Does anyone know what this screen cap is from?  If not, you can watch this video clip here.  This one movie scene sums up my experience with the iPad.  Awkwardness.

I want to love the iPad.  I do.  I love the idea of the simplicity of it.  I smile when I think about the potential for the iPad and my young kids.  Educational software takes on a whole new meaning when you can combine the compactness of the device with the touch screen.  The video playback, and the battery life, are wonderful.  Web browsing is snappy.  There’s just that one x-factor which is holding this back for me.

My main problem with the iPad is that I cannot get comfortable with it.  I found it very odd how many times Steve talked about getting comfortable with the iPad in a chair during his keynote when he introduced the device.  It now makes me think he doth protested too much.  We got a few of these on campus – two are sitting in an office across the hall from me.  I haven’t figured out how I am going to sit in a chair with this thing.  If I am laying on a couch with my beloved Kindle, I can hold it up above my face with little effort.  The iPad is just a touch too heavy for that.  The curved back makes for weirdness when you want to lay it on a table and type.  There aren’t four corners touching the table, so it spins around.

Since I don’t own one, I await my friends to tell me their long term experiences with the device.  My gut is telling me that more and more reports are going to be coming out about how people aren’t sure how to hold/handle the iPad and be comfortable at the same time.

Apple released their iPad today and lead with this claim:

There are more than enough bloggers looking to give their opinions on the topic, so I will avoid that morass.  I want to reserve final judgment until I play with it, but I did come away feeling like this scene from History of the World was more appropriate.