Living with the iPad: One Month In

The six coveted spots. What's on your iPad dock?The iPad is not a perfect device. I noted some of its shortcomings in my initial reflections after having it for two days. Having said that, a month has now passed, and despite some of its flaws (and my hope and assumption that certain issues will improve), I can say that the iPad has become a fixed part of my routine. In fact, it is my primary mobile computer.

Not a laptop replacement (yet), but definitely better than a netbook.
A week or so after getting my iPad, a former student contacted me to ask whether or not he should get an iPad or a MacBook for school. He said that he would primarily be using it for email, surfing the internet and word processing. I had to ask him if he had a decent computer already since at this stage, the iPad is not an independent platform. He said that was the deal breaker and he would have to get a MacBook for now.

And that's the thing that a lot of people still don't understand: the iPad does not yet completely replace a personal computer. It's dependent upon a personal computer, in fact, right out of the box. The iPad is clearly designed for secondary purposes—for use on the go, and will end up replacing many, but not all, of the functions that might often be done on a laptop.

I bought a netbook last November. I wanted something smaller than my 15" MacBook Pro to take with me to meetings, to church, to the coffee shop, for use on the couch while watching television. The netbook itself was a nice little machine, especially after I upped its memory to 2 GB of RAM. But the netbook experience was not enjoyable. I tried it with both a Hackintosh version of OS X and Windows 7 Pro installed. Both actually ran fine on it. But the cramped keyboard and awkward size made it undesirable for me. As soon as Apple announced the iPad in January, I sold the netbook on eBay.

Just this week, I was in the library when I saw a student writing a term paper on a netbook. I noticed him typing with only half of his digits to accommodate the keyboard. I mentally shook my head. Really he needed a laptop, but I honestly think that even an iPad would have been better for the task.

The mobile writer's dream: the iPad and keyboard dock

I have no problem with the virtual keyboard on the iPad when using it in landscape mode. Even Kathy commented recently how fast I type on it. But when on a desk, I like to use Apple's keyboard dock. I love the minimalist feel of the iPad sitting at a vertical angle from the aluminum keyboard. It's fast, handy, and in my opinion a writer's portable dream device. So compact, so easy to carry. Write anywhere.

Perhaps a laptop replacement after all.
Since 1991, I've always had a desktop and laptop computer simultaneously. The desktop computer was kind of the "family computer"; the laptop was my computer "on the go." Initially, a laptop was not capable of being a "main computer" due to limitations in hard drive sizes and processor power. While high end desktops are still technically more powerful than laptops, technology has finally caught the laptop up a good bit. The MacBook Pro I bought in late 2008 has a 7200 RPM 500 GB hard drive (not the original hard drive, but an upgrade) and a 2.8 GHz processor. When I bought it, I decided that I was going to make the laptop my main machine and let the aging PowerMac G5 demote to a secondary machine. I purposefully bought an high end MacBook Pro with the intention of keeping it five years—longer than any time I've kept a laptop in the past.

Maybe when I go to get a new computer in 2013, perhaps I will opt not to get a laptop. Perhaps for the same money, I could get a decent iMac and an iPad. Maybe really, I don't need a laptop anymore because of the iPad.

What the iPad Can Do.
See, here's the thing. When I originally ordered my iPad, my hopes were that it could do perhaps 50% to 2/3 of what I normally do with a laptop. I'd say that the reality is that it's closer to 90%. The iPad has clearly become my preferred mobile computer in only a month's time. If I can carry it and leave the MacBook Pro at home, I do. I carry the iPad to meetings, to church—really everywhere. Remember the days when a leather bound daytimer was always at your side (or maybe it still is)? That's what I do with my iPad. Even in places where I probably won't need it, I can let it tag along in my hand in case I need to look up something, add an event to a calendar, or even if I have a few minutes simply to read.

In fact, the other day, I was stuck in traffic. Really bad traffic. Cars weren't going anywhere. After a while, I shut off my engine, pulled out my iPad and simply began to read. Sure, I could have done that with a physical book, but with the iPad, I was carrying dozens of books with me—my own personal multivolume library.

What the iPad Can't Do.
I wrote a post about teaching on the iPad. It's great for that and allows me to walk into a classroom or Bible study at church without having to carry an entire bag of materials, books and my laptop as I've often done in the past. But there are limitations.

