IPAD and Other Tablets

[Mike.C]

If you have a laptop and pc is it really worth getting a tablet? I have never even held one let alone used one, but for some reason I can see them being useful, or am I just kidding myself?

Apparently the IPAD does not use Android app's is this a bad thing?, because I have heard that you have to buy most of the app's from itunes.

Are any of the cheaper tablets worth buying, I have seen them from about £120 (16GB) right up to the more expensive £499 IPAD?

When I was in hospital the one thing I found really boring was the TV. But at home we have Sky, so if I added SkyGo to one of these devices could I watch Sky anyway without the need to be close to a Sky Box?

Cheers

Mike

 

[Blister]

Mike

I have a iPad and it does what I need , and most other people I know also have them

Can't comment on any other makes as I have not used any

I would love to say I love my Mac but will refrane :mrgreen:

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Since I got my first iPad it has replace my laptop for almost every mobile use. And at home I usually use it in place of the laptop. I find the dictation really works and I often use it when I'm posting. All the apps I use come from the App Store. And most of them are free. I do have some paid apps like BuildCalc as a building calculator and Sygic for GPS.

The Apple products are rather like festal products in a way. Each individual product is excellent, and when you put them together they work so well together that they form a much better system or they form a much better unit together than they do individually.

I've never tried anything but an iPad so I can't tell you if the others are any good but I can tell you you won't go wrong if you buy an iPad.

 

[RogerS]

Mike, if you are asking that question then you don't need one!

I bought a secondhand iPad purely and simply as a backup device for digital photos from our two cameras, as a gateway to upload them to Flickr and occasional email/web access. I bought it in January and set it all up to check it all worked. I played around with a few apps but then promptly forgot about it. It lay unused under a pile of papers until May when we went away. I then sold it on eBay.

If you already have a mac then the iPad is the logical and most sensible choice. If your job takes you out and about then again an iPad might be useful, it depends on what you do.

Buy a secondhand one eBay and then try it out. See if it works for you.They hold their prices pretty well.

 

[DIY Stew]

I use my iPad all the time, I only use the laptop when I want to access something on my USB hard drive which, unfortunately I can't connect to the iPad. It's a handy size so it 'lives' on the coffee table, it's also a nice size to take out and about for use at wifi sites. I have bought some apps but the majority I have we're free! There will probably be some special offers on the older iPads, look around and give one a try, you won't be disappointed.

Stew

 

[MickCheese]

The thing I most like about the iPad is it starts instantly. There is no waiting for it to load so as a gateway to the Internet it is great, quick and convenient. The screen resolution is amazing.

Since getting the iPad I have turned off my desktop and rarely turn it on.

Never used anything else.

Mick

 

[Harbo]

Members of my family have iPads and love them.
I have a small screen MacBook Pro and an iPhone so really cannot justify one?


Rod

 

[cambournepete]

I have an iPad, desktop, netbook and iPhone.
The netbook and desktop only get used when I can't use the iPad or iPhone.
The iPad and iPhone turn on instantly and just work.
Most of my apps were free.
In fact, for accessing websites like Nationwide for Internet banking the iPad works far better than my netbook.

It's not a total solution, but it is very good. Most of my forum browsing is done using the iPad and I'm typing this response on it.

I've played with other devices, mainly when choosing the ipad, but I thought that no other device was as slick or worked as well.

 

[Yorkieguy]

Both my (adult) sons and their wives had them, and I secumbed recently.

I already have a MacBook which I use at home and away, but it's a bit heavy and cumbersome. I'm very impressed with the i-pad (it's the 'new' i-pad ith the 'retina' screen). Very easy to use - you can snyc it with most ISPs to read and respond to e-mails and even if it won't sync (it doesn't with my ISP - karoo and I don't think it does with talktalk), you can still go to your ISP mail server and read and respond to e-mails. There are scores of free apps for such this as BBC News, Sky News, weather, google, e-bay, maps, including Tube Maps, BBC I-player, ITV, newspapers etc. The paid for apps are very cheap - less than £1.00. Very simple to install - you just open the 'App Store' icon, chose the app, click on intsall and it puts an icon on the home page. Whatever you are doing, if you just press the 'Home' button it puts you back to the home page.

