An iPad skeptic gives Apple’s tablet a whirl

July 18, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

I don’t have an iPod or an iPhone, and I never really wanted them. I didn’t think twice when the iPad was released.

So when my husband decided he wanted to give me Apple’s latest and greatest device for Mother’s Day, he knew he had to make a good case.

The 3G iPad would allow me to use the Internet on the go, something I’ve recently had more and more need to do. Fun applications like Epicurious would help me find recipes while shopping at the grocery store. The apps for kids would help entertain our 2-year-old on flights, and we also could add other videos she likes.

What the heck, I decided. It sounded like fun — and it has been.

All the Apple fans at work were beyond thrilled when I took in my iPad the first day. With a 9.7-inch touch screen in a thin, sleek housing, it definitely looks cool. The extra case we added for protection from our daughter adds a little bulk, but not much.

The apps have been as good as promised, too. I enjoy getting my news from The New York Times and NPR apps. Beat the Traffic offers a neat forecasting feature that projects traffic conditions in 20 minutes and 40 minutes, in addition to showing current jams. And Weather HD is just plain cool.

I’m getting the hang of using it as an e-book reader, too. One fun feature lets you download the first chapter of nearly any book for free before deciding whether to buy the book. Most e-books run $9.99 to $12.99. Plus, if you download the Kindle App, it can read e-books you’ve already purchased for that device.

Though the iPad works just fine for surfing the Web or checking e-mail, I don’t think it’ll ever replace my laptop in that respect. Without the tactile nature of the keys, it’s impossible for me to type normally, and hunting and pecking for letters on the touch-screen keyboard is just too slow.

All that said, I have to admit that the person who has used the iPad the most is my daughter. She loves it.

There are some great iPad apps available for kids for $1 to $2 each; some of the ones she likes are Wheels on the Bus (an interactive version of the song), Fish School (letters, numbers, shapes, etc. made of fish), Kid Art (lets her finger-paint and add stickers to the screen) and Animal Hide & Seek Adventure (a terrific seek-and-find game).

Though developers are coming up with iPad apps all the time, the selection is a little limited. IPhone apps will play, but they don’t look as good (think analog TV versus HD). Still, any parent with an iPhone or iPad should check out WeetWoo, an iPhone app that pulls kid-friendly videos straight from YouTube.

The remarkable thing is that my daughter has figured out how to use the iPad. She knows how to swipe her finger to unlock it, how to brush away the first page of apps to get to hers and how to pick the ones she wants and play them.

If the iPad is that intuitive, anybody can use and enjoy it.

Whether anybody can afford it is a different matter. The iPad starts at $499 for the 16GB version with Wi-Fi only and goes up to $829 for the 64GB with both Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities. A data plan for 3G wireless Internet costs $15 or $25 per month, depending on how much you use.

Although it’s admittedly a toy for my daughter and me, the iPad is definitely a worthwhile purchase if there’s room in your budget or if you want to splurge for a special occasion.

Think you can stump the geeks? Send your high-tech question to stumpthegeeksnewsobserver.com. Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Individual replies are not given)