Okay. Five hours in. Thanks to the wonderful Terry, my 16gb iPad arrived this afternoon. Usual time taken setting up email accounts etc. Also a little disappointment that the app store isn't available yet on the ipad in the UK (but no surprise).
On the other hand there are plenty of iPad apps available on UK iTunes, missing are BBC, iBooks and iWork, but I guess they won't be long. No gotchas setting it up in the UK though, and no need for an American iTunes account. So, for anyone else in the UK considering the purchase, you may miss some applications until the official launch, but it all registers and works properly without hassle.
Having read all the eulogies I was prepared for how good the experience is, and I wasn't disappointed. First off I watched Shadows and Light (an all time favourite). No need for headphones, at close quarters the sound will do, even for Joni Mitchell and Pat Metheny.
Obviously, after such a short time I'm not in a position to offer any kind of judgement, but I would like to say one thing that I haven't seen written elsewhere and which really surprised me
It's a ball to type on
Once upon a time I could touch type at over 80 words a minute. Sadly those days are long since gone, but I do still touch type, although it was initially very weird typing without the feel of the keys, it's been very quick to get used to and I'm quite certain that with a few days practice the on screen keyboard will be as fast as a physical keyboard (possibly even faster). This has all been touch typed with the iPad on my lap in landscape mode with very few corrections and no irritation.
My long time buddy Neil defined "Good Technology" as "it's not irritating".
all the best and more thanks to Terry (at the risk of irritating her!)