The Tablet-Only Challenge - Day One

Today I began a week-long challenge to use a tablet computer, in this case the iPad, as my primary content creation and consumption device. Here are my observations from day one.

When I arrived in the office this morning, everyone of course wanted to see the iPad and what it could do. We had some challenges to get it connected to the wireless access point on our floor (it worked fine elsewhere), but this was fine since it gave me time to do more complex editing of a PowerPoint deck on my PC - something Keynote doesn't quite handle as well.

With connectivity restored, I was off to the races, and just in time too as the rest of my day - like most - was consumed with meetings and calls. This is where the iPad shined.

In some corporate cultures, it's more than OK to bring a laptop to a meeting for note taking. However, I often find that it puts a barrier between you and others. If you're taking notes on a smart phone, people just think you're checking your email. A tablet computer changes the dynamic because everyone can tell you are taking notes. I used the iPad to take notes throughout the day, which was terrific since I have terrible handwriting.

However, it also unleashed more collaboration as well. During a meeting when I was trying to explain a concept, I opened up the free brand new Adobe Ideas app (Adobe is a client) and sketched out a schematic that illustrated my thinking. This was terrific since I could plop it on the table and we could sketch together. Even better, I was able to attach the doodle and send it with my notes to attendees.

As a next step I am going to download Omnigraffle, so that when we collaborate we can create more structured diagrams. I suspect many of these apps won't port video out - but that's something Apple can perhaps one day remedy with APIs. Still, it's easy to take a screen shot to get something into the Photos app, which does support video out, so that we can put it on a big screen.

During the rest of the day I checked emails and took notes as I participated on calls. One important observation is that the iPad's ergonomics really are not ideal. If you use it without an external keyboard you're basically looking straight down all the time. It reminds me of when I wrote papers in college on electronic typewriters. It's ok for shorter writings but not longer ones.

However, when you couple the iPad with the cool Apple case and a keyboard, as Brian Lam from Gizmodo does here (and pictured above), then it really sings. That's how I am writing this post at home. I have the iPad in its case propped on top of a book with my Apple wireless keyboard in front. Sweet.

More to come as I continue the week-long challenge. Leave a comment to ask a question.

Comments

[Mike23r]

Well iPad it's really usefull.. but it's not more of a TabletPc .. Apple as always rediscovering the past and change it a bit..http://WWW.PHOTOHIDE.COM - hide the face on your personal photos,free!

[anthonymoody]

Hi Steve,Good stuff. I'm adopting my iPad as my primary computer permanently :)Blogging about it at http://www.iPadAlone.comCheers,Anthony

[Clark Quinn]

I'm eager to hear your experience with OmniGraffle! Went laptop-less on a 3-day biz trip last week; just the iPad. Will do so again tomorrow. Was curious, now it just seems a no-brainer.

[Jeremy]

I want to use my ipad for everything. But with no file or folder structure access it seems almost impossible?I have a very organized folder structure across several computers, and idisk. When i work on those docs on the ipad, i cant save them in a place I can access from my other computers. Why don't they build in ability in ipad pages app to save to a directory?? The way it organizes the docs in one sting of file is frustrating. I have to email it to myself, and then move back to right folder so the current version of the doc is accessible from other macs. Any suggestions on how to plug in ipad to existing file structure?