IPADS - Pros and Cons

[fmahovalich]

I do see the advantages. Reading books! Downloading music! Storage!

But before I buy one.

Can I downlaod with say...Limewire or Bearshare.

How do I offload information.

I mean..can I stick a memory stick in.

To me it seems there is a lot of propietory hoarding here..which limits its use.
No?

 

[larry]

Before this quickly turns into a iPad bashing thread, the most important thing is your needs. If you want an instant-on device to read email, it's fine. For viewing pictures (16:9 landscape), it's less fine. For reading e-books (portrait), it's pretty good. For web sites, it's pretty restricted but fairly usable. It's a pretty device.

i.e.: instead of looking at what it will do and trying to force-fit your needs into that sphere, be you-centric. I love the iPod touch for quickly reviewing email and once-in-a-while web-site access. What do you want to do with it? How often have you thought, gee, I'd like to check something but my computer isn't with me/takes too long to turn on.

The touch interface is nice when you're sitting somewhere tho.

I won't be getting one cause it's too big for me to carry around and I don't need it at home. Personally, if they'd give it a folding cover (like a netbook) it'd be a lot more useful. That folding cover could contain more touch buttons or a qwerty. It seems stupid to me to make something with a glass screen with no cover. Just so purchasers can buy a sleeve!! Huh!!! For portability, I carry around a netbook dual-booting Linux and Windows. For my purposes, it's far more useful.

 

[larry]

For local file storage there is many applications you can get for cheap/free. I use iFiles on my IPAD...

Night, as I have no experience with iFiles, perhaps you can clarify this small point. I read the description of iFiles and it appears that you can transfer files to your iPad, but only for use by the iPad iFiles app. i.e.: you cannot stick a file where the DocsToGo app can read it. Nor any other app. You also cannot access files from other apps on the iPad. Is that a fair description of the limitations?

I think this is the case and really makes these apps useless to me. I wouldn't be using an apple touch device if I couldn't jailbreak. Access to the file-system is vital to what I do. Obviously, not everyone needs that.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Is there a way to access files on your desktop from your iPad?

Like if I'm laying in bed and want to review a document from work (or watch porn!), is there a way to access those files via the iPad?

 

[larry]

Is there a way to access files on your desktop from your iPad?Like if I'm laying in bed and want to review a document from work (or watch porn!), is there a way to access those files via the iPad?

I hope there's better ways, but one that will work for a subset of files is FTP OnTheGo. You would need to run an FTP server on your LAN and be satisfied with the rendering of the FTPOnTheGo app (apple's sandbox design concept again) but it might work for you.

Personally, I would find it to cumbersome and would just retreat to transferring the file from the PC to my device for viewing with whatever app I find most useful.

 

[canucklehead]

Is there a way to access files on your desktop from your iPad?

Like if I'm laying in bed and want to review a document from work (or watch porn!), is there a way to access those files via the iPad?

U can access your desktop if u want from bed .... and since the files are already there.... i ssh and use .... or documents to go and keep files on gmail ...... i like to keep my stuff accessible from anywhere.

 

[Wallstreet]

OP dont get it. even if you can afford it still dont get it. everything costs $ on those things. you want a movie? you gotta go thru itunes. you want a song? itunes. you cant load your own stuff on to it. they are total pieces of trash. basically a bigger ipod touch and nothing more.

 

[Powershot]

OP dont get it. even if you can afford it still dont get it. everything costs $ on those things. you want a movie? you gotta go thru itunes. you want a song? itunes. you cant load your own stuff on to it. they are total pieces of trash. basically a bigger ipod touch and nothing more.

Sure, if you don't know anything. I've never heard of anyone not being able to load an mp3 or video not purchased from apple onto their ipod or ipad. The only challenge may be converting it to an appropriate format ahead of time.

 

[larry]

I think he forgot to add the smiley.

 

[Wallstreet]

Sure, if you don't know anything. I've never heard of anyone not being able to load an mp3 or video not purchased from apple onto their ipod or ipad. The only challenge may be converting it to an appropriate format ahead of time.

Well there you said it yourself. Time, my time is precious. I'm not about to go googling for a converter, then download it, then convert the files, then upload it to itunes then upload it to the pad. OP stay far away from apple's tablet. Google is coming out with one and I hope it will fill in all the voids.

 

[larry]

Sometimes it seems like it's hard to know who's the straight man here.

 

[djk]

*ahem*

http://lifehacker.com/5516405/air-v...ipad-is-the-best-3-ive-spent-in-the-app-store

I use this app constantly on my iPad. It streams anything and everything to it.

 

[onthebottom]

sometimes it seems like it's hard to know who's the straight man here.

lol

otb

 

[Powershot]

Well there you said it yourself. Time, my time is precious. I'm not about to go googling for a converter, then download it, then convert the files, then upload it to itunes then upload it to the pad. OP stay far away from apple's tablet. Google is coming out with one and I hope it will fill in all the voids.

I guess if all your videos are a quality suitable for playing on a small tablet screen there is no desire to convert them. Most of mine are 8gb+ and there is no way I'm putting 1080p videos on a tablet and expecting them to play well while not using up too much battery or storage space.

 

[Wallstreet]

Listen, I am not bashing the pad. They are nice looking, sleek and comfortable. I was actually looking forward to buying one when I heard they were making one. I didn't expect to get this much restrictions. No Java? Are you fucking kidding me? How am I suppose to look at my positions on the go? No flash? How am I suppose to stream movies for free from websites like watch-movies-links? Not capable of downloading a divx player?

Can you even download anything on this crappy device? No usb ports? WTF? The pad is a piece of trash that is a money grabber. If it had all the above stuff I would have bought it in an instant. All it is is a bigger ipod touch.

 

[WoodPeckr]

I didn't expect to get this much restrictions. No Java? Are you fucking kidding me? How am I suppose to look at my positions on the go? No flash? How am I suppose to stream movies for free from websites like watch-movies-links? Not capable of downloading a divx player?

Can you even download anything on this crappy device? No usb ports? WTF? The pad is a piece of trash that is a money grabber.

Plus you can't even change the battery that will need replacing in a couple years! Wonder how much Crapple will 'stick ya' for battery replacement???....

 

[larry]

I knew it wouldn't take long.

 

[Nickelodeon]

I have a high end very portable laptop, so I wasn't planning to get an iPad.

But I got it as a very high end novelty gift and I love it. It replaces the fast and easy part of the computer. Instant on and fast searches. All mail pulled through, synch with Outlook, etc.

The market is moving so fast there are new apps every day. So you can wait for V2 or V3 or the competitor version. No problem not being an early adopter; I rarely am.

But I'm surprised how much I'm using it, and the experience will likely move me from blackberry to iPhone soon.

 

[larry]

...I download mp3's or copy from my friends and simply add it to my iTunes library (as in select the folder, one click, and get a coffee). Then I plug in my iPad to sync...

My experience in trying to add a misc collection of mp3s as just a folder was that itunes copied them to my ipod touch and made each one an album. i had to set a couple of fields to be exactly the same string to get itunes to leave them as an album. and some i couldn't. any comment?

anyway, now i use dtunes. easy as pie. (but i'd still like to be able to do it with itunes for others who haven't jb)

 

[djk]

I didn't expect to get this much restrictions. No Java? Are you fucking kidding me? How am I suppose to look at my positions on the go?

I'm able to access the web interfaces just fine for ThinkOrSwim and Interactive Brokers on my iPad. The iPad browser does support javascript but not java.

If I recall correctly, you're a Blackberry user. How do you check your positions currently on the go? I'm assuming you were considering the iPad with 3G.