Two Weeks With an iPad

I ordered my 64GB 3G iPad on May 10, and although it was scheduled for delivery on May 28, a flight delay meant I got it on May 31. No biggie. It was good to have a (relatively) distraction-free weekend. So now I've had it for almost two weeks. First impressions: iPad is heavier than I thought it would be; its screen smudges more easily than it probably should; the onscreen virtual keyboard is not really suitable for extended typing.

It sounds like I'm dissing it altogether. Perish the thought. Although I'm still getting used to it, I'm enjoying the different interaction mode it encourages: anytime-anywhere access to information in the cloud or on the device–my 64GB is nearly full, with over 130 high-def TEDtalks. The inertial scrolling, with its subtle and refined acceleration and deceleration, is sheer joy to use. Yes, it seems like a cliché, but Apple hit one out of the park with the user experience on the iPad. Going back to a conventional mouse-windows-icons-keyboard interface on my Mac feels so...20th century.