I purchased an iPad... yeah, yeah... so here is the unboxing and mini-review:

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I have had it about a week and it is amazing piece of hardware.  It is blazingly fast and has a beautiful screen.  Very responsive....

So, the first thing people say, “It’s just a big iPod touch.”  And well, in the abstract, that could be true, but there is more to it than that.  It’s true that it uses the iPhone OS but that’s a good thing.  The technology isn’t there to put a full MacOS X on it.  It would require a larger installation and would be slower than the iPhone OS.  Besides, the Mac OS is built for a desktop/laptop style computer. iPhone OS is optimized for mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad.  

It does run the same apps as an iPhone, but they are displayed at native resolution in the middle of the iPad.  Blowing them up to full screen make them look blocky and ugly.  Running “universal” or native iPad apps really show off what the device is capable of.  One needs to see and touch the iPad to appreciate the device.

How does it fit into my computing lifestyle?  Well, it’s a nice lightweight way to sit on the couch and surf the web, check email, play some games, blog... and taking it to the bedroom, it makes a nice video player not only for videos from iTunes, but digital copies and streaming Netflix and ABC via their iPad apps.

I am not doing any real productivity on the iPad, so it would seem to be a big (relatively) expensive toy and it is.  But yet, it can be a productive device.  All depends on how its used.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get down to a Best Buy or Apple Store and try one today.  You will want to take one home, too.