Check it out, I got me an iPad! Oh yeah… My iPhone is the “Neocell”, so introducing the my iPad, the “Neotab”. This is what I’m typing this blog post with this very second late at night in bed in the pitch black.

So, back up for a second. Why did I get an iPad and what do I think of it?

I’ll tell you why I got an iPad. I’ve been a huge fan of the iPad since it’s first announcement from Apple, back when all these tech pundits where claiming the iPad was stupid and was just a big iPhone and that it wouldn’t sell. I knew they were wrong and, sure enough, consumers (the non-geeks) bought iPads like crazy. Soon after, all geeks were in love with the iPad and had to have one for themselves. Pff… hypocrites. My views were that the iPad was great and phenomenal, especially if you didn’t have an iPhone. I personally felt that, if you did have an iPhone, that owning an iPad sorta’ made it a little pointless. I mean, you now two devices that can do virtually the same thing, but one (the iPhone) did much, much more. Owning an iPhone, especially an iPhone 4, took away the reason to own an iPad.

That was the thinking a year ago. It’s now a year later and the iPad 2 is out. Things have changed. The general idea hasn’t changed, but what you can do on an iPad that you can’t do on an iPhone has. Mainly involving media consumption, such as magazines, news papers and content curation (such as the mind-blowingly awesome Zite app). Before, the iPad was doing the rolls of an iPhone, but in a slightly better way at best. Now, a year later, and the iPad is now doing things unique to iPads.

The price is right

But the unique media consumption of iPads wasn’t the deciding factor on getting an iPad. I found out that with the release of the iPad 2, Apple had on clearance iPad 1′s. In addition, it also reduced the price of their refurbished models (something a lot of people weren’t even aware of). So a 16 GB wifi model was running $350. In the words of MAD Magazine; cheap! I knew this was going to be a limited time opportunity, and I had just gotten my income tax. Perfect timing.

Financial incentive was there. But did I, Mr. Power iPhone user, need an iPad? I already have a powerful desktop and a new, barely year old laptop. I also have an iPhone 4, which I use much more than I use my laptop and desktop. I’d so much rather look up an article on the Neocell than the Neocomp or Neonote. In fact, I’m on my iPhone all the time when I’m at home. I mean, 80% of my time on my iPhone is while I’m at home. So why would I need an iPad??

IPhone evolution, not replacement

That’s when I had an epiphany. If I use the Neocell so often while I’m at home, why not then get an iPad? I mean, the 80% of the times I use the Neocell at home, the other 20% of the time I use the Neocell when not at home. That 20% is probably the most valuable moments for using my iPhone 4. It’s when I’m using it as a car GPS while streaming in Pandora or Hulu into my Lexus while driving, or for when I’m needing to check an email of price of something while at a store. All things that are reliant on mobile Internet and all things that neither a desktop, laptop or even iPad (wifi only) could help me with. So that crucial 20% iPhone usage could only be performed by a smartphone.

That 80% usage, when at home or at places that have wifi, would of course conflict if I had an iPad. Do I choose to use the iPhone or an iPad if I owned the two? I realize, having a bigger screen and being (now) able to do mostly everything an iPhone can do as well, if not better, is a major plus. The epiphany was that, if I enjoy using my iPhone as compared to normal PC’s, why the **** not get an iPad?! Bigger screen, much easier to read content… and new access to apps and content not found outside of iPads! Yes, owning an iPad at home, I’d have to choose which device to use for home activities… the iPad or iPhone. The choice, clearly, would be to the iPad… not because ones better than the other, but because the iPad’s built for “stationary use” while the iPhone (now) is specialized for “mobility use”. It’s not a sin or a waste of an iPhone to use an iPad.

So that, there, was one of the reasons. The second reason, which I don’t need to go over in detail, is the fact that there is are things on the iPad that can not be found on the iPhone. Since getting an iPad appears to increase the “quality of life” for using an iOS device at home, the why not get it if it also brings in things exclusive to the iPad?

Living With The Neotab

I ordered the iPad and had it delivered within a few days. I’ve had the Neotab for almost a week now. So how’s it been? What are my expectations? I’m gonna’ tell you flat out, this ***** is tight! …Tight I tell ya, tight!

This thing has meet my expectations in every way and completely beat them. I expected myself to mainly only use it for web surfing (safari), specialized apps, such as Flipbook, possible magazine consumption, ebook reading and general things like that. I expected that I would use the Neocell still for many other things.

One of the problems I knew reviewers had, which I had experienced myself with demo iPads was text input. I’m a ******’ beast when it comes to typing with an iPhone (and none of that ******’ landscape typing, all portrait typing). Typing with an iPad seemed problematic. Typing in portrait, holding it like you would an iPhone doesn’t work out the same because the keys are too far away when using your thumb. Typing in landscape, as you would with a full keyboard also seemed problematic because the angles always seemed wrong. So I had the expectation that typing would suck and any content, such as emails or blog posts or things like that, would still be done with the iPhone.

Once I got the Neotab, though, I realized that typing on the iPad is actually great! Yeah, go figure. It turns out, the optimal way to type with an iPad is to type on it (in landscape) as you would a laptop. If you can’t type with two hands on a laptop smoothly, you also can’t with an iPad. So positioning an iPad in a way you might type with a laptop, you then type on the screen in the near identical way you’d type with a normal keyboard. And it’s just as fun as typing on an iPhone. A tripod type of stand in many situations makes typing more ideal.

