Two weeks ago, I turned the big ol’ 25.  It was a really wonderful day, including a surprise cupcake party at work and a dinner out at Cha Cha Cha (one word: sangria).  But perhaps the biggest surprise was from my parents, who told me that an iPad 3G was on the way.  As always, they’re too good to me.

I received the device at the end of last week, and have spent the majority of my free time interacting with it.  In short, the iPad is extremely impressive and certainly a game changer (or at least a game starter).  Magical and revolutionary?  A tad hyperbolic, but it does point mainstream consumer computing in a brand new direction.

The iPad is heavier than it looks.  As you can see from iFixtit’s teardown, it’s mostly battery, which makes for an epic charge but adds to its heft.  On the other hand, it is remarkably thin and compact.  The freshly rebranded iOS is fast and fluid, and — as expected from its iPhone lineage — the screen is mesmerizingly bright and clear.  The critic in me is surprised that Apple doesn’t ship the iPad with some sort of protective sleeve, but the capitalist in me isn’t.

The 3G component seems particularly vital for use of the device on the go, especially as most of the apps I use require web access.  It was relatively painless to set up the 3G account… once I was outside of my apartment, where I have no AT&T coverage.  I’m still experimenting to find the optimal way to position the device in different contexts (seated, standing, lying down, etc.).

The hardware is cool, but what is the iPad if not a vehicle for great software?  My preliminary conclusion is that the iPad is very much a lean-back device rather than a lead-forward one.  Typing is pretty easy, but I still can’t imagine myself crafting a long blog post or taking notes on it.  For the time being, my inputting will be limited to brief emails and tweets.  I even decided to remove my email account from the native app for now, but might reconsider when threaded conversations arrive with iOS4.

Many good third-party applications on the iPad are free, but if you want the best then you must be willing to throw down at least $3.00.  Luckily I had some iTunes credits in the bank (from the hallowed ashes of LaLa, blessed be its name) with which to buy a few of the titles I had been hearing about.  Here’s what I have so far, with ($) meaning I had to throw down some coin:

Reading and Creating

iBooks – I have some Kindle and print books to burn through first, but I’ll eventually give the Apple experience a go for comparison’s sake.
Amazon Kindle – Currently working through a print book, but from a few experiments this app looks pretty decent for reading.
Instapaper ($) – Just recently gotten into this service, but the iPad experience is winning me over in a big way.  Makes reading longer articles that I would otherwise have printed off much more pleasant to read.
Reeder ($) – Settled on this one after spending an hour or two researching the best feed readers, and I am pleased.  The interface is gratifying and mostly intuitive, and it makes separating the wheat from the chaff not only easier, but a pleasure.  Very much recommended.
Echofon for Twitter ($) – I love this app on the Mac and its iPad incarnation had great reviews, and I made the right choice.  Clean, organized, and quick.
WordPress - I don’t see myself blogging from this device, but just in case…
Dragon Dictation – This app, surprisingly free of charge, works really well.
Adobe Ideas – A quick and dirty sketching app.  Not applicable to my daily tasks, but I mean, what’s a tablet without some way to doodle?

Fun and Music

Google Earth – Absolutely the best way to experience this program, hands down.
Flight Control HD ($) - I was hooked on this ATC sim when I had my iPhone, and it was the first type of game I looked for on Android.  The iPad version is more challenging, but even more fun.
Harbor Master - A neat (and free!) spin on the ATC sim, since you have to send boats in AND out of the docks.
Netflix - Useful for queue management, and will be handy to watch instant movies as that catalog gets better.
Pandora - Neat interface, but will not be especially useful until the iPad gets multitasking in iOS4.
IMDb - This will be handy… right?
Meteor Blitz Lite - Trial version of a premium game that was pretty addictive, but I’m holding off on buying for a little bit.

News

NYT Editors’ Choice – A small selection of articles that is frequently updated.  I would probably pay for their full content in this form, if they provided it for a reasonable price.
Huffington Post – Not currently a daily reader, but maybe I will be now…
NPR - The best part about this app so far is the music section, especially “First Looks” where you can read about albums while listening to it (as I did with Dark Night of the Soul, which looks to be a great album).
Cool Hunting – Hadn’t heard of it before the iPad, but it was a popular app so I checked it out.  Wasn’t interested in that many articles yet, but I see promise so I’m keeping it aboard for now.
AP News – Takes a different, more casual UI angle than other news apps.
BBC News – Not as in love with this app’s design, but the BBC provides a refreshing perspective on world events.
Guardian Eyewitness – A genius app that delivers a single “photo of the day” in full-screen glory.  Made me long for a Big Picture app.

Shopping and Cooking

Gilt – Since I was already a member of the website, though I would see what the app buzz was about.  Nifty, but won’t be using this too frequntly.
Epicurious – Haven’t spent a great amount of time with this app yet, but I can see it making me want to keep the iPad around my kitchen this fall.
Amazon.com – A pretty slick app, but again, don’t know if I’ll be using this especially frequently once my income sharply drops to zero in a few weeks.

Travel and Local

OpenTable - Don’t know how often I’ll be hitting restaurants in Williamsburg that require reservations, but it’s a cool app.
Kayak Flights – Slick implementation, though missing some of the functionality of the full site (like “choose this departure”).

In addition to all these apps is Safari, which renders web pages pleasantly fast and crisp.  So far I haven’t missed Flash, but I’m sure I’ll notice at some point.

To conclude, I’m really pleased that I have an iPad now.  It snuggles right into the middle of my gadget spectrum: not quite a computer because it doesn’t invite a full lean-forward experience, but not quite a phone because of its larger screen.  Surprisingly, I feel that unlike either the computer or the phone, the iPad will be for me more a means of entertainment than a real “tool.”  I will continue to use my laptop for composing and my phone for communicating; now most reading and recreation will take place on the tablet.

The iPad really doesn’t do anything new.  It just does a whole bunch of things better.