So the glamour is starting to wear off a bit, but the iPad is a very capable device. I am officially bummed that I didn't hold out for the 3G version; I seriously thought of the iPad as a laptop substitute so I'd use it the same way, coffee shops, at home, in the office, etc. That, and I couldn't bear the thought of giving AT&T even more money every month—my service plan already costs me $175 a month. When I was in college, that was exactly half a month's rent.
But a slew of new apps, some catering specifically to the needs of an architectural photographer, coupled with an ongoing battle to keep the thing connected to wifi networks, changed my mind about the whole 3G thing. More about that in a bit, though; I've some bitching to get out of my system first.
The wifi problem is weird - my iPad stays connected to a network fairly well when using Safari, Mail, and most apps that only make light use of the connection. But whenever I launch a VNC app or Daylite (third-party calendar/contact manager that uses a shared database) to connect to a computer on the local network, the wifi connection drops; the app, of course, freaks out because it just lost the connection it thought it had and promptly freezes/crashes, and then the *really* annoying part happens: my saved wifi settings get deleted from the global system prefs. In order to access wifi again, I need to go into settings, manually find my local network, then re-enter my password in order to reconnect. Every. Single. Time. Not being able to access other devices across a local network kinda makes the whole wifi thing a lot less useful.
So, after the tenth try at connecting, and instead of satisfying my urge to discover how many times I could skip an iPad across Puget Sound, I took a couple of deep breaths and called Apple customer support. The first rep I spoke with was enormously polite and helpful, and, after walking me through the process of reinstalling the device's firmware, she determined that my issue was most likely rooted in a hardware fault, and would I like to go to my local Apple Store for a replacement? Sure thing, I said, and thank you.
After hanging up, I still had a couple questions, but the second Apple person I spoke with was not nearly as friendly and was really quite condescending. I was actually happy when the only part of AT&T's crappy cell service I can rely on occurred - the call was dropped. I didn't bother to call back.
At the Apple Store, I spoke with a tech who went through the same set of questions and troubleshooting stuff, and arrived at the same conclusion as the phone rep. So, I said, instead of a straight exchange, how about I just pay the difference between my current wifi model and the 3G version? I'd love to see if the 3G version worked better across networks.
"Um, sure," said the clerk, instantly elevating himself to near-hero status. So, here I am—a happy 3G + wifi iPad owner.
And the original wireless problem? Honestly, it's still there, but the 3G model is tons better than my first iPad. I can actually use my local network connection about 75% of the time. The tech at the Apple Store told me that some of the connectivity glitches were known issues that should be resolved in an upcoming firmware update.
Despite these early-adopter pains, I still don't regret getting an iPad. They're awesome portfolio presentation tools, are lots lighter than a laptop, and, with a real word-processor, PDF reader and the ability to ingest Canon raw .CR2 image files, it might yet supplant my laptop for many, many things.
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