To the untutored eye, it would look like someone was texting in between play, hence the curt warnings of "turn that phone off". I would have been completely stuck if I'd left the camera at home on a Wimbledon day, as it had to double as a camera and again would no doubt earn a reprimand!
The biggest issue with the iPad is that the sunlight - which can prevent you actually seeing anything! And the typing on larger keys is indeed more useful, but you are still subject to the vagaries of the iPhone/iPad spell checker dictionary.
The trip to France saw me also take the wireless keyboard with me to help write up the notes in the evening, and on our way home. However, combined with the Office application, it's not exactly foolproof and there was a lot of saving going on as I translated notes and random dictionary words into more sensible prose.
The most useful thing was the ability to write up the notes and synchronise files to DropBox - it has made writing up the notes this evening a much easier task, as well as being a subject of conversation from the family sat across from us on the Eurostar who were fascinated by the keyboard stand combo as I was working on the notes on the journey home.
I suspect (if I get to Wimbledon) that it may be commented on by stewards, as the most likely tickets will be the ones up in the gods the night before play.
But no-one can be mistaken for thinking that I am texting on a phone when using the iPad!!
I have yet to see what the bill will be for Data roaming and having twitter updates available which proved invaluable at RG. Obviously in the UK this is going to be all inclusive, but again falls under the risk of "turn that phone off"!
And what of the iPhone (3GS) camera? Well the pictures weren't bad but they weren't great either; my own fault and not a mistake I will make again! Whilst my online photo-storage of choice makes it very easy to email photos directly into my photostream, the faff of emailing 49 photos from the first day was nothing short of pain!
Thus, the Wimbledon technical kit will comprise of my phone, a charger (as there is something that is just eating the battery with the 3GS at the moment), and the iPad. It's battery life was pretty good for a whole day because I only have the wireless option on it.
Camera and spare battery is a must as the sports mode can run the battery down quite considerably after a full day
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Keyboard will probably not be coming with me as I am only likely to sort out the notes in the morning and would most likely just dump the files into Dropbox and edit on the PC in one go.
I would like to go next year and am already planning to put aside some days holiday and some savings for maybe a few more days. I was following the tweets of Forty Deuce, who was plagued by intermittent wi-fi at the hostel she was staying at. Although quite pricey, there is a lot to be said for free wi-fi in the room!
I would be more inclined to take the laptop of heaviness with me to a hotel, if I went to the Australian Open and US Open, just for ease of editing and posting, if only placeholders until photos could be uploaded.
The only thing I didn't get to try was the camera card connector for the iPad.
All in all, it wasn't a bad test of technology for the tennis blogger...
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