iPad 3G - day one

I've had my iPad for a little over a day now. Ive loaded it with tons of apps, mostly free ones. All but one of the apps from my iPhone magically appeared after I plugged the iPad into my Mac and performed the first sync.  Some of those don't take advantage of the larger screen so I've removed a few of them.  But still somehow, my iPad has 63 different applications, and in all I spent only $30 at the app store.

What do I think so far of this computer?  If I had to pick one word, it would be "awesome."   I've heard many people talk about how it's nothing but a big iPhone.  And actually that's sort of accurate - it IS a big iPhone, the key word being BIG. The screen is big and beautiful.  You can use both hands on it to type, as well as to scroll, zoom, move items.  The interactions are so natural that you forget it is a computer.

Here are my favorite things about the iPad so far:

Kindle/iBooks - reading a book on this is really sweet.  I'm slightly preferring the Kindle at the moment, because it allows me to read the same book on both the iPad and iPhone.  Having the book you are reading always with you in your pocket is so convenient, especially when you are stuck waiting somewhere - in line for coffee, waiting for a friend to meet you somewhere, waiting for a train, traveling in general (as long as you're not the driver!).  And having that sync back with the larger iPad version makes the Kindle a no-brainer.  On the other hand, the iBook shines when you are reading anything that includes images.  Luckily both apps are free.

The ABC viewer, a free app.   This is what I think all television should become. You click on this and can watch full episodes of recent programs with some limited number of commercials. You don't have to remember to tape a show in advance, don't have to store it on a DVR or tape. You just click on the show and start watching. And the screen is just perfect for watching tv as well as movies and video.

Netflix viewer, also a free app, gives the same experience with the many movies and tv shows that you can watch instantly. No waiting for the DVD to appear in the mail, just pick one and start watching.

The real beauty of this new intereface is best seen right now in the maps - both the built in Google Maps and the Google Earth app. Here you can zoom and move the map at the same time with both hands, interacting in such an intuitive and natural way. And again, the screen is so nice and large.

Oh, and let's not forget photos.  This is an awesome screen for viewing photos.  I've synced a number of photo albums from iPhoto and the built in photo viewer is great.  And the SmugMug viewer (also free) is unbelievable.  I have 6,489 photos stored on my SmugMug account.  This is not an exaggeration,  I just went to find the exact number.  And when I click on the SmugMug app, the albums are instantly there.  Click on an album and the photos in that album also instantly appear.  Quite impressive.

I've ordered the camera connection kit, it should be here next week.  I am very much looking forward to using this screen to preview photos once I've taken them on my Canon DSLR camera.

I have a wireless keyboard that I've paired with the iPad, and it works perfectly. But right now I'm using the virtual keyboard, because it's easier to have the screen in my lap and just type than it is to have both keyboard and screen in my lap at the same time.

Because one of the other things about the iPad is how it frees you to interact with it in any position - right now I'm lying in bed, with my head propped up and typing easily on the screen.

Battery life is also impressive, I can't wait to travel with this.

I will say one thing though - all of the sudden my iPhone screen has started to look incredibly small.