iPad Gen 3 Thread "Official"

[dlock13]

I got me the 32 GB black wi-fi. This is my first iPad. I'm so excited after switching from Android to iOS. It took me long enough, but it's finally happened.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Still heavily thinking between an Ipad or a cheap 500$ computer.

I know there are a lot of readings I could do to help me decide but it is quite hard. I will usually use the Ipad for school and typing up word documents...

Is it good at typing up word documents?

I would not get an iPad for that. I have seen a couple of people attempt it but it's kind of like using a screwdriver to hammer in a nail, yeah it kind of works but it's obviously not the optimal tool for the job.

One of the higher end netbooks like the Lenovo X130e is really ideal as a basic laptop for typing up papers. It has an excellent keyboard, good battery life, runs Windows so you can use Office and don't have to worry about compatibility, and it's still light and easy to carry.

Alternatively you could get a Transformer or Transformer Prime plus dock if you really want a tablet. You lose Windows and Office but you get a great keyboard, exceptional battery life, and when you just want a tablet pull it off the dock and you are good to go.

 

[Soccerman06]

I want one but I just sit infront of my desktop and cant justify paying $500 for something when I could upgrade my gpu instead. Even when Im not near my computer, I have my sgs2 with me. Someone justify a reason for me to buy one of these.

 

[ssnake51]

My understanding of the eyestrain issue is that some people don't blink often enough when staring at screens that produce light, so I doubt the new iPad will fix that. If you're a person who gets eyestrain from using a computer, etc. I'd recommend that you just make a conscious effort to look away once in a while and relax your eyes.

I believe you are correct. E-ink readers are really no better than the iPad display at helping to reduce eyestrain. The biggest factor is proper ergonomics - setting up whatever display you are reading on properly for the environment in which you are using it. An e-reader like the Kindle is almost as good as a printed book when it is used in a very well-lit area, but quite bad when used in poor lighting conditions.

Personally, I have both an iPad and a kindle. Haven't used my kindle for a couple of months now because I find reading to be much more comfortable and pleasnt on the iPad. And the iPhone 4s is even better than the first and second generation iPad. Am really looking forward to receiving the new iPad after seeing how fantastic the retina display is for reading on.

 

[mavere]

I want one but I just sit infront of my desktop

I also just sit in front of my desktop, but the "experience" of certain tasks in combination with certain apps on my iPad 2 is enough to move to the couch with it for hours at a time.

Google reader feeds (Reeder), Reddit (AlienBlue), and longform articles (Instapaper) are vastly more pleasant on my iPad*. Those three things comprise ~90% of my internet wankery.

Of course, my own workflow may not be applicable to everyone else's.

*which I sold to preorder the new iPad

 

[goog40]

Hope everyone who wanted one got their preorder in. The ship times for new orders just got bumped to 2-3 weeks.

 

[Aikouka]

The fact that I can save 5% at Target with my Red Card is tempting me again. Ugh, I must ignore! Must wait and see like I planned!

I want one but I just sit infront of my desktop and cant justify paying $500 for something when I could upgrade my gpu instead. Even when Im not near my computer, I have my sgs2 with me. Someone justify a reason for me to buy one of these.

I'll typically use mine when I don't want to use the laptop, but want a larger screen available to me. It may be decent for some fun games (seriously, I do enjoy some of my iOS games quite a bit), but it won't beat my laptop for actual gaming.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Such cruelty...

Disregarding the fact that it's in the same state, they took the trouble to "overnight" it, and then had it held for future delivery.

 

[Red Storm]

So my brother is thinking of getting the iPad, but he was asking me about playing videos and I didn't know the answer so I'm asking here. Here's the scenario he's asking about:

If he downloads a TV episode on his computer to his Dropbox folder, then downloads that file to the iPad via the Dropbox app, can he then open the file with one of the movie player apps? And taking it a step further, can he mirror that video playback to his LCD with an Apple TV?

I wanted to tell him yes it can do all that, but I'm not 100% sure...

 

[Steelbom]

So my brother is thinking of getting the iPad, but he was asking me about playing videos and I didn't know the answer so I'm asking here. Here's the scenario he's asking about:

If he downloads a TV episode on his computer to his Dropbox folder, then downloads that file to the iPad via the Dropbox app, can he then open the file with one of the movie player apps? And taking it a step further, can he mirror that video playback to his LCD with an Apple TV?

I wanted to tell him yes it can do all that, but I'm not 100% sure...

1) I think so as long as it's a supported format, I can't say for sure as I've never tried it.
2) With an Apple TV, he can do that, but it won't mirror if it's in the Videos app on the iPad, it'll display it full screen. (That's a good thing.)

 

[Red Storm]

1) I think so as long as it's a supported format, I can't say for sure as I've never tried it.

Yeah this is his main question that I'm not sure about. I'm 99% sure he's talking about xvid/h.264 file formats, which I know can be played in apps like AVPlayer, but I don't know if those apps can access/open files from the Dropbox app.

 

[Aikouka]

The default software is pretty restrictive in the file format and requirements for playing it. You can have a MP4 with h264 and AC3 audio, and it still will not play on the iPad. I typically re-encode my videos with handbrake set to the iPad setting just to make things easy on me.

It's probably easier to get one of the players for the iPad that will allow you to stream it from a PC.

 

[Red Storm]

The default software is pretty restrictive in the file format and requirements for playing it. You can have a MP4 with h264 and AC3 audio, and it still will not play on the iPad. I typically re-encode my videos with handbrake set to the iPad setting just to make things easy on me.

It's probably easier to get one of the players for the iPad that will allow you to stream it from a PC.

Apps like AVPlayer can handle many formats just fine, the problem is that you have to use iTunes to get those videos on the iPad so the apps can "see" them. What I need to know is if AVPlayer can access a video file that you download via the Dropbox app. I'm assuming it can't, but I don't know for sure so that's why I'm asking.

