iPad 2: Is it worth it?

Hi folks,

Let me start by saying that I have the best wife in the world. This past Friday she stood in line at not one, but two different stores just to get me an iPad 2. And she was successful! She scored a black 16gb wifi version. She was going to grab a 32Gb but the store sold out of them before she got the front of the line.

Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of great products to play with (Awia MD player, Motorola RAZR, iPhone 3G and 4, etc.). All were ahead of their time and the iPad 2 is no different.

I'll try not to bore you with the normal speak about the design, performance, etc. My goal to write about the things that others are not pointing out. So far here's what I've noticed:

1. FaceTime is cool but the forward facing camera doesn't point in the right spot.

After using FaceTime I noticed that the camera points perpendicular to the face of the device. Unfortunately I think it would have been better to angle the camera so that it pointed to the center of the device about arm's length away. This is a minor issue but when you use the device for FaceTime it feels like your looking down at the screen in order to have the conversation.

2. The onboard keyboard is smart!

I'm a pretty proficient typist and I have to say that the onscreen keyboard is pretty usable when in landscape view. It's not perfect but I swear it's adapting to my typing style. Conjunctions are tough because the shift + double quote isn't there so you have to get used to typing without the single quote but it works. I go to a lot of meetings during the day and I love using Evernote to take notes...so I'm considering the bluetooth keyboard (does that defeat the purpose of the iPad??)

3. The Apple created magnetic cover isn't worth it.

Do yourself a favor. Don't buy the cover from Apple if you can hold off until 3rd party products hit the market. I Nike there isn't a lot out there but anything has to be better than this thing. Sorry Steve Jobs but it's just no that good.

4. Three free apps you shouldn't be without. Be sure to download Evernote, Dropbox, and Zine.

Evernote and Dropbox are self explainatory. But Zine was a surprise. It's kinda like google reader with style. I just started using it so dont shoot me if I missed what this thing is really meant for but so far I love it for content viewing!!!

So far this thing has been amazing and was totally worth it. I don't feel attached to an oversized laptop and I do everything except manage servers and work command lines but that's not what it was meant for anyway!

Feel free to add other comments or app suggestions. I'll add my thoughts to new posts as I use this product.

Have an execellent night!

Chris