On Wednesday, I tested Apple’s tablet PC as a media production gadget. Today, I’m enumerating the pros and cons of using the iPad 2 as a mobile journalism tool based on that test.
Pros
- The iPad 2 is portable. It’s thin and light, making it easy for anyone to carry it around.
- Taking pictures with an almost ten-inch device was a new experience for me. It was indeed cumbersome at first, but you’d get used to it.
- Shooting videos – please refer to my description of taking pictures.
- The iPad 2 is an all-in-one media production tool. You can edit photos and videos, create animation and publish texts in the field using just one device.
- Battery life is good. The battery charge was still above 60 percent after about three hours of heavy usage (3G, photo and video editing, writing).
Cons
- The WordPress app wasn’t as easy to use as the WordPress website. I couldn’t see any button or feature allowing hyperlinking and writing picture captions.
- I wasn’t able to include audio because the SoundCloud player couldn’t be seen on the iPad 2. There was also no slideshow in the article, because just like the SoundCloud player, the Slide.com player couldn’t be seen.
- Using 3G is expensive.
These are my initial thoughts on the pros and cons of using the iPad 2 as a mobile journalism tool. I said “initial” because my perceived pros and cons could still change. For example, the battery of a new iPad is, of course, in good condition. What about a one-year-old iPad?
