So we recently bought an HP Touchpad at a price of $350.  Can anyone say we overpaid?  After the news of its discontinuation, retailers from HP Direct, Best Buy, and Staples to many other places have dropped the price of the TouchPad to $150 for a 32GB version and $100 for the 16GB version.  Ow.  We are now flirting with an abandoned technology where things work now, but may be broke later.  In any case, the device as long as things work does have high intrinsic value.  From being able to check email and web surfing to enjoying multimedia entertainment such as Pandora and Netflix (using PlayOn), this tablet works great!  We’ll talk more about the great stuff you can do with this tablet at a later time – for now though, let’s get onto the unboxing!

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I do not think I have to tell any of what was in the package I received today.  Today is April 3, and we have been talking about this for several months now, so let’s just go ahead and dive right in.

Like many of you, I have been waiting for this day for a long time.  I preordered my iPad on the first day it was available, and spent most of the day hanging around the house today waiting for it to arrive (it finally came around 2:00 this afternoon).

Once we get it out of that shipping box, the device itself features a nice presentation.  Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, the box features a mockup of the actual device, which is probably nice for those of you who stumbled into Best Buy hoping to find one.  

Open the box, and there she sits in all her glory, nicely wrapped in plastic (sorry for that reflection).  This is really nice because it ensures the screen remains clean until you are ready to use it.  I only wish I could have kept that plastic on, because this screen is a forensic investigator’s dream device…a fingerprint magnet.  I suspect I will be giving Zagg a call sometime in the near future to invest in some of their Invisible Shields.

Under the device are all of the same accessories you would expect from Apple.  You get the iPad sync/charge cable, which appears to be the same cable as the iPod Touch and iPhone.  This is great because it means there is a good chance your iPhone accessories could work with the iPad. 

You will also find an AC adaptor,which has a removable head, presumably so you can swap on a European adaptor.  Though I have never seen a European adaptor head for sale, so I am not sure exactly where to get a replacement head for this, but it is nice to know that you theoretically could do so if you needed to.

The controls should come as no surprise to anyone who has used an iPhone or ipod Touch in the past.  On the face, there is the home button.  On the upper right hand corner, you will find the power/sleep button, screen rotate lock, and volume controls.  I thought it was odd that they moved the controls from the upper left (where they were located on the iPhone and iPod Touch) to the upper right.  I am not sure what precipitated this decision, but I will admit that I have been reaching for the wrong corner of the device all evening.

Other than its status as a massive fingerprint magnet, I was really very impressed by the screen.  It is large, bright, and clear.  We’ll take a closer look at it later when I look closer at the video functionality.  All I wanted to say tonight is that this screen makes my iPod Touch look small and dim in comparison.

So far, after a little less than 10 hours, I am pretty impressed by what I have seen from this device.  I would not be ready to call it magical…or revolutionary.  I will say, however, that it is everything I was expecting, and I am really excited to get deeper into it.  Which brings me to what you can expect to find here on JAMM.  I am sure many of you will read traditional reviews (or already have read them) on any number of sites.  So, I wanted to take a different approach.  I am going to test the iPad with all of the functionality I expect it to replace (eBooks, Word Processing, email, games, and so on), and I will come back here and report on each function individually.  This should turn into something which is less of a review, and more of a practical user experience.  We’ll see where it takes us.  In the meantime, if there are any features you want to make sure we cover, or any other questions you would like answered, write in through the comments and we will take a look.

Most of you would know, as would the world, just not tech aficionados that the new Kindle2 has just been released and is shipping as we speak. There’s been a lot of pacing and sitting by mail boxes as the tracking system seems to have not been able to cope with the mass distribution of this updated eReader from Amazon. Some are non plussed by the device

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=218392&title=jeff-bezos   Hit the link for a humorous look at the new device.

Some are well pleased to have it, Doug posted a childlike, joyous, Christmas morning with great presents sort of look at his new book, and today a somewhat frustrated at waiting, un-boxing over at Gear Diary from Judie, also gives us a quick look at the new Kindle.

Judie posts good impressions and a great gallery of images of the  new Kindle that you might want to take a look at.

Keep an eye out for a three pronged review of the new Kindle penned by Dan, Doug and Judie, as they share their thoughts with each other and you on this updated device!

UnBoxing the Kindle2 at GearDiary

The delivery date on my Kindle still reads March 2, 2009.  Which cannot possibly be right.  In fact, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my Kindle 2 is not arriving on March 2, 2009.  I know this because there was a package waiting for me when I got home.  A full five days early.  And yet there it was.  Way to go Amazon (and the United States Postal Service). 

Oh, but before we get into it, take a look at the side of the box.  This is the tab you pull to tear into the box.  “Once upon a time…” and we are off to the races…the reading races.

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[Note: This is a joint article being written by Doug, Lauren, and Sue.  Doug's comments will appear in normal typeface, Lauren's in bold, and Sue's will be italicized.  We are also simultaneously posting it on both JAMM and Gear Diary.]

Doug: I had a nice surprise in the mail the other day when I tore open a Fed Ex envelope to find the HTC Touch Pro.  By coincidence, as you may have noticed, Lauren and Sue (for you Gear Diary readers, they are both contributors at JAMM) both also picked up the HTC Touch Pro earlier this month.   So, we thought it would be fun for all of  us to share our thoughts together on this new device.  The Touch Pro is the latest offering from HTC and the successor to my previous phone, the Sprint Mogul.  We’ll take a closer look at all of the features of the phone, including the new Touch Flo 3D interface.  Today, though, we just wanted to take a quick look at what is in the box and share a few preliminary thoughts.

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