The New iPad, My Favorite Apps & the Brahmin iPad Bag

Well I did it.  I bought my very first ever, Apple product.  The Apple computer couldn't lure me over.  The iPhone didn't pull me in.  But when we bought our son an iPad for Christmas and the following day helped him shop for a cover, I came down with a serious case of iPad fever.  I did consider some of the  other notebooks/android tablets available on the market, but the cellular plans for those seemed high and I read more Apps have been created for the iPad than for the android systems.  I'm sure that is changing every day, though.

Too many choices can sometimes be a bear and Apple gives you 6 choices with the iPad, 7 if you count color.  After deciding on white, and the storage size (32 GB) I still had to decide whether I wanted it to have just WiFi capabilitly or WiFi + Cellular.

I totally didn't think I needed cellular service on an iPad since I figured I'd just use it here in the house where I have wireless Internet service.  But since it didn't cost that terribly much more for the Wifi + Cellular iPad, I went with that model for the rare times I travel or go on vacation.  Little did I know how much I would be using that feature.

Apple Store

One of the things I really like about the cellular plan is you can activate it for just the month you need it, then cancel it.  There's no contract or plan to get locked into.  It's $20 a month for a basic plan which gives you a pretty decent amount of usage.  I'm really glad I went with the "WiFi + Cellular iPad because I use it way more than I ever dreamed...as in almost every. single. day!

I was so wrong about how I thought I'd use this device.  I thought I would use it to check on BNOTP or moderate comments when out running errands or away for the day.  Instead, my iPad has become almost as valuable to me as my cell phone.  It goes everywhere I go.

Recently, I was headed to a friend's home for a day of fun.  I got stuck behind a major traffic jam on the Atlanta perimeter.  I had forgotten my cell phone at home, something I never do.  I kept thinking, if I just had my cell I could call my friend, get her street address, plug it into my GPS, exit the interstate and let the GPS take me to her home via back roads.  Though I knew the way to her home via the perimeter, I couldn't remember her street name for the GPS.   While we sat at a dead standstill for a long time, I brought up Goggle on the iPad, then the site "anywhodotcom" and immediately found my friend's address.  The jam cleared before I could get to an exit and get off the interstate, but the iPad would have saved me if it hadn't.

Image from Google Images

This past weekend I was in a local nursery looking for a plant for the porch.  I was trying to describe the "lighting" situation when it dawned on me I could show the nice associate exactly where it would be going.  It only took a matter of seconds to pull up the porch on BNOTP and he confirmed the fern he was recommending would do fine.

A couple of weeks ago, I attend an Atlanta Bloggers meeting and realized I didn't have a pen in my purse for taking notes.  No problem, I just opened up my "Notes" app on the iPad and jotted down all the websites and points I wanted to remember from the meeting.

Yesterday I used it to catch up on the news, reply to a few emails, read a blog or two and moderate comments while waiting in my eye doctor's office.  I could go on forever sharing all the practical ways I use this device, but today I wanted to show you the fun stuff...the ways I never dreamed of using it prior to buying it.

Here's how my iPad home screen looks, except I recently changed the wallpaper to something else...more on that in a second.  I keep a Favicon to BNOTP and Google along the top of the main home screen since I use those frequently.  Along the bottom I've created folders where I store all my apps.  You can only have six (6) folders along one edge and since I don't like having folders all over the home page, I managed to fit all the apps I've downloaded into six category folders: Art & Photography, Entertainment, Organizer, Reference, Shopping and Social.  Each of the tiny boxes you see inside those Category Icons represents an app.  The red "1" just indicates a new email has arrived..

My obsession with a clean home screen for my iPad would make more sense if you saw the home screen for my desk computer.  It's completely blank except for this picture I took when touring the Isle of Hope near Savannah, Georgia.

I'm the same way about my cell phone home page.  It's always Christmastime on my cell phone.  The screen looks exactly like this without any visible icons, unless you swipe to the left or to the right.  I love a clean home screen showing just a beautiful picture.

Photo from Pottery Barn

So what's behind all those category icons along the bottom edge?  If you click on the "Art & Photography" icon, you'll find favicons for several art apps and/or sites with inspiring pictures.

The "Entertainment" icon is where I store a couple of games and some other "entertainment" type programs.  No, I haven't downloaded "Angry Birds" yet.  Ha!  The "Sleep Sounds" app isn't really entertainment exactly, but it didn't fit anywhere else either.  I guess it could go under "Organizer" since it's a "tool" of sorts.

