When the iPad first came out it was met with a certain level of confusion. There were plenty of Apple fanboys and techgeeks who were ecstatic over the thought of tablet PCs, but for the average person the iPad didn’t seem like much more than a larger iPhone that didn’t make calls. To this day there is still a lot of confusion among the average tech-adverse population over the exact purpose and the best uses for an iPad. Let’s take a look at what this tablet has to offer and why it really is a great piece of technology in and of itself.
The main benefit of the iPad is its versatility. The tablet is able to perform a huge range of actions and run a massive number of apps, each providing its own useful functionality. While the iPad might not be the objective “best” at any one action it performs many functions at a very high level.
For example the iPad is a really good option for reading digital books. This includes both dedicated eBooks that come as PDFs as well as digital downloads for dedicated eReaders like the Kindle. The Kindle features its own iPad app which lets you buy books from the Kindle store and read them on your tablet. You don’t even need a separate Kindle to take advantage of this useful function which provides you with thousands and thousands of new and classic books at the push of a few buttons. The Kindle app works especially well with the iPad’s 3g “always on” connectivity.
In addition to reading eBooks the iPad works great as an all purpose multimedia device. The tablet doesn’t feature a CD or DVD player but due to the huge range of digital video and music downloads and streaming services out there this isn’t a problem. Between a streaming movie & TV service like Netflix and a streaming music service like Spotify you’ll have all the multimedia you want wherever you go. The iPad does feature its own set of speakers but because of its portable nature it works best with a good quality pair of headphones.
When it comes to video the iPad works so great because the tablet is almost all screen- you won’t sacrifice any potential viewing space for bulky buttons built into the tablet’s shell, a problem that plagues many portable DVD players. With its touch-screen interface and beautiful high-resolution screen the iPad makes a great all-in-one multimedia platform for music, video and eBooks.