There’s a Hole in My Tech Life. And It’s iPad Shaped.
“The iPad is the future,” I’d say, “but it’s the first-gen future. I’ll hold off until at least the second generation.”
That’s what I said last month. That’s what I still really want to say. I want to say I need an iPad like i need a Ferrari: it’d be fantastic to have, but I’ll putter along just fine without it.
What happened?
Ever since the iPad was released, I find myself using Instapaper on my iPhone thinking, “This doesn’t feel right.” Smartphones are designed for mobile use - when I’m on a bus or something, Instapaper works brilliantly. But when I’m chewing through a 6,000 word New Yorker article, reading on a 3.5” screen feels so… cramped.
And reading for that long on a laptop also just feels a little off. Growl is always buzzing, email notifications are popping up, iTunes is chugging along. I have a billion things I can be doing on my laptop. That’s 999,999,999 things to distract me from reading that daggum New Yorker article.
And now, there’s the iPad. It’s bigger. It’s got a screen better suited for reading. It’s lack of multitasking (for now) means that I have to try really hard to steer away from my reading. Reading on an iPhone feels like reading a novel off of a business card. Reading on a laptop feels like reading in the middle of Grand Central Station. Reading on an iPad feels more like… reading.
Of course, I don’t have an iPad. I could be wrong. I’ve only used one in a store with other customers shooting irritated glances at my tablet-hogging self. But man, do I think that I’m right.
Anybody have $500 burning a hole in their pockets?
P.S. Here’s the New Yorker article I was referring to. Shocking - it’s about the iPad, the Kindle, and the future of publishing and reading: http://cl.ly/jjt
Image via The New Yorker
