The iPad2 and The Smart-Cover

Much has been said about this Smart-Cover for the iPad2. I will review it in depth, shortly. However, I feel compelled to give you my immediate thoughts now.

Picture from "themacspace.com"

Two weeks ago I decided that I “needed” an iPad 2. I don’t think there will be much more the iPad 3 will be able to do that I can’t do with the ipad2 so, before my first generation iPad is worth nothing I thought I’d get myself a second generation. Besides, the Smart-Cover is so cool. I got the pink (“girly”). Now working is fun and ohhh so sexy ;).

Anyway, the cover is great. The magnets work very well. Although I have to remember to store it in my purse facing down otherwise if the cover slides backwards the iPad turns itself on and wastes battery. That’s an annoyance, although not my biggest gripe. The biggest gripe I have is the fact that it does not seem to want to stay at an angle when I want to type on my lap. Yes, it’s true that you can fold it and turn it into a convenient typing angle, if you’re at a table. If it’s on your lap, as I often am when typing on the iPad, it slides all over the place. I find myself using my thumb to holding the iPad in place. I place my left thumb at the bottom of the ipad and type with only two or three fingers, ok, four fingers (both index fingers and both middle fingers). Takes some getting used to and it’s not very comfortable. I have small hands and the reach is not all that comfortable for the left hand.

These are the only two issues I have found with the smart cover. It’s difficult for me to EVER find anything wrong with Apple. I love their products and, I guess you can say, I’m addicted to anything Jobs and now Cook. However, I am hoping they come out with a new and improved cover that works for the ipad2.

Have you bought an iPad2? If so, what do you think of the Smart-cover?

Stay tuned for a more in-depth review of the ipad2 as well as how my workflow has changed in the past year since I became an iPad addict.

How I use my iPad

My iPad has recently become my new obsession.  I cannot get on the train without it and I’m sure in the summer, while on vacation, I won’t be able to go to the beach or the pool without bringing it along.  I’m wondering if my husband is going to start getting jealous.  In order to appease him we got him his own shiny black iPad (his without 3G, since he doesn’t go more than a few minutes without internet access).  Gosh I can’t wait until New Jersey Transit gets free WiFi on their trains.

So, how do I use this great Steve Jobs’ invention, you ask?  Millions of ways.

1. I read the WSJ, NY Times, Bloomberg, Legal Periodicals.  There is a great free app  for the WSJ you can buy in the AppStore and for $17.00 per month you can download the daily content of the Journal.  It gets updated every time there is some news update.  If you don’t have the 3G version of the iPad you can download it at home before you leave the house to go to the work and you can then read the paper just as if you bought the paper version.  The New York Times and Bloomberg are free applications with no monthly charge and the legal periodicals normally have a charge and I read those on the Internet.
2. Vizio.  I promised myself a few months ago that I would go green.  I can’t stand all the magazines laying around the house and all the paper that gets wasted and thrown out every week in the recycling bin.  Who knows what they are doing with it? Zinio is another application for the iPad and iPhone that you can download for free and purchase most of the magazines you currently read in paper version.  You can then either save them or discard them once you are done with them.
3. Social Networking. Although there is no application for Facebook yet, because I am able to get on Safari I am able to keep in contact with my friends and family.  Twitter, I have downloaded the free application called “Twitter” how clever hahaha, and am able to keep track of all the tweets and keep annoying all my followers with my updates on a regular basis.  LinkedIn, there is also a free app which I downloaded and enables me to keep in touch with my contacts as well as check out recent updates.
4. iBooks.  Hands down maybe one of my most favorite applications.  I love to read.  I probably read two to three books a month.  Currently I’m reading “The Hellhound of Wall Street.”  iBooks is such a great experience.  I also have the Kindle application (also a free application on the iPad) but I have to confess that the iBooks reader is so much prettier.
5. FarmVille, We Rule, Restaurant, City Story… For the kid in me, I have downloaded as many games as I can possibly keep track of.  My husband laughs every time the iPad bings (I have it set to let me know when my crops are done).  A girl has to have a good time too right?
6. YouTube.  I love to check out new YouTube videos on how to use things.  Most recently I’m trying to find reviews for the iPad and games that I like so I can learn to play them better and use my iPad to it’s highest potential. 
7. The Internet. Yeah I troll the web for new content and ideas and I’m now doing it more and more on my iPad.  I’m starting to think that I’m cheating on my Mac book but the iPad is just so much more convenient.

So these are all the ways I use my new toy.  Remember, I’m always read to hear your comments.  Any other thoughts on how I can use my iPad?  Leave a comment.  I’d love to hear from you.

The Paralegal

Me and my iPad

As many of you know, for a while now, I have been trying to go green here in my home office.

