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Ok, won a new ipad 2 (16gb wifi version). Never had any Apple products, ever. Never used itunes. Happy with my android phone and google apps (mail, calendar, g+, etc). Do a fair bit of traveling and like the idea of a tablet form factor, but am wary of having to buy into the whole Apple ecosystem and am a little surprised how pricey some of the apps are.
So, is there room for a linux/windows guy in the ipad world or will I be lost completely? Can I do google on an ipad (and how well) and what other reasons are there for me to embrace it?
Apple aficionados, enlighten me please
not sure about ipad, but my iphone works very well indeed with google (mail, contacts, calendar and docs).
Dave
Can I ignore your request and point out that doubtless you'll get a good price from some disciple for it secondhand.
Can I do google on an ipad (and how well)
What do you mean "do google"?
You can certainly use Google Apps and [url= http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740 ]set up syncing to GMail, Google Calendars and Google Contacts[/url]. And there is a Google+ app if you use that.
Google is easy, in fact most things are easy
I very rarely use my laptop now, seems soooo slow in comparison
It's ver y convenient to just pick up, turn on and use it, no waiting for it to boot up etc etc
There are loads of free apps for banking on line,shopping,weather etc which make my life much easier
They are crap. I'll give you £150 for it!
Of course you can use the various Google apps, should you want to. Most apps are cheap or free, but some more sophisticated ones are fairly pricy, but desktop apps are often pricy as well; desktop apps bought through Apple's app store are frequently a fair bit cheaper than store or online purchased versions. There are apps like Viewranger which are as good as you could want for navigation, CoPilot Live, UK Map, Stanza and Kindle for ebooks, and iBooks as well, as there are books available from some sources and not others, and don't forget, OS X is Unix based, and iOS has no malware issues. Ok, so you can't actually hack it, but frankly why is there this obsession with hacking every bloody OS that's out there? There isn't an Android tablet to equal the iPad, and there are ways to see your computer's desktop remotely using VNC with an iPad. It's cost you nothing, make full use of it's capabilities, it's a very creative device if you look closely enough.
peteimpreza + 1
£160? Including postage 😉
I'll go a whole £200 for it... 🙂
what other reasons are there for me to embrace it?
You could become a Premier member and read Singletrack on it 😀
but am wary of having to buy into the whole Apple ecosystem
Why, exactly?
But don't be! 🙂
I've been on PCs from the year dot, and I'm sitting here on a 1.5 day old iMac and I can't believe how much better it is, how quickly I've picked it up, and how astonishingly simple it's been to transfer my stuff over from my laptop. I honestly tought it would take weeks to get used to the 'Apple way', the new OS etc, but no. A few hours and Googling a few shortcuts (I like using the keyboard) and I'm sorted.
and am a little surprised how pricey some of the apps are.
But then there's cheap ones at under £1 and free ones too.
Some stuff is a LOT cheaper as an App than to buy as PC software, too
Is [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=8 ]Google Search[/url], [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-earth/id293622097?mt=8 ]Google Earth[/url], [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-books/id400989007?mt=8 ]Google Books[/url], then the phone (but scales up) versions of [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google/id447119634?mt=8 ]Google Plus[/url], [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-translate/id414706506?mt=8 ]Google Translate[/url], [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-latitude/id306586497?mt=8 ]Google Latitute[/url] and [url= http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/google-places/id406513617?mt=8 ]Google Places[/url] enough Google for you? Not to mention that GMail, Calendar, Contacts, etc all sync perfectly well and most services have iPad-specific mobile browser sites too (GMail for instance goes to a nice [url= http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/gmail-on-ipad.html ]two-column view[/url]).
I'm struggling to think of anything you'd run on an Android tablet that isn't available for iPad. Most popular stuff (I'm thinking Kindle, Zinio, etc) are available on both. And while there's cheaper Android tablets, anything at the 10" size that's any good costs just as much as an iPad so no saving to be made there.
Yeah, there's some pricier apps but they tend to be niche ones (where the developer knows they won't sell many but it'll be essential to some) like industry-specific reference works which are still cheaper than a paper version. I think Garageband (£2.99, very fun to play around with) is about the most expensive one I've bought - there's loads of great apps and games for less than the cost of a pint.
You can completely ignore iTunes once you've set it up. I synced mine for the 2nd time ever last week (and it's an iPad 1, so 18 months old now). I use VLC for watching movies and there are loads of apps for getting films / tv shows synced without using iTunes (most of which are free).
Double post...
I'm not a particular disciple to Apple Products but owning a Macbook Pro, iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS would recommend them to anyone, though the iPad is good for little else than browsing the internet (which it does fantastically) and gooning about with workmates during breaks. The camera isn't up to much, and shrinks in comparison to that on the GF's Dell Streak 7 but the build quality and ease of use is unmatched!
My advice: Keep it, there isn't much to get used to if you've used touchscreen devices before and it's a jolly nice bit of kit! 🙂
Also if anything goes wrong or you need help setting up iTunes accounts etc Apple are fantastic with customer service and it helps a great deal that they have their damn shops everywhere!
I think the whole idea of having to be tied to a computer to sync etc will disappear with the onset of IOS5.
To be honest the biggest use mine gets is to watch movies and podcasts when I am traveling (which do need to be synced). Sky sports and movies (if you have an existing subscription) and TVcatchup as an extra tv box when Im laid in bed and don't want to wake up the SO.
Its also an excellent approach to showing people images (if thats your thing) as well as FaceTime when you are missing your ... people.
Also notetaking (evernote) is brilliant, and syncs across multiple devices.
As to google, I used MobileMe for a couple of years, but now with google+ have no need for it (thankfully they no longer use the subscription service for mobileme) Everything from google (contacts, calendars, mail etc) syncs perfectly.
Its very very quick with web apps / email. I wasn't a fan, thought it gave me little over my netbook, not used my net book since. It's not so much for doing stuff, more for looking at stuff. 😯
Try it out and see how you like it? Whilst I generally don't "get" apple stuff if it was free I'd give it a go to see whether I got over the gimmick and actually found it a useful thing to have. Shame you have to use iTunes though, it's crap on windows. Oh and owning an apple product doesn't mean you have to buy into the "apple way", I've had an iPod mini since they first came out and have yet to buy another one of their products 🙂
cheers for all the responses. getting ready to open the box now....
Yeah, you'll like it. They're pretty good.