How do you fall in love?

Well I'm talking more about a product here more then a love between two individuals, but when you think about it, it is really the same emotions.

Before everyone thinks that I am nuts about loving a product and categorizing me as a materialistic individual, let me give you an example that perhaps you can identify with.

"It all starts with one application" and it was Zelda that sold me on the Nintendo system.

Back in the early 1984 Nintendo release their first game machine. It is with fond memories of playing Zelda that I remember this machine so vividly. By the early 1990's with the release of the Super Nintendo machine, my own family of three children grew up in a household of video games; my son was born with a controller clutched in his hands.

I fell in love with Nintendo as even today with the WII I eagerly await for the next Zelda game to be released on a console that is as outdated as my old HTC phone. It is not the technology that I fell in love with but rather what that technology could deliver and only Nintendo can deliver Zelda.

After seeing the unveiling of the iPad 2 today, I went through a debate on whether I really need to upgrade? laying down another $829 for the top of the line iPad with 3g; upgrading is a form of dumping your old love for the new.

This brought me into a whole new set of emotions on why I fell in love in the first place? Why do I have any emotions with a product; it isn't that I would be completely devastated if I actually broke off my relationship and lets say I buy an Android Xoom, would I?

Back in 2010, my reasoning for buying an iPad was simply to display photos to my clients since I am a photographer. My belief at that time as it was with many others that it was nothing more then a glorified ipod, but the ability to pinch, zoom and swipe my photos around was indeed impressive to both my clients and I.

Then I suddenly realize many months later while hugging my iPad to bed, thatI loved my iPad!! The Apple reality distortion field (RDF) had somehow taken over my life, or has it?

The fact that I take my iPad to bed to read or watch movies and in the morning I may still be clutching my iPad ready to check my email as soon as I open my eyes. I carry this device everywhere.... and I do mean everywhere.... (my reading device in the loo) :-P

so how did I end up loving my new tablet so intensely? Was it the RDF chipset that Apple install in all their devices?

"It all starts with one application" and it wasn't angry birds, sudoku, or watching a movie in HD quality, or even the fact that all my favorite EA games like the Sims and Simcity have been ported, it was just the simple ebook app.

The fact that an ebook was extremely clear on my iPad due to the larger display and the fact that you can zoom in on the pages is a godsend when old age glasses is the norm. Having a dozen books plus music with headphones was all I ever need on a portable device when waiting at a bus stop or waiting for a love one.

Applications, music, movies, ebooks are all products that tugs at your heart. You begin to associate your emotions with the device that delivers them, although I haven't had any feelings for my DVD player, but this was the reason that I fell in love with Nintendo in that I had spent countless number of hours saving Zelda over and over again from the clutches of Ganon.

In watching the unveiling of iPad 2 today, they also unveil two new applications for the iPad; garageband and imovie. Since I play the piano, I can still remember that it was the right sound from a Yamaha piano that made me fall in love with yamaha products; Yes I do tend to fall in love with a lot of products.

Although garageband will work with my current iPad, the new iPad has a gyro that will detect how hard you press the virtual piano keys.... and this may be the main feature that might make me upgrade to an iPad 2. Making music anywhere has always been "one" of my passions.

It isn't that I travel a lot, but the fact that doing what you "love" is now portable. You can curl up on the couch, or by the beachside with a pair of headphones and start to compose. In fact I do a lot of curling up on my couch and lying on my bed, when reading my ebook; I am a fanatical reader.

For well over 6 months ever since I converted all my PC products over to the Apple world, I couldn't quite put my finger on the saying that "once you change to Apple you will never look back".

and then at the presentation today... Steve said the following:

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology is not enough. It’s tech married with the liberal arts and the humanities. Nowhere is that more true than in the post-PC products. Our competitors are looking at this like it’s the next PC market. That is not the right approach to this. These are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC, more intuitive.”

It isn't the technology or the product's ability that is important but it is how that product's ease of use and how much fun you had with it.... is what is important.

The first time I read an ebook on the iPad was the day I started to fall in love; from the simple fact that the pages would curl up at the corners as you start to turn the page. A friend of mine told me that this was a superfluous function, but since he is not a real book reader little does he know the real love of book reading.

A real reader always has the next page curled slightly on their fingertips, in anticipation, as their eyes moves quickly down the page and as they finish reading the page, the next page is quickly and suddenly turned with the eyes continuing from the top; and the next page is again curled slightly with the fingertips...

With my ipad, I've traveled to distant stars with Isaac, became the last wizard with Tanya Huff and have laughed at Adam's wit with the trilogy in five volumes "Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy". It's my constant companion at doctor's offices, reading material in the loo, I read before sleeping, I even read in-between reading web pages. I love my iPad for delivering something straight to my heart.

So why would I fall in love with the iPad 2 when I have a perfectly functional iPad 1 by my bedside?

"It all starts with one application" and that could very well be "garageband" for iPad?.... but is that enough to make me fall in love .... again?

Putting aside my iPad

Back when I owned the first generation HTC Touch phone when I was able to get unlimited internet, email on phone, TV streaming, I ended up using the device in a very limited way simply because of the screen size of 320x200; even with reading glasses the resolution was appalling to read.

I owned this device for 3 years because of a great contract through Bell which offered me unlimited mobile internet with 150 minutes phone time for only $20/month.

I use to laugh at the poor mobile users who answered their emails on their phone or attempted to browse the internet thinking that their experience was akin to my limited 320x200 screen experience; little did I know that technology had pass me.

The iPad was a real eye opener since it was the first time in a decade since I owned a portable device that really allowed me to browse the internet anywhere and actually read and respond to my email while sitting at McDonald on a 1024x768 screen. The monthly fee for 3g was only $35 for 5gb of data and I carried this device around for months in my handy iPad man bag.

However recently, the iPad has been put aside and is now my official coffee table tablet. With the cancelation of the 3g plan, the device is useless for travel.

iPhone 4

Instead, my iPhone has taken up the role of my day to day desktop computer with exception of photo editing.

With a resolution of 960x640 pixels, it is a breeze to read iBooks, read and respond to email, set up calendar events and even browse the internet (zooming into the web page with ease when needed).

It plays over 3000 songs, it allows me to stream movies (any format) using air video from my server, and for a little while it was serving up netflix, whether I'm sitting at McDonald or sitting on my couch, and with almost over half a million apps in the Apple iTune store I am never bored whether I'm playing a racing game or sudoku.

It is the phone that I wake up to and checking my email from the comforts of my bed in the morning, to a device that I depend on throughout the day from planning my calendar events to taking quick photos, to the device that I take to bed with me for reading ibooks or watching a movie under the covers.

I've been a cell phone owner since 1988 bricks and I have to say that the iPhone 4 has been the best experience so far...