoying. Perhaps this will be the push web developers need to establish alternatives.

Still to explore:

• Hmmm, how will I do my off-line travel journaling? Not using the built in notepad - that app still irritates me. I'll have to look around for options.
  
• GoogleDocs? Still not sure of the solutions for creating and editing Google documents since I've read that you can't create GoogleDocs via the web interface. I've heard of some Memeo app to view them off-line, but I'm more interested in creating and editing them online and off. A good app would be a GoogleDocs app that lets you create and edit on your iPad and synch to your GoogleDocs account when ready. While I don't plan to write a novel on my iPad, I do like to journal, especially when I'm traveling, which points me back to the first bullet in this section.

Confessions:

• Yeah, okay, the fingerprints looks way worse on my iPad then on my iPhone. Guess I'll just have to carry a little iPad cloth in my purse.
  
• Not sure if and when I'll buy a book through Apple's bookstore. I'd just as soon as keep using the Kindle app or my actual Kindle device. The exception might be books that have maps. I love stories that use maps and frankly the Kindle versions of these have crappy suck-ass maps that you can barely read (example, George R. R. Martin's series "A Song of Ice and Fire" - awesome maps, completely unreadable on my Kindle device or via the Kindle app on my Mac). If the iPad/Apple versions of these books have good maps, that could be a motivator for me.

Worth the ridiculous dollars? The Snarffable Jury is still out.

Are you asking yourself, "Hey, Snarfffable, did you write this freakin' monograph on your iPad?" Um, no, not this time... but only cause I was in front of my computer when I decided to start jotting down ideas on what to write. But, I did edit it on my iPad and post it via the iPad with the app my Slacker Bro found for me called BlogPress.