NT - Thinking About an iPad? Do it!

[JohnH]

Totally off taxes I guess, but I have to rave about the iPad. I got one yesterday and it's a great all-around tool. Aside from the usual stuff (graphics, music, etc) it's an excellent email device and very easy to read books or other matter you'd ordinarily print out. If you're doing online research, it's much easier to read & manipulate text than with anything I've ever used in my life. So even though some might regard it as an expensive toy, it does have numerous professional uses as well. (And I think I'm just scratching the surface on what it can do)

[Possi]

really?

Totally off taxes I guess, but I have to rave about the iPad. I got one yesterday and it's a great all-around tool. Aside from the usual stuff (graphics, music, etc) it's an excellent email device and very easy to read books or other matter you'd ordinarily print out. If you're doing online research, it's much easier to read & manipulate text than with anything I've ever used in my life. So even though some might regard it as an expensive toy, it does have numerous professional uses as well. (And I think I'm just scratching the surface on what it can do)

That's good to know. Thanks. I travel a lot and my laptop is very heavy. Sounds like a great alternative for simple things like email...

[JohnH]

If you travel, you'll love the map. It starts out as a map of the US and you can just keep zooming in until you get right down to the street or back out again for a higher level view. It's all virtually instantaneous. You do all that by just touching the screen with your fingers.

As for reading ease, I downloaded a couple of books I'm reading (plus the Bible), and find it easier to read than holding a book in my hand. Plus, since it provides its own backlight, you can read it in a darkened room with no problem.

Basttery life seems great. After fully charging it, I used it about 4 hrs last night and a couple of hours this AM. Battery was down to about 65% after all that.

The apps seems to be endless. I think it even has an app for plugging leaky undersea oil wells - I'm searching for it tonight.

[Black Bart]

John, it

just beats me why a techno-buff like you balks at electronic filing and then up and buys such new-fanglefied stuff. Since I'm still tryin' to read cell messages, would you please fill me in? Thanx.

NT - Thinking About an iPad?

Couldn't! Didn't know it existed. Does Wal-Mart carry it? In the ladies department?

Do it!

Do what with it? Don't forget this is a family-values oriented board

...have to rave about the iPad. I got one yesterday...

What is it?
Any assembly required?
Will it fit in a car?
Radioactive?
Anything to do with teleportation?

...it's a great all-around tool...

Will it do everything the Swiss Army knife does (I can always use a spare Phillips)?

...the usual stuff (graphics, music, etc...)

Thanks, but never mind about this part -- my granddaughter is a fair hand at drawin' stuff and I've already got a record player (have you by the way noticed how hard it's got to find 45RPMs and/or albums?).

...it's...very easy to read books...

Well, not to rain on your parade, but this just doesn't seem so hot to me -- I've already been readin' 'em for more years than I care to remember with only a pair of bi-focals.

...online...it's much easier to read & manipulate text...

Again, a little behind the times -- my computer already has a zoomer and somebody here showed me how to cut and paste more than two years ago.

...some might regard it as an expensive toy...(And I think I'm just scratching the surface on what it can do)

I think you're on the right track; does it play tic-tac-toe? When you send in the warranty sheet, how about askin' if they can program it to put Tinker-Toys together (and keep me posted on that if you would)? Many thanks!

Friend, Bart.

[JohnH]

Bart:
Let me try to address your quesitons in the right order:
1) I got the "ladies dept" question, but I'm not taking the bait.
2) Do it! (See #1)
3) No assembly required, as it starts working as soon as you power it up. But use it for a few hours and you'll be expecting it to be capable of teleportation. It will fit in a car - as a matter of fact it will fit in your lunch box.
4) It's better than a Swiss Army Knife, although I admit you can't trim your toenails with it or open a beer can. (There will probably soon be an app for both of those)
5) Don't let your granddughter near it. She will be better than you at using it, and she won't give it back.
6) Believe me, the book on the iPad is the same book you hold in your hand, but the pages are easier to turn on the iPad, and the book doesn't have a built-in lamp. You'll still need your bifocals - that's firsthand knowledge.
7) My computer has a zoomer too, but try zooming in with your fingers and zooming out by making a little pinching motion over your screen while you're reading. And try moving the text around on the display by just wiggling your finger over what you want to see. It probably won't do any of that that.
8) I haven't found the app for Tic-Tac-Toe, but when I do I'll bet it lets you play it it 3-D if you want.

Oh yes, almost forgot. No, I still ain't e-flinging until I'm forced to do so and absolutely all other options are off the table.

[Black Bart]

Well said, well said.

However, the main question again (and I know you probably can't believe I'm serious, but I am) -- what is the dang thing?

Phone? Computer? Something that plugs into a computer? An electronic book?

[JohnH]

Oh,sorry. I meant to post the link.

