Don’t Panic

I’ve had an iPad for about three weeks now (thanks to two Kevins for bringing back the iPad and case).

I’ve noticed that, despite the 69 million reviews already out there, anyone who gets hold of one feels the need to write about his initial thoughts on the device. Ick! Such self-absorbed twats!

Anyway, my initial thoughts on the device:

• It’s been great for reading a variety of things on. I’ve been plowing through articles on Instapaper, PDFs on GoodReader, and books on iBooks.
• Other apps – NewsRack for RSS, Twitterrific for Twitter, SimpleNote for note-taking, ArtStudio for finger-painting, NYT and BBC for news, PenUltimate for quick sketches. So far so good. All these apps are very distracting when I want to settle down and read, though. (Multitasking in OS 4 will probably destroy my attention span for good.)
• GoodReader could do with an icon that doesn’t remind me of the eye of Sauron.
• Hasn’t replaced my laptop yet. However, doesn’t burn my lap when watching videos in bed. (To convert, erm, non-iTunes TV and movie content, I bought iFlicks, which converts videos into iTunes-compatible formats, downloads cover art and fills in episode info.)
• One complaint, I guess – the iPad’s screen could do with greater pixel density. I keep noticing jaggies while reading text.

Summary: love it. As Stephen Fry wrote in his giddy TIME review, the iPad is truly the closest thing to the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy humankind has devised. Douglas Adams would have been proud.

(Wallpaper from talented Apple designer Louie Mantia.)