Fair warning

pete

pete

Brassica Oleracea
Staff member
Administrator
As mentioned in another thread, I now have an iPad to add to my ever-expanding collection of computers.

Now, while the on-screen keyboard is actually quite easy to type on, it also has a built-in, "intelligent" auto-correct feature. So, if my posts look more odd than usual, you now know why!

I seem to remember that there are a couple of websites devoted to auto-correct fail ....
 
My lovely wife positively adores her iPad, bought for her as an experiment to see if she was up to it. As she seldom needs to print anything, and mostly reads newspapers and other materials on line, plus playing her games like Yatzee and Shanghai, the thing's concept fits her like a glove.

There are some things about the system as implemented on the iPad that I do not like. While you can connect a keyboard to it, you cannot connect a mouse or trackpad. The printing thing is a problem as well, as is file transfer to a certain extent. (You can use the photo input thing with cards, but you have to have the adaptor first.)

But, the iPad looks to be the first "tablet for the rest of us", and it seems to be a very big hit.
 
The Airbook is tres sexy!

As I have said in other threads I have been helping my 80-year old dad use the iPad that one of the brothers gave him for Christmas. I luv it, he has a hate/love thing going on with it.

Mostly he gets mixed up trying to do 'Window' things (he was a Microsoft tester from 62 to 73 years of age). It surprises me that he gets stuff mixed up as he was so with it in his earlier days.
 
There are things on the iPad that aren't done as nicely as I'd like. For instance, we use a lot of [brackets] here. I have to go through three pages of keyboard layouts to get that.

The printing thing's not an issue for me. I've got other computers -- and that's possibly the point: the iPad is great, provided you have a "real" computer, too.

The iPad 2 is supposed to at least address the printing problems -- which is probably going to be accomplished through software, thus I can update for free or for a nominal fee. File transfer I can already do through iTunes. The only real biggie for me would be if the new iPad is 1080p. However, that'd easily add a lot to the cost and to the size. Hey, the iPhone's too small. The tablet PC I have (old Fujitsu) is a bit too big (and XP Tablet really isn't that much more functional than XP). The iPad's just about right.

I toyed with the idea of getting a real (Bluetooth) keyboard, stand and stylus. If anything, maybe a stylus would be good.
 
iOS v4 has AirPrint. Which allows you to print to Eprint capable printers, which of course there are not many of them out there.

but for what I use my ipod Touch for and the few things I wish it could do I'd rather get the AirBook Pro than an iPad.
 
The keyboard works well with the iPad, but the stylii (plural, right?) that are out there have a "point" that's about 3/8" across; i.e., no real point at all. They have to have a special tipping material that apparently is only recognized if it has a certain width.

The "no trackpad with iPad" is a real bummer. We bought one with the assurance that it was Bluetooth capable, and that it would work with the iPad, then promptly lost it (our house is in flux, with both a re-inventory of all the books and tile setting going on at the same time) past the return date. Another bummer...

Someone offers a keyboard/case combination that would be similar to my old Newton setup. Haven't seen one yet, though.

The file transfer through iTunes is all well and good, but we found that one of those little cards combined with the photo adaptor that my lovely wife needed for her camera works a lot better, better than a direct connection between the two with wireless.

The big stumbling block with the iOS is the file system. No good way to organize things on the iPad save through some program other than the system software. Awkward, to say the least.

Still, for email (light email), general internet based reading, ebooks, and games, you can't beat the iPad. I'm glad I spent the money, and my lovely wife clings to it like her first child when newborn.
 
And, when my hard drive on my laptop went south and I needed computer access in a hurry, I bought the top MacBook Air, and I too cannot be happier. Much lighter when traveling, great screen, no hard drive to fail (Macworld tried to test the flash memory to failure through some multi-thousand write and erase test - not one indication of failure, even failure and internal automatic repair).

The separate Super Drive looked to be a problem at first, but it packs well, works like a regular Super Drive, and (with digital media delivery these days) I don't really need it. They added a second USB 2 or 3 outlet, and a SD or whatever it's called reader. I'm not wild about the silver color, but it'll serve me for eight years or so.
 
One thing I can say about Macintoshes is that they do serve for a very long while. They also retain a good bit of their value.

One of the reasons I didn't care for the Air is the thing Terry mentions: you have to add-on a bunch of stuff to make it functional as a full laptop. However, if you have a desktop as well as the Air, it's a great toy. Hmmm. Same thing I mentioned about the iPad.

I'm actually having approximately the same discussion about the iPad on a techie forum I follow. There are really three competitors to the iPad:

* Amazon Kindle: the 9.7" one is about the size of an iPad, but it really can do only two things: e-books and browse the web (free lifetime 3G). It's black and white.

