PP Tech Review: The iPad

When I was told that I was being shipped one of these new slates I was naturally more than a little excited…but I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it.

My answer after the first week is “a lot”.

When it arrived I opened the box to see 9.7 inches of beautiful screen…closed the box and immediately insured the contents.

With that much glass and a slick aluminum back you want to make sure you’re covered if you drop it.

Then I started loading up the apps.

The Kindle reader was first and remains the most important one.

I love the cost of Kindle titles and I truly enjoy reading using the iPad.

Apples iBook application works very well, but the number of titles in the store seems to be very limited.

Next I loaded up the Logos app and I can now do complicated Bible searches and word studies from the skate park, restaurant or wherever I can steal a few minutes.

Last week I preached from the iPad using Olive Tree’s excellent ESV Study Bible app.

Apples Safari browser is excellent on the iPad (better than on the desktop) and I can surf the web and keep up on the PP from wherever I am.

Despite all the complaints about ATT I’ve heard, the service has been fast and available everywhere I’ve gone so far.

The email program is just like what you get on a Mac computer and composing and reading are both a snap…I actually like the keyboard on the iPad, though your mileage may vary.

I use Tweetdeck and Twitterrific for my Twitter account and both work flawlessly.

There is some odd submersion quality to doing things on the iPad…it seems quite personal and it draws you in to the books or sites you’re looking at.

The battery life has been just short of astounding…I ran it hard for about 5 1/2 hours the other day and had 40% of capacity left.

I read the NY Times and USA Today in the morning, fire up Tweetdeck, check my mail and work on my sermon…regardless of where I’m at and without packing a laptop.

In short… it’s a great tool as well as very fun addition to my world.