CAUTION: Long and potentially boring post! ;-)
Thought I would respond to this to see for myself how valuable the iPad has become. For reference, I am 59 years old, husband, grandfather, professional, geek, and have been on MacRumors Forums for 12 years next month.
When I got the first iPad, I must say that it was a novelty and not terribly useful. But now . . .
MY NOTEPAD — I use Evernote in all of my meetings and take detailed notes. I can go back several years and check what was done. I don’t like typing on a laptop in meetings. It seems intrusive. However, the iPad is perfect and Evernote syncs with my other devices. It is also very searchable.
MY LIBRARY — I now have over 400 books on Kindle and the Kindle app is perfect for reading for hours. Some don’t like the backlit screen for reading, but I don’t mind. Plus, I have all of my books with me anywhere I go. Try that 20 years ago!
MY PHOTO ALBUM — I carry about 1,000 of my favorite photos on my iPad, but I also use Flickr and Loom and I have about 30,000 photos that I can access in moments. Wherever I go, I can show family members the recent vacation pics, or show off pictures of my grandkids.
MY MUSIC — When sitting in a coffee shop, or wherever, I plug in my earbuds and listen to music or podcasts while reading or surfing.
MY NEWS — I use several News apps, plus Flipboard and Pulse and can catch up on the news in a few minutes. I haven’t added magazines to this list, but imagine that would be pretty cool.
MY PRESENTATIONS — While I don’t normally create Keynote presentations on the iPad, I use it two or three times a week to make presentations. Love the “touch and hold” laser pointer built into the package.
MY WORK — I carry many iWork and Numbers documents with me for reference. Again, I rarely create documents on the iPad but edit them and refer to them regularly.
MY HOME INVENTORY — Although I have about 12 databases on the iPad, the Home Inventory is the one I add to/or edit most often. I use Tap Forms to document all of my belongings and take photos to each item (often using the iPad). When I’m shopping, I often use this to remind me of what I own or need. Best use is for insurance purposes though. All of my databases are on the cloud and can be accessed by other devices, but I use them mostly on the iPad.
MY PDFs — All of my more permanent (and longer documents) are sent to iBooks. I have well over 300 of them and they are mostly used for reference purposes.
MY TRAVEL COMPANION — I use Tripit while traveling for schedules and reminders; watch tv and movies on a plane; check my home temperatures on my Nest thermostat; look at several rooms of the house with my Dropcam security cameras; use Alarm Clock for my bedside clock; and sometimes use the gps feature (although I prefer this on my iPhone).
MY LANGUAGE TEACHER — I use two different apps to help me improve in my language skills and one the them teaches me a new word each morning.
MY JOURNAL — I use Momento to “collect” all of my Foursquare, Flickr and Twitter posts and pull them together into a daily journal. I can go back two years now and view my days. I plan to download Day One though this week, after reading the reviews and start keeping a real journal, (which I have never been very good at, so we’ll see). Some have suggested that I try Path, so need to look at this.
MY BIBLE — I now have about 7 translations of the Bible that I can use for reading and reference. Quite amazing how useful that kind of tool has become instead of carrying multiple books.
MY BABYSITTER — When out and about, my grandkids love the games that I have downloaded. It helps them pass the time while waiting for the adults “to finish talking.”
MY FLIGHT CONTROLLER —I’m an R/C Pilot (sounds better than saying I play with toys) and my iPad is my controller for three of my helicopters and a Sphero. Flying the AR Drone with the iPad is SO much better than with the iPhone.
MY BANKING/BILL PAY — I use my banks app to track my expenses and pay bills. I use Check for alerts and reminders.
MY VAULT — I keep my credit card numbers, passport numbers, etc in 1Password and have accessed them many times for reference.
MY TIME-WASTER — For reading Macrumors forums and other techie sites which wastes WAY too much of my time.
MY FAMILY COMPETITION/VISIT TIME — Family members from several parts of the country get online to play several games, particularly AirWings (which I enjoy but never win!). Use FaceTime to talk with family members (but not as often as I should).
MY FANTASY TEAMS TRACKER — Golf and football.
MY HEALTH TRACKER — I use one program to track workouts and another (iHealth) to check my BP and vitals periodically.
MY CAR MAINTENANCE — Use Road Trip to record every gas purchase and service. It reminds me of next service schedules and gives me my gas mileage.
MY CAMERA — Really don’t use the camera in the iPad too much, but take photos of marker boards and paper notes following meetings, and sometimes use it when my regular camera is not available.
WISH . . . I knew how to use GarageBand. WISH I had time to play more games, but probably never will.
I PREFER many things, like calendar, messaging, camera, Twitter, etc. on my iPhone.
I’m amazed how much I use this thing. It is in my hand or at my side, all day long.
