iPad

[FIREd]

Firedreamer,

I use google docs for most of my commonly accessed and frequently edited word docs and spreadsheets. But there are a number that I keep in excel only due to the nature and complexity of the spreadsheet. Can ipad run an excel app or an excel-compatible app (open office??)?

yes, there are a number of apps that allow you to read and edit word and excel documents. I use an app called "office2 HD". It can connect to your Google docs folder and it allows you to edit your word and excel docs. Of course, you can also edit your Google docs directly in your internet browser too, by simply logging in to Google docs in Safari.

Edit: Office2 HD is a mobile app so you may not have access to some of the more advanced functionality of the desktop version of Word and Excel.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

What FIREdreeamer says is true. Nevertheless, I believe that it all come down to expectations. If you purchase an iPad for ebooks, web surfing and email, you will be delighted. It can do much more than that. However, if you expect it to be a replacement for a laptop you are likely to be frustrated and disappointed.

I imagine it could be great for a businessman's travel computer, if the size of a laptop is really a problem. Apple offers its Word, Excel, and Powerpoint "replacements" really cheap, but I imagine that their functionality is limited. Probably OK for reviewing and editing a presentation on a plane, but not for serious work.

I also think it would be great for computer-phobic folks... One's parents for example.

For the rest of us, it is a great gadget and luxury.

(I am typing this on my ipad while being seriously cool at a bakery and coffee shop.)

 

[FIREd]

I imagine it could be great for a businessman's travel computer, if the size of a laptop is really a problem. Apple offers its Word, Excel, and Powerpoint "replacements" really cheap, but I imagine that their functionality is limited. Probably OK for reviewing and editing a presentation on a plane, but not for serious work.

Well it may not be "serious work" but I am in the process of typing a 100+ page cookbook in "Pages" on my iPad. At first, I too thought that the functionality of "pages" and "numbers" (Apple's version of word and excel) was too limited, but it's really because I did not truly understand how these apps worked. Their functionality is actually quite extensive and the results are absolutely beautiful.

But you are right about expectations. The people I know who have been disappointed with the iPad really expected it to be a cheap and tiny version of a Macbook Pro. That it ain't.

 

[explanade]

HTC Incredible has great specs. but lets see what the new iPhone has in a month or two.

Thing about the Android phones is that they're not any cheaper (at least when they're released) buy upfront or the contract price to use them.

For people who like to tinker, they may be appealing but iPhone has all the apps. and peripherals/accessories support.

Same will likely be true of iPad.

 

[audreyh1]

I think you will be surprised at how much you can do on an iPad. Assuming you use you laptop like most people do (email, internet, word processing, banking, calendar, playing games, watching videos, storing your photos, etc...) the iPad could easily replace a laptop. It has completely replaced mine for sure.

The one adapter I use a lot is the SD card adapter which makes it easy to transfer my photos from a camera to the iPad for sharing. The adapter is tiny and light, no bother at all. I love the virtual keyboard on the iPad and I think that an external keyboard is superfluous (my Apple wireless keyboard works great with it though). Even a dock in unnecessary IMO (I still don't have one and don't plan on buying one either). Printing is easy and requires no external adapter, cable or driver. You just need to have a printer on the network you are sharing and you can connect to the printer via wi-fi. No need to install drivers as you jump from printer to printer either. In the end, if you compare the size and weight of a netbook + power adapter to the size and weight of an iPad + power adapter + SD card reader, the iPad still wins by a huge margin. As for external drives, yes you can't connect them directly to your iPad but if you use cloud computing services like google docs, external drives are mostly irrelevant anyways (who wants to lug around an external drive?). In the odd chance you need to transfer docs directly from your desktop, it can be done easily with no cable and no adapter using simply a wi-fi transfer.

Well, I expect it to replace my laptop for a lot of things, but not for my projects (creative projects).

I never transfer my photos directly from camera to slide show. I do quite a lot of photo processing/editing first. This will never change as I am a fairly serious photographer.

I do a lot of other computer-based creative projects too using professional graphics and text tools that won't run on a iPad and just require too much manual manipulation anyway. My financial tracking too requires tools that would be awkward to run on an iPad. I don't want to carry around my financial docs on my iPad anyway - too sensitive.

I will happily use both, and slave the iPad to my laptop when needed. The division of labor is pretty clear from my point of view.

Audrey

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Well it may not be "serious work" but I am in the process of typing a 100+ pages cookbook in "pages" on my iPad. I decided that I'd rather do it with "Pages" on my iPad than doing it with "Word" on my desktop. At first, I too thought that the functionality of "pages" and "numbers" (Apple's version of word and excel) was too limited, but it's really because I did not truly understand how these apps worked. Their functionality is actually quite extensive and the results are absolutely beautiful.

d'accord, but if you imported a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation, you would likely find many annoying incompatibilities. Usually not show stoppers, (although lack of pivot tables in Numbers can be one) but troublesome.

