Interview: Author Susan Orlean on her life with the iPad

08.08.2010

But I was puzzled. I felt this seems like the most natural thing in the world that you would have a keyboard for the iPhone and I didn't quite understand that. Had they developed just a keyboard, my avidness for the iPad would have been a lot calmer because the huge issue for working on the iPhone was just, I'm a really good typist and I'm even a really good thumb typist, but there's a limit to how much you can do.

But in addition, I began reading a lot on my iPhone. I got the Kindle application and I stopped using my Kindle, and I was reading books on the iPhone. And I actually didn't find it to be that much of a problem. I read tons of books on it. But in the back of my mind I always thought, Wouldn't it be great if there were a jumbo iPhone, because I was really very happy with everything the iPhone could do but the size limited some of that just in practical terms.

...I've just recently done my first couple of trips just with my iPad and no laptop. And except for the problems with Flash, which I don't care who says that it's not a problem, it is a problem. Something has to change because that's ridiculous.

It was great. I got the 3G model. Driving down to the city [for the flight], which is two hours for me, I was able to use it the whole time. I wasn't driving. I was being driven, I should say...