I just installed iOS 4.2 on my iPad.

I have been waiting for it the whole month and now it’s finally here. Now I can finally multitask and organize all my apps into folders. The fact that I couldn’t do this before didn’t particularly bother me, but now that i have the option it’s just so much better. The best part is that I can check my instant messages while writing blog posts and not have to go through the trouble of saving drafts. Another added bonus of the update is the language support so now I can type in Korean on the iPad keyboard instead of having to use an app for it. 아섬!

My thoughts on the iPad after one month

It’s now been over a month since I bought the 32GB wi-fi iPad that I’m currently writing this blog post with. Having used it on a daily basis since then, I have to admit that I actually love the device. I currently have 106 apps on my iPad. About a third of them are silly games, three apps are for books, about twenty for media, a few blogging apps, six for photos (editing, uploading, and management), and the rest are random utilities like calculators, weather, and navigation.

The iPad has changed the way I use the Internet, but it hasn’t revolutionized anything. However, what it has done, is made content a lot more accessible, which I think is the real point of the iPad. Sure, I still use a desktop computer for a lot of things, like real PC gaming and more complex photo editing, but I do pretty much everything else while sitting on the couch with my iPad.

I’m well aware of all the criticisms of the iPad like, “It’s a big iPod,” or that there’s no flash support, and I have to admit that those are all valid. For me though, I have only encountered the flash issue a handful of times. this whole month. There is a lot of truth in saying that the iPad is a lot like the iPod touch or an iPhone. I can definitely see that and I would have had a hard time justifying my purchase if I owned either of those, but I don’t so it works out for me. However, there are a few things that I can only see myself doing on an iPad and not one of the smaller devices, like reading books for longer periods of time or just browsing the Internet as much as I do.

Now if you were to ask me if I would recommend the iPad or any other tablet to someone else, my answer would vary, because even though I love it, I know it’s not for everyone. If you were looking for something to replace a desktop PC, then it’s not really what you’re looking for. There are a lot of things that I know that I wouldn’t be able to do on my iPad that I could do on a desktop or even a high end laptop. If you were considering purchasing an iPad, I would wait for a bit. As of now, the only thing on the market worth purchasing is the iPad, but in a few months time, there are going to be a few competitors. The Samsung tablet is one that I can think of off the top of my head and Blackberry just announced theirs last week, let alone the second generation of the iPad is still floating up in the air.

I know that in a year or so, I’ll probably be purchasing my second tablet and giving this one to my mom. I’m not sure if it’ll be the second gen iPad, but for now, I’ll be enjoying the one I have now.

Why I'm buying an iPad

I decided to buy the iPad last week.  It's probably one of the first things that I'm going to do when I get back to America.  I'm actually really excited to be getting one, but I'm sure that a ton of people are going to ask me why I'm getting one now, so here's a list:

• I need a new device.  The netbook I've been using the past year belonged to my school so I had to give that back.  Also, the laptop I actually do own is getting on in years.
• I think it's really cool.  Touch screens and all that.  It's the future, man.
• The iPad is sort of limited in what it can do, but it does everything I need it to.  All I ever do on a computer is log on to facebook, google dumb shit, and blog.
• I'm coming back to Korea and I can't wait for the 2nd generation.  If I was going to be staying back in the U.S., I would totally wait.  That's just being a smart consumer.  However, since Apple products take forever to come to Korea, I'll have to make do.
• None of the competitors have really made a big splash yet.  Sure, there are going to be ones that are going to come out later this year and 2011 that will be worth talking about, but it's going to be too long until they hit Korea, if they ever do.
• Wi-fi is going to be everywhere in Korea.  It's true.  I even read in an article that KT is supposed to be installing wi-bro egg devices in the subway cars.
• There are all these cool apps.  I even started making a list of apps that I'm going to download once I get it.  A lot of apps on the list are games, but there's some cool and useful shit like a learn Korean app.

So, that's how it is.  There's probably a few more that I can't think of at the moment, but this is the jist of it.

Predictions about the iPad in Korea.

Predictions about the iPad in Korea.

I've been hearing all this hype about the iPad on my facebook feed and I don't know if I'm entirely sold on the idea yet.  I'll probably never get one anyway.  I have to agree with the article that the netbook isn't going to be replaced by the iPad or a similar Apple product anytime soon.  Korea's just way into PCs for anything like that.  Samsung or somebody is probably going to develop a more powerful netbook with touch screen capabilities.  That would be badass.

On a side note, I'm probably going to be getting an iPhone when I go back to the U.S.  I feel like blogging everywhere I am is a great idea.