I am continuing my iPad journey.

After writing my initial thoughts from Friday I did show the iPad to a  few people at work, staff and learners, and all were impressed with the device.

All managed to pick it up and use it, some because they had an iPhone and some because it just worked!

I had a chance to pop into the Apple Stores in Cribbs and Cabot Circus, both stores had a lot of iPads, lots of interest and seemed to be selling fair few as well. Both stores had sold out of the camera connector kit, but other accessories were available. PCWorld are also selling the iPad, but having seen it in there, it just didn’t seem right… but they were also selling well.

I had a chance to try out the virtual keyboard writing some stuff last night and it wasn’t that bad. It takes a little getting use to, but though is much better than the “little” keyboard on the iPhone is as you would expect no where near as good as a “real” keyboard.

I have downloaded some iPad Apps to see what the capability of the device is. Some of these work well, others I feel could work better.

The more I use it the more I realise how this can replace a laptop in many situations, and as a conference device it would be perfect for taking notes, checking URLs, sharing stuff and then some. For using around college again it could be really useful for checking e-mail, using the VLE, finding information, sharing stuff.

Likewise for learners this could work really well in the classroom as a tool to support their learning and a lot less intrusive then a desktop PC or even a laptop.

I think there is a future for the iPad. In a future blog post I will look at some of the Apps.

Today we see the UK launch of the iPad. I was lucky in one respect that mine arrived yesterday. I was unlucky in that it arrived five minutes after I had left to go to a MoLeNET meeting in London. My wife phoned me on the train to let me know, she had a hint of glee in her voice.

I went for the 64GB WiFI model and didn’t buy the 3G version.

Why?

This is quite a complex question, you need to consider how and where you will be using the iPad. If using just at home and in the office then the WiFi version will probably suffice. If you travel a lot, on the train, at conferences and events then the WiFi + 3G model may be a better bet. If you are going to be using more than just the iPad out and about, say take your laptop with you too, then you might want to consider a MiFi and just get the WiFi iPad.

One of the reasons for getting the 3G model is that it comes with GPS whereas the WiFi model doesn’t. If you are keen on using location services on your iPad, then the GPS is a must. This is probably less of an issue for myself as I do have the iPhone 3GS so that has the GPS capability that I might need. That is probably a key factor on which model to get, is if you have an iPhone or not.

So what about size? 16GB, 32GB or 64GB?

I initially did consider getting a 16GB model as that should be enough for most activities, or so I thought. One thing that is coming out from the US is that iPad Apps are much bigger than most iPhone Apps and it is expected that they might get “bigger”. You can also watch HD movies on the iPad making use of the bigger screen and they are bigger than your average iPhone movie file. So the next consideration is 32Gb, but my first approach with any storage is think about what I might need and then double it. So 64Gb is probably the idea size for me.

I had prepared my computer for the arrival of the iPad, I had downloaded some iPad Apps that I wanted to use, I had updated various iPhone Apps to be universal so that they would work natively on the iPad.

After opening the box I connected the new iPad to my Mac and started the initial syncing process. The first thing I did was untick all the automatic syncing, I didn’t want to load everything onto it straight away, and there wouldn’t have been room anyhow.

I went through my audio, video, apps, podcasts and photographs deciding what I wanted on the iPad, enough to make it effective, but not too much so that I would be syncing all night!

So after syncing and charging, I was able to finally start using it…

Initial impressions were favourable. It connected easily to my wireless network and was pleased to see I could use the faster 802.11n speeds.

I tried Safari first, and though it has similarities to the iPhone browsing experience, the larger screen certainly makes it easier to view webpages without needing to zoom in. Accessing bookmarks was more Mac like and as these are synced from my Mac, I had access to all my bookmarks. Obviously sites requiring Flash didn’t work, but I am not going there…

I tried a few videos and was impressed with the quality and the experience. HD Videos looked really good and the audio wasn’t bad from the internal speakers. I also tried some iPhone quality video and it was good, but I could notice a “few” artefact issues. I am sure most people would be fine with the video. The “iPod” functionality looked good too, but I don’t think I will be using the iPad as an iPod in any big way – that’s what the iPod is for.

