A few weeks ago, I headed down to the Outer Banks for a week of vacation with the family. Typically on these vacations, I pack the laptop. The main reason is to 'check in' with things at work but as I really think about it, perhaps the real reason is simply habit. For the past 10 years or so, I have just always seemed to bring my laptop with me to the point where I feel kind of vulnerable without it. For this trip, however, I was going to leave it behind. My wife was encouraged by this news until I let her know what I planned to do instead: bring my new iPad instead.
As much as I try, the virtual keyboard on the iPad screen is limiting for the way I type:
I know others out there have been living on the iPad for well over a year now but I'm not an early-adopter type. Actually, I did try out an iPad loaner last year for 3 weeks but I had no intention of experimenting with it as my only work station like Cole Camplese did last year. This time, however, the iPad is indeed mine on a full-time basis and being a "baby-steps first" kind of guy, figured I could experiment on my vacation by doing all the things I typically do with my laptop with the iPad instead.
Typing or "Why the iPad Can Not be my Primary Work Station"
Luckily, I am a home row typer as opposed to the hunt-and-peck type. For me, however, I need a sizable keyboard to accommodate my hand size and configuration (meaty fingers accompanied with these oddly jointed thumbs). See for yourself:
As much as I try, the virtual keyboard on the iPad screen is limiting for the way I type:- I can type well in small stretches before I run into one of the variances of typical typing such as numbers, punctuation, etc. It is tough to really get into a flow without having to look up, look around, fix and finally move on.
- It hurts my hands. Squeezing my fingers and wrist into home row position is an open invitation to expedite the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. The ergonomics of typing are not good for me at all.
In my workflows, I do a lot of writing/typing. I noticed that as I responded to emails, I found myself employing a minimalist approach to my text. As much as I'm sure that some colleagues found this refreshing, I didn't feel I was putting my best foot forward in my communications and thoughts back to them. As the week wore on, I found myself trying the hunt-and-peck style of typing. It was clear to me that the iPad definitely rewards that style of typing compared to doing it via home row.
For me, the impaired ability to type is the major impediment for it becoming my computer of choice for my workflow.
I Like to See Lots of Stuff
For better or worse, I have lots of stuff (I won't use the word "windows") open when I'm doing my work. I know I should use the tab feature in my browser more but I'm just not there yet. Being on the iPad does not allow me to jump around as easily as I'm accustomed to. It may seem trivial and, yes, I'm aware that I can get used to other ways of working, but it just feels too slow and methodical to navigate between things. As I tried to do more work tasks and navigate, I became more annoyed at the lack of speed. Perhaps because I do so much in Google Docs. Speaking of, editing in Google Docs is possible, yes, but it's not even close to the same experience as my laptop. Again, it's slow and clunky.
Copy/Paste Fail?
I need to mention that I also brought my iPod touch. But I bring that everywhere now so I don't count it as part of my workflow (but perhaps I should). Upon an urge to vent and blog something during the drive down to OBX (luckily, I was not doing the driving at the time), I figured I had a nicely built-in workflow to do so:
- I opened Evernote on my iPod and began typing away.
- When we got to OBX, I opened my post in Evernote on the iPad to copy/paste it into Blogs at Penn State, edit it up and post it.
Good Things I Got Out of the Experience
- SO much easier to travel with it. I think it's taken for granted by now but the sheer smallness of the iPad was a big difference for me. I didn't have to find a place for my laptop bag in the already-stuffed cargo area of our car. I simply put the iPad in our beach bag along with our beach towels. Easy peasy!
- I love reading things on the iPad. When it came to simply reading articles or posts, it just looks so much better on an iPad than on a laptop screen. It made me want to try out an ebook for the first time (yeah, that's so 2009 but I told you I'm not an early-adopter).
- I gained a deeper appreciation of Twitter. I probably used this app the most on vacation. I was thriving on the back and forth 'fun' stuff as well as the interesting links provided by the twitterdom. Since I've returned, I've made more of an effort to continue using Twitter.
- I've become much more attuned to the potential of work apps. I'm on the lookout now for more apps in this space that can provide a powerful boost to what I can do in my work.
- I was able to make my own entertainment space. This vacation house was huge but so was the number of people there: 22. In the evening, with 2 TV's watching the latest phony 'actor wannabe's picking a spouse' show and others with some HGTV show on, the iPad allowed me to pick my own show anywhere I wanted. Along with my wife's cousin's husband, we were able to chill on the deck outside and watch some shows on Netflix. Gotta say, that was pretty awesome.
While I don't see me being able to use the iPad as my main work machine, I do see opportunities for getting it more into my workflows. For example, I am much more comfortable bringing just the iPad to meetings now. And I'm also going to try working on it via docking station and keypad in my office, just to see. I'm glad I did it, however, even with the frustrations. It's hard to explain but I believe it did help me to think a bit differently. Oh no, did I really just do that? I think I just channeled the marketing folks at Apple!
