Day 16 – slow network performance

I have been noticing some delays in downloading web pages using my wireless network at home. Today it started to get annoying so I did some research … It turns out that for some reason the setting on my AirPort for using the wireless mode “802.11a/n …” doesn’t work as well with the iPad as “802.11a …”.

Before changing the setting “which was on “Automatic” I was only getting <3MB download speeds, after the change it is around 9MB which is similar to our notebook and desktop PCs.

Interestingly the Mac laptop wireless speed appears slightly improved as well.

Curiouser and curiouser …

Glad it is fixed now!

Day 15 – two weeks in …

It has now been two weeks since I, somewhat reluctantly at first, switched over to using my new iPad for pretty much everything that I used to do on my PC.

What have I learnt so far:

1. It is a new platform and, as is to be expected, some things are harder to do than others.

2. Getting some good applications is critical. Some of my favourites to date include:

• Pages (word processing)
• Numbers (spreadsheet)
• FileBrowser (finding files)
• CineXPlayer (watching movies)
• DropBox (sharing files)
• TowerMadness (strangely addictive game involving aliens trying to steel sheep)

3. A wireless keyboard is nearly essential

4. Many day-today tasks are really easy on an iPad. Emailing, web browsing etc. are all supported really well.

5. Some more complicated tasks (like writing a complex presentation) are still frustratingly difficult on an iPad.

Overall the experience has been positive to date. I do find it nice at times to jump onto a “real”computer, mostly for the larger screen and also for the mouse rather than using the touch-screen interface. Having the option to use a wireless trackpad with the iPad would be nice …

 

 

Day 6 – and dirty screens

Just invested in some screen cleaner. I am really getting used to the touch screen idea and also notice that it gets dirty pretty quickly! Oil from fingers combined with dust … Yuck! Of course one rarely touches a PC screen so you don’t notice it on the keyboard so much. Meanwhile I am getting more used to navigating around IOS and since loading the initial Apps most tasks are getting easier. I do have to ask, who sells a computer without a calculator function!!! Seriously … $800 of high-tech hardware and no calculator pre-installed!

Day 5 – screen glare

One noticeable difference between an iPad and a laptop is that if you are not using an external keyboard, the screen has to be somewhat flat which makes it susceptible to glare from overhead lights and skylights. Using something to prop it up at an angle helps but I needed to experiment a bit with different options. It is certainly easier when using the wireless keyboard.

Day 4 – it’s all about the Apps

This morning I loaded Apple’s spreadsheet App, Numbers, and an App to make accessing WordPress blogs easier.

While I found the App store rather handy with the iPhone, on the iPad it really comes into it’s own!

Being able to find and download any number of useful applications, often for only a few dollars, turns the iPad from a quaint piece of technology into an awesome tool for just about any task you might need to use a computer for.

And of course I have downloaded a new game designed for the larger iPad screen.

So, email, web browsing, editing documents, accessing networked files, blogging, watching movies, games …. All working well so far and at a fraction of the cost of a traditional PC and software.

Day 3 – working remote

I am sitting in a cafe writing this using a free wi-fi
connection. There seem to be several nearby the office, mostly in
cares where they seem happy enough for me to sit and type as long
as I buy something. The first thing I have noticed is that using
the on screen keyboard is a little challenging. While the keyboard
feels ok to type it lags badly so that the on screen highlights get
lost and the words on the page lag behind typing. I’ll have to
compare it with the wireless keyboard but it does feel a little
odd, a bit like touch typing blind. Of course it might be the App
so I will try some other applications as well before forming a
definite opinion on this. Browsing the Internet and using email is
excellent, as I had expected. The email interface is really nice
especially the way it consolidates inboxes across multiple email
accounts. Also the calendar App looks great on the bigger screen and
is very handy.

Day 2 – iPad as a desktop computer?

Having gotten the iPad installed and set up with my wireless keyboard, my first challenge was … How do I see my files. Everything was backed up to network storage but the was no obvious way to access them. Having to sync with iTunes seemed decidedly unhelpful if I was to go without using a PC as much as possible. Enter … FileBrowser, a nice App which happily access my networked files AND let’s me download them to the iPad.

After successfully downloading a large movie file I discovered that the native movie player doesn’t handle .avi files! So, another App was needed, this time CineXPlayer, which happily played my movie file quite nicely.

Similarly, editing documents required another App and I opted for Apple’s own Pages application, which at first glance is surprisingly capable. Teamed with FileBrowser I was able to easily edit MS Word files from my networked drive.

Feeling pretty happy with progress after only 2 days!