After a couple of wonderful weeks finding out and confirming that the iPad has place in the education world, the backpacker world and even executive land, I have to hand it back... I bought a case for it, cleaned the glass with the little cloth that came with the case, accessorised it with apps and even searched for stars and planets using it down at our airfield on the outskirts of Darwin one night.
Yes, I used it for work too... what was it useful for? Instant on and researching documents in our SharePoint site or Google and making notes in meetings that immediately were available in an email before I had walked back to my desk.
I attend a board meeting in Canberra twice a year and all 13 board members have a large binder fedexed to them (actually Australia Post) which we then read and dutifully carry back to Canberra for the meeting.
I wouldn't read board papers on a smartphone, but I would read them on a tablet device live the iPad.
And now Mr Jobs wants his iPad back. I'm torn... It is a first generation device, my objective matrix I prepared on devices executive need told me that a laptop and a smartphone was the ideal combination for me, and adding an iPad would be an extravagant extra, but I still want one. Curse you iPad! I feel like a child about to be separated from his dummy (or pacifier if you are not from Australia).
Anyway for those of you who have iPads, or are about to buy one, here is possibly my final set of tips for using the iPad (sniff)
http://mashable.com/2010/10/10/ipad-tips-tricks/
Wait a minute, I could get one for Joe, my eight year old and then confiscate it from him for only getting 95% in his last exam... that's it!
