[Russic]

Managed to play with one today. Hot damn. I expected to be impressed, but was more pleased with it than I thought i'd be. I honestly didn't find it to be like a netbook or a big iPod touch. I honestly can't explain what it was that intrigued me about it ... it just felt really polished.

I was surprised at how much I liked the wall street journal app. I understand it has it's faults, but it worked brilliantly. I love that it was layed out like a standard newspaper, not just a listing of stories like you'd see on a newspaper website. The little video in some of the stories played full screen, great quality and instantly.

The colour also was something that struck me as unexpectedly strong. I'd heard the Marvel app looked vibrant, but I was shocked at how badly I wanted to read a comic.

I found the size difference for videos to be significant. I watch a ton of tv and movies on my iPhone, and seeing a video clip on the ipad was phenomenal. One thing I didn't notice was the lack of widescreen. Letterboxing was heavy, but honestly I think it would feel worse in your hands if it wasn't the shape that it is. It feels like a book, and I liked that.

Finally the keyboard. I pride myself on being a damn good iPhone typist. I expected to be pretty good at it, but I was almost immediately as good at it as i am with a regular keyboard. Sure I made more mistakes but the auto correct is so strong that I was stunned at how accurate it ended up.

I'd like to try it with a case ... Having it tilted at a slight angle seems like it would be key. I just had it on my lap or on a coffee table to type and while it was easy, I wouldn't want to do anything heavy at that angle.

The next month is going to BLOW.