Is an iPad an iPod on steroids?

I was at my son's swimming lesson the other day, when a good friend (Hi Jared) asked a good question: How is an iPad not just an iPod touch on steroids?

It took me a few seconds to jumble some kind of answer together, but it got me thinking.  I remember when the iPad was first announced, I was skeptical about its usefulness.  I already had an iPod and used it alot in my classroom.  I would let my students record their presentations, I would record my lessons and post them online, I would use it to research and write notes.  I just couldn't see what an iPad could offer that would make it more useful.

Then, this summer, I pre-ordered one for my wife (Hi babes).  It was our tenth anniversary and I thought it would be a good gift.  She wanted something to surf the web, keep up with her email and facebook.  That was one of the big selling points of the iPad.  It wasn't until we got it that I started to see how the iPad might fit into a classroom.

There are two main points that make the iPad more useful and effective than an iPod: Multitasking and the iWork productivity suite.

Multitasking is a new feature on the iPad.  It allows you to go from one app to another without closing it.  This is great for students doing research online.  They can find their info online and then switch over to Pages to work on their assignment.  Before this you had to close the app, open the other, do your work and then start all over again.  If you think about how much back and forth is done between your research information and your actual work, it is a huge time saver to multitask.

iWork is comprised of three separate programs: Pages (word processor), Keynote (slideshow presentations) and Numbers (spreadsheet).  This represents a huge advance over what the iPod touch has available.  On the iPod you have Notes, which allows you to jot down quick notes, but it doesn't have the versatility and functionality of a full word processor like Pages.

I could probably go into more details, and I'm sure I will at some later point, about the iPad, but if I was asked again about iPads, iPods and steroids I would know what to answer.  The iPad is not an iPod on steroids, while it shares many commonalities with the iPod, it has moved beyond it.

Let me know what you think,

and don't forget to talk nerdy to me :)