iPad == Here. Tip for buyers: Go to Best Buy.

[UPDATE: I have posted my rather extensive review of the iPad. It will be updated frequently!]

[UPDATE x2: I have posted a guide to tethering your iPad to your iPhone.]

I just returned from a shopping trip with stops at Best Buy, Micro Center and the Apple Store (specifically, the smaller of two Apple Stores in the St. Louis Metro Area). A tip for those looking to buy an iPad: DON'T go to the Apple Store. Not only are many Apple Stores running out, but Best Buy also has a nice $30 for $25 iTunes gift card deal.

If you're going to buy at least $30 worth of apps for your iPad, the Gift Card deal is pretty good. Plus, there are no lines at Best Buy. Best Buy doesn't have any accessories, but neither does Apple right now (they're all out of stock).

More to come on the iPad... along with my first blog post from the thing :-)

Comments

I reserved mine in a Apple store and so was able to get the Apple iPad cover. They had other covers there, but they were pretty much just sleeves and any netbook sleeve would probably work.

The Apple cover though is quite nice in both giving it a cover, but also a stand best used in landscape mode, though the stand also kind of works for portrait mode. In landscape mode the stand was great for reading and sturdy enough that I could interact with the screen.

I also picked up some bluetooth stereo headphones while at the Apple store being that the iPad is not something you can just pop into a pocket and use your headphones. I got the MotoRoker S305 because they were the most affordable. So far so good, they sound fine and I can leave my iPad in one room and still listen to it in another room. Certainly not very long range, but good enough for my purposes.

I had considered getting a dock, but from the reviews I read the battery life is even better than Apple advertised - a first for battery life. My first day of use has pretty much shown this to be true. So I really only need to charge this up at night.

I haven't yet used my Bluetooth headphones, so I have no review for audio via Bluetooth, and the store was out of the snazzy apple cases, so I had to settle for just toting the iPad by itself for now.

I'm getting used to typing on the thing, and it's actually pretty amazing how fast I can type. The location of the period is a little odd but I'm getting used to it.

The battery life is amazing; after about four hours of use, it's still at 90%!

I hope to pick up a nice case for my iPad next week sometime, but we'll see when they're back in stock!

By the way I saw an app called Markup that lets you edit files on multiple site via FTP, I remember you wanted something of the sort.

I'm going to try out iSSH for now, and see how running vim via a tunnel works. I'm hedging my bets for an iPad version of Coda, or maybe something like TextMate + Yummy FTP. If something like that came down the pipe, I could definitely ditch my laptop 90% of the time I'm on the road!

I also need to get Apple's VGA adaptor...

I had a $50 Best Buy gift card from Christmas, so that's where I went as well.

They were also the only store (Apple and Best Buy) in the Twin Cities that had an Apple case

Surprisingly, the Apple Store I went to (Galleria, St. Louis) had a plentiful supply of cases. I'm just waiting for the Camera connection kit now, so I can see how practical the iPad will be for batch uploading photos from an event quickly.