Streaming is nice for when you're home, but my brother wants to take it out and about with him (trips, vacations, etc.) so that's not a consideration.

 

[vi edit]

Still heavily thinking between an Ipad or a cheap 500$ computer.

I know there are a lot of readings I could do to help me decide but it is quite hard. I will usually use the Ipad for school and typing up word documents...

Is it good at typing up word documents?

Look at an open box 11" Macbook Air @ Best Buy. Probably under $800. And will have much more productive utility than a tablet at almost the same size. You'll take a hit in battery life (around 4 hours vs. 10).

 

[Wonderful Pork]

I pre-ordered a 32GB 4G, Black and just sold my iPad 2 today for asking price on CL.

I use my iPad at work in place of a paper notebook (Noteability is awesome!). The fact that you can type and write in the same document is fantastic when it comes to sketches, etc. And I can just email meeting minutes, sketches, markups, whatever as soon as I'm done with them. And it sync seamlessly with dropbox too! 100% worth it for me.

I would use my work issued laptop, but the thing is unwieldy and really heavy to carry around all day when working mobile. Coupled with the short battery life going all iPad was a no brainer. If work would issue me a MBA it might be a different story. Ive actually found myself more productive in getting content out since I can't focus on formatting, etc. Just get all the words on the page and make it pretty later. Office for iOS would just be icing on the cake, especially Excel with a bluetooth keyboard.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I use my iPad at work in place of a paper notebook (Noteability is awesome!). The fact that you can type and write in the same document is fantastic when it comes to sketches, etc. And I can just email meeting minutes, sketches, markups, whatever as soon as I'm done with them. And it sync seamlessly with dropbox too! 100% worth it for me.

That type of usage is the one of the things that's making it difficult for me to pick a tablet. I'd like to be able to write notes on it but Capacitive styluses like the iPad and most Android tablets use aren't accurate enough for me. There are a couple of Android tablets with active digitizers for pen input but they are all 10" tablets while I prefer an 8".

Assuming it is priced right the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 could be perfect for writing.

 

[Pliablemoose]

That type of usage is the one of the things that's making it difficult for me to pick a tablet. I'd like to be able to write notes on it but Capacitive styluses like the iPad and most Android tablets use aren't accurate enough for me. There are a couple of Android tablets with active digitizers for pen input but they are all 10" tablets while I prefer an 8".

Assuming it is priced right the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 could be perfect for writing.

The reviews say the pen input lags and isn't accurate. For annotating documents, they say it's ok, for any kind of extended input, it's a pita.

<---pulls out the stylus on Galaxy Note every few days to confirm this...

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The reviews say the pen input lags and isn't accurate. For annotating documents, they say it's ok, for any kind of extended input, it's a pita.

<---pulls out the stylus on Galaxy Note every few days to confirm this...

As disappointing as that is it might be good enough since none of the alternatives even offer pen input in the first place (a capacitive stylus dosn't count)

Edit: Where are you seeing these negative reviews? The first two I read were very positive and never mentioned accuracy issues.

 

[Pia]

When I tried Galaxy Note at the store, the pen seemed quite accurate, though it was slow and what I drew constantly appeared half a second later or so. If Samsung manages to reduce that lag and make the "ink" appear almost directly underneath the pen, whether in Note 10.1 or some future tablet, I think that tech would be quite pleasant to use. Note was already much superior to iPad2 (which was totally useless for drawing IMO). Note that I'm not an artist, I just want to make legible notes of jiujitsu moves I have learned and other stuff. Would be great if a tablet could replace my paper notebooks.

 

[Pliablemoose]

As disappointing as that is it might be good enough since none of the alternatives even offer pen input in the first place (a capacitive stylus dosn't count)

Edit: Where are you seeing these negative reviews? The first two I read were very positive and never mentioned accuracy issues.

Podcasts, Engadget & the Verge. They talk a lot more about the reviews in the podcasts.

And I own one.

Seriously, WTF?

Which 2 reviews did you read?

 

[Pliablemoose]

double post

 

[Reliant]

I'll be getting one in a few months. I have an iPad 2 but the screen is too glorious to pass on.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Apologies for not quoting, I'm on my phone.

It took me a while to figure out how to write accurately with a stylus. I'm lucky enough to have pretty good penmanship so it's very legible using the stylus and zoom handwriting mode. The new "ink" algorithm is really fantastic.

Plus I was able to make templates for meeting minutes or daily agenda from PDFs and just mark them up. If anything is too sloppy, I can clean it up later.

I realize this solution isn't for everybody, but it works really well for me. And the new iPad screen should make it better.

 

[runawayprisoner]

And when we all have pens with 1ms lag or less, and pixel-perfect accuracy, people will complain about the screen not being able to recognize all of their fingers, plus their friend's fingers, and the next friend's fingers, all at once.

And when we get that many multitouch points, they will complain about why you touch a button but you don't really feel like you are "pressing" it.

And when we have a tech for that, they'll complain that...

No, seriously though, I have seen this complaining about an update to the iPad last year. People always find things to complain about.

 

[Pia]

And when we all have pens with 1ms lag or less, and pixel-perfect accuracy, people will complain about the screen not being able to recognize all of their fingers, plus their friend's fingers, and the next friend's fingers, all at once.

And when we get that many multitouch points, they will complain about why you touch a button but you don't really feel like you are "pressing" it.

And when we have a tech for that, they'll complain that...

No, seriously though, I have seen this complaining about an update to the iPad last year. People always find things to complain about.

When a pen input is laggy enough that a person doesn't find it usable, that is a hard limitation on the device blocking out an entire class of usage. It's not a matter of convenience such as slight storage space differences or resolution differences.