I am not disagreeing with you (and suspect that you know a lot more about iPads than I do) but I would like to point out potential downsides so that folks can make the best decision about purchasing a pricey gadget.

By the way, I agree entirely with your comment about beautiful results. Particularly with Numbers ability to combine tables, charts, text and images all on one perfectly formatted page.

 

[FUEGO]

I just found a website ( ipadpeek.com ) that lets you surf the web from a mocked up ipad interface. You have to disable flash it says to get the true iPad experience. The experience was pretty poor IMHO, since in a few minutes of checking stuff out, I realized I can't watch my local news' weather radar, I can't watch youtube videos at youtube or those embedded at facebook and here at e-r dot org.

The iPad has been touted as a versatile web surf device. Has anyone had problems with lack of flash? Does the separate youtube app the ipad has not get in the way of your surfing enjoyment? Seems like flash and youtube or other vids are ubiquitous in the multimedia web we have now.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

I can't imagine how a mock-up could possibly replicate the iPad interface without a touch screen.

YouTube as a separate app is not a problem. If you click on a YouTube link from a web page, it just opens up in the YouTube app.

The lack of flash has been less than a problem than I thought. I only frequent one website that uses flash heavily. Of course, fancy websites like those of auto companies are almost all flash. YMMV.

You might not be able to watch your local news radar, but there are plenty of other alternatives that work, free apps, other sites.

 

[FUEGO]

I can't imagine how a mock-up could possibly replicate the iPad interface without a touch screen.

YouTube as a separate app is not a problem. If you click on a YouTube link from a web page, it just opens up in the YouTube app.

You can go to the link provided to check it out, but it is basically a mock up of the iPad screen for previewing websites on an iPad. I suppose one key use would be for web developers to see how their pages will look and act on an iPad screen without plopping down $600-700 for an iPad.

I'll have to ask my iPad/iPhone app developer bud if he has some sort of iEmulator that runs a lifelike version of the iPad/phone OS/interface on his (presumably) Mac computer that he uses to develop apps. The screenshots of his apps look like it is a computer based emulation of the iPad/phone (screencaptures) and not a photo from a camera.

Edit to add: I may leave flash off today, and see just how many sites don't work. They keep adding up. Zillow doesn't work. No flash seriously doesn't bother you guys? Maybe I'm just going to many flashy websites...

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

OK. I tried it. It is probably very useful for web developers who want to check out how there websites look. Here is what didn't work or is missing:

1. Maybe something on my end, but the virtual keyboard didn't work at all.
2. The horizontal/vertical automatic rotation isn't there. It is very handy.
3. The ability to double-tap on a column and have it automatically scale to fit the screen is not there.
4. Pinch to zoom isn't there.
5. The NYTimes seems to have already converted away from flash, but the ipadpeek site shows empty spaces for flash content. Perhaps the server detects iPads and sends html5 when necessary?

I am typing this on my notebook, and but will post a screenshot of the NYTimes in a bit. No empty spaces!

 

[FIREd]

I just found a website ( ipadpeek.com ) that lets you surf the web from a mocked up ipad interface. You have to disable flash it says to get the true iPad experience. The experience was pretty poor IMHO, since in a few minutes of checking stuff out, I realized I can't watch my local news' weather radar, I can't watch youtube videos at youtube or those embedded at facebook and here at e-r dot org.

The iPad has been touted as a versatile web surf device. Has anyone had problems with lack of flash? Does the separate youtube app the ipad has not get in the way of your surfing enjoyment? Seems like flash and youtube or other vids are ubiquitous in the multimedia web we have now.

I can watch youtube.com directly in Safari on the ipad (I don't even need to use the youtube app), something I cannot do on the iPhone. The thing is, with an iPad, you rely a lot more on apps than the internet for a lot of things. You want to see your local radar? Don't go to your local TV station's website. You can download the WRAL app (or whatever your local TV station is), or even better, download the weather channel app (both free) and you will find an incredible animated radar map right there. If you want to check your account at Vanguard, some graphs won't show up in Safari if you go to the website, but the Vanguard app will have your information. So you actually don't miss flash as much as you would expect. Videos embedded in websites are touch and go, but those on CNN.com for example play fine (of course you could use the free CNN app for that too). Youtube videos embedded at ER.org play fine too in general (I have had only 1 video which wouldn't play).

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

OK. Here is an iPad screenshot of the NYT front page. The embedded video works fine.

Full disclosure. I don't know how to upload pics to ER.org from the iPad. I tried the Manage Attachments button, but the "browse" buttons were grayed-out. Not surprised. It might not even be possible. FIREdreamer, do you know how to do this?

 

[Ronstar]

Fuego - Yes the Iphone SDK includes Iphone and Ipad 'simulators'. These simulators are exact 'screenshots' and the apps run on a Mac just like they would on an Iphone/Ipad. You really do not need an Iphone or Ipad to develop and run apps.

The only thing that presented a problem for me when programming for the Iphone was that the app is tested using a mouse to click on the Mac for instances where a finger would run the command on an iphone. So its better to keep buttons a little farther apart at the development stage to make the app run easier when tapping an iphone with fingers.

