The iPad, not yet unwrapped!

The iPad that we will be giving away to a mommy blogger on Mother’s Day was delivered as promised on April 3.

We’re giving it a quick test run before handing it off to one of our lucky Best Kids Apps readers. As I’m typing this, the iPad is fresh out of the box, and I’m resisting the temptation to rip that clear plastic screen right off the face of the monitor.

Thinking of buying an iPad for your family?  Here are a few things we learned when we finally pulled ours came out of the box:

• TIP: Save yourself a headache and get your iPad up and running when/where your kids aren’t clamoring all over you to take a look.
• WARNING: Restoring all the apps from iTunes took me 30 minutes (although it originally said 11 minutes). Before it starts they let you know that not all apps will be compatible – and therefore not restored to your iPad.
• TIP & WARNING: The iPad gives you instructions as you go along, but if you have never had an iPhone or iPod touch, then you might want to read some guidelines first. I like Mashable’s HOW TO: Get Started with the iPad. Note: I hadn’t read the Mashable tip sheet before I started restoring the iPad to my iPhone’s backup (and they recommended starting fresh because the restore takes so long) – Now I would say the same thing!
• WARNING: After I restored. Then I had to sync. This took forever too. I didn’t time it.
• TIP: Don’t worry if the app looks the size of an iPhone in the middle of your big screen. There’s a “2x” button in the corner of your screen that makes it bigger.
• TIP: Have fun trying all your old apps on the new size, and don’t worry if your child doesn’t love it right away. They’ll be begging you to play with it soon enough.

Have fun! Please add your own tips and warnings in the comments below. We’ll add more as we play with ours in the coming days.

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