Most people who have used Keynote on the iPad complain about its lack of a true presenter screen. No preview, no notes, not even a mirror of what's on the projector. Okay, I assume all that's coming, but it's a pain for us early adopters. I don't like having to print out notes because that seems so very five years ago. Of course, when I occasionally teach a public speaking class, I tell my students that presentation slides should enhance one's presentation; it should not be one's presentation.

And while that's true, the other day in a writing class I wanted to use a Keynote file I'd prepared a while back that covers basic grammar rules. And contrary to the advice to my speaking class, this Keynote file was the presentation. I mean, this kind of lesson requires rules and examples to be displayed in front of the students. I can't simply talk about the rule and then show a few illustrations. In fact, in this Keynote file, there are no presenter notes. Everything is on the slide.

So to present that from the iPad to a projector meant that I would have had to have my back turned to the class for most of the presentation. A simple remote would have solved the problem, but for the moment, there are no remote control solutions for using Keynote on the iPad. I did end up using the Apple remote control which allowed me to walk around the class during our discussion over the slides on the screen. But I had to present it from my MacBook, not my Keynote. Clearly, this particular lesson was best suited from the laptop than the iPad. This is something that a few enhancements to the Keynote software on the iPad would fix.

Another issue related to teaching— I cannot use the iPad to evaluate essays written by students. I use Word's commenting system in my evaluation and scoring of student papers. iWork Pages does not have this functionality. And even though this is a version one program, I somehow doubt that Apple's iWork Team has commenting high on their list of features to add.

Further, the grading software I use, Gradekeeper, does not have an iPad version and probably will not get one in the future. The program's designer has publicly expressed his skepticism as to the iPad's potential as a mainstream device to be used by teachers (I highly disagree) as well as admitted to his lack of knowledge in Objective C, the iPad's primary programming language. This is too bad as I believe the iPad would be ideal for grade recording, and I really like Gradekeeper, having used it since the nineties. For teachers in traditional primary and secondary classrooms, I could easily see the iPad as a convenient device for walking up student rows, evaluating assignments.

Of course, I expect we'll eventually see gradebook software on the iPad. One app is already available, but it is very limited in scope. I'm very used to Gradekeeper's under-the-hood power and features such as emailed student progress reports that I've come to rely on. But as long as I'm having to grade papers on my MacBook Pro anyway, I suppose having my gradebook on the Mac as well is not too big of an issue for now.

A Game Changer? Ask My Wife.
Kathy got an iPad on the same day I did. It's been interesting to see her interact and even take to the iPad on an increasing scale. I say that because really, in the big scheme of things, she's much more practical than me on these kinds of things. I can often use technology just for the sake of technology. Just the other day, a friend commented to me that I was having to go through a number of extra steps (referring specifically to file transfers) just to be able to do some things on the iPad. While I do think there's a great payoff in the freedom to travel much lighter with the iPad in the scenarios I've described already, I also admit that sometimes I am guilty of using technology for technology's sake. In other words, I'm not always the most practical person when it comes to technology. Sometimes I use it simply because I like using it.

When the iPad was first announced, my initial intent was not to get one—at least not the first generation. As I've said in other posts, it was the presentation of the iWork suite that changed my mind. And that didn't happen overnight, but rather over the next few weeks as I pondered the iPad's potential as a both a teaching tool and a content creation device.

However, I did immediately suggest to Kathy that she ought to get one. Kathy is the Library Media/Textbooks Consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education (I simply call her Kentucky's Book Czar). Over the next half decade or so, I believe a lot of our schools will transition to digital textbooks. Although Kathy will undoubtedly not be in that position when that transition fully takes place, it's an issue that's continuously being brought to the table now. I felt she ought to be able to evaluate digital textbooks as they come along, so I suggested the iPad.

Well, Kathy's taken to the iPad in lots of ways besides books just as I have, but it's been very interesting to watch her—someone who's been a librarian for 18 years—essentially rethink the physical book paradigm.

