So one week later here are my observations:

Battery Life:

It's amazing.  I haven't run out of juice yet, not even close.  Unlike the iPhone where you have to constantly carry a charger and worry that you'll run out of juice, the iPad battery life is great.  You can keep the screen cranked

Data usage

The iPad is known as a media consumption device.  That means it makes watching videos and listening to music so easy.   I often put it in the kitchen while I"m preparing meals so I can look up recipes and watch local news clips on the Yahoo iPad app.

All this to say that the media consumption facilities on the iPad translates into heavy bandwidth usage.  Simply turning this device on and doing a search or using an twitter app translates into a dozen or so MB of usage very quickly.  What does that mean? It means if you're going for the 3G model and not opting for the unlimited data plan, you may have a rude surprise ahead of you!

Screen

The screen is super sharp and very easy on the eyes.  It's much easier to use this device for long periods over say, the iPhone :-)  The only thing that makes me nuts is the oleophobic [is that even a word?!] screen. I'm assuming oleophobic means not liking oil but damn this screen loves to collect smudges, prints, and stains.   

The daily routine for me now is to clean the screen daily so that the screen isn't mocking me with the stains of usage.  Could you imagine cleaning your mac or pc monitor every day?!?!

Apps

iPad versions of apps [HD] usually cost more than the iPhone apps. No surprise there.  What is surprising is that some of the heavy hitting apps on the iPhone either aren't available or don't work as well on the iPad.  Apps like Facebook, Tweetie [I know I know], Tumblr aren't ready yet for iPad, therefore my app usage patterns on the iPad are quite different from the iPhone.

Also surprising is that some apps that are clunky and unattractive on iPhone really shine on the iPad.  Evernote is an example of one that falls into this category.

Keyboard

I know Apple is selling the new aluminum keyboard dock as an accessory.  I was _very_ disappointed to find out that my white Apple bluetooth keyboard won't pair with the iPad though the iPad supports bluetooth keyboard profiles.  :-(

In summary, I find the iPad a great alternative to the macbook or a pc.  In reality, I haven't sat at my macbook workstation for anything other than xCoding since I got the iPad.  It's a capable addition to a tech toolset and offers a more unique set of capabilities [with less duplication] than a netbook.

I decided to get an iPad. It was my first experience getting something from Apple on day 1. 

The experience was seemless and easy. I was home in less than 10 minutes once I got into the store.

Here are my initial impressions after setting it up and using it for about an hour.

Setup

The iPad surprised me when it offered to restore from my iPhone backup!  This was a great time saver as all of my apps and data could be ported over without too much trouble and/or typing. Some apps required me to re-enter passwords but for the most part I was up and running after the initial sync which took about 20 minutes, mostly due to photos and audio.

Sound

I played a video I had downloaded via one of my yahoo pipe video feeds.  Melissa Etheridge doing a ditty for Cable TV show-Nurse Jackie.  I was very impressed with the sound quality and volume.  Unlike the iPhone, the speakers on this thing almost make the iPad throb with bass.  Not too much to be uncomfortable but enough to make listening to music enjoyable even without hadphones.  I was very impressed here, mostly because I had _very_ low expectations.

Screen

The iPad screen as you probably know is strikingly sharp.  Photos and videos really come to life.  The screen of course shows fingerprints like nothing else but when the screen is clean and the resolution of the media is good, you're enjoying a very rich experience.

Apps

Speaking of resolution, this is an area where some apps are disappointing.  As I've been writing an iPhone app and using the iPad simulator, I had no idea at how poorly regular iPhone apps look when blown up to fullscreen [2x] mode on the iPad.  The text is almost unreadable it's so blocky and ugly.  The pictures below don't show how ugly it is when you're face to face with it.

YUCK. I sure hope all iPhone apps come out with iPad versions soon. It's really not much more trouble to resolve this issue and I'm pleased that so many apps are already at day 1 with iPad versions. There were a few notable exceptions though....Tweetie [I'm looking at you @atebits and @faceook ]

Aside from the resolution issue for old apps that haven't been upgraded, the selection of iPad apps is amazing considering it's day one.  A big surprise for me was Netflix.  Apparently you can watch movies and TV on your iPad with your Netflix account!  I'm considering reactivating netflix for just that reason.  Score one for netflix.

It's interesting as a software developer to see how some apps really shine when used on the iPad as opposed to the constrained iPhone. 

Evernote blew me away with it's performance on the iPad.  I'm a big evernote user. In fact, I pay for it!  I constantly complain about the iPhone app being crash-prone and slow.   On the iPad it flies and I'll definitely be using it more on that platform.  Of course, the first crash on the iPad was with Evernote but I'll still use it.  It's become a huge part of my workflow.

Maps on the iPad really shines.  Photos that are geotagged [e.g. taken with iPhone or put on a map at flickr] show up on a large map that fills the screen.  It really makes the utility of geotagging and any apps that are map-enabled evident.  Instead of the small iPhone screen displaying the map, you have a large useful map that is multi-touch enabled and responsive.

and speaking of speed...

Speed

The iPad really shines here.  The processor on this unit is 100 percent faster than the average iPhone.  Fully loaded, the iPad still responds lightning fast to user touch. It's a pleasure to use whereas I often descibe the iPhone as the iWaitPhone.

Keyboard

The onscreen keyboard was a big red flag for many early reviewers who felt it could be a problem.  I find it much more useful than the tiny iPhone keyboard.  Where the iPhone keyboard is cramped and error prone, the iPad keyboard is large and comfortable to use.  I find I make much fewer errors on it and can type much faster than on the iPhone [which isn't saying much really as I find the iPhone keyboard a chore to use].

Well that's my first read of the iPad. I can definitely say I"m very impressed with the device although the Apple case for it, not so much.  For $39 dollars I was very disappointed with the fit and value. I may return it in fact.  Any good case recommendations? Shoot them my way.

Back to x-Coding!

After seeing my lovely 4GB Macbook Pro come to a halt, I checked the Activity Monitor and was horrified to see that the Dashboard was taking up more than 1GB of Real Memory!

I don't know about you but I rarely pop into the Dashboard so I wrote up a utility to Kill the Dashboard quickly and posted on buzz.  

A request to share it soon followed , so here it is...

Installation

• Download the KillDashboard.zip file below 
• Unzip
• Copy both apps into your Applications folder.

To kill the dashboard: 

• Just go to spotlight 
• Search on the word: Kill  {You'll likely see just this utility] 
• Hit enter--->  Your Dashboard is now offline. 
  Bonus: It will stay disabled even after you reboot [until you run the restart dashboard app].

To restart the dashboard:

• just go to the spotlight and 
• search on the word: Start  [You'll likely see just this utility] 
• hit enter-->Your Dashboard is now back.

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