In news that will probably surprise absolutely no one, I picked up an iPad yesterday. In the back of my mind I knew I wanted to get something larger to watch movies on, but hadn't yet made a decision on how to go about it. I had also toyed last year with the idea of getting an eReader, but had put that idea to the side. Even last Saturday when I went to the Apple store with a friend to get a hands on with the device, I wasn't entirely convinced. In fact, the thing that did convince me had nothing to do with Apple at all. When the Nexus One Car Dock was announced last week (take a look at Bill Stebbins' excellent video on it) I started to think about how I was using my gadgets.
Earlier this week I had my first experience using the Navigation program on my Nexus One and was floored by it. Street names enunciated, estimated trip time, satellite view- it was worlds better than the TomTom One GPS I got earlier this year to replace our aging (and non-updateable Magellan). Why on earth wasn't I using this as my full-time GPS?? At that point I decided I would get the car dock and pass my TomTom on to the husband. Once I made that decision, I realized that if I would be docking my Nexus while in the car, I could also use it to listen to my podcasts via BeyondPod. In fact, with the "Media page" of widgets that I've created on my homescreen, I can easily transition between music and podcasts- not an easy feat on my iPhone. So, at this point, the argument for having an iPod/iPhone was dwindling.
But then I remembered how easily iTunes pulls all my Tivo Desktop content in, making it a no-brainer to keep it in that ecosystem. Combined with the iBooks application and a larger screen, suddenly the decision to get an iPad didn't sound so ridiculous. For an hour a day during lunch I sit in my car and watch my favorite primetime show from the previous night that I didn't get to watch. The thought of having a lovely large screen to watch it on, while still being able to use iTunes and all the TV-Out equipment I have at home for the iphone was something I couldn't pass up.
On Wednesday I ordered the Nexus Car dock, and I'm expecting delivery today. On Friday I popped into an Apple Store and picked up a 16GB iPad. The Apple store didnt have any more cases, so I had to make a separate trip to Best Buy to get the convertible Apple Case. I've been enjoying my new iPad so far- there's no learning curve and my biggest decision is which eBook ecosystem to settle on. Next step is to start listing some stuff on eBay. My Blackberry 9700 and iPhone will soon be on their way to new homes.
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