* Barnes & Noble Nook: it's color, but you can't connect to 3G. Wi-fi only. Period. No way of getting it to 3G.

* "Others": there are a lot of different "netbook-esque" machines that are out there and there are even ones that have touchscreens. However, the iPad does it better. According to nearly everyone.

* The Airness. First, the cheapest model is twice as much as the cheapest iPad ($999). It's also not that speedy: my wife's 5-year-old desktop is faster than the fastest Air (and is valued at about $333). The Air doesn't have a multi-touch screen, like the iPad; it has a multi-touch trackpad. It can, at least, play videos in 720p (i.e. "low-end 'high definition'"), which the iPad can't. You want 3G, you can pay for it (both for an adapter and the service).

I really think that the best of all worlds would be to have a decent full-sized, full-power laptop (read: Core i7) with a 1080p display and a dock (call that $1200), a low-end iPad ($500) and a low-end (7") Kindle 3G ($189). You could then get a stunning 24" display for the dock ($500 or so).

(The Core i7 laptops are the first true desktop replacements that are worthy of the "desktop replacement" moniker.)

The great thing is that there are all these choices. The bad thing is that there are all these choices :).
 
Ha! I knew someone would upstage the fruit company someday...
That ATRIX is amazing. I've always been a little iffy with all this fancy new technology but there's something about this one.
I don't even use social netqorking or use the internet for anything apart from forums (only a select few) and research. I just don't have the time in my life for all that jazz. (I have plenty of time for the other kind of jazz of course!)
But all the other fancy things the atrix does... hmm...
 
... But it's a phone.

Now, the logical conclusion is that that Motorola or someone else could build a tablet that runs Android -- and there are a few -- but the Apple mystique lies in the fact that it really does have an easy-to-use interface that doesn't feel like it's some desktop shrunk into miniature (and also runs a miniature speeds).

I'd like to play with an Android-based tablet. I think that'd be interesting.
 
Y'know, my phone of choice would be the jitterbug. It doesn't do anything but make calls, receive calls, and store phone numbers (address book). Talk about easy and quick to use!
It's not just for kids and seniors. I'd use it myself.
 
The amusing thing is that I've gotten a succession of Crackberries at work. Each one has lower fidelity than the last and have more twiddly bits that break, like the trackball on my Curve that's been replaced four times. The original phone-phone I had worked great until it met with the asphalt one too many times.
 
Oh. I am now super geeky: I've made the switch on my main home computer to Linux Mint 10 KDE. I can say that some elements of this version of Mint are not quite as bulletproof as other versions of Mint I've used (examples: one of the repository list files -- that's where you get all your software and updates from -- had a typo in it that made the repository inacessible. Moving elements in the "notification manager" -- kinda like the Windows/Macintosh "you have 8.1 million minutes remaining" dialog boxes -- crashes the video driver), but it's pretty good. And free.

But if you start seeing odd postings from me (other than this one, of course), you now have TWO good reasons why :).
 
has anyone looked at the Motorola Xoom ?

I've toyed with getting an iPhone but after inspecting the latest Verizon phone and all the stuff I'm sticking with my iTouch plus a phone and a laptop. I use the iTouch too much as an MP3 player, and general quick news platform, banking, other info stuff and the kids like it for games too. And my cell phone is a great phone for being a phone. But when I need something bigger I still prefer a regular keyboard.
 
pete said:
The original phone-phone I had worked great until it met with the asphalt one too many times.
Click to expand...

My mother dropped hers in to the ocean several years ago on a vacation before we all moved to Florida, I tried to tell her to take it out of those shallow pockets and hold on to it, but mom certainly doesn't always know best. :emoji_relaxed:
We're a family of old-fashioned technology anyways. Still refusing to become a part of facebook/major social networking/whatever.
I have no idea how kids these days are so fascinated with texting. I tried once and did not enjoy it. Last thing I need is something to give me carpal tunnel... I'd make my (non-existent) kid do stretches before and after texting anyone.


Pete, easy on the excuses. (kidding... my funny bone has been constantly tingling lately with crude, sarcastic jokes... so if you start seeing more weird postings from ME, you have a good reason why...)
 
retrophone_handset.jpg


Courtesy of the good folks at ThinkGeek.com. There is a cordless Bluetooth one available, as well. However, I think you'd probably like

[resize=300]http://www.yankodesign.com/images/design_news/2010/03/21/edimobile.jpg[/resize]

Courtesy of Yanko Designs.
 
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