A Christmas Present With Added Benefits

I have wanted a tablet for a while now but was still in research mode. There are so many to choose from and I was finding it all very confusing. iPads are popular, but I felt I wanted something with a USB port.  As even I  didn't really know what I was looking for yet, I certainly didn't ask for a tablet for Christmas, so I was totally surprised when I opened the package containing it. What I found was an Asus Memo Pad.  At first I didn't know what I was looking at as I was unfamiliar with that brand.  It was only after I actually opened the box itself that I got excited.  I've had a few of days to play with it now and find that it does everything but wash the dishes.

It also does a few unexpected things if a finger happens to touch something unintended, and I don't always know how to undo what it does. Tablets don't tend to come with instructions, so you learn by doing.

The first day I was testing out the camera and after a few successful pictures, I somehow slipped into video mode and every time I tried to take a picture, I ended up with a video instead. Each time I thought I had it straightened out, it produced another video. At least I had already learned how to delete these unwanted files. Finally a call was made to my son, as his wife has one, and he uses it a lot too.  Mine is a newer model, so they didn't really understand what buttons I was seeing on the screen here, but some things they said clued me in, and I suddenly realized that the red button that I had been pushing was the record button, but the camera icon on the screen (which I simply thought indicated I was on the right screen to take pictures) was actually the camera's shutter release. Duh....

I had accumulated a few new icons on my desktop, as I had downloaded a couple of apps and a game. They also appear among the app library on another page, so I assume the ones on the desktop are shortcuts. I didn't know how to eliminate them from there, but hoped I'd learn how to thin them out if the desktop got too cluttered over time. Somehow I also accumulated a language translator button, that I may never need. I have no idea how to get rid of that, and sometimes it's a bit of a nuisance.  Then suddenly, last night, the screen I am normally faced with when I turn the tablet on changed completely, and so did the one next to it as I scrolled backwards. I don't know how that happened, or how to undo it.  I'm not sure yet, if it's a good or a bad change, but I figure, if I screw things up too badly before I learn to use the tablet properly, I can go visit my son's house and learn some tricks. Happily he lives only twelve miles away. My grandsons (ages 5 and 9) each have an iPad and I figure if they can learn to work a tablet, so can I.  If all else fails I can hit the reset button and return it to the way it was when it came from the factory.

I used to say I learned something new on the computer everyday, and that it was good for my mind. Well, maybe I had gotten a little too comfortable with the computer lately. This tablet has put me back in learning mode.  I'm enjoying it greatly, and loving the experience of exploring all the possibilities this little gadget presents.  Already I believe the Asus Memo Pad was the right choice for me.