Me and my iPad

I like my iPad.  Once I added my bluetooth keyboard I became committed to my iPad.  It is often the best tool for the job I am trying to get done. I can type with it, write with it, turn pages like pages and I can even draw with it.  The introduction of a tablet tool to my arsenal of electronic toys has turned out to be a favorite of all of the additions I have.  I don’t see a future me without some type of tablet.  

As a multi-platform user I am not married to Apple, we just have a significant relationship.  I have wanted a USB and better access to a window-based file management system.  My daughter is using a Nexus tablet through her school.  She uses our iPad at home and she loves them both.  I suspect another tablet will be in my future.

In July 2010, I purchased my iPad because of an upcoming  trip.  I had offered to chauffeur my parents on a 12-14 hour drive to Canada for a reunion.  I had almost completely moved on from paper maps and thought this would be the perfect time to just get a tablet, never worry about getting lost and use this new toy to improve my life. But because I would be traveling I made sure I got the 3g option because I didn’t want to get lost without access to a map.  

Alas.  As it turns out I lacked some information about coverage.  Turns out that the map on my phone helped me more because I had better coverage than what I was getting on the iPad.  But worse, and this has nothing to do with the tablet itself, as soon as I crossed that Canadian border - seriously I was no more than three feet on Canadian soil - my 3g coverage ended.  Fortunately my parents knew where we were going, and while they are older, they are in no way senile and we got to where we were heading without a problem.

As it turned out, my uncle had cancelled his wifi at his home because they are only in that residence a couple months out of the year.  So I couldn’t Skype my family while I was away and my cousins had to tell me how to get from place to place.  But that iPad kept my parents entertained while we traveled.  There wasn’t any, “Are we there yet?” from the passengers.  I did have to remind them to hit the home button every now and again to keep them on track.

The tablet experience works because is it seems less like work.  The interface is generally intuitive.  I like its simplicity and gentle warnings when you try to go astray.  So it seems appropriate for me to resolve today to make my interface more intuitive and user friendly, even when things go wrong. So in 2014 look for a better me with versions 47.2.27 - 48.2.26.