Thoughts about the iPad

I’m not sure what to think about the iPad. It does have some interesting features that I really want:

iWork. If I need to take notes, I can pull the thing out of a backpack, turn it on, and type away. It’s more portable than a laptop, and much nicer to use than a netbook. Most office applications are either crap or, as in the case of Office 2007/2008/2010, consume way too much resources for a netbook to handle. For the price, only a comparable full-size Dell laptop would be a more usable system, and you sacrifice a lot of portability.
IPS display. The iPad will have a screen that rivals the best regular LCD displays. So if you were, say, a salesman for a design firm or print company, you could show the client an awesome proof on the iPad, with the best color display possible, without being overly bulky. There’s lots of potential for graphics-related applications here (Brushes was shown at the keynote, looked cool), and it could become a professional graphics tool easily.
Powerful calendar system. The calendar app really turns into something else on the iPad.
The best platform for books and magazines. I actually think novels are best left to something iPhone-sized, but for textbooks, newspapers and magazines, the iPad will provide the best experience possible for the content. Hopefully they do something more like web applications rather than PDF viewers, but these are industries that know a lot more about Adobe InDesign than about web development, and with the exception of the New York Times app I don’t see this changing soon.

Now, what isn’t so cool:

The interface isn’t always suited for the device. This is particularly true of the homescreen, which they just stretched out from the iPhone screen and added a wallpaper. I’m not a fan. This seems to have been rushed. The Spotlight app is a prime example of an application that’s received no real changes to fit the different screen size & format.
No multitasking? This is a device that really needs multitasking. It’s a device that you’ll be using for longer periods of time, and the ability to switch between applications quickly would be much appreciated. I’d hate to think about what the situation with notifications is on the device.
4:3 Screen. Are we traveling back to the 1990’s? We’ve just finally converted all our videos and other media to a widescreen format, and then Apple drops a 1024x768 display on us. At least the colors will be good.

Really, the iPad is Apple’s netbook. It fills the role of the secondary computer system that does simpler tasks on the go. It does it, however, with vastly increased battery life, much better performance (it isn’t saddled with all the baggage that a full OS needs), a more functional interface, and greater portability than the average netbook. All for maybe $100 more.

Would I get one if I had the money? Not as-is - the home screen needs a major overhaul. Oh, the pitfalls of version 1.0.