iPad

[W2R]

W2R, do you think the cost of an iPad will really have any bearing on the long-term survival of your portfolio? Didn't think so.

Well, yeah... the one they had in stock was $599, and last month I spent $450 less than my 2009 monthly average, which is much less than my SWR would allow me to spend. So subtracting that out, and ignoring that I didn't pay property tax, insurance, etc last month, it *really* would only cost me an additional $149. How's that for rationalizing?

Buy one!

Once I crossed the 60 mark it began to dawn on me that delayed gratification may be a virtue for the young, but at our age it is simply a form of gambling...

That's true. Sometimes I have to battle [-]frugality[/-] stinginess. I'm thinking about it...

 

[REWahoo]

Well, yeah... the one they had in stock was $599, and last month I spent $450 less than my 2009 monthly average, which is much less than my SWR would allow me to spend. So subtracting that out, and ignoring that I didn't pay property tax, insurance, etc last month, it *really* would only cost me an additional $149. How's that for rationalizing?

I'd say your thought process is totally in keeping with your status as a year one retiree...

 

[Moemg]

W2R, do you think the cost of an iPad will really have any bearing on the long-term survival of your portfolio? Didn't think so.

Buy one!

..

But instead of the Ipad at $599 plus tax and a case and a stand you would be well on your way to your bucket list trip . If you decided to go for one week instead of two your portion would probably be around $1500. So what will it be door #1 ( an Ipad ) or door #2 ( a trip you've be dreaming about ).

 

[W2R]

But instead of the Ipad at $599 plus tax and a case and a stand you would be well on your way to your bucket list trip . If you decided to go for one week instead of two your portion would probably be around $1500. So what will it be door #1 ( an Ipad ) or door #2 ( a trip you've be dreaming about ).

Good point! Decisions, decisions... Plus, I am perfectly happy tonight as it stands. Just about to watch American Idol, and then I'll read a bit. This is my idea of heaven. The freedom we get in retirement is the best gift we can give ourselves. Which is not to say I'll not give myself one or both of the other two choices, but just that I'm pretty happy tonight without either.

 

[audreyh1]

Well, still on the original charge at 35%. Syncing works extremely well and it's fast, and gorgeous screen. But it hides any kind of file system, and so there is some limitation in acessing documents. It really needs something like Preview - just some way to view PDFs.

I would say the integration seems a little fragmented. It's complete, but some syncing occurs over the net (if you use mobileme), some via iTunes, and some things you download directly from the web. It may just be that there are multiple ways to do things. Still, I get the feeling that there is a major paradigm shift going on and things will become less fragmented over time.

Very interesting device! I can't wait to see where Apple goes with this!

Audrey

 

[Ronnieboy]

The larger screen is nice. You can web surf, post on forums like this really quite easily. I finally did sign up for the 3G service when I was out and about not near Wifi (one advantage of the 3G ipad over an ipod). I signed up for the 250mb for 30 days. I did some web surfing for about half an hour and used about 5 mb. Then my son wanted to use it and he watched videos on you tube. He used another 60 mb in under an hour. So if you want to watch a lot of streaming video probably the unlimited plan is better.

I borrowed my son's ipad for a week when I went on a business trip. He had purchased the unlimited 3G plan and I had assumed that I would be able to purchase and download a movie off itunes to watch on the flight back.
Imagine my surprise when I tried to buy the movie and was blocked by the device saying that the only way to download the movie was if I was connected via wi-fi or purchase in on the computer and download it to the ipad.
Kinda frustrating that the unlimited 3G data plan is not completely 'unlimited'.

 

[audreyh1]

I borrowed my son's ipad for a week when I went on a business trip. He had purchased the unlimited 3G plan and I had assumed that I would be able to purchase and download a movie off itunes to watch on the flight back.
Imagine my surprise when I tried to buy the movie and was blocked by the device saying that the only way to download the movie was if I was connected via wi-fi or purchase in on the computer and download it to the ipad.
Kinda frustrating that the unlimited 3G data plan is not completely 'unlimited'.

The 3G bandwidth is just not sufficient to download movies. Movies are really huge files and you need a very high speed connection to download them. I haven't expected to be able to download movies over the cell connection. I know a lot of other people have been surprised by that, but I am not surprised at all. Maybe it's because I have used a lot of internet by cellphone so I am aware of some of the bandwidth limitations.

Audrey

 

[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.

 

[Ronnieboy]

The 3G bandwidth is just not sufficient to download movies. Movies are really huge files and you need a very high speed connection to download them. I haven't expected to be able to download movies over the cell connection. I know a lot of other people have been surprised by that, but I am not surprised at all. Maybe it's because I have used a lot of internet by cellphone so I am aware of some of the bandwidth limitations.

Audrey

I figured movies were a huge file and it would take awhile, but I was hoping unlimited ment unlimited even if I had to start the downloand and come back to it 20 min later to see if it finished up. Oh well, maybe when 4G comes out?

 

[audreyh1]

I figured movies were a huge file and it would take awhile, but I was hoping unlimited ment unlimited even if I had to start the downloand and come back to it 20 min later to see if it finished up. Oh well, maybe when 4G comes out?

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

Unlimited means as many bytes as you want, but they doesn't mean you can take 100% of the bandwidth. The network is shared, and if too many people try to download movies at the same time, everyone's internet experience will be super slow. They are just dealing with the realities of a cell network. I'm not surprised they limit this because their technology won't support it.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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