I am a gadget freak, so I've stopped by a Best Buy to check the iPad out. I'm typing this on it right now. My first impression is that it's pretty, fast, and surprisingly heavy. I'm guessing that's the battery, right? I think I would find it hard to hold this thing upright on the couch for long.

As far as typing goes. At least the keyboard is 100% responsive. I find I can't really do touch typing, and it hurts my wrists to even try, and at best I can use three fingers on each hand.

Sadly, I've already experienced my personal biggest drawback to the iPad. I'd asked if it did Google Reader. Well, it simply doesn't. I can view it in mobile mode, which is essentially just a long list of stories, but when I choose desktop mode at the bottom of the page, it displays everything fine,and I can click on any links that are displayed, but. The second I try to scroll through a feed, it instead moves the entire window like it were all one image or something. So does mobile Safari not do Ajax or something?

Basically, that's the last nail in the coffin for me. I could live with the weight and the whole Apple thing (and the whole swallowing of my pride thing), but if I have to put down this thing (which is supposedly the "best web browsing experience ever"), and go to my computer so I can sit there for an hour reading all my feeds, then what's the point?

I believe I've also found another defense for the trackball on my Nexus One. I just tried to go back up in my post to change or add something, and I can't. Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the iPhone OS to know how, but it certainly isn't clear to me.

Lastly, as I suspected this thing is just short of an ergonomic nightmare. I've been typing this I landscape mode, and having to tilt my neck or lower my eyes to look at text directly above the keyboard is starting to hurt. I'd say this is an average amount of writing, and I can't imagine typing more than a couple sentences on this. I haven't tried the dock, though, so that might help.

A few days ago, I was in full iPad bashing mode, but I'd started rethinking that stance and just letting things be. A few nights ago I tried using my net book in a relaxed position on the couch, and I started to think about the iPad much more favorably. The combined whammy of comics, Square, and Google Reader started making me surprisingly receptive to the idea. But now Square is going to be on Android sooner than I expected, and Reader simply does not work on this thing. Combine that with the weight, and I'm MUCH less excited now.