Brett brought up an interesting topic this morning, in discussing whether the iPad is geared more at consumption (pleasure) or productivity (work).  He comments on the iWork suite that Apple *designed* for the iPad and some of it’s short comings.  This brings up a great question which I have to ask…

Are people expecting too much out of a device that I believe is intended to view the internet and compete with Kindle in the book reading arena?  Can a user really be as productive (read: utilizing documents, spreadsheets, databases, file management, etc) with the iPhone / iPad OS as they can be with a tablet running a full blown Windows desktop OS, where not only are there quite a few more than what the iPhone / iPad has available for it, they have a long history of development behind them.  Sure, something like Microsoft Office costs quite a bit in comparison to iWork for the iPad (several hundred dollars version $9.99 per component), but maybe, just maybe, one gets what they pay for?  It’s kind of like comparing Photoshop to GIMP, and so on.  You get the picture, I’m sure.

So, in short, are we expecting too much in terms of productivity from a device aimed at the consumer consumption machine?

Today’s JAMM Store Deal of the Day is 3D Super-G Stunt for Windows Mobile.  3D Super-G Stunt, a flight action game, is available today for half off the regular registration price.  This lowers the price to $9.97.  You can check out the details and specs below, and download a trial or register here.

Super-G Stunt is a flight action game that takes you on a breathtaking aerobatic race through fun-filled fantasy environments!
Players can choose from a variety of sports biplanes and environments. During each flight the player will maneuver the sports plane through many floating sky gates in an attempt to achieve both the shortest time and the best performance. Each fantasy game level and sky gate layout is elaborate in design to challenge the player?s concentration, accuracy and response.
Get into the cockpit and show off your unbeatable stunts!

Features:

• The first mobile flight action game featuring exciting aerobatic stunts
• Eight brilliant 3D game levels with challenging flight courses
• Cool sports biplanes with ten colorful paint jobs
• Lifelike flight experience generated by sophisticated physics simulation
• Multiple camera views and video replay makes the game more enjoyable
• Addictive game play brings a lot of fun

Minimum Requirements:

• All Pocket PC 2000/2002/2003/2003SE/WM 5.0 & 6.x. Requires ActiveSync 4.2 or above for installation.

Display Dimensions
240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480
Operating System
Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC 2003 SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

Well, I am back home now.  Obviously, I did not get to post from the road as much as I had hoped.  The lack of any really good blogging software for the iPad made things extremely difficult.  apparently, there are some great options on the iPhone, and I am hoping some of those may be coming to the iPad soon.  In the meantime, I will keep using my MSI Wind for posting.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon found me hunkered down in the airport for about three hours, with nothing except my iPad.  And that was starting with only about 50% of the battery.  This could get dicey.  My netbook can give me about 2-3 hours on a charge, so this was going to be a fantastic test of Apple’s 10 hour battery claim. 

So I sat down and fired up my mobile hotspot (only later did I learn that Orlando offers free Wi-fi for all).  What I found was most impressive.  I really put the iPad through its paces.  I watched a TV show I had missed from a few months ago, surfed the Internet, read a ton of email I had missed while in meetings during the day.  Heck, I even downloaded a few new apps and played some games.  You name it, I did it.  Especially the power hungry tasks like Wi-fi and video.  Pretty much the only thing I did not do was connect anything via Bluetooth, but mainly that was because I just did not have any Bluetooth accessories handy.

When it was time to head to my gate a few hours later, I was pretty stunned when I checked the remaining power on my iPad.  Nearly three hours later, it was only 10-15% lower.  At that rate, 10 hours from this battery is not only realistic, but probably even on the low side of what you might expect.  Now that is impressive!

Handango is featuring Resco’s Photo Manager 7 as this weekend’s deal.  Photo Manager 7, a high quality image viewer, is optimized for touch friendly Windows Mobile devices such as the HTC Touch Pro and Touch Pro 2.  You can use the code RESCO40 to take advantage of a whopping 40 percent discount.