iPad? Definitely Yes!
After having used my iPad for almost a month now, I think it’s time to answer my own post, and see whether or not my expectations have been met.
As much as many people would have loved to see Apple fail miserably, the launch of the iPad has been a huge success. I have no vested interest in the company and, quite frankly, dislike the way it does certain things, but you’ve gotta love what it does. The iPad, dubbed by some, somewhat scornfully, as an oversized iPhone/iPod Touch, is an entirely different animal. Not only that, it is probably bound to change the way people interact with print and visual media in the long run.
Among the cons I would not mention the lack of a camera, multitasking or Flash support (the first two will be coming sooner or later –multitasking is announced for this coming Fall), but more mundane things, like no earphones or a ridiculously short power adapter cable. Color me nit-picky, but this is being cheap.
As a “portable solution,” I think the iPad is just right for me. Neither too heavy nor too small. I can carry a full library of books, a number of Bible software programs, lots of apps, and the weight remains the same! I can even change font type and size for the most part, which is a real treat. The screen is fantastic, and easy on the eyes in my experience.
As a “multimedia hub,” I can also say I’m very pleased with it. Reading, watching photos or streaming videos is a thoroughly enjoyable experience that I recommend.
In sum, my general expectations have certainly been met, but where they have been certainly exceeded is in the area of Bible software. I will not give any names just yet, but let me assure you that the general quality of current Bible apps is quite high, and it can only get better with future enhancements (multitasking –which I am already using on my iPod Touch– being one of them). I am very impressed so far, and I think that, once more, the future is now.
You make me feel so jealous!
That is certainly not my intention
Hi Ruben
I had a chance to play with one of these for a few minutes in one of our electronics stores. I can certainly see the appeal.
A friend of mine was preaching at a conference I attended recently and was using his Kindle to carry all his sermon notes around and to preach from it. I think the iPad would be even more suited to that.
Currently, I preach from paper notes and have faithfully stored all my old sermons in binders. Sometimes I wonder at the wisdom of this, since they just take up space on the shelf. I can see the iPad or something similar doing away with paper notes altogether. (Of course, I’d want to have several good backups…)
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
I have recently converged my mobile phone with my PDA. I used to use a Palm TX for calndar/contacts plus all my Bible software (mostly Lardian). I am now using an XDA Orbit (made by HTC, and running WinMo 6) – a hand-me-down from my wife – but the screen is too small. Laridian have announced they will be putting their resources on the Android platform at some point. When they do, I will take a look at the Dell Sprint which has a 5″ screen, more the size of small e-book reader than the iPad or another tablet PC.
@Don Johnson
One of the nice things about the integration with iTunes is every time you plug in your iPad, iTunes does a complete backup of the device. As long as you sync it every once in a while, all your stuff is backed up.
Some applications will even sync to their own services, or services such as Mobile.Me, Gmail, dropbox, etc. so it just depends on what you are doing with what applications.
If you haven’t checked out the bible reader from Olive Tree Software on an iPad, you really should. It’s available as a free download and you can download it on any of the demo iPad’s in the Apple store
we’re new to the iPad and Love it! we have tried using our teachings in pdf files and will be switching to ebook format. We’re looking for a Bible program that has a quick to go to Bible verse selection. Something to use
In services. Any suggestions?
I would recommend you check out Kevin Purcell’s blog (http://www.kevinpurcell.org/). He reviews most of the Bible programs available for iPad.