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28.3.17 0522
The 7 - Internet & Computers - Thoughts on the iPad
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TheBucsFan
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#1 Posted on 22.8.10 1329.43
Reposted on: 22.8.17 1330.09
Hi, so I'm some guy who in January said I wouldn't be buying an iPad. Well, I bought one recently, and I wanted to share my thoughts.

First of all, I think my two biggest concerns when the device was announced have been addressed. I thought the LCD screen would be difficult to read for prolonged periods, but after using friends' and the display in the Apple store, it is much less uncomfortable than I imagined. I've had no problem. The other thing is that Apple has introduced multi-tasking to the operating system (it has already been released for the iPhone, it's coming next month for the iPad), so you don't have to close and reload one app to use another at the same time.

I'm reading much more on the iPad than I did on my Kindle (which I sold when I bought the iPad), in large part thanks to the iPad app Instapaper, which allows me to save things I come across and what to read later as well as provides good feeds from a variety of sources. The Netflix free app to watch instantly on the iPad is pretty useful as well, and I have found several games that I love for it. I'll recommend this game Osmos as a great example of how gaming can be on this thing.

As for the other criticisms of the device, many of them still apply. It still doesn't have Flash, and there have been a few times when that was annoying (for instance, I wish I could do my fantasy football drafts through Yahoo! on it), but overall it's tolerable. It's kind of awkward to carry around if I don't have a bag on me.

I still don't think it's as revolutionary as Apple, or at least some Apple fans I know, made it seem upon its introduction. I think the "big iPhone" comparison is still valid, but I think I underestimated how many new things could be done with the iPhone technology being made five times bigger.

I don't really have a desktop computer anymore, so my MacBook is my primary computer. If I had a desktop to handle word processing and storage needs, I'd probably sell my laptop in favor of this thing. I find myself using it around my house way more than my laptop.

Has anyone else here bought one? Has anyone changed their opinion from when it was announced?
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Lise
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#2 Posted on 25.8.10 0204.33
Reposted on: 25.8.17 0208.03
Do you miss eink? Is the difference not even noticeable for you?

Have you tried any of the comic aps?
Mr Heel II
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#3 Posted on 25.8.10 1225.16
Reposted on: 25.8.17 1225.47
I just got one yesterday, actually. Somehow convinced myself it would be a more useful replacement for my dead iPod Touch.

I love the thing. It gives me a handy web browser in my living room (as opposed to running upstairs to my PC whenever I want to look at any little thing). I can stream radio on it, Facebook actually looks like Facebook in Safari, and I can use it as a digital frame on the iPad dock ($29 extra).

Two complaints

1. The number of applications "designed for iPhone" that render in a little iPhone sized box in the middle of the screen.

2. If your Wi-Fi setup has the SSID hidden, it doesn't seem to want to find you again after you've entered your information in, even though said information is still there.
TheBucsFan
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#4 Posted on 25.8.10 2058.02
Reposted on: 25.8.17 2058.45
    Originally posted by Lise
    Do you miss eink? Is the difference not even noticeable for you?


E Ink is definitely easier to read, but it's not a great difference. I thought it would be much more uncomfortable than it is. For whatever reason, it's easier to read than on a laptop.



    Have you tried any of the comic aps?



Sorry, I haven't. But two of my friends who have love the DC Comics app, it's one of their favorites.

    Originally posted by Mr Heel II
    Somehow convinced myself it would be a more useful replacement for my dead iPod Touch.


I don't think this is a bad rationalization. I pretty much was choosing between this or switching to an iPhone. Did you get one with 3G capabilities? That's a huge difference. The built-in GPS and Google Maps app have come in handy many times already.


    The number of applications "designed for iPhone" that render in a little iPhone sized box in the middle of the screen.


I'd chalk this up to time. The number of iphone apps dwarfs the number of iPad apps because the iphone had a three-year head start. You'll see most apps have an iPad and iPhone version from here on I'd guess.

You can see before you purchase and install an app if it has an ipad version.
Big G
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#5 Posted on 26.8.10 1935.44
Reposted on: 26.8.17 1936.38
    Originally posted by Mr Heel II

    1. The number of applications "designed for iPhone" that render in a little iPhone sized box in the middle of the screen.



Doesn't the iPad have a feature where there is a x2 button on the bottom right hand side of the screen? So the app runs up 'iPhone' size in the middle of the screen. You press x2 and it zooms the app so it fills the screen?

At least the one I was playing with last night had this.

Cheers
The Goon
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#6 Posted on 30.8.10 0538.19
Reposted on: 30.8.17 0538.37
    Originally posted by Lise

    Have you tried any of the comic aps?



I buy Justice League:Generation Lost on my iPad every two weeks, and it's perfect. I love reading comics on this thing.

(looks behind at the eight long boxes of comic books)
Mr Heel II
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#7 Posted on 30.8.10 1054.02
Reposted on: 30.8.17 1055.47
    Originally posted by Big G
    Doesn't the iPad have a feature where there is a x2 button on the bottom right hand side of the screen? So the app runs up 'iPhone' size in the middle of the screen. You press x2 and it zooms the app so it fills the screen?

