Crib Sheet: First iPad Reviews

Here's a closer, yet more cosmetic, look at what all the fuss is about. My fellow countryman, polymath, technophile, and comedian, Stephen Fry, who had his first hands-on of the iPad at One, Infinite Loop, alongside Jonathan Ive and Jobs himself, got his own machine yesterday--and has treated the world to an unboxing video. More interesting is his piece in Time magazine, where he likens the experience to "one's relationship with a person or an animal," rather than a gadget.
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• The screen is a fingerprint magnet. (The New York Times)
• The virtual keyboard is "a horrible experience" when in portrait mode; in landscape, it's "just barely usable" (The New York Times), though some find it "acceptable." (PCMag)
• The larger screen does drastically change the way you operate. "Maps become real maps" (The New York Times), you often get two panels to work with (Wall Street Journal),
• Apps designed for the iPhone do, in fact, look blurry, with text often hard to read. (All reviews)
• Early killer app: The Elements, an electronic book in which every single item is interactive. "This is the version you check out from the Hogwarts library. Everything
  in it is alive in some way." (Boing Boing)
• Battery life is amazing, better than even Apple rated it--many reviewers eked out 12 hours.
• Weight might be a problem when considering long-term reading: At 1.5 pounds, its far heavier than, for example, the 10-ounce Kindle. (All reviews)
• The bookstore is woefully understocked at the moment, with only 60,000 books (compared to over 450,000 in the Kindle store). (USA Today)
• The iPad doesn't include Apple's signature white earbuds nor a screen cleaner--just the iPad, one-page manual, USB cord, and USB-to-AC adapter. (PCMag)
• The $40 iPad case from Apple might be essential; it holds the screen at a more usable angle for typing as well as viewing. (PCMag)
• If you're a Gmail user, simply visiting Gmail in the browser might be a better idea than using the Mail app--you get access to more features, including Gchat. (PCMag)
• Like the iPhone, the iPad's screen is in between fullscreen and widescreen--so any video you watch is going to have black bars around it. (All reviews)

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