It's a combination of a computer, electronic reader, fancy video & music device, and a host of other things. Watch the video if you want to get a taste of what it can do.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Gosh, you'd think I've signed up to be a shill for Apple

[veritas]

I presently use

a netbook. Next time I might consider the Ipad. They need to add a camera.

[joanmcq]

I got an iTouch a few years back and am similarly enthralled. Its just a lot (a LOT) smaller-same size as the iPhone, but slimmer. Its my biz PDA, a music player, I have 200 of the World's Greatest Books (app cost $2.99 for a ton of literary classics) email, video, internet, excel, a mileage log (also indispensable), maps, weather and of course, solitaire. 50 different games. you can use the pinch motion to make the print large enough to read, and it fits in your pocket.

I'd get an iPad over a netbook anyday. the things rock!!!

[JohnH]

Update. Still enamored with the iPad and can't rave about it enough. It turns out there's a free Kindle app for the iPad, so it can be used to download books from Amazon as well. The variety of apps is amazing, and using Google Earth on the iPad borders on being almost magical. Email is very easy to use & navigate, and you can put links to favorites (such as this forum) right on the home screen.

I did make one mistake already, directly related to #5 in my previous reply to Bart. I don't ordinarily download games, but one of my grandsons (the 5-year-old) was spending the weekend with us so I downloaded Foozball for him on Saturday morning. Had to take him to Chuck-E-Cheese in order to get the iPad away from him. The Foozball app only cost $4.99, but I think the tab at Chuck-E-Cheese came to about $25.

[Black Bart]

Yes, yes, I understand.

...Still enamored with the iPad and can't rave about it enough...

As a matter of fact I had an eerily unsettling run-in with technology myself just this past weekend.

Trying to favor our local antique shop with my invaluable business and, fresh out of cash, I wrote a check for that dadgum junk and -- would you believe it? -- they handed it right back to me. Said they only take debit cards -- no checks!

Harrumphh! How dare they? I'm highly insulted, self-righteously indignant, much peeved off, and two or three other things. What an outrage! What a debacle! What a travesty! What a...well... I don't know what all, but it's bad, I'll tell you that.

Anyway, I think I see where this is headed -- my beloved cursive-lovin' checkbook has now officially begun its journey to history's junkyard. I mean, I knew this stuff was comin', but aren't they rushin' it a decade or so? And anyway I thought an exception might be made for me.

Say John, does that I & You gadget have a teleporter app to hurl old-timers into the 21st century?

P.S. Speaking of kids, my granddaughter has a bank debit card. Offered to buy her some checks -- said no thanks (Et tu, Bartella?).

[PIGLEE]

Black Bart, I love your thinking, very funny. There were some good old days, without computers. But I love mine anyway. I have an ITouch, and love it, play games when waiting for my husband, use it for my address book, etc. But in this small town the only place outside my home where I can access internet is MacDonalds. And we don't travel at all, except to go to some tax seminars, so an IPad is out for me.

[JohnH]

I had to post this follow-up about iPads, grandkids, and old timers. After raving about the iPad for a year, I got an iPad2 last week. My wife settled for the old iPad, and so far she isn't complaining about having to use the ancient hand-me-down from last year. Sure hope that doesn't change.

So we were at lunch yesterday after church with the family. My daughter was quizzing me about the differences between the iPad and iPad 2. I was telling her about an attachment to connect the iPad 2 to a TV when the 6-year-old grandson pops into the conversation and says "Yeah, that's right. Miss Bobbie lets me hook up the iPad to the TV at church to make the games bigger!" (Miss Bobbie is his teacher at the church after-school program)

This was the 6-year old grandson, not the 9-year old or the 11-year old (probably because they were too bored with the whole conversation) . So the old story about asking a teenager to help you if you have a computer problem is changing - pretty soon the advice will be to just ask a kindergartener.

[oceanlovin'ea]

my 8 year old granddaughter was given an Ipad last weekend by a friend who had gotten her 6 year old an Itablet. She gave it to her with pictures of the kids on it, 3 or 4 movies on it and loads of games.

My 6 year old grandson loves it. He played Angry Frogs on his mom's phone all the time. Now he can play it on the Ipad. But he calls it a phone. He told him mom last night he needed a blue phone to match his blue shoes.

I don't know if I would know what to do with it if I had one. Although a friend showed me her tablet. I like the size of that better.

Linda, EA

[dkss]

I love it too!

Like John, I bought an iPad last year and loved it! I just broke down and bought the iPad2 last week. I really like the thinner and lighter feel. The original iPad has been in constant use since I bought it. If I am not using it, than my son or husband is using it. The battery lasts all day for us.

For the upcoming IRS tax forums, since there will not be pre-printed material available for the seminars this year, I will be downloading each presentation onto my iPad instead of printing them out.

I strongly suggest a visit to a local store to test drive an iPad and see for yourself its many uses.