Several people have recently asked questions about my ipad 2. I love this thing, to say the least but I will try to give you the good and the bad.
One of the biggest questions, Will it replace my laptop?
For me the answer is no. Simply because I like the screen size of the laptop and the full-size keyboard. If I have a lot of typing to do I want these two features. If you are comfortable with a smaller screen and the smaller keyboard the technology is certainly there for you to eliminate one or the other. However, it has cut down on my use of the laptop and carrying it around by about 75%.
2nd most asked question, Will the Kindle Fire do everything the ipad 2 will do? The short answer is definitely not. A lot fo complaints can be read online right now from the folks who bought the Fire thinking it would give them the same capability of the ipad and it simply isn’t the same tool. Now, I own the Kindle second generation and I love it and I absolutely love what I have seen from the Fire but they are designed for two really different purposes.
Kindle is still the best in my opinion overall as a reader in most situations, I love Kindle. However, I could do away with the Kindle at this point and for the most part I have. Misty now reads from the Kindle more than I do. I will read from it while outside because you can read in direct sunlight. I will read from it when the boys are watching movies on the ipad, and I will take it on the road because Kindle will read books to you, if they are read enabled. It is a mechanical voice that reads and not perfect by any means but it is pretty good and awesome when you are driving and can’t pick up the book to read.
Here are some of my favorite things about the ipad.
It is great now with Proclaim Presentation Software, this is what we use at Out of the Box and I can preach using the guidance of the ipad because it runs the same software as our media team. I can actually take control of the presentation and operate it from the ipad but haven’ had the need to do that. It works great for those of us who really need to wear glasses but prefer not to.
I use the Kindle Reader App a lot because the screen is backlit and very easy to read. I like to get up early in the mornings and read without having to turn lights on and this is perfect.
I can read many of the major news outlets such as USA Today at no charge. It is new and updated constantly right there on the device.
It is great for responding to and checking email. It is much easier than the android with the small screen and keyboard.
I listen to a lot of FREE leadership Podcasts and lots of sermon podcasts and it is perfect for this. I can plug and play through the speaker system in my car, awesome.
It is east to carry around, no more notepads to keep up with. Take all the notes you like and back them up to a cloud based app such as DropBox.
I use the calendar App a lot!
My Logos Bible Software is accessible on the ipad with almost $15,000 in print material at my fingertips. Commentaries, Bible Translations, Sermon Illustrations, Maps, etc….
There isn’t much that you can’t do with the ipad. I love it and if you played your cards right, the device would pay for itself in a short period of time is used for all it is worth. I think it is a great investment.
It is fast and it works. If I could recommend two things it would be to get the larger storage unit, it only cost a little more and you will eventually need it. Also, get the one that is 3G capable, even if you don’t subscribe to a service, you may be in a situation where you really want or need it and it is a small investment up front to have the capability of you want it later.
Ronnie