My New iPad

A couple of you have mentioned that you’re contemplating the purchase of an iPad and have asked for pros and cons of an iPad. 

I’ve already made it clear that I just my iPad, so it wasn’t hard to come up with pros … cons, on the other hand, took a little thinking.  ha!

Pros:
Portability … it’s small enough to tuck into a larger purse/tote or to just carry along, yet it’s large enough to be usable … and when you’re 62, your eyes aren’t what they used to be so the larger text/pictures on an iPad are wonderful!  I don’t think we’ll ever travel with our laptops!

App Store … we looked into Android tablets, but the App Store won us over.  Maybe it’s just us, but the apps we want/enjoy are all available for the iPad … the Android tablet, not quite so much.

Face Time … I can’t wait to Face Time with the grands when we’re traveling.

Camera … I’m impressed with the quality of pictures and videos taken with the iPad.  And it’s big enough to be able to really see what you’re taking a picture of (remember my 62-year-old eyes?).

Battery … I charge mine overnight, and I’ve never come close to draining the charge during the day (and I use it frequently).

Music … my iTunes copied over, so when I’m working out on the treadmill, I open my Kindle app and run music in the background … time flies.

Messaging … I can send iMessages to my daughter’s iPhone and iPad, so no matter which device she’s using, she’ll get my messsages.

Cons:
Apps … unfortunately some of the apps aren’t staying on top of the changes in technology.  A few of my favorite apps haven’t come out with iPad versions.  I can use the iPhone versions and enlarge the display, but it’s just not quite the same (for example, the iPhone keyboard is laid out a little differently than the iPad keyboard … so I’m frequently hitting send on the iPhone Facebook Messenger when I think I’m hitting back). 

Multi-tasking … when I use my laptop, I almost always have 3-4 programs running at the same time and pop back and forth frequently.  On my iPad, it’s not quite the same.  If I’m in the middle of an email, I have to go to the home page to open Safari (browser).  Thankfully, when I return to Mail, the email is still there waiting for me, but it’s not quite as convenient as switching back and forth like I am able to do on the computer.  Edited to add:  Tracy (in the comments below) pointed out that it IS possible to multi-task much more easily on the iPad than I thought.  Instead of having to push the "home button" and go all the way back to my "home page", I can double press the "home button" and choose the app I was previously in (or any others that I'd been working in.  Excellent!  Thanks, Tracy!  

Keyboard … I’ve typed on a full-sized keyboard for years and years … first on a typewriter and then on computers (a full-sized keyboard was the driving factor for purchasing a 17” laptop).  As a result, I have to say that I’m a pretty fast typist.  The iPad’s keyboard is too small for me to type on it like I do on a full-sized keyboard … I’m learning to use 2 hands to type, but I’m still not quite as fast as I would be on a standard keyboard.  It’s fine for emails, Facebook, messaging, etc.  But I prefer to use my laptop when I need to type a lot (like a blog post, for example). 



All in all, the cons are relatively minor, and for the most part, there are enough work-arounds that they aren’t a problem … and the pros far outweigh the cons.  Still, I will always have a laptop if for no other reason than some of my frequently-used programs don’t run on an iPad (Quicken, Excel, etc.).