The Pad

If nothing else, ownership of the iPad has not given me any surprises. The tablet has been commented, praised, criticised, debated and reviewed to death; and like every other gadget I invest in, I didn’t walk into the buying process without having thought it through, and done research. The iPad 2 – like every fruit device that’s come out in recent years – is an engineering marvel. It’s beautifully constructed, inspires confidence in build quality, and enjoys a very wide range of third party accessories to fit every fancy, color preference and wallet-ability.

It’s further supported by an App Store that, still at the moment, surpasses what the Android market has – though this is projected to change by August this year. The Apple iOS is rock stable, and the tablet quite responsive on the overall. I’ve also been able to get it to work properly with my Galaxy S as a mobile Wifi spot – which has saved me a bundle of cash applying for a multisim card for 3G Internet access with Singtel.

That said; my opinion of the Apple OS still has not changed. After experiencing the Android OS, what I can get out of the Apple iOS in terms of customization and configuring it to work exactly how I want it to still pales considerably. It’s just limiting. Even something as simple as, e.g. putting a weather indicator on the tablet is impossible on the iPad – but it’s something that’s standard on my Android phone. All I get are icons and the odd folder on the iPad. No widgets to speak of. No animated wallpaper. No desktop calendar. I want to do any of those, I have to hit an app. And heck no Facebook games or any Flash content.

Hannah on the iPad.

Oh well. I’ve picked up a bunch of children games and interactive apps for Hannah, including a couple of paid ones that’s come out of an Australian development studio. One is for flash cards, and the other a word guessing game; both for a very low price of just a few dollars. Good stuff. Hope that Hannah takes after it soon. =)