iPad

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl DD was given an iPad at work for some project, and I was surprised to find that she didn't like it. She was annoyed that she had to do multiple conversions of a video to get it to work on the iPad, and had to jump through a bunch of hoops just to display a PDF file. She's just like me.

The PDF file thing is annoying to me, but IMO that will be fixed soon.

My personal videos are running and looking great. Of course they are done in quicktime.

[FIREd]

What's the problem with displaying PDF files? I haven't had any problem myself.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 You'd be lucky if it would take 20 mins on a standard computer with a super high speed connection.

Yeah, it takes me about 15 minutes to download a 700 MB movie. Regular high speed cable internet.

AT&T 3G has some serious shortcomings. Their networks are bogged down and they don't want you to download a video. Not because the technology isn't fast enough (it is) but because they don't want everyone to use up their limited capacity. At 1-2 Mbit download speeds you could download a movie in an hour or two depending on format and compression. In my limited experience with quicktime, it seems their files are crappy quality and bulky. Maybe that is the problem? Not sure what file format Ipad requires.

In any event, this is not a technology driven decision. This is a decision driven by them not wanting you to use up their precious 3g bandwidth with a movie download. You get what you pay for I guess...

Edit to add: looks like itunes movies are ~1500 MB, so it would take 2-4 hours on a typical 1-2 Mbit 3g connection.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer What's the problem with displaying PDF files? I haven't had any problem myself.

You can view them fine via Mail or Safari, but if I want to share a document with my laptop, that requires me to either email it to myself or post it on the web somewhere where I can open it in Safari. Neither is that satisfactory to me. I'd just like a Preview app.

I's be happy to select any PDFs in iTunes to download to my iPad, but nothing seems to work that way right now.

There is an iDisk app - but that is obviously written for the iPhone and the display on the iPad is poor.

Audrey

[IndependentlyPoor]

Have you checked the PDF apps on the app store? There seem to be several that might do what you want.

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 You can view them fine via Mail or Safari, but if I want to share a document with my laptop, that requires me to either email it to myself or post it on the web somewhere where I can open it in Safari. Neither is that satisfactory to me. I'd just like a Preview app. I's be happy to select any PDFs in iTunes to download to my iPad, but nothing seems to work that way right now. There is an iDisk app - but that is obviously written for the iPhone and the display on the iPad is poor. Audrey

I use the "GoodReader" app (there are other PDF readers out there as well). It can connect to your iDisk and download and display your PDF files with no difficulty. You can also use it to save PDF files that you receive via email or that you find on the web. I can't check right now, but I think you can also transfer your PDF files to GoodReader directly via iTunes and Wifi file transfer.

Edit: I just checked, iTunes and Wifi file transfers are indeed possible with GoodReader.

[FUEGO]

Does google docs work on iPad? I'll occasionally upload pdf's to my google docs to either host the file for download by others, or so I can use it as an e-reader wherever I am. It is all web-based from PC's though.

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Does google docs work on iPad? I'll occasionally upload pdf's to my google docs to either host the file for download by others, or so I can use it as an e-reader wherever I am. It is all web-based from PC's though.

Yes, you can access (and edit) Google Docs via Safari. You can also download and save locally your Google Docs' .pdf, .doc and .xls files (among others) using an app like "GoodReader". I haven't tried to upload a file to Google Docs yet, though "GoodReader" can be used to upload files to a server (I have used it to upload files to my iDisk).

Edit: uploading and downloading files to Google Docs is indeed possible when using GoodReader.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer I use the "GoodReader" app (there are other PDF readers out there as well). It can connect to your iDisk and download and display your PDF files with no difficulty. You can also use it to save PDF files that you receive via email or that you find on the web. I can't check right now, but I think you can also transfer your PDF files to GoodReader directly via iTunes and Wifi file transfer. Edit: I just checked, iTunes and Wifi file transfers are indeed possible with GoodReader.

Hey thanks!

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DangerMouse iPad apps, someone sent me a fun game, not sure how much it costs, but you can spend hours wasting your life playing this one. It's called Plants vs Zombies, fantastic graphics, obviously specifically designed for the iPad.

Well, when it comes down to it, I'm not willing to pay $9.99 for a game. I decided to try the iPod Touch version ($2.99) instead.