As much as I tried to read materials on my computer screen and copy and past them into a word document so that I could insert my own notes, it still did not feel natural to me.

My iPhone was too small to be able to comfortably read the large documents I usually have to read and my laptop got too heavy and cumbersome to carry around every day.  I always wound up going back to printing the darn documents in order to read them on the train and making my notes on the margins.  Most of the time this accomplished two things:  1) my bag was too heavy to carry with me every morning into the office and every night on the way home; and 2) I would inevitably forget the documents I had printed, either at home or at the office and would have to print them again all the time cursing myself out for not being able to figure out a solution to this very annoying habit of mine.  Why couldn’t I break myself of the habit of carrying so much stuff around?  There has to be a better way.  I kept thinking to myself.

Enter the Apple iPad.  For the past month…. Ok, maybe almost 2 months, I’ve been learning all I can about this new obsession of mine.

I have to admit that when Apple first came out with the iPad, although I thought it was really cool, I never thought that I would be one of the people who would have purchased one.  I was one of those people who thought of the iPad as just a really big iPod Touch.  Why in the world would I need a big iPod Touch if I had an iPhone.  I had just spent the money on a brand new iPhone 4.  However, the more I saw the commercials the more I became fascinated with the iPad.

To make matters even more interesting, my local mall, has a large Apple store where I sometimes go just to check out the new cool Apple products.  I began finding that it was getting more and more difficult to pry myself away from the iPads on display and kept coming up with reasons as to why an iPad would be great to have.  However, I still wasn’t totally convinced.

So what convinced me?  Well, back in the Summer, Lynne DeVenny, from Practical Paralegalism tweeted that she had finally gotten an iPad for herself and was totally in love with it Paralegal iPad. Call it jealousy if you must, but I had to have one.  I read about how she downloaded some free materials to study for the NALA examination, and how she had her research applications on it.  To top it all off, I found out that some of the magazines I read were a part of an app on the app store and it would be cheaper to purchase them there than purchase the paper subscriptions.  Then I began to see more and more people on the train (ok, maybe only one or two people) reading the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times on the iPad and not having to fight to keep from elbowing the passenger next to them every time they needed to turn the page.  I have to admit, I am not one of those people that ever learned how to fold the paper just so in order to not disturb the person next to me.

I HAD TO HAVE AN IPAD

I broke down.  On September 18, 2010, I drove (well, my husband drove us) to the mall and we walked into the Apple Store to “look” at the iPad one more time and maybe ask a few questions. That day I walked out with my brand new iPad 3G.

We are now inseparable.  What do I use it for, you ask?  Well, just about everything.  I have loaded it with tons of apps that make my life a little bit easier.  The only think I don’t do on the iPad is type long documents.  I think this Christmas I’m going to ask for a bluetooth keyboard so that I can blog on the iPad.  However, since buying the iPad I don’t use my Macbook anymore.  I even told my husband that I feel like I’m cheating on it.  However, the iPad is so much faster.  It immediately turns on just with a push of a button.  The web pages open much faster, I think even faster than on my iMac, and because it only weighs 1.6 Lbs making it really easy to carry in my bag every day.

Mostly I use it for reading.  From the app store I downloaded the iBooks application and have purchased a few books.  It’s a pleasure to read on the iPad.  The pages look crisp and the back lighting on the iPad makes it really easy on the eyes.  The fact that you can make the font larger or smaller is also a really big plus.  I also have the Amazon Kindle application on the the iPad but I much prefer books on the iBook application.  Additionally, while I was able to read the newspapers on my iPhone, the iPad makes it such a much better experience.  I’m sure the person sitting next to me on the train feels the same way.

For magazines, I downloaded Zinio.  A free application that you can download from the App store to your iPhone or iPad and subscribe to magazines.  Currently I’m subscribed to Bloomberg, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan (because besides being a paralegal and a financial nerd I’m also a woman) and have purchased a few issues of the Economist.

So for the first month I’ve become greener than I have ever been.  Granted, it’s only been a small step for some but for me this step was huge.  So now I’m not buying books, newspapers and magazines.

In order to keep up with all the reading I do for work I downloaded also from the App store GoodReader.  GoodReader is a $1.99 but it is very much worth it.  It takes a PDF and saves it allowing the user to highlight and underline in the document.   Additionally, when you open the document in Goodreader it gives you an option to open it in iBooks and it creates a bookshelf just for your PDF documents.  Although I’ve only had this app for 3 days I’ve been using it a lot.  It’s great not to have to carry a stack of papers with me back and forth from work and to have everything organized and at your fingertips when you need it.  More to come on this App.

Lastly, for the kid in me, I have downloaded some game applications which I play while the husband is watching his football games.

I would love to hear from all of you who have gotten an iPad on how you use it.  What applications have you found have made your life simpler?  Let me know.