First I told you I wanted Apple’s as yet unannounced Tablet. Then, when the details of the iPad came out, I told you how much I still wanted it. Well, now I’ve actually touched the iPad and things have changed a bit.  I fondled an iPad last week. I made a special trip to the electronics store, just to check the new device out. I touched the iPad and lifted it and surfed the web on it and perused through books and watched videos on You Tube and played a game and typed quite a lot and…you know what? I wasn’t overly impressed. I mean, I’m sure that if I didn’t already have my beloved iPod Touch which I depend on so much, then I would think the iPad was the most awesome thing in the world. But I do have little Touchie and I’m so used to touching programs to open them, zooming in and out with my fingers, flicking to scroll, tapping on books (in Stanza which I love), and tilting the device to maneuver in games, that the iPad was, well, meh. A big iPod Touch. Now, don’t get me wrong, if someone wants to buy me an iPad, I’m in.  And if I had buckets of money, I’d have one in every room. My life would be kind of like this.

But, if given the choice between getting a newer iPod Touch and a new iPad, I’m picking the Touch. Here’s why. Mostly it comes down to portability. When my two-year-old was recently getting his head stapled in the emergency room, after a fall off a chair, the nurse kept saying, “look at the fishy, Ben. Look at the fishy” while my husband held my iPod Touch over Ben’s head with a Koi pond full of fish on it. The koi pond app (Pocket Pond) had kept him entertained in the procedure room as we waited for the doctor.  The iPod Touch can save the day when you’re left with an unexpected wait and there are games, music, videos, and books galore on it. It can help organize tasks, create lists, write notes, check facebook, pass the time, research things, etc. etc. And the iPad can do all that too. But I can’t stick it in my pocket. I can’t whip it in my purse or put it in my glove compartment. iPad has all the cool stuff without the pocket factor and the pocket factor is as important to me in these busy days as anything. With a few improvements, I can see the iPad possibly replacing my computer someday but I don’t see it replacing my iPod Touch anytime soon. So I’m glad I played with the iPad because now I can let it go in my mind and start dreaming about a new iPod Touch. Or maybe even an iPhone.