Yes, but it doesn't look as sharp and the layout is big blocky fonts.

I didn't get the 3G version...just the Wi-Fi. I'm only using it around the house. The location and maps function just fine with it, though.

MUST HAVE FREE APP: Weather Channel Max for iPad.

MUST HAVE CHEAP APP: Emerald Observatory ($.99). Looks awesome on the stand while charging and is full of interesting information.
Big G
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#8 Posted on 30.8.10 1730.36
Reposted on: 30.8.17 1731.09
So I bought one of these doohickeys on Friday. 32G non 3G.

The iPad itself is what it is, but has anyone else had trouble with iTunes & docking?

I had the devil's own trying to get it to talk to iTunes through my desktop.

Initially kept getting 'could not connect to iPhone due to an unknown error 0x800065' which was helpful. Searching for the code on the intarwebs showed that I was not alone and gave me a bunch of stuff to try.

So I rebooted, changed cable, changed USB port, docked with iTunes running & not running, made sure iTunes was latest version. What seemed to settle it down was changing the AppleMobileDeviceManager process to run as administrator (Desktop is x64 Windows 7).

So by this point, the iPad is up and running and able to sync music, etc. and it all seems pretty stable. iTunes is telling me there's a OS update available. So yeah, let's do that. Off it goes until it gets to installing the upgrade where it just sits with the apple symbol and an empty progress bar. Eventually iTunes throws an error 'iPad could not be upgraded due to an unknown error 1611' (Great error messages Apple).

I reset everything but due to the failed upgrade the iPad is in recovery mode, ie you can't use it. I plug it back into iTunes which detects the device in recovery mode and tells me I need to restore before I can do anything else. Yep OK - go for it. Same result as above. Same error code.

More searching & trying different things. Uninstall / reinstall iTunes. Selective boot with nothing running except Windows & iTunes. Putting the iPad into Firmware Upgrade Mode and then restoring. Nada.

So at this point I have an iBrick and running out of options. At this point I pull out my Netbook (eeepc 7000HE, x86 Windows 7) and install iTunes on that - vanilla. I put the iPad into upgrade mode again, connect to the netbook to see what happens. For some reason it successfully restores and everything works! Yay!

Does anyone else know of people having problems like this? Apple kind of sets your expectations to 'it just works' but my experience was 'it just doesn't'. I work in IT for a living so doing that kind of fault finding and investigation, while annoying, is something that I can do. I kept thinking what if this happens to a non tech person? I imagine they'd just return the iPad to the store?

(edited by Big G on 30.8.10 1831)
Mr Heel II
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#9 Posted on 31.8.10 1621.40
Reposted on: 31.8.17 1622.25
I had the exact same problem.

The solution was to shut off ZoneAlarm (my firewall).

Then everything worked perfectly.

Big G
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#10 Posted on 1.9.10 0405.15
Reposted on: 1.9.17 0406.26
    Originally posted by Mr Heel II
    I had the exact same problem.

    The solution was to shut off ZoneAlarm (my firewall).

    Then everything worked perfectly.



I'm using Norton 2010 on my desktop and Norton 2010 on my Netbook as well.

???
Tenken347
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#11 Posted on 7.9.10 0726.19
Reposted on: 7.9.17 0729.01
I got a new job and bought one of these with my first paycheck. Overall, I do like it a lot, but some of the problems with it are absolutely infuriating. The lack of Flash and Java are just unconscionable. Soooo much of the internet runs on this stuff, and it's closed off quite a bit of entertainment value. The other thing that really pissed me off about the device is the inability to sort and order pictures on it. If you upload pictures to the iPad, it throws them up in the order of most recently modified, and there's really nothing you can do about it. Good Reader ($0.99) gives you a solution to this, but I really expect something as simple as picture organization to come built-in.
samoflange
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#12 Posted on 7.9.10 0819.50
Reposted on: 7.9.17 0820.35
I used a friend's over the weekend. It's certainly a great experience using the various apps, but as many others have said, the pure web experience isn't even close to what a regular netbook can do. That said, I don't think that matters too much. For those that care about such a thing, they will probably also own a laptop that can be their portable device for when such functionality is needed. For most consumers, the apps are enough.

The thing I most dislike about it is the lack of a transparent file structure and external media loading. If I have files on my home computer I should be able to easily stick them on this device and see where they go and know how to access them. I don't like having it taken care of through synching and whatnot.

I love the form factor, and I'll probably pick up a non-Apple tablet when decent ones start being released. Using one as a portable, color comics reader would be worth the price alone for me.
TheBucsFan
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#13 Posted on 7.9.10 0845.39
Reposted on: 7.9.17 0850.41
    Originally posted by samoflange
    The thing I most dislike about it is the lack of a transparent file structure and external media loading. If I have files on my home computer I should be able to easily stick them on this device and see where they go and know how to access them. I don't like having it taken care of through synching and whatnot.


