My iPad came in on Friday (a 3G 32gb unit), and I went ahead and subscribed to the data service for one month. I did this mostly because I have a trip next weekend to hand off the WiFi iPad to my grandmother, and because we don't have WiFi up and running in the new studio at work yet. Signing up for the data service was pretty easy, with the iPad asking if I wanted to sign up the first time I opened Safari. It pops up a smaller window to pick a plan, and to provide a credit card number. A little over a minute after completing the form, a new popup indicated everything was activated and ready for use.

Now that I have data access at work for email, and can VPN in to access other resources, the usefulness went up quite a bit. Already, it came in handy quite a few times for coordinating some build issues we were working on later on Friday. Our local IT guy tried out a free remote desktop app on it, and was quickly sold on the idea of using one for remote administration. Overall, once 4.0 comes out with multitasking, an iPad with 3G may be a really good tool for on call admins. While similar could be done with a laptop, the benefit to the iPad will tie into a later point.

Overall, my use of the system has been pretty much media consumption. I tend to watch a TV show before bed, or read, with both activities working decently on the device. AirVideo (warning, may launch iTunes) has been great for watching anything my Mac Pro can see, and it will even trigger wake on demand if the system is asleep. GoodReader is an excellent program for opening PDF, Word, and other common documents. The ability for it to access my iDisk or any other webdav server has come in handy a few times, as it allows me to just keep everything important on my iDisk and access it remotely, instead of worrying about syncing files everywhere.

I've commented on battery life before, but it's worth bringing up again, as it's now becoming clear it's one of the main benefits of the device. It's so power efficient, I really haven't worried about it. Even after using it to play podcasts in the car with the volume at full blast (due to my amplifier dying), decent web and e-mail use at work, along with some game time, I haven't dropped the battery below 60% after one day. Today for example, my battery was at 78% when I came home, after the device sat on 3G all day pulling down e-mail and the screen being on a good portion of my work day. This is why I think it would be a good admin tool. Instead of having to haul around a full laptop, or even a netbook and charger while on call, an iPad could work for dealing with a situation remotely, even if it sat in the trunk of the car for a week unused.

Long term, it will be interesting to see how the device evolves, as better wireless internet comes online, and hopefully better cloud solutions also come out. Google will likely be in the same space soon, so even those against Apple will have similar offerings. It really is a new category, separate from the traditional x86 portable computers with battery life measured in single digit hours and boot times of a full blown desktop OS. I always know that in the morning, I'm seconds away from the web and e-mail, without having to boot a system up, or have power cords on the nightstand to keep a battery charged. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the device, and have been a bit surprised at how well it works for many situations.

Oh, and one amusing use of it that happened today, letting 3 people decide what word to play in Words with Friends while walking over to Starbucks for an afternoon snack.