 

[FUEGO]

I can watch youtube.com directly in Safari on the ipad (I don't even need to use the youtube app), something I cannot do on the iPhone. The thing is, with an iPad, you rely a lot more on apps than the internet for a lot of things. You want to see your local radar? Don't go to your local TV station's website. You can download the WRAL app (for your area), or even better, download the weather channel app (both free) and you will find an incredible animated radar map right there. If you want to check your account at Vanguard, some graphs won't show up in Safari if you go to the website, but the Vanguard app will have your information. So you actually don't miss flash as much as you would expect.

I would have to "retrain" myself to think and act differently to access the data I currently know how to get very efficiently. Hmmm... I think I'll avoid the apple logo for a while. Resistance is futile though.

Anyone tried zillow, for example? Maybe websites know you are coming from an iPad and they output the site in an ipad friendly manner?

 

[FUEGO]

OK. I tried it. It is probably very useful for web developers who want to check out how there websites look. Here is what didn't work or is missing:

1. Maybe something on my end, but the virtual keyboard didn't work at all.
2. The horizontal/vertical automatic rotation isn't there. It is very handy.
3. The ability to double-tap on a column and have it automatically scale to fit the screen is not there.
4. Pinch to zoom isn't there.
5. The NYTimes seems to have already converted away from flash, but the ipadpeek site shows empty spaces for flash content. Perhaps the server detects iPads and sends html5 when necessary?

I am typing this on my notebook, and but will post a screenshot of the NYTimes in a bit. No empty spaces!

There are probably better places to find iPad web emulators, that was just one I found on a quick google. Looks like Ronstar says you can get an iPad interface on from the SDK.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Tried zillow. Oops.

We're sorry, there is a temporary problem with the mobile web site. Try back soon.

 

[FIREd]

OK. Here is an iPad screenshot of the NYT front page. The embedded video works fine.
View attachment 9121
Full disclosure. I don't know how to upload pics to ER.org from the iPad. I tried the Manage Attachments button, but the "browse" buttons were grayed-out. Not surprised. It might not even be possible. FIREdreamer, do you know how to do this?

Do you have a flickr account?

What I do is upload my pictures from the iPad to flickr (using the Mobile Fotos app), and then use the "insert image" function at ER.org.

 

[FIREd]

Tried zillow. Oops.

We're sorry, there is a temporary problem with the mobile web site. Try back soon.

You can download the zillow app... It's free

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Thought you might be doing something like that. I didn't know about the mobile photos app. I guess my computer geekiness is waning in my dotage. I just don't have the desire to learn everything about this new gadget like I used too. I'd rather just kick back and read a good murder mystery.

 

[FUEGO]

You can download the zillow app... It's free

All these apps kinda defeat the convenience of a web-based interface...

As a point of reference, what does it take to dl and install an app, and how much space does it consume?

As a side note, I found the zillow iPad app download page at zillow.com . The irony is I can't see the product demo with my flash disabled. Surely you can preview the ipad functionality from an ipad, right? Is it visible from iPad? Zillow ipad App - Real Estate App - Zillow

 

[happy2bretired]

Stupid question...how do you find all of the apps that are available? Is there a central site with searching ability? Apple's site?

 

[FIREd]

All these apps kinda defeat the convenience of a web-based interface...

As a point of reference, what does it take to dl and install an app, and how much space does it consume?

As a side note, I found the zillow iPad app download page at zillow.com . The irony is I can't see the product demo with my flash disabled. Surely you can preview the ipad functionality from an ipad, right? Is it visible from iPad? Zillow ipad App - Real Estate App - Zillow

Downloading and installing a typical app takes about 10-15 seconds. Of course the space needed and download time depend a lot on the content. A GPS app with all the maps can take much longer and can eat up to 1GB of space. But most apps are only a few MB in size. I just downloaded the Zillow app. It took 9.7 seconds to download and install.

Following the link you provided, I can watch a video highlighting all the features of the zillow app directly from the iPad. Of course, you can see more information about the app itself by browsing the app store on your iPad.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

I actually timed it and counted keystrokes. Less than one minute and four keystrokes including the link in your post. Sorry, but I didn't check the size.

Admittedly, supporting flash would have been much more convenient for users. Many of these apps are interim bandaids and will go away if and when html5 becomes widespread.

We can speculate whether Jobs has a valid reasons for trying to kill of Flash, or is just trying a business power play. I haven't a clue.

Ironic isn't it that the company that ran the famous 1984 advertisement is now seen as the most closed and controlling of the computer makers.

 

[FIREd]

Stupid question...how do you find all of the apps that are available? Is there a central site with searching ability? Apple's site?

The best way is to visit the "app store". You can browse the app store directly from the iPad, or you can do it in iTunes (free Apple software for PC or mac).

 

[happy2bretired]

Thanks...I'm saving my pennies for now but I don't know how long I can hold out before buying one.