Audrey

[TromboneAl]

DD is such a clone of me. Today I've been feeling the same frustration that she described as I'm trying to get a way to read

The Importance of Being Lazy: In ... - Google Books

on my iPod touch. The book is in google books. The title isn't present in the mobile version of google books. To read it, I'd have to install several apps, and use them to grab the book so that I could convert it to PDF. I could then install some more software to convert it to ePub format, then kluge a way to access the epub file from my iPod touch.

Also, to install the google books downloader I also need to install a newer version of NET Framework, which is 39 MB in size. I decide to forget it.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl The Importance of Being Lazy: In ... - Google Books The book is in google books.

Are you saying the whole book is on google books, or just 20-30 pages of it? I only see 20-30 pages when I pull it up.

[TromboneAl]

You're right. It's only the start of the book, I hadn't realized that. Thanks for alerting me.

[IndependentlyPoor]

Kewl app.

YouTube - A quick demo of Air Display

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl DD is such a clone of me. Today I've been feeling the same frustration that she described as I'm trying to get a way to read .... I decide to forget it.

This kind of gets back to what I posted earlier in this long thread - the iPad/Touch is a kind of 'niche' (large 'niche' though) product. It does much more than an mp3 player, but it sure isn't as capable as a netbook - it's in that niche in-between.

For now at least, if you expect it to do everything that a netbook can do, I think you'll be disappointed/frustrated, as you are. If you appreciate it for what it can do well, it is really quite impressive, IMO.

So far, I've only used my DW's iPod Touch a little bit, and the iPad for a few minutes in the store. I was/am super-impressed with what it can do. There do seem to be obvious omissions, those would likely frustrate me over time if they don't add them, or I would just say 'time to get out my netbook'. But a netbook doesn't fit in my shirt pocket like a Touch.

-ERD50

[FIREd]

I think that the iPad can do a lot more things than people realize. But what frustrates people (DW included) is that the iPad requires to learn a brand new way of doing things. I personally enjoy the learning curve, but I can see how some people might not. And that's fine.

Last week I was at the Apple store and I was chitchatting with the sales clerk. When he found out that I had replaced a laptop PC with an iPad (and that after 1.5 month, I didn't miss the laptop at all), he introduced me to a couple of customers who were thinking about replacing their laptop PC with an iPad and who had questions. It felt very awkward because, despite my complete satisfaction with the iPad, I knew that the device was probably unsuitable for these people. What they were looking for was clearly another laptop. So I high tailed it out of there.

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndependentlyPoor Kewl app. YouTube - A quick demo of Air Display

Yeah, kewl. That voice, I think it's the same guy who does a rully kewl photo blog; I lost trac of him recently, I've just got too much content these days. Note the multiple wires to the left of the MacBook, LOL.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndependentlyPoor Have you checked the PDF apps on the app store? There seem to be several that might do what you want.

I'm going to wait a couple of weeks. DH thinks a major OS upgrade for the iPad is going to be announced on June 6 (the Apple Developer Conference) and for some reason he thinks there is going to be more support for PDF.

For now, the PDF reader that my mail program provides is good enough.

Also, I think it is obvious that Apple will upgrade the iDisk app to be more fully functional.

Audrey

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I'm going to wait a couple of weeks. DH thinks a major OS upgrade for the iPad is going to be announced on June 6 (the Apple Developer Conference) and for some reason he thinks there is going to be more support for PDF. For now, the PDF reader that my mail program provides is good enough. Also, I think it is obvious that Apple will upgrade the iDisk app to be more fully functional.

This sounds like Microsoft. Putting out a half ready product with lots of follow ups and fine tuning patches to make it work as intended. iPad early adopters are really just beta testers at this point!

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

if you expect it to do everything that a netbook can do, I think you'll be disappointed/frustrated, as you are.

No, my frustration comes from the lack of a standard document format. I never cared for the PDF standard, but at least it is a standard that many products support. It's annoying when a product doesn't support the most common standard, and annoying to have to convert from one standard to another.

Consider that there are literally hundreds of different image file formats. There's no need for more than a handful. There are many video formats as well, so you have to have different apps for watching videos, and apps have to support multiple formats for the same thing.

The inmates are running the insane asylum.