Really, I do. I mean LOOK at it. It’s sleek. Cool. Light. Fun. It’s got cute icons, tons of apps and, ok I’ll admit it, it’s a MAC. Why shouldn’t this MacBook Pro loving gadget girl get one? Or even want one?
Fortunatly, I was recently asked to participate in the Big Fork Little Fork iPad loaner program from Kraft Foods. I thought it was a perfect chance to for me to see what all the hype is about and try a fun app that me and Little Guy could test out together.
I have to admit, when it came today, I was a little excited…
It’s so stinkin’ cute! Within seconds I had it connected to my wi-fi and I was checking out how my sites looked on the smaller screen. Which, by the way, was nice. All my sites looked good on it.
As you can see, Little Guy was immediately attracted to it. So we started to explore Big Fork Little Fork. I have to admit the iPad was super easy for him to interact with. Simply click and drag and he was playing with the fun games. It was quite intuitive and with the accelerometer, I liked the variety of play between the touch screen and the orientation.
After we played both the Big Fork Little Fork games and watched a few videos we were pretty much done with it and I hopped back on my laptop.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just old and set in my ways but I just don’t see a need for this device in my life. If I’m working I need my keyboard to write. I use the web cam for recording videos and taking quick photos. The laptop is such a part of my daily life now that I really can’t live without it or I should say I don’t want to. It’s also portable enough for me, I don’t need a lighter device. Not to mention, for quick tasks I have the Droid. The iPad just seems like a middle of the road unnecessity to me.
I was curious if others shared my love/hate relationship with this device so I asked my twitter friends what they thought.
@itsleisa said "I’m a fan. Want one for 76yo dad. Great for photos, ebooks and web browsing
@kyree90 said "Want one, but I’d rather get a new MacBook first."
@just_denise said "I have one and I love it. Use it more than I do my laptop now.
@tjstestkitchen said "never had a laptop, waited…& waited…bought iPad wifi-3G, love it! :)"
@karenparitee said "Hi Roni, I’m not a fan-at least not yet – but my husband sure is. http://bit.ly/9EnMFA
@knack4nutrition said "overrated. I feel like they are just big iphones with no cell phone service."
@PaleoDanTris said "Want. Want! Oh so desperately WANT!"
@fatlittlelegs said " I want one so bad #drooling"
@TheCLJ said "we have one. I really like it, use it a lot at home over my PC & take it w/me as backup entertainment when I go Out w/ thegirl"
@MelGetsFit said "I think they’re VERY high on cool factor, but much lower on the functionality scale. I looked at them, but got a netbook instead."
@chrispugh said "have one, have had it since day one and still haven’t found a use for it in my daily life"
@Gorillamonk said "want one. but, it’s totally overrated."
@theantijared said "My brother and parents swear by it!"
I love that it’s all over the board and I was relieved I wasn’t the only one that thought the device was overrated. However, I love what @eternallizdom had to say about bridging generations (thanks for the link @that_girl_lola!)
As for the Big Fork Little Fork App, we liked the games a lot. As I mentioned, they were very easy for Little Guy to interact with and by learning the rules of the game we got to discuss some food basics. My background is in Instructional Design and I appreciated the non-linear exploratory nature of the program. Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of all the content. I thought the recipes could be a little healthier, especially the kid orientated ones. They seemed to miss some really easy ways to integrate more fruit and veggies.
So…. I’m curious….. iPad? Love it? Hate it? Don’t care?
Roni Noone is a Web Publisher, Healthy Living Blogger and Social Media Fanatic. She created 
Got one for Christmas and LOVE it. I mostly work on a desktop computer during the day, laptop for travel and around the house but I love the ease of the iPad. I just got it so I have quite a bit to learn but so far have used it for mostly catching up on blogs in my reader. Sooo much easier than on the computer and quick. I'll be using it to mind map and once I figure it all out, I would like to use it to do more stuff on the fly like approve blog comments, check email, etc. Yes, I do have the iPhone but I like the big screen of the iPad.
We'll see how it goes but so far I absolutely love it.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like