iPad
Date of purchase:
2010My Review
I first tried the iPad first generation in my sports medicine class and fell in love. It seemed very user friendly and definitely up to date with technology. And I am a big time Apple user so I assumed it would for sure be a rewarding purchase. To my surprise two years ago I received one for my birthday and was thrilled. At first I thought it was the absolute coolest thing, until disappointment after disappointment began to arise.
Yes, granted it is a first generation and I have yet to try the second, so I assume many problems have been addressed and updated. There were not many major disappointments just the small things that making using it difficult and somewhat frustrating.
First off, I would like to say it is a web book. Very different from a laptop. When typing in a small box that requires a "scroll" mouse, forget going back to the beginning of whatever you were typing. You cannot scroll at all, obviously because it is a touch screen. So when using it to read things like "Terms of Use" when purchasing or signing up or anything similar which normally show up in small boxes that you must scroll down to read forget it. Hope the "terms" were agreeable.
Second, yes it is a touchscreen. No, it is not always the most accurate touchscreen. I enjoy writing in my spare time and was excited that the iPad came with a "Writing App." But was not thrilled to find out that you cannot zoom in on many of the writing apps to be able to place the cursor accurately. So I spend much of my time poking the screen to get the cursor on target, but usually end up getting it as close as possible and deleting several words and retyping.
Third, a small restatement, it is a web book. Doesn't that imply it is web friendly? Wrong again. I come across many disappointing moments when I attempt to load a page that is not iPad friendly, and much of the data is not able to load. Not to mention when I have the option to choose from a scroll down list with subcategories inside of a major category, it takes me straight to the link of the major category, which sometimes does not have the subcategories attached. And, though there are many websites that offer iPad/ iPhone compatible Apps, many more do not! And the applications normally do not have the cool things the website does, just the basics of the website.
Though I do love my iPad, it has downfalls. However not everyone may be bothered by these. I recommend trying before buying.
