There was great hype about iPad. Many were skeptical about this device before it became available. But not including me. There is a place for a such device in my life, I was thinking that it would be good to have something like iPhone with larger screen. Tablet PCs are too heavy, netbooks are inconvinient (I do not need a keyboard for such a device, there are laptops for this), iPhone screen is too small. So, iPad looked like what I need.

We recently purchased iPad for work (we are developing iPad version of MobileNoter). Here is what I felt when I got it in my hands:

- First impression. “Great screen!” (Trying to find MobileNoter in App Store)

- After 10 minutes of playing. “Hmmm it is quite heavy”

- After 5 minutes of walking with iPad in hands. “It would be great if iPad had a handle, like a frypan”

After using iPad a bit I can sum up my personal feelings. I tried to leave what everyone writes about it (yes, it is true that iPad is great for email, web etc…) and list what was kinda surprise for me after the real use.

1) It is heavier than it should be (for purposes it solves). It hard too hold it in one hand for more than 5 minutes (5 minutes is for me, I’m quite big man with strong hands :-)). Even if you base bottom edge of iPad on a table or on your knee, it is hard to hold it by one hand.

2) My 3-year daughter likes it more than me. It is a great toy you can play together with your children.

4) It is not practical for handwriting. Even with this large screen. I did not find it practical. Unfortunately. There are special pens that you can use instead of writing with your finger, but you also need to wear a glove as you palm will rest on the screen and will act as a second large pen (thanks to multitouch).

Do i like it. Yes, undoubtedly. Will I buy it? Not now. It seems there will be more tablets coming this year. I prefer to wait a bit and if there is no better choice, then I will get iPad.

Information technology not only adds innovative solutions to our life, but also replaces traditional ones, that we accustomed to use for centuries. One that was and is the hardest to crack is… book. There were many competitors of books so far. But books still alive and people continue buying and reading them. Radio did not replace books (although there are audio books now, they do not replace traditional ones). Television did not replace books. And even personal computers did not do that, though there are so many great features that computers add and the size of today's computers is about a book size.

Amazon recently made their attempt to provide alternative to traditional newspapers and books. They announced their brand new device, called "Kindle", that was specially designed for reading. So, what is Kindle?

• It has size of a book weight as little as 10.3 Ounces
• Made in ergonomic case with the large buttons to "turn over" pages
• Has QWERTY keyboard
• Equipped with monochrome screen especially designed for reading. Technology behind this screen is called e-paper that has no backlight, does not reflect and consumes less electricity than ordinary LCD displays
• It also has EVDO (fast wireless network standard) on the board. It does not need PC at all.
• And it is coupled with Amazon's data service. So they even say "This isn't a device, it's a service."

Strong features of this device are unbeatable:

• You can search in a book and make bookmarks. I always miss CTRL-F when reading books.
• You can scale fonts. It is so annoying if a book has too small or too large font…
• You have rich and recent info in a form of newspapers, blogs and books. There is also access to Wikipedia and it includes The New Oxford American Dictionary.
• You can have one Kindle instead of entire bookshelf.

What would stop me from buying Kindle?

• Design. For me, it looks like old-fashioned calculator.

  

  And why it is made white? It makes it looking as kitchen appliance.

• Monochrome screen. Hey, its 21th century, why should we read from monochrome screens. It looks like step back.
• Coupling with Amazon data service. I guess I never will be able to buy and use it here, in Russia J

It is also not clear what platform Kindle is based on and if it is possible to extend it with own software or not.

If you want more info, there was a good comparison review of Kindle with Sony's Reader, and there is a long article about it in Newsweek.