[zacheryjensen]

It's a no brainer for me because of this:

9 months or so ago I set out to find a device that would solve at least one major inconvenience for me. That first inconvenience was reading technical PDF documents for work. It is not uncommon that I have to read the same documents repeated, as well as new documents, and all of these documents can range up to several hundred pages long. I started with a Sony Reader (PRS-505) and while I liked the idea of eInk, I soon found that I almost always read in dim areas, like offices and the like, so the benefits of the eInk screen were diminished to long battery life. Not that it's a bad thing, but, it no longer outweighs the detrimental effects, such as very slow refresh and the ensuing side effects to features and so on.

Then I started realizing how tedious it is to read a PDF half a page at a time, especially when it's columns. Not only that but even in landscape mode on that device it was tiny, and that made my eyes sore after a while.

However, I really liked the concept there, reading in comfort with something book-like in nature and not heavy and unwieldy like a laptop, also not super hot or very low battery life (though my new laptop gets 5 hours under load, which is pretty nice... it's still not ideal for reading.)

So I made a list of what I want from a device, it included such gems as: 8+ hours battery life (workday), native document support for at least one major eBook format, and for PDF. Annotation support, preferably exportable, but that's not entirely required. Search support in documents, including PDF. ~10" screen or larger. I chose this size because I have a laptop with 9" widescreen and it's almost perfect for reading a PDF page at a time on its side, but would be even better if it was 10" and 4:3 ratio.

Anyway, nothing existed at the time that was remotely affordable. I was not going to spend $1000 on an iRex that had terrible user opinions anyway. I even bought some crappy HP touchsmart tablet PC and it was awful so I returned it.

But that tablet PC made me realize that a dedicated reading device wasn't exactly what I wanted. Also I got a little desperate and tried a Kindle 2 as well, but that was another huge disappointment, especially with its PDF conversion. I sold that as well.

So when I heard about the plastic logic reader and its claimed capabilities, and better touch screen (supposedly below the substrate since the substrate could be plastic) I was pretty stoked. Then finally after a huge amount of pointless waiting, they release the price. Horrible! Fine, it does a little more than the average reading device but it's still black and white, very slow interface, and a totally unknown company behind it. Who knows if it's not going to be total garbage? So now it's off my list and I'm sitting around early January wondering if Apple's really going to release a tablet.

I didn't think so. By this time I have gone back to using my iPhone because despite a small screen, it provided a vastly superior user experience to any of the various readers I've been able to own or try out. So I just kinda wished it had a bigger screen at times when I was reading PDF's.

Now I have been an iPhone user since the first release, and am quite aware of the variety and enginuity represented therein. I have the utmost confidence that more than one invested developer will step up and provide a good PDF user interface for the iPad. I already get nearly everything I want from GoodReader anyway, all they need is an iPad appropriate update and hopefully include annotations and I'm golden.

So anyway, when I heard the release of the iPad it was like they read my mind on exactly what I wanted for this mystical device I've been looking for since last Spring. Not only that, but it's priced better than most any competitor with a similar potential feature set. It will run the large app library I've already invested in. It's made by Apple whom I have trusted to produce quality products for years. I can develop for it myself, since I've joined the developer program for iPhone. There's a lot to like there. And again, the price! It's great! It has a ton of other additions and improvements that I'm looking forward to but frankly, they were never requirements. I didn't need a web browser or high quality email support, or even third party app support. I didn't even need color, and I wasn't married to any particular screen technology. Unlike some, I have no issues with backlit screens, in fact, as I mentioned, I had more problems with frontlit screens due to the locations in which I tend to read.

So, the iPad is a no-brainer to me because it more than fulfills every use case requirement I had for a device of its size since before I even believed Apple would release a tablet. Not only that but it is priced similarly or far less than any of the potential alternatives that would've possibly met my geek cravings. A simple equation of "Meets needs, beats price requirements" plus the bonus of already being invested in software that will work on it...

I can't wait til I can order one. The biggest question now is whether I want 3G support or not!