I have used a first generation iPad as my primary mobile computing device for a number of weeks now. More specifically, I have tried to see if this tablet can replace my two-year old netbook. My findings are mixed, as you shall see.

First up, the iPad with me runs iOS 4.3.3, which is the latest version available right now, though iOS 5 is on the way and looks to transform the device. This iPad has 64GB memory built in, which is smaller than the 160GB hard disk of my netbook.

Pros
The iPad is lighter and more portable than my Acer AspirePrime netbook. It also gives waaaaay better battery life, which is an immediate plus in my books. My Acer is out of battery max in 3 hours, while the iPad sees me through a full work day and is still not dead by 10pm.

The iPad is always on, always connected, polling my email, running Yahoo Messenger and running other services as well. The slim profile makes for extra portability and I am able to carry the iPad along to settings that a netbook would have been clumsy to take to.

Before this time, I used to swear by 7-inch tablets, but The 10.1-inch display of the iPad has made me a convert. Having a display that large makes a huge difference in typing out documents, browsing web pages, managing emails and other tasks. From now on, it’s 10.1″ (or thereabouts) all the way for me when it comes to tablets.

Typing on the iPad’s onscreen keyboard is excellent. Superb, really. The display and keys are large enough to type as I would on a proper PC keyboard. I just hammer away! it really feels good typing long documents on this tablet.

Web browsing is great, but avoid Flash-based sites. They just don’t load at all. Music playback quality is great (stunning actually), though I would have loved if the speaker was louder.

Cons
Where the iPad frustrates is with Apple’s gadzooks approach to everything.

Want to send an email attachment? You have to open the app for that file, select the file and send from there. Want to send multiple attachments in one mail? Be my guest.

Want to copy non-media files from PC to the tablet? Look for workarounds or forget it.

You can’t send or receive files by Bluetooth to/from other non-iOS devices.

The iPad does not support a range of video types, and iTunes won’t sync those at all. You have to convert first on PC to get iTunes to copy them over for playback on the iPad. I haven’t had to do that in years, so I just haven’t bothered. I’ve got the video end covered by my Nokia E7.

Open or Closed
The iPad is a mixture of great and terrible. It is a stunning device that limits you in many ways. While there are tons of apps to make up in part for some of those limitations, finding them in the AppStore did not prove easy.

For example, in searching for a Documents Editor, I had to use a wide range of search phrases, each turning out a different set of documents editors that are not thrown up at all when I use other search phrases. Crazy. Tedious. I spent hours finding certain apps. Hopefully, the search performance will be improved some more over time.

If Apple would open up iOS some more, nothing would hold a candle to the iPad, and it would wipe out the competition. But as it is, many people who don’t want to look for workarounds and hacks to maximise their tablets are forced to look elsewhere.

There will always be those who are satisfied with what it offers, as well as those who cannot live with its lockdowns. Its the way the world rolls.

Conclusions
Has the iPad been able to replace my netbook? Not entirely. Some tasks are still easier to carry out on my Acer than on the iPad. For, example, complex formatting of WordPress articles, and medium to advanced graphics editing.

Still, it has done a fairly good job of replacing my netbook for my most common tasks.

Remember my earlier articles, If you get a tablet, what would you need a smartphone for? and Can I really go back to carrying two devices around?

If you haven’t read those articles, I recommend that you do that so you can have a clear background to this subject. Basically, I am finally considering replacing my almost 3-year old netbook with a tablet. And in doing so, I need to take into consideration the issues I raised in those articles.

Someone like Dayo simply just uses his Galaxy Tab as a tablet and phone, so he has no need of two devices. And, no; he does not hold the Tab to his ear for calls!!!

For me, if I get a tablet, I’d want to have a proper mobile phone on me. The question now is, What phone do I use with a tablet? You see, I do not see how it makes sense to carry around a mini laptop like the E7 with me if I have a tablet on me. Having a tablet should mean being at liberty to use a more phone-centric device – something compact and with good battery life, but also smart enough to meet my geeky needs.

What Tablet?
I have toyed on and off with the idea of getting a tablet for quite a while now. But with the early reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, finally it looks to me that we have a tablet that can really replace a netbook for me. I prefer the 8.9-inch version of the Tab over the 10-inch version for portability reasons.

I can copy all my files on my old Acer AspireOne to the Tab 8.9 with minimal fuss and simply get on with my life. No fusses about lack of mass storage mode, or requiring some PC software to synchronise a limited range of media files. Add to that the superb UI and functionality of the Tab 8.9, and if the battery life of the original Tab is anything to go by, the Tab 8.9 should meet my stringent battery performance requirements. I am betting that I have a winner.

What Phone?
Looking around, there is no other device that looks like it will cut it besides the soon-to-be launched Nokia E6. Symbian meets all my basic and advanced needs. It packs all the functionality of the E7 in an ultra-compact form, and delivers amazing battery life.

Nokia claim that the E6 offers unbeatable power with its long-lasting battery. So powerful you can talk throughout your workday or watch four movies without a break. That can’t be far from the truth – a 1500 mAh battery on a 680 MHz porocessor powering a 2.46-inch display. Sounds like the real deal.

Conclusions

So, bar any surprises, for my mobility needs, I am going to end up carrying around the E6, a Symbian Anna smartphone and the Tab 8.9, an Android 3.0 tablet. Both of them can talk to one another via USB and Bluetooth. They can also talk to other USB devices, which is a basic computing need for me. Both of them have exemplary battery life. The combination is certainly looking good for me.

However, your mileage may vary. If you had to choose a phone-tablet combination for your use, what combination would it be?

Here at Mobility Nigeria, we predicted sometime back – and have stood our ground – that mobility is the future of personal computing.

With last week’s announcement by Nokia of the Booklet 3G (Nokia’s own take on mini Laptops), we just might be inching closer and closer to true mobility in the PC world. The Booklet 3G is essentially a netbook – a mini laptop, but a little bit more.

One of the things that the Nokia Booklet 3G brings to the PC world was included in Wikipedia’s list of the seven things that a mobile can do that a PC cannot do – the ability to stay connected all the time. See our article on that, The Modern Mobile Phone is Inherently Superior in Capability than a Laptop or Desktop PC.

The new device from Nokia will have always-on connectivity, thanks to a built-in 3G/HSDPA modem and a SIM card slot. With this inclusion, Wikipedia’s list has been reduced to six and the PC has taken one more step towards becoming truly mobile.

Battery life does not make it to Wikipedia’s list, but I think that one of the advantages that a mobile has over the laptop is the fact that its battery life lasts much longer than that of a laptop – many times going for more than 24 hours before running out. This, my humble opinion, is part of what true mobility entails. The Nokia Booklet 3G, while still not offering battery life that is at par with mobile phones boasts an impressive 12hrs of battery life. More and more, battery life is increasing on laptops, thus making them all the more truly mobile.

As we become more and more mobile, one wonders, “Will the mobile phone replace the laptop PCs or will the PCs become 100% mobile to the point where mobile phones are no longer needed?”

My thinking is that both will compliment each other to give a truly mobile experience.

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- Domain Name Registration
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