I'm just wrapping up a business trip through Asia with my new work supplied iPad 2. I've had the device now for approx 3 weeks in total, and for about 2 weeks "on the road." How's it gone so far? Very well! There have been a few minor hiccups, and I need to still further tweak the way I work with it, but I have little doubt that this device will become a regular part of my travelling kit, and my work in the office for that matter. One of the first things I did was track down a decent task manager and attempt to set myself up with a basic GTD workflow. I have raved about Mark Forster's Autofocus variants in the past, but I wanted to see if I could go digital again with my tasks. I ended up purchasing both Todo and Toodledo apps, but settled on Todo. I found the way it handles quick task entry, contexts and lists better suited the way I work and the fact that it can be as detailed and complicated or as simple as you need. My early impressions of Toodledo were fine, but it didn't seem to have the same flexibility, and just didn't feel right to me, which would probably stop me from using it as often as I should. Todo offers sync to Toodledo's web service, so it can still be used to back up your tasks, which I have chosen to do. I couldn't find my killer app, which would be one that syncs back to Outlook seemlessly. That would be the ultimate. Outlook, iPad and Blackberry all in sync for tasks. There are some ways to achieve this using various 3rd party utilities, subscription services etc, but nothing that is simple and secure in one app. Perhaps one day... I also grabbed a mind mapping app as this is my preferred way to make meeting notes, and plan meetings, reports and presentations. After some research I grabbed iThoughtsHD. If you are a keen mind mapper, stop reading this blog now, and purchase yourself an iPad and an app. This device is easily the much immediate, fun and effective way to quickly get a mind map together. I won't do a full review here, but iThoughtsHD imports and exports seamlessly to Freemind and a bunch of other mind mapping PC applications. It also makes nice pdfs for distribution to others, and the outlines are perfect to send out as basic meeting minutes. I am now literally mindmapping on the iPad in meetings live as points arise and can have the notes out in just a few minutes after I rearrange and tidy up the various branches immediately after the meeting. I also now add a picture of any business cards I receive in the meeting, taken with the iPad camera inside iThoughtsHD. This truly rocks. Others apps I grabbed? Documents to Go for Microsoft Office document editing and being able to open email attachments. For editing Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, it is workable, but pretty clunky and can scramble your formatting. It allows you to get the basics done, but it is not sufficient to serve as a true Windows laptop replacement, at least not yet. Simplenote is a nice, basic plain text note editor, ideal for drafting blog posts like this one right now, and it syncs through the cloud to a web client and also PC desktops via Simplenote's free service. One bunch of notes everywhere. Excellent. There was one other standout however that has proved to be well and truly worth every cent, even though I didn't at first see how it was necessary. I only bought it on the recommendation of others. That app is GoodReader. It basically just lets you open and read/view files which doesn't seem like much at first. It can't even open many formats itself and has to rely on your other apps apart from pictures and pdfs. Where it really delivers however is as a central area for you to manage and view your various documents. It is almost like having a "My Documents" or Windows Explorer on the iPad. You can create folders, stick documents there, rename and rearrange them to your heart's content. Then, when you want to open something, simply tap on it and it will open either within GoodReader or the application that can edit them. This might seem like an obvious and simple concept, but for those of us coming from a Windows environment, it's perfect. In my case, I've created a bunch of folders like Current Projects, Forecasts, Market Information, Costs, Product Specifications etc, and I file in each a range of reference documents that are important for my work, so I can then find and open them at a moments notice. I also routinely maintain a folder of these important docs on my PC, predominantly as pdfs, and I refresh and sync these with the iPad during my weekly and monthly reviews. Without something like GoodReader, you need to remember which app a document came from and go to it etc, rather than have all your key material in organised folders, accessible from one app. In the first week on the road alone this has proved to be invaluable. When one customer asked me questions about long term production forecasts, I just pulled it up and referred to it in the meeting. Another one had trouble understanding our process, but I just quickly pulled up a flowsheet I had in there, zoomed in on the critical process step, and showed it to them. Simple. This was exactly what I wanted to use the iPad for. No more bulky meeting file with dog eared spec sheets and the like. If a customer wants a copy, I simply email it to them on the spot, directly out of GoodReader. If you are thinking of using an iPad for business, or as a storage device with easy access to reference documents, get this app. There are others I have purchased, but I'm not quite there with them yet. One is Notes Plus, an excellent notebook that allows you to write notes, just like a classic paper notebook and pen, using your finger or a stylus. It can record your handwriting directly, or you can enter text via keyboard, and it also has a zoomed in mode if you want really small writing that automatically advances along as you write. It is impressive, but I must admit it doesn't quite feel right when I handwrite. It is probably a perception thing, or perhaps my stylus doesn't quite have the right weight, I'm not sure, but will play with it further. It has a very enthusiastic developer who is constantly adding features as requested by users and I do think this will be one to watch. It already has very advanced gesture recognition to erase words, draw shapes etc, and I believe the aim is to eventually have it convert handwriting to text, but I'll wait and see how it goes. I thought I would use it for meeting notes, but it has quickly been killed off for that use by iThoughtsHD! Phew. I'm going to stop for now. Needless to say, the iPad has lived up to expectations so far as a travelling companion and for recording notes and providing reference material during meetings. I haven't even touched on how brilliantly it works as a media player for when I am not working... Next post, I'll report again on the iPad after my current trip is finished, summarising what has worked so far and what hasn't, plus mention a couple of other apps I've tried. As someone who was doubtful about these tablet appliances being much more than executive toys, I've been impressed with just how well this one has worked out so far. Later. 
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