Hands-on with the Apple iPad
Handling the iPad for the first time is quite an experience. Maybe I’m too caught up in they hype field of Steve Jobs’s keynote, but as soon as I was holding the sleek tablet in my hands, I’ve never felt a greater wave of “I want this.” The weight feels just right, slightly more than a Kindle, and the big screen is simply inviting. “Touch me,” it says, just by existing.
As Jobs mentioned, since I know how to use an iPhone, playing with the iPad was simple. Pressing the home screen takes you to your home screen, and sliding your finger to the right calls up the Spotlight search engine. Apps launch by touching them, expanding from their icons. Things like Maps, Calendar and iTunes work just like you’d expect them to… except faster. Apps launch quickly, the screen responds instantly when you touch something, and there are no annoying delays when you key something in. That 1GHz A4 processor really works.
Continue reading for more first-hand impressions — including the most confusing thing about Apple’s new toy.

