Earlier today, I had the opportunity to see Apple’s new iPad, you know, the thing everyone including myself has ben talking about for the past few weeks. Anyway, these are my very brief initial observations, keep in mind I only got to see the device for about five minutes before they had to drag me away, kicking and screaming.

If you’ve ever seen a MacBook Air, the iPad case is very similar in design. The back is a smooth aluminum and the front is the same plastic-like material used on the iPhone and iPod touch screens. In terms of thickness, the device is, well, like the Air. The device has three speakers located on the bottom edge of the unit facing the user. I was surprised at the quality of these speakers, better than the one in my Air and definitely better than the ones in the iPhone/iPod touch.

Using the device was much easier than even i had anticipated. Admittedly, it would take practice to become used to the newly-implemented touch typing system and to build up efficiency in general. Having said that however, I was able to type full sentences with a fair degree of speed and accuracy before leaving the Apple store.

I did not get a chance to try iBooks, but found that other applications behaved as expected which means if you’ve used an iPhone or iPod touch, they behave about the same all-be-it on a bigger screen. One really neat feature found in the iPad is a switch that disables the unit from switching to landscape mode when tilted, I could see this very handy in many situations.

I realize that this is a very very brief look at the iPad, but I left suitably impressed. Admittedly the iPad has a bit of weight behind it, but it’s not so heavy that it would prove awkward to cary around. Although it would take a bit of practice, I think the device could be used in *certain* note taking situations and this, coupled with Apple’s iBook store really excites me.

So, am I geting an iPad? Well, I’m still somewhat on the fence, but now that I’ve seen it, do think it a device which I could use to be more productive. Although similar to the iPhone in functionality, the larger screen area and much improved battery life make it a better note taking solution than the iPhone even with a bluetooth keyboard. Also, the larger screen would make it easier for me to get a better conceptual overview of an application or web page, something which for me, is essential. So when am I getting this shiny new iPad? Well of course there’s still that pesky little issue of cost and at $499 for the entry model, that’s not exactly pocket change. Still, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to possibly read a blog post from me generated on the iPad in the hopefully not so distant future.