The "Organizer" category icon is where I store apps that keep me organized.  Remember the BNOTP icon you saw at the top of the home screen?  I used the "Touch Icon" app you see below to create that custom icon.

This is also where I store the "Reminders" app where you'll usually find an ongoing grocery list.  No chance of forgetting my grocery list at home because the iPad goes everywhere I do.

The "Reference" folder holds applications I refer to for information.  I downloaded the Wildflower app before I realized there was one single app with all four Audubon apps: Birding, Mammals, Wildflowers and Trees.  Wish I could give it away since I no longer need it.

This Audubon app is the most expensive app I've downloaded ($14.99) but totally worth it.  Many apps are free or just .99 cents.

Wish I'd had the iPad on all those past North Georgia hikes when I wanted to identify the trees and wildflowers we were seeing.

You can choose so many ways to narrow down your search when you're trying to identify something.  For trees, I like starting with the shape.

Oh, how I wish I'd had an iPad on my birding trip to Jekyll Island, HERE.  The "Peterson Birds of North America" may be my favorite app of all (so far).  You just tap on the picture of the bird you wish to know more about.  You can even tap and hear the song of that particular bird.  They are real recordings, too; you can hear other nature sounds in the background.  You can also hear the birds "song" with the Audubon "Birds" app.  Check out the "Peterson Feeder Birds of North America"...another great app.

Max especially enjoys the song feature of the bird apps! ;)

The "Shopping" category folder holds my fave places to shop for bargains and of course the favicon for the App Store itself.

And the "Social" icon holds all the favicons for the various social apps I occasionally need to access while away from home.

Two more apps I'm in love with are the apps "Art" and "Art Authority."  Art Authority costs more than Art and I am enjoying it more.

I'm finding you get what you pay for (for the most part) when it comes to app shopping, but there are some really great free and .99 cent apps, too.  I think "Art" was just .99 cents if I'm remembering correctly.  

I couldn't believe how many paintings were available for viewing by one of my fave Impressionist artist, Claude Monet.  Paintings can be enlarged to fill the screen on the iPad for a better view.  The latest iPad (3rd generation) has amazing screen resolution...way better than the computer monitors I use everyday.

I changed my home screen to this painting, one of my favorites by Monet.

The last app I have to share has me seeing stars.  In fact, you might say I'm just over the moon about it.  (har, har, har) It's called "Star Walk" and it contains so much wonderful information, there's no way I can even begin to share it all in this post.

As you view the screen, the planets are turning and the sun is radiating out.  It feels so real and it is truly captivating.  I haven't had a chance to really play with this app, but I think the planets showing on the home screen are those viewable in the night sky for your area at that very moment.  So hard to photograph the screens...they are much prettier in person than I can show here.

You can lift the iPad up over your head any time of the day and wherever you aim it, the constellations in that section of the sky appear on the iPad.  You aren't going to believe how many satellites are up there...all kinds for all purposes.   I got soooo excited when I read about this app.  Once I downloaded it, it did not disappoint.  This one is $4.99.

Since I'm totally addicted, in love, enjoying the iPad, I bought a purse designed for carrying it.  It's been about 8 years since I bought a purse so since I only buy a new purse every gazillion years or so, I usually buy a nice one I know will last.  This is the Theo purse/bag by Brahmin.  I bought mine at the Brahmin store in Lenox Mall (Atlanta) when they were having a "$100 off" sale!  I've never seen Brahmin on sale, ever...so I was thrilled to catch a good sale.

Brahmin Website

If you have an iPad and you're looking for a purse in which to carry it, I can definitely recommend this one.  (In case you're wondering, I'm not being paid or rewarded in any way for any of the products mentioned in this post...nada...nothing.)

It comes in a bunch of different colors.

There's a place for your pen, phone and ID/credit cards.

See the open zipper pocket there across the back?

That's where Mr. iPad lives.  It's padded for a little extra protection.  I also purchased one of the smart covers that automatically shuts the iPad off when not in use.  It and the iPad fit nicely in this bag.

There's a small pocket up front that's just right for business cards or car keys.

So, that's the skinny on Mr. iPad and how I'm using it thus far.  If you don't have an iPad, are you thinking of getting one in the future?  BTW, I hear the price has come down a good bit on the iPad 2 and it isn't that different from the current generation.

Now, I want to know, if you have an iPad or iPhone, what are your favorite apps?  Do you have the "Find my Car" app that helps you locate your car when you've lost it in the IKEA parking lot?  Not that I've ever known anyone who has done that.  (whistles, looks at sky, changes subject)

What's your favorite App?