The Mail app was also nice, so much easier to view, read and reply to e-mail. This I can see as been my main way of dealing with e-mail on the move.

One App I was glad to see was the iBooks App as this was “missing” from the UK iPad webpages when the iPad was announced. Opening the App I was faced with an empty bookshelf, so into the iBooks store to find books. It’s annoying that the iBooks store is on the iPad and not available through the iTunes Store (or of it is I haven’t found it). As a result you have to download the books through the iPad. This did give me one issue. Last night I downloaded the Winnie the Pooh iBook and when I synced this morning, iTunes said that my Mac wasn’t authorised to view the book and deleted it from my iPad. So I had to “buy” the iBook again… now it was a free iBook, but I would have been very annoyed if I had paid £5.99 for a book! It has made me wary about buying books, media and apps ON the iPad.

Lots of Apps work well on the iPad, but those that are iPhone only are okay, the x2 works but don’t seem quite right. Trying to use Tweetie was interesting but didn’t take advantage of the screen space of the iPad. I have downloaded Tweetdeck and that looks a lot better on the iPad than a scaled up iPhone Twitter App.

I had a look, but not a real go on Pages and Keynote, but liked what I saw.

There are more things I want to try and look at, but these will need to happen later, and I will follow this blog post up with another one later on.

So at this stage what do I think?

Well I had high expectations for this device and at this time it is meeting those expectations. It will be interesting to see what I think as time goes by.

The new Apple iPad advert…

…is a nod to the old Apple Newton.

I would suspect a lot of people have no idea what a Newton is (or was).

The Newton was basically ahead of its time.

So is the iPad going to change how we use learning technologies in education?

Graham Brown-Martin thinks so…

The iPad marks a paradigm shift in mobile computing that until you’ve lived with one for a few days is difficult to grasp.

He also predicted that something like the iPad would replace desktops and laptops back in 2006!

At the Edinburgh Interactive Festival in 2006 in front of a large audience of hard core gamers with a penchant for overclocking their desktop PC’s and pimping them with neon strips I suggested that by 2010 desktop computers would be all but dead and that laptops would be on death row. Mistaking shock and disbelief for interest I was emboldened and suggested that much of our data would also be stored on remote servers with applications being remotely distributed.

Read (and watch) the rest of this interesting article.

What do you think? Is the iPad going to change education?

After much much waiting, Apple’s game changing iPad is now available to pre-order in the Apple store in the UK. Though it won’t be delivered until the 28th of May.

If you are thinking of getting an iPad, then you might want to consider pre-ordering rather than waiting for a while or waiting until the 28th, especially if you want to get one pretty much on or just after the release date.

As you might expect the iPad is currently the number one selling item in the Apple Store in the UK. If the same thing that happened in the US happens here then you may find it will have “sold out” and you will need to wait. I suspect that will certainly be the case with certain models.

So what about which model to buy?

This is quite a complex question, you need to consider how and where you will be using the iPad. If using just at home and in the office then the WiFi version will probably suffice. If you travel a lot, on the train, at conferences and events then the WiFi + 3G model may be a better bet. If you are going to be using more than just the iPad out and about, say take your laptop with you too, then you might want to consider a MiFi and just get the WiFi iPad.

One of the reasons for getting the 3G model is that it comes with GPS whereas the WiFi model doesn’t. If you are keen on using location services on your iPad, then the GPS is a must. This is probably less of an issue for myself as I do have the iPhone 3GS so that has the GPS capability that I might need. That is probably a key factor on which model is if you have an iPhone or not.

So what about size? 16GB, 32GB or 64GB?

I initially did consider getting a 16GB model as that should be enough for most activities, or so I thought. One thing that is coming out from the US is that iPad Apps are much bigger than most iPhone Apps and it is expected that they might get “bigger”. You can also watch HD movies on the iPad making use of the bigger screen and they are bigger than your average iPhone movie file. So the next consideration is 32Gb, but my first approach with any storage is think about what I might need and then double it. So 64Gb is probably the idea size for me.

I am pleased to see that the iBooks App and Bookstore will be available in the UK on the 28th and looking forward to reading a book on the iPad.

Will the iPad be the game changing device that I think it will be?

No one knows for sure, but it will have an impact regardless.