First, for the last two weeks, rather than taking her two-inch-thick NLT Life Application Study Bible to church, Kathy simply takes her iPad. Honestly, her switch from a physical Bible to a digital one this quickly has surprised me. I'm going to set her up on OliveTree's BibleReader with the NLT Study Bible once the OliveTree app is released, but in the meantime, she's had no real problem using the YouVersion except for one instance in which she couldn't get wi-fi reception.

Second, last Sunday, we went to a Books-A-Million in Louisville so that I could look for a supplemental grammar book to recommend to my writing class. I carried my iPad in with me because I wanted to find a book that was available both in physical form as well as available electronically and wanted to be able to look up titles as needed. Since I was taking my iPad in, Kathy did, too. After a while of looking at books, I found her in a leather chair and sat down beside her. She looked at me, and waving her arm around the shelves of books we were sitting between said, "You know, with the iPad, it doesn't make sense anymore to me to invest in these kinds [i.e. physical] of books. They cost more money and they take up space."

Really, I was a bit shocked. Now, keep in mind, please, that she was speaking in regard to personal purchases and not someone representing Kentucky state government. But it's really an astounding comment from someone in her position if you think about it—someone who has been a librarian, managing physical books for almost two decades.

And I don't disagree with her sentiment. I make about $30/month from Amazon ads placed in some of my posts on this site when I'm reviewing a book. When I got my most recent redemption code from Amazon a few days ago, I spent the entire amount on digital books that I could read on my iPad in the Kindle app.

Yeah, I think the iPad is going to be a game changer. That's becoming more than just hype surrounding the device. In regard to books, I think I'd now be more incline to buy a book if it were available digitally than if it only came out in physical form. Of course, even physical books can be converted to digital books. I've already done this with a book, and I'll detail the steps in a future post.

Follow-up: finding the perfect iPad case.
A week or so ago, I blogged about my so-far-failed attempt to find the perfect case for the iPad. I really liked the portfolio-style case that Apple makes and had bought one with my iPad, but thought I'd like something similar perhaps with a pocket or two in the front cover and some kind of flap that lifted up to allow it to be used with the keyboard dock while still in the case. I wrote about my foolish attempt to mod my case to accommodate the keyboard dock.

Well, I've come to the conclusion that for right now, the best case for me is simply the original Apple case; although I'd like to eventually replace the one I've mangled :-(

But I decided that if I put the iPad in a case that had "stuff" in the front cover, I would be moving away from the thin, lightweight form factor that I currently have. Right now, I can fold the cover back and read the iPad in bed like a book. Why would I want to mess that up? As for fitting the keyboard dock, I've actually discovered that after taking the iPad out of the case numerous times, it gets much easier to slide in and out. So this may not be as much of a problem as I initially thought it was.

Full Disclosure.
I suppose with all this praise of the iPad, I should disclose here on This Lamp that Kathy and I now own a couple of shares of Apple stock (not much, but a start!). But that's not why I'm praising the iPad. We bought the stock because of how impressed we were with the device and how much potential and influence we believe it will have in the coming years.

Comments

[K Steele]

Thanks for the dropbox tip. This was what I needed w/o paying for MM. BTW, thanks for selling me on being a Mac guy. I'll never go back.

[Curt Parton]

Despite a couple of hiccups initially, MobileMe has been working well for me on the iPad. I'm also using iWork.com for Pages and Numbers documents. It's been working very smoothly so far too.

[R. Mansfield]

Syncing works fine. But what we ought to be able to do is to drag a file to iDisk and then open that up on the iPad in the iDisk app. You can certainly see files and even view them. But you ought to be able to click on a Word file, for instance and have it open in Pages. Dropbox does this, and does it well.

[Curt Parton]

Oops, I see the original question was specifically regarding MobileMe for storage, not syncing. I haven't used either iDisk or Dropbox yet, but I'll check out Dropbox to see what it's like. Have you tried iWork.com, Rick?

[steve]

Does anybody know if you can use the ipad to log into online classes and actually do the work like a PC or a Macbook?

[R. Mansfield]

It's according to what you're needing to do and what system your online classes use. For instance, there is a Blackboard app specifically made for the iPad. You can't do everything in it yet, but there's lots you can do including participating in discussions and taking online exams.

[steve]

The school im going to uses moodle, I guess its like blackboard. Do you know anything about them?

