Follow up to the iPad review.

So I have been using the iPad as a replacement for my net book for a solid couple of days. However despite it's replacement tag, there are some activities that still require the iPad to be tethered to a proper PC. If u haven't done anything funny to ur iPad, ur kinda left with just iTunes to transfer stuff to and from your iPad. Anyways for the benefit of those who would never consider jail breaking their device, I'm gonna continue the review as if this process was not done. Google is ur friend if ur curious.

Before anything I need to sort out the whole 3G bit. I know the iPad has wifi and there's a bunch of hotspots that I can connect to. But if u intend to use the iPad as ur main email device, u do need to consider investing on broadband access to facilitate Internet connection. Amongst the 3 major telcos only maxis have come out and say that they would be providing their subscribers micro sim card suited for the iPad and iPhone 4. Not sure if it's already available. But then again, ur well off googling a bit for how to cut your existing sim cards to fit inside ur micro simmed machine.

I chose digi's prepaid Internet sim pack. For 25 bucks you get unlimited access for 5 days. And u can chose to top up from the packs that are widely sold. I googled for a guide on how to cut the sim card. If u can see from the picture, I totally miscalculated the measurements. But luckily i didn't cut through any of the chip bits. By some miracle, the make shift micro sim works and the iPad automatically detects digi's setting and I was online in a few clicks.

"micro sim" in the tray

A word of caution on digi's broadband, comparatively in urban areas, the reception is okay. I got the advertised 384 Kbps speed most of the time, but it gets a bit iffy up there in the twin towers. And also during my commute on the LRT. But this is probably just me.

Anyways u can choose any telco u want. For me primarily, I'm using Celcom broadband advance on my e72 and joikuspot to share the connection via wifi. I've whipped out the iPad on the train. Did some casual browsing on the Internet. Played games. It's hard not to have people looking. So far I haven't seen anyone jogging with the iPad like I saw some dude do whilst in Singapore. Well u could but it's like jogging with weights la kan.

I got a guy asking about it in the lift. Had to do a product demo during a discussion because the team members were more interested to find out about the iPad more than the topic at hand. Maybe this is due to the novelty factor. But so far i've met another iPad user at the tower. Dude got the wifi version and is using a mifi device to connect his iPad to the net. Using maxis broadband package. Which he says is the best, apparently.

Wait, what was the purpose of this follow up review? Oh okay. How does the iPad fare in it's purported role as a net book replacement? In terms of operations in a moving LRT, the iPad wins this round. I've attempted and succeeded in drafting documents and presentation on my net book on the moving LRT before. In fact if I was feeling extra bored, I'd boot up the net book and easily run football manager to do my manager duties running Preston. But handling a laptop on the train is not as easy compared to the iPad. Plus the built in 3G makes internet a doozy.

However, editing PowerPoint presentations using office is still easier on the netbook. Regardless of it being on a moving train or not.

Email is also excellent compared to the netbook. But that's just me not having outlook installed on the netbook. But then again i'm all for how ios handles email. One not so good thing when I was exploring email on the iPad and in fact the same issue might occur on the iPhone too - the email client can't seem to handle forwarded email. You know how on outlook you can drag several emails into your newly composed mail as attachments? Well it seems that if u open those kinda emails on the iPad it can't open the attachments. Which is a bummer if the email is really important. Coz I can open them on my e72. Even if it's not that pretty.

That aside, because apps just loads up faster on the ios as compared to a full fledged operating system like windows, it's just quicker to do things on the iPad once u get used to it. Whilst in discussions with colleagues or even ur boss, u could as easily jot down and email the points right from the iPad. Yes u could do that from a laptop too but hehe it's just way cooler on the iPad. Fact checking on the Internet, u can do the whole fancy pinch zoom and share the info with the people ur discussing with. Incidentally most websites u load doesn't require any horizontal scrolling because of the high resolution screen. Again maybe that's just me.

which is which?

In conclusion, with the wealth of apps available on the app store, it's not difficult to find the apps to customise the iPad to suit whatever u want it to do. Granted there are areas where it still lacks when compared to a laptop or netbook even. But it does have a lot of potential. It might not be the right gadget for u, but if u do decide to get one, or if someone decide to give you one, heck I'm sure u will definitely find a use for it that suits you.