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First of all, I must say that the more I hold this device in my hands, the more attached to it I become. Keep in mind that my attachment is not a result of how the iPad looks but more has to do with the way it feels (in fact, it reminds me a lot about the feel you get from the Unibody Macbook Pro). :) So, good job on that one, Apple!

Below are some of the impressions that I've collected after using iPad for a couple of days.

Use “landscape” orientation

I find that after switching to “landscape” orientation the unit feels more like a netbook (forgive me the sin of comparing the two). It also makes iPad feel a bit smaller (I will talk about this issue in more detail in my future related blog entries). Use the “freeze orientation” button to freeze your prefered orientation. “Freezing orientation” means that the chosen layout will prevail no matter how much you turn the unit around. As you rotate the unit (without the “freeze orientation” switch engaged), Voiceover will inform you when the HOME button is to the left or to the right–a very nice touch by the iPad developers. For example, the screen reader will say something like “Landscape orientation: Home button to the left”.

Keyboard… again…

You can use the Bluetooth keyboard for inputting text only. In fact, the unit will not respond to key presses unless you are in an editable area. I think the reason for this is that the iPhone operating system itself is built around touch events primarily. The How to use iPad wit Bluetooth keyboard article gives you tips on how to get connected.

iBooks

I was able to read ebooks line by line only. Whatever I tried, I could not read word by word or character by character. The only parts of the book that can be read that way are chapter titles.

As I pointed out in my original First impressions on using iPad after a couple of hours article, I could not activate context-sensitive menus for text snippets from the book, eg to look the word up in the dictionary etc. All other parts of the iBooks app, eg table of contents, page controls, library controls, work well with Voiceover.

Miscelanious

1. Be prepared to learn new layouts and dealing with popup dialogs; not difficult, just different.
2. There is now a “dock” panel at the bottom of the screen that hosts such apps as Safari, Mail, Photos and iPod. Other apps go onto various pages, just like they do on the iPhone. They occupy only the top part of the screen.
3. I notice that the “Search screen” of the iPad does not crash with Voiceover. I cannot, for example, search on the iPhone without a single crash.
4. The battery lasts pretty long although, as is the case on the iPhone, running Voiceover does impact the battery life, so it is best to turn it off when not using the unit.

Read a more comprehensive description of these and other iPad accessibility features from the Mac-ccessibility network.