WozzTopia

As some may know I?ve been hanging to get myself an iPad 2, and finally I have managed it. This is my first ever iPad, not having purchased the first version because as a general rule the first incarnation of Apple mobile devices tend to get a major overhaul ( as well as fantastic new features that were overlooked at first) in around or under a year, as well as the price.

It’s been around a month since I picked up my 16GB, Wi-Fi only iPad 2, and having spent a few days in hospital very shortly after the purchase I had plenty of time to get aquatinted with my new toy. Just about every day I am discovering more fantastic features of this device from built-in brilliance, like the rather intuitive text editing with dynamic spell check, to the vast array of apps that just add the versatility of this little beauty.

This blog post was written with one of the above mentioned apps Blogsy, that is seriously feature packed and offers easy access to your Picasa, Flickr and Youtube accounts etc. with the ease of drag and drop placement to your post. Uploading complete posts couldn’t be simpler; all that is required is a quick vertical swipe of the finger.

What’s hot?

The size it?s small, but not too small, it is a bit smaller than a sheet of paper, it?s easier to surf the Web than with a smartphone. Which means it really is ultra-portable. No spine bending laptop to carry. Have iPad, will travel.

Wi-Fi connectivity, seriously it is drop-dead easy to share the internet from my iPhone 4 via ?Personal; Hotspot? and most places I go have wireless networks anyway so if I ask nicely? I seriously considered getting the 3G version during my pre-purchase investigation of the iPad, and decided the big price difference wasn?t worth it, plus I would have to sign up to another 3G internet package that I already have on my iPhone.

The seemingly limitless amount of 3rd party add ons are available to compliment the iPad at very fair prices if you like to shop online and are prepared to wait up to 4 weeks. I started by purchasing a faux leather case front and back screen protectors and a stylus for less than $19 Australian. ? Next I was perusing eBay and found and won another leather case with inbuilt Bluetooth wireless keyboard for only $25. My most recent purchase, a 5 in 1 camera connection kit, was a great buy, and lets me sync photographs directly from my camera or iPhone 4 via the USB cord and it also takes SD cards.

What?s not?

Well not a lot really but if I had to nominate one thing as being a letdown that would be the camera. Although it looks good on paper the camera is awkward as heck to use (given that may well be because I only have one correctly functioning arm) but here is my tip, I don?t think you are going to see too many folks walking around taking happy snaps with the iPad. Also the results don?t seem all that good to me.
Having said that the front facing camera is sure to supply much fun with Photo Booth and the addition of FaceTime is a pretty cool feature.

Recently I got myself an 16GB Apple iPhone 3GS it was one of those items that you want more than you need. So as a result I procrastinated over it’s purchase for weeks. Finally I bought the gizmo that everyone’s talking about.

What do you think about it? I hear you say, I love it! Apple really know how to put a quality feature packed product together. No regrets so far the only thing that I am not happy about is the exorbitant price of data access, but can hardly be blamed on Apple.

Although I don’t do a huge amount of text messaging the ease of use of this feature and the attractive bubble like conversation history have me happy to send a few more with the The iPhone keyboard accelerates your typing because it tracks what you type, then suggests words, corrects spelling, and inserts punctuation for you.

With all the excitement comes a little bit of sadness, knowing that my 8OGB iPod Classic has become redundant. With a 3.5″ touch screen using the iPod feature has never been easier. choose from you music by scrolling through artits, album, playlists or cover flow. My favorite feature is the new shaking to shuffle songs.

With the addition of  TomTom for iPhone it has turned the iPhone into a fully featured GPS. Will this thing ever stop amazing me with it’s versatility and ease of use? I think not!  If you are like myself and have been thinking about getting yourself one of these all I can say is GO FOR IT!

Edit: after a bit longer using it I have noticed that battery life is a bit low, but considering the size of screen I am not all that surprised.  And the lack of ability to easily share ring-tones and photos etc with blue-tooth is a disappointment. All is hope is not lost, there are third party apps designed to help you do this. As a side note to this issue I am glad to say the iPhone connects easily with my Nokia blue-tooth in car kit and works a treat.