Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I attend a five-day conference with only an iPad and ZaggMate bluetooth keyboard. It worked!

I recently attended a conference at work – eight hours a day for five days. WiFi was to be available. Hmm, eight hours, WiFi, I wasn’t sure about power connections, I decided to try my iPad with the ZaggMate keyboard.

Could I survive with the small iPad screen and the small bluetooth keyboard?

The answer was yes.

It happened that this conference, which shall remain nameless, provided convenient power outlets for laptops. This meant that I could have brought my MacBook Pro for the final four of five days, but I resisted the temptation and completed the five-day experiment.

Some observations:

• I never drained my iPad battery below 40%
• I was able to sit anywhere, not tied to the seats with power outlets
• A dozen people wanted to try my iPad plus ZaggMate
• The screen size and iOS were ample to the task
• Every morning I struggled with the little keyboard for 15 minutes, but after a warm up, I could type fast enough
• I wish I had brought my headphones
• WiFi Internet surfing is great when the speakers are boring

A big note: one day a gentlemen from a well-known government agency, which shall also remain nameless, approached me. He told me that he had been watching me use the iPad plus ZaggMate. He called the CIO office back at his agency. They ordered 50 ZaggMates to go with the iPads they already had. I should get a commission or something from Zagg, don’t you think?

Another note: I found myself touching the screen of my iMac desktop computer in the evening and expecting it to act like the iPad. The touch screen, touch, tap, swipe, etc. became second nature.