[John S]

I would have to agree that many people find a way to use new technology simply because their attracted to it. I find Apple has done this with the iPad. I am much more practical and found after owning and using a iPad for a few weeks I could not get past many of its limitations. I sold mine. Some of the main issues were lack of printing through network, No Flash (yes I like Flash). No multi user sign in. Tied to Applications from App. Store. No easy way to transfer pictures and media directly from flash drive or SD memory card.

[R. Mansfield]

Well, John, I appreciate your perspective, but I'd recommend toning down the "I'm more practical than everyone else" kind of talk. The device is clearly not for everyone, but for many of us, it's been a surprisingly helpful tool to use.

I did not see the iPad as something I was initially attracted to, and wrote as much on this website. But when I started thinking through its capabilities for teaching, I became more intrigued by it. And after having it, I was delighted to find how much I enjoy reading books on it, something that I didn't expect at all. For me, the iPad's become my "go-to" machine for most tasks.

I mean you talk about practical--the other day I was in a meeting at church, and it was a breeze to take notes on an iPad, whereas a buddy of mine had to have his MacBook Pro connected to the power outlet because his battery wasn't going to last long enough.

So your issues--

(1) Printing. For me (and I stress FOR ME), this has not been an issue. I rarely print ANYTHING anymore. When I've needed to print, I've emailed the document and printed it from another machine. The GOOD NEWS is that network printing will become a reality in November when iOS 4.2 is released for the iPad. In spite of that, I still doubt that I will be printing that often.

(2) Lack of Flash has not been an issue for me. Many sites that depend on Flash have specialized apps on the iPad. I can see where lack of Flash could be a problem for some, but thankfully, it hasn't been for me.

(3) Multiuser accounts-- see, I think this is a mistake to want this anyway. The iPad is meant to be a personal device, not a device for multiple users. With a smaller hard drive than what's on a standard computer, if many people start adding their own content under their own accounts, they are going to fill up the free space on it quickly. My wife and I have our own separate iPads. If we didn't, there would be problems!

The only downside to the above is the current cost, and I realize that could be a problem. But like we've seen with the Kindle, the iPad will come down in price overtime.

(4) Tied to applications from the iStore -- Well you know, it's really not. There are plenty of instructions for jailbreaking these devices and there's already a large and growing number of apps that work specifically on jailbroken iPads.

On the other hand, I can remember less than a decade ago when I had to wipe my Palm devices two or three times a year and start over because I would try out new software, delete it, but elements of it would remain. Or one program would conflict with another. Personally, I like Apple's method of only officially allowing approved apps. I've yet to have to wipe an iPhone or iPad, and I had to do it regularly with my Palm devices.

(5) Transferring files. Why do you want to do this anyway when you've got Dropbox which is so much more convenient? With Dropbox (or iDisk if you have MobileMe), you don't have to keep up with the flash drive.

I carried a flash drive in my pocket at all times until last week when I lost it. Over the last few days, I've simply been using Dropbox instead, and it works so much better.

So, again, I'm not going to defend the iPad to those it's not suited for, but I believe it's a bit of a stretch to come on here and say you're more practical than everyone else, when, in fact, the iPad has been an EXTREMELY practical device for me and many others.

[Bee]

I stumbled on your blog while looking around for a life application study Bible for my iPad, or nook book, since I downloaded the free nook app on my iPad. Could you tell me where you found the one you are using? Also, you may (or may not) find this interesting, but my mother in law is a technology coordinator for one of the school systems in our state, and she was recently featured in the newspaper because she was able to get a grant to provide iPads with electronic textbooks in several of the classrooms. It's an experimental program. I think you are right about this being a big part of our future. For Christmas my mother in law gave each of her 4 grandchildren (2 of them are my children), their own iPads, loaded with educational apps, (the 4 children are ages 7, 6, 4 and 4)!! Some people have made faces and or comments about that, but my 4 year old, who has been receiving early intervention services for 3 years now, has placed out of the program and excelled further than expected in speech since receiving her iPad for Christmas. In fact, she is scoring at the level of a 7 year old on the testing! Her resource teacher was recently reviewing the test with me, and many of the things on it, I know for a fact, my daughter learned using her iPad apps! And, she will be starting kindergarten right on time! Technology and a generous mother in law have certainly helped my family!