Our 3G iPad has just shipped arrived.

The iPad Wi-Fi has impressed me over the last few weeks.  I like like the response time and size of the iPad, but also find working on it to be interestingly pleasing.  I even started to inadvertantly touch our Macbook’s screen to place the cursor in Word.

However, our time together brings up a few questions regarding the future of Apple’s little magic tablet:

-Where does it live?

-What does it replace?

-Can it handle work and play?

Instead of guessing, we at Dacha Works has decided to take matter into our own hands, and shove the iPad right in the middle of my digital life.

WHAT’S OUT:

iPhone 3GS-  Out, done, kaput, and sealed in a drawer until the end of the challenge.  In their infinite beneficence, AT&T offers a “hold your account” plan for $10 a month.  However, you have to ask them for the privelege.

Macbook Pro 13″- Now a “laptop server”- I can only access it via the finder to monitor the Airport Extreme the network preferences.   Using iPad apps like Aetherspark, I can pull off any archived files for editing on the iPad.  No downloading or file creation allowed.  I didn’t want to spend the hours it would take uploading my necessary files to a cloud server, so the Macbook is going to act like one in its place.

WHAT’S IN

16 GB iPad Wi-Fi + 3G.  We tend to watch video on our data-wired TV, so we skimped on the larger memory.  Having only 16GB is another reason we are keeping the Macbook Pro as a “server”.

Verizon feature phone (!).  We’ve made our spouse’s Verizon account a Family Plan, and getting a sweet LG Accolade.  Feel free to be jealous, we’ve taken the Dacha Works time-machine back to 2003.  Only wish we could have gotten a RAZR.

THE DACHA WORKS EXPERIMENT

WWDC 2010 is conveniently 30+ days away, so we’re going to keep the challenge up until the end of the conference, or until Steve Jobs announces the new iPhone.  Whichever comes first.  This is less out of slavish adoration for all things Apple, then the simple fact that as a casemaker, once they announce the new device we will have plenty to keep us busy, and don’t need the trials and tribulations of forced early-adopterhood to keep us tied down.

We aren’t a review site, although we always love to provide our hands-on two cents when we find something we love.  Thats why we have a Dacha Likes twitter feed, and why we post occasional first-looks.

However,we are knee deep in multi-touch computing, and what it means for the user of today and tomorrow.  We care about how tech is used, and how it can be used better.

So with the iPad, we are trying to force some of the inevitable kinks out into the daylight. Most people won’t try to ditch their laptops for iPads anytime soon, but we think there’s a lot to be learned trying.

-DW