My Little Experience with iPad

After so many delays and false starts, the iPad has arrived in Australia.  Finally, it is here!

Apple lovers and gadget enthusiasts flock the Apple stores (there is a new Apple Store in Bondi Junction Mall that also opened last Friday) to have a look and feel of this new gadget.
 
We arrived at the Apple Store in George Street around 7pm and there was still a line outside.  We thought the queue was for those buying iPads so we bypassed!!!  We were there only to look and try it out so we confidently walked right in---and no one called our attention--so I guess, we just got lucky.

Lucky too that we got an iPad to try right away.  Believe me, everyone was taking their time fiddling with it.  The Husband tried it out and his first reaction was "Ang bigat ah" (it's heavy).  It was 680 grams (more than half a kilo) and your hands may feel the weight after just a few minutes of holding it.

It was bigger than I imagined.  I knew it was about 9.5 inches but it was way more better than using an iPod Touch or iPhone for typing, watching videos and playing games.   I liked that I didn't have difficulty typing in words on the iPad, my already small fingers fits in the keys!

A bigger screen means bigger words...bigger tweets!  Hello there tweetmates!

We found this very useful application called Epicurious which contains tens of thousands of recipes, organised thematically and searchable based on ingredients or keywords. You can even search based on what you have in the fridge The app creates a shopping list based on the recipes you’ve chosen and, once you’re back in the kitchen, it makes it easy to follow the cooking instructions on screen.  The good news is that the Epicurious is FREE! :)

We found a lot of Adobo recipes! :)

We tried playing the Marble Mixer game.  It was fun because it's two to four players.  I imagine playing this game with my 9-yr old cuzin Patrick.

We also tried reading the very interactive "Alice in Wonderland" e-book.  A great reading experience for kids and kids at heart.  Another free application.
Bigger images!!!!  "A Wife's Charmed Life" looks better in the iPad doesn't it?  Hehe.  Shameless plug, I know.  I'm just sharing the experience and fun with you. :)

For someone like me who is not an Apple fanatic, this is the only Apple product (to-date) that I saw myself using the minute I learned about it.  For the past months, I've found a lot of reasons why iPad can be more useful to my lifestyle and the possibilities of what I can do with it in relation to my work, blogging, photography and love for reading. 
 
During Saturday lunch with the Husband, I asked him if it is a good product and he said "Yes, but it is not a need for me so I won't buy it."  Then I asked him if it will be something good for me to have and he replied, "Yes, you actually need it more than I do."  That's nice to hear, I'm glad my Husband supports me with what I do and my interests.  With that, I told him maybe he can give it to me as an advance Christmas present.  I told him I'll leave it up to him on when he wants to give it to me---"Surprise me!" was what I said.  So we'll see what happens.