I’ve had the iPad now for a couple of weeks, and I figured that was enough time to allow me to make some considered opinions, and I thought I’d share them with you guys.

Let me state from the outset that I’m NOT an Apple Geek, I have a MacBook (Air), but most of my time is spent driving PCs, for business and hobbies. I have an iPod, but an Android phone.

So I suggest that I’m reasonably objective.

Ever since the iPad came out, I’d been justifying why I didn’t want one, the screen was slightly too small (here in the UK you get used to holding A4 pads), no multi-tasking, no expandable memory and so on. But I kept being drawn to the iPads in the shops (“step away from the shiny toys”) and eventually two weeks ago I bought myself a 64Gb WifFi model. I would have gone all the way to the 3G but wasn’t prepared to take another telecom contract out.

Any lack of connectivity was rectified by a ‘3’ network ‘MiFi’ device, which does what it sets out to, very cutely.

Over the past two weeks the iPad has been a revelation. I remain stunned by its performance, versatility and battery life. I can watch a whole movie, do some word processing, watch the BBC news headlines and STILL have 85% battery life remaining. I’ve loaded a few books and movies, both from iTunes/App store and from my personal collection. I love it!

Okay, so there are a few negatives…
the iPad does need a pretty hefty charge from the USB lead to get it charging - that a ‘normal’ USB feed won’t cut it is frustrating, but give the astonishing battery life I won’t complain too loudly.
You can make out the space on the bezel where a camera will be fitted before long... maybe Apple rushed the iPad out a bit too quickly?
The screen is just a little too reflective, I’ve tried one screen protector - which just made things worse - and have a second on order.
The lack of multi-tasking is annoying, but being addressed in the new OS release soon.

And for me there are rather too many games in the App Store, but I have a word processor, diary, contacts and browser. It’s early days and I'm sure someone out there is developing an app that will really exploit the iPad's capabilities and blow the world away.

Maybe a portal... a bit like the iGoogle home page...

All in all, I LOVE my iPad, it does everything it promises, and does it extremely well.

I find that objective...agree.

But yeah, the overall user experience just trumps everything else out there.

I just wanted to say that with a few modifications you can mount memory cards and or a portable hard drive. Also, the ipad will charge out of a standard USB port, you just need to turn the screen off. It won't charge when the screen is on. So again it will, rather slowly I might add, off of a standard USB port. And that camera would just eat battery. I'm sure they come out with an attachable web cam or someone can create a driver for it to plug into the USB camera adapter port.

Hmm I still don't get the need for a camera. Have had Skype for a number of years and can only recall using the webcam a couple of times, but then my looks are fading....

Multitasking is another item that I thought was a mistake at first. Now I actually like the limited focus and the fast app switching makes it absence bearable. Still cut and paste into apps like Evernote will be easier with the forthcoming iOS upgrade in November.

You're certainly right about the AppStore though. Theres too much rubbish and it definitely needs better organisation.

the review is nice. thanks!

I too am looking forward to multitasking. And to more really good "serious apps". We have about enough games. :-)

Good word processors for example. There are a few now, My Writing Nook. Some say Pages is good too, I've not tried it much.

I have to agree with all that. I used 4.2 fir a week and it's amazing. Multitasking is so great....sadly netflix doesn't work yet...which for me made it crippling.