In fact, I was so shocked at how well typing can be on an iPad that I found out, people who don’t use iOS devices at all, could type on an iPad. For real, I ain’t ******’ you. People who would become so frustrated typing on an iPhone, that they would nearly throw it out the window, could pick up typing on an iPad instantly because it shares the same concept as typing with a keyboard. (I still LOVE typing with an iPhone because I can type fast via two hands or one hand.)

So what I found out is that not only is the iPad great for typing on, but I love typing with it. It’s hard at times typing on your lap because you have to hold it while trying to type and sometimes the iPad will slip slightly, causing you to completely miss all keys and crap (typing in bed, lying on your back without really sitting up straight is what I’m referring to). But rather than making this a “typing via iPhone versus iPad” debate, I’ll compare it to typing with my desktop or laptop. I’m 70 words per minute on the desktop / laptop and I’m like 50-60 words per minute on the iPad. Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, that’s so close that really, I feel just as fast with the iPad. But more importantly, I enjoy typing with the iPad much more than the desktop or laptop. It’s just so cool.

Once I realized this, I realized that the iPad was going to replace the home-use of my iPhone almost completely. But that’s ok! I’m not a trader to the Neocell! I’m not neglecting a device I’ve fallen in love with over the years. No, no, no… iPads really are just blown up iPhones in a way (technically iPod Touches), so in using an iPad, I’m really showing homage to iPhones. When I use the Neotab, I feel like I’m using the Neocell. In fact, it make me appreciate the Neocell all that much more. It makes me appreciate the small screen size and portability of iPhones. It makes me feel like, when I’m at home, the Neotab is my big iPhone, and when I’m out, the Neocell is my small iPad. I’m gonna’ repeat that. The Neotab is my big iPhone and the Neocell is my small iPad. They compliment each other. I mean, why restrain myself to a small screen (it’s the small touch area I’m referring to, not screen quality) when I’m at home?

So I’ve decided that anything that can be done via the Neotab, I’ll do it rather than on the Neocell.

Unexpected Business Use

Clearly I got the Neotab for personal use. But a few days ago, I got a work opportunity from a new client for technology consulting and IT service. I bring with me the Neocell (like I do everywhere I go) as well as my laptop, the Neonote, which I carry with me in a leather shoulder strap computer briefcase. The bag itself is filled to capacity. I looked over at the Neotab sitting on the table as I was about to leave and I thought to myself… “Should I bring it?”. I immediately thought “No, if there is no wifi, it won’t be useful as I can’t go online.”, but I then reminded myself that it’s just as Internet connected as my laptop. So why not? Because it’s so thin, it slipped into one of my bags pockets, along with the folding tripod stand.

When I got to my clients business, I quickly needed to start doing Internet research. Fortunately, one of the neighboring businesses had open wifi so I hopped on the network with the Neonote. But space was cramped and I kept having to move out of the way when trying to work. Holding my 15″ HP laptop with one hand while trying to browse the web with the other was not working, and that’s when I remembered the Neotab. I quickly hibernated the laptop and started using the iPad.

Let me tell ya, it worked out great. I didn’t have to worry about battery power at all and at times when I had to get up to get out of people’s way, I could just continue working because using an iPad while standing is a pleasure. A lot of times I have to show clients what’s on my screen currently, and doing that with a laptop can be an issue. But it wasn’t with the Neotab. I type notes via Evernote on my iPhone when I’m with clients, so since I was on my iPad, I simply opened Evernote, found the note I was working with currently and a picked up where I left off.

A few days later, I was giving consultation to the owner of a company about different cloud-based software solutions and using the iPad worked out so much better than doing it from the laptop. When my client was particularly interested in something on screen, instead of them having to lean over to get a better look at the laptop’s screen, I was able to just hand the iPad to them so that they could “hold” the content they were focusing on. It worked out so well.

Towards the end, when it came time to give my client an invoice, which I create all my invoices via my iPhone with an app called Invoice2go (I highly recommend it for iPhones), typically what I do is I place my iPhone down in front of them with the invoice on screen. But it’s so hard for my clients to see the information presented on screen to know what’s what. This time, I decided to email the invoice and open the PDF from the Neotab and then show it to my client. It worked out perfect.

So I’ve decided that my iPad’s gonna’ be a vital part of doing any kinda’ business. I’ve research and just tonight purchased an invoicing app called Quick Sale as a successor to Invoice2go. I’ll be creating all of my invoices on the Neotab. Even if I don’t got Internet access, I can still do everything for the invoicing besides actually emailing the invoice (which I can still do, it’ll jut be later on at home when back on wifi or something). As far as note taking, that’s what Evernote’s great for, it syncs between devices and doesn’t require Internet access to edit / create. For the times I am on the Internet, I’ll be using the Neotab for almost everything. For one, it makes me look that much more suave and professional and it’s just over all more enjoyable.

Final Thoughts

In all, I’m taken back by the iPad. I mean, I knew this thing was something special (although I was also a little unimpressed when it was first released only because many pundits lied about missing features and mislead my own natural impressions). So I knew this thing was ‘freakin’ awesome, but the end, just like everyone else, I underestimated the true potential of the iPad.

I’m… I’m impressed. How impressed? Well I just, right now, ordered my chick her own iPad from Apple’s web site. ‘Nough said.

Peace, JbB