This was also one of my complaints when I first got the iPad, but I soon found out there are apps for doing this. I use one called filer. Before these things can really replace the computers we're used to, I think something to do this will have to be made native to the system, though.

But I have used filer, for example, to download a .zip file, decompress it, and read the .pdf files contained in it, all straight from the iPad.
samoflange
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#14 Posted on 7.9.10 1232.28
Reposted on: 7.9.17 1240.33
    Originally posted by TheBucsFan
    This was also one of my complaints when I first got the iPad, but I soon found out there are apps for doing this. I use one called filer. Before these things can really replace the computers we're used to, I think something to do this will have to be made native to the system, though.

    But I have used filer, for example, to download a .zip file, decompress it, and read the .pdf files contained in it, all straight from the iPad.


I didn't know such a thing existed, so point conceded. I agree it should be a native feature, though I can totally see why Apple wants to keep it as simple as possible for the regular consumer.

The best thing about the iPad seem to be it's incredible battery life, which comes at the expense of a lot of the 'full computer' type of features. Other devices that try to do more will lack in battery life, especially since the OS and hardware won't have been designed together in such an intimate way. Some of that may be regained by having some sort of low power display seting (like the Pixel Qi thing), and that's probably the sort of device that I'd be looking for eventually.
TheBucsFan
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#15 Posted on 7.9.10 1308.38
Reposted on: 7.9.17 1308.57
    Originally posted by samoflange
    The best thing about the iPad seem to be it's incredible battery life, which comes at the expense of a lot of the 'full computer' type of features. Other devices that try to do more will lack in battery life, especially since the OS and hardware won't have been designed together in such an intimate way. Some of that may be regained by having some sort of low power display seting (like the Pixel Qi thing), and that's probably the sort of device that I'd be looking for eventually.


Yeah I agree with this. The battery life is amazing, but it comes at the expense of customization.
StingArmy
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#16 Posted on 7.9.10 2036.39
Reposted on: 7.9.17 2050.15
What's the consensus on the iPad's multi-touch technology? My understanding is that app developers are still coming up with new ways to take advantage of it because it's sort of unchartered territory when it comes to consumer entertainment devices. But I'd like to know if any of you Ws out there think it's as groundbreaking as I'm being told it is.

I just started working for a company that (amongst many other things) is at the forefront of app development for the iPad. And thanks to my not-half-bad ability to make apps/websites that can exhibit Flash-like properties without having to use Flash, apparently I'm going to get the chance to be part of the iPad development action myself. So, I'll probably be buying one soon. And if not, our office has a couple of dozen they loan out to employees for testing (and playing, hehe).

- StingArmy

(edited by StingArmy on 7.9.10 2139)
Big G
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#17 Posted on 8.9.10 0052.29
Reposted on: 8.9.17 0053.01
    Originally posted by TheBucsFan
      Originally posted by samoflange
      The thing I most dislike about it is the lack of a transparent file structure and external media loading. If I have files on my home computer I should be able to easily stick them on this device and see where they go and know how to access them. I don't like having it taken care of through synching and whatnot.


    This was also one of my complaints when I first got the iPad, but I soon found out there are apps for doing this. I use one called filer. Before these things can really replace the computers we're used to, I think something to do this will have to be made native to the system, though.

    But I have used filer, for example, to download a .zip file, decompress it, and read the .pdf files contained in it, all straight from the iPad.


Also have a look at DropBox. I love it to bits and barely use USB drives anymore for small stuff.

Better still, use this referral and you'll get an extra 250MB on the free account! http://www.dropbox.com/​referrals/​NTI4MTQyNjk5 (Full disclosure - so will I).

This app is fantastic. It has clients for PC, iPhone/Pad and a bunch of others. The PC client just creates a sub folder in My Documents. When ever you save something there it automatically syncs back to the cloud. New stuff in the cloud automatically syncs back to the PC.

I have the client on my home PC's, my work PC, my iPad. You can also access your storage from a web interface if you are using a friends PC or something.

You also have a 'public' folder. Drop something in there. Right click (in Windows) Dropbox --> Copy public link.
You paste that link in an email to your buddy and they can download that whatever.

Free account is 2GB of storage (+250MB if you use my referral). There is a limit on transfer sizes but I can't remember what it is. I've never hit it.

Seriously - why are you still reading? Go and create an account. Do yourself a favour!

Congrats on the new gig StingArmy. I hope it goes well. I like the Apple touch gestures. I haven't used many other touch devices to compare though. I'm also oldish and probably haven't figured out half the ground breaking stuff yet.

I've got a 1st person racing game where the iPad itself is the steering wheel. You tap the screen to brake. That's pretty cool

EDIT - Thanks to whoever signed up from my referral - I just got the notification of the extra 250. So Thanks


(edited by Big G on 8.9.10 0212)
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