So I've had some quick hands-on experience with the Apple iPad and a few hours to think about it, and there's a lot about the device that impresses me, and a few things that depress me. On the whole, though, it's a winner.

First off, the thing is fast. Touch response is snappy and immediate, apps launch instantly and even action scenes in video (I watched a few scenes from Star Trek) are skip- and freeze- free. Apple's in-house chip design arm (formerly known as PA Semi) has seemingly produced a beautiful piece of silicon in the A4 processor. Which leads one to wonder if the company's relationship with Intel is bound to be short lived.

For the most part, the thing works like a really big, and far faster, iPod Touch. Which may sound a bit anticlimactic given the hopes for this thing, but it's really more important that you might think. The larger screen makes all sorts of things that seemed like compromises before—reading, movie watching and, frankly, Web browsing—into rich, rewarding experiences.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology

1. Ralph wrote: Maybe the fine folks at Accordance Bible Software will develop an iPad version that would use the modules installed on the Macintosh. One can hope. I’m just not bowled over yet. January 28, 5:20 pm | [comment link]

2. CheyanneT wrote: Though the feature of that Apple Ipad is really impressible for everyone, still it needs more convincing for people to bowl over it yet. It looks like a huge version of the iPhone, except you can’t use it as a phone.  If it sells really well, then kudos to Steve Jobs, but I for one am not about to waste a payday loans worth on a tablet PC, a product which has been tried several times before and never took off.  If the selling point is portability, then it won’t hold a candle to a laptop, or a netbook for that matter. January 28, 10:34 pm | [comment link]

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