If you wanted to put an icon on your homepage for this or any other forum, it takes just a few secs. Then if you stay logged into the forum, when you turn on your i-pad and click on that icon, you're instantly on the forum. Another plus point is battery life - about 10 hrs. So many places have free wi-fi these days - cafes, dept stores etc, that you can use in often which away from home. If you get the 'smart case', when you close the lid, it puts the i-pad to sleep. The on-screen touch keyboard is quite large so is easy for oldies like me to use, and you can get wi-fi separate keyboards if you prefer, which turns the i-pad into more like a normal small laptop.

All in all, from my perspective, money well spent!

Best place to get someone to run through the features and benefits is an Apple Store if there's one not too far away. The staff are excellent, and that's where Apple has a big plus point. Free tutorial sessions on any Apple products, help at the 'Genius Bar' where you can book a timed appointment so you aren't hanging around if you have any technical problems.

Hope that helps.

David

 

[cambournepete]

Talking about email...
I use gmail on the iPad in 'push' configuration and it works flawlessly, syncing with the google servers and iPhone so once I read an email somewhere it's marked as read everywhere.

 

[Doug B]

Personally I find the screens too small, so don`t often use an I-pad, though I am thinking of getting a bigger screened laptop so perhaps it is just me :roll:

That said my kids love their I-pads, they are very easy to set up & use. Plus the customer service we`ve received from the Apple store has been second to non & has by far exceeded my expectations.

Cheers.

 

[cambournepete]

And Skygo works just fine, as does the sky planner app (I forget the name) so you can check the sky schedules away from the box and set the box to record single episodes or complete series from the iPad.

 

[mbartlett99]

I was given one for work and a lot of the crew have personal ipads. Afraid I think its a bit of a toy; great for sitting in the lounge doing facebook and web browsing etc but a serious compromise for other things - jack of all trades master of none. With that said I am the sort of person who does not like compromise; 18" laptop (get two spreadsheets open but its heavy lugging around through airports), kindle for ebooks (you simply cannot beat that battery life or the eink), proper digital camera.

Like some of the others said it all really depends on how you operate; if you have other Apple appliances then they do integrate very well.

FWIW one of the guys at church has a Samsung tablet which he reckons is fantastic for work.

 

[Mike.C]

Thanks for all your advice guys, I think that when I am in Aberdeen next I will pop in and at least try one out.

Cheers

Mike

 

[petermillard]

Well worth trying one out with an open mind; for lightweight computing tasks they really are very good, though obviously it depends on what you expect to do with it. For the last couple of years I've been using an iPad for all my work-related job notes, my invoicing and estimating, virtually all my email, messaging and work correspondence - and this is in addition to general sofa-surfing, movie-watching, book-reading, TV, diary, photo-viewing, radio-and-podcast-listening that it routinely gets used for. Could it be my only computer? Probably, to be honest, but whilst the drawing software that I use for my work drawings has an iPad equivalent, I prefer the bigger screen of my laptop for this and a few other things besides, so I won't be making the switch completely to a tablet just yet; some day though, for sure.

Just for clarity, iPads use Apple's mobile operating system called iOS - same as on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Android is Google's 'free' mobile OS, used by a variety of other manufacturers e.g. Samsung. The iPad runs Apps from the iTunes App Store - most of these are very cheap compared with their desktop equivalents (my invoicing and estimating app, for example, costs £9) and many very useful apps are free, or have a free version.

The iPad does work differently from desktop computers, and you sometimes need a bit of lateral thinking (and often, an app) to achieve things that you do almost without thinking on Windows or OSX, but in two and a half years of using an iPad daily I've never come across a situation that was completely irreconcilable.

One thing I would say; if you spend a lot of time in Microsoft Office, then it might be worth waiting a few weeks to see what Microsoft comes up with in their Windows Surface tablets - no prices or availability yet, but they're expected to launch later in October.

HTH Pete