iPad: How It Will Improve My Mobile Experience

I'm less than 3 days away from totally changing my mobile habits. And with good reasons. First, unless you've been living on a part of the planet Earth where with no means of outside communication for the last couple of months, then you know that we're fast approaching iPad Day as I like to call it, April 3rd.

Bright and early Saturday morning, I'm gonna head over to my Apple store (yes, I own a couple of shares of AAPL so I like to think I own at least a couple of screws that's holding the place together) and with a large coffee in hand, wait until 9am for my reserved 32GB iPad.

Here’s how I envision my mobile life changing because of this:

• No longer worry about the 4-5 hours I’m limited to on my Macbook. I can now safely work through the day on the 10 hours of battery life on the iPad. It’s no Macbook but it’ll do 80% of what I need done.
• If I’m at a coffee shop or Borders, I’m going to be fine sitting somewhere without tables. The small footprint on the Macbook has always worked for me. And like the iPhone, the iPad will do just fine as I cradle it in my hands.
• Wi-Fi. It’s everywhere now. I can only think of three places I frequent that I don’t have access to the Internet. But that’s fine. I’ll have my G1 or iPhone with me. Plus, I can tether with the G1 that will soon support HSPA 7.2.
• iPhone 4.0. I know there is no concrete information about 4.0 but I think it’ll find in a lot of holes and silence critics who live out their days only to complain about things. I don’t know what new features iPhone 4.0 will have. Knowing Apple, we’re going to be happy about it. Plus, competitive pressure from Android is enough to light a fire under Jobs.
• On some occasions, I’ll need my Macbook but I think I’ll be carry the iPad around more. With the Macbook coming in 4.5 lbs and the iPad at 1.5 lbs, my backpack will be a whole 3 lbs lighter.
• VOIP. I’ll initially have the WiFi only version of the iPad. I’ve also placed an order for the 3G version. Just this morning, Goober announced that they’ve got VOIP solutions for users. I’ve got a few months left on my T-Mobile contract. Depending on how robust whatever VOIP I go with, I just might get rid of my phone contract.
• Sitting. As I’ve said above, being able to hold the iPad up is a plus given its weight and small foot print. If you watch Steve Jobs sitting there hold the iPad, you can actually improve your posture, instead of bending over your laptop.
• The iPad is always on. The Macbook I’ve got I can put to sleep but waking up, while it’s quick for the most part, can take a while depending on how much applications I’ve got open. If I need to show someone something or look up stuff quickly, I merely have to press the home button and I’m there. Instantaneously.
• 32GB.  I'm currently limited to 16GB on my iPhone and 1GB on my G1.  Wow, the space.  What will I do?  Movies.  Check.  Special apps for the iPad?  Check.  How about a few episodes of my favorite TV or anime shows?  Done.  I only went with the 32GB because I'm sure I'll upgrade once a version of the iPad comes out with a frontal camera so there's no need to go with the 64GB now.  Plus, the 16GB would be too limited for my current needs.

I think I’ll likely modify and augment my mobile experience further once I’ve had some time to play with my iPad. I’m also looking forward to see what hardware developers come up with using Android.

What I really want to see if Chrome OS. So far, the demos for Chrome OS has been lame but I’m confident that Google has learned quite a bit from the iPhone and their experiences developing for Android. We’ll know later this year if things pan out as I hope.

Starting Sat morning, be prepared to be bombarded with iPad picture, news, and analysis. Not just from me but everyone else as well.