My iPad usage has settled down into some regular patterns.  At home, it’s cut deeply into laptop time, for quick email checking and as a general purpose reference device.

I got Apple’s productivity suite (Pages, Numbers, Keynote), but wondered when I’d ever use them.  Beyond short emails, the iPad isn’t great for content creating.  (By the way, Numbers is an excellent spreadsheet browser. Instead of printing out a spreadsheet before a meeting, I load it on my iPad for browsing and “what ifs”).

But one content creation scenario has emerged for me:  writing first drafts.  I’ve always had the best results when I write the first draft as quickly as I can, then gradually edit and iterate it into a final result.  I’m finding the iPad is a good tool for this (with an external Bluetooth keyboard).  I use Pages:  formatting is a pain and cut-paste editing is a little unwieldy, which forces me to focus on just the text.  There are no other apps on the screen to distract me.

When the draft is done, I just email it to myself and finish it in Word.