IPad

[Sue]

So I've bought my iPad, but as an innocent of such technology I now have to come to grips with it and all the new terminology. The first is iCloud.How does it work, can I share infO and photos with people. I don' t understand streaming. I am busy trying to find Apps that Do what my laptop programs do. is there a favourites folder or equivalent? how do I call up websites that I use regularly. Do I have to do a search each time. Questions keep flowing but I think I just need to get my head round things. Is there an App that I can use to write articles, my book etc in a Word compatible manner.

[Nolic]

Sue, If you open your iPad browser - Safari - then there is a small book icon on the task bar. That is your bookmarks file and there should be an introduction to iPad already listed that answers all your questions. If its not there then go to the Apple store and download.
You do need to remember it is "tablet" and there are some things that it just cannot do - but very few!! Nolic

[Sue]

I am spending hours playing with this, and find something new all the time. I have just found out how to store things in bookmark.

[Gloria]

I think maybe Santa may be bringing one in his sack this year. Trouble is, I am bad enough on my laptop, I will never be off one of those--it would have to go on holiday with me.
A friend of ours got one at apple and they then spent an hour and a half giving him training and setting it up as he wanted it.

[Sue]

Been on it all the time. I love browsing the apps

[Marilyn]

A great ap for writing is 'PAGES', Sue...

My iPad goes with me on holidays and absolutely everywhere. I can't imagine life without it. From Google, to emails, to maps and street view, to all my regular ancestry sites ( and there is an ancestry ap)....priceless.
My camera and video connect directly to it ( had to buy the adapter) and I just whizz things off my SD cards straight into it. Then I have a picture resized ap that prepares photos for email in nano seconds.
I store both written books and audiobooks on it, movies and slideshows ( have a slideshows ap).
Have a PDF viewer..

Who needs a laptop?

[Tripps]

"Who needs a laptop?"

Indeed - my son bought an iPad earlier this year, and now tells me he rarely uses his laptop. He just uses the iPad - when he can get it back from his kids.
The football game is great.

[Nolic]

I can play Call of Duty 3 on my 5GB laptop - try that on an iPad!!!Nolic

[Tizer]

Isn't it strange how people want bigger and bigger TV screens but smaller and smaller computer screens?

[catgate]

Isn't it strange how people want bigger and bigger TV screens but smaller and smaller computer screens?

Very astute observation there, kind sir.
I have a feeling it is all related to the size of the brain and the controlling ego, and of course their reciprocity.

[Marilyn]

Ah....but you can connect the teeny weeny iPad to the big TV...tis a beautiful marriage...
My hubby also has his office computer remotely connected to my iPad. We can be away in the tin tent and he can keep up with work by viewing his emails etc.
You can even have a remote security camera tuned in..

[Sue]

you have all been busy writing whilst I have been away. I have read a couple of magazines and a book and am now all fired to do more with my iPad. The review on PAGES app is good so I will go for that. I am not a games person but perhaps I can be persuaded. The images are fantastic and my holiday photos have never looked so good

[Callunna]

... what everyone else says, plus it’s great for reading at night without disturbing t’other half. I’ve got access to gazillions of free books (classics & modern) and putting it into night mode means I can read them with the bedside light off. I’m reading PT Barnum’s tome from the mid-19th century about success and money at present - wouldn’t have even thought of getting the book in real life* but it’s actually quite fascinating

No reason to buy a Kindle now.

Mine came with a case and stylus and the battery lasts much longer than my iPhone and laptop. The screen is very clear and you don’t really notice how small it is.

* Real life! Yes, I mostly live in cyberspace these days...

[Marilyn]

I still have the iPad 1. Have had it over two years and the battery life has never faltered and no signs of it needing recharging more often. I would use my iPad at least four solid hours a day...in an on and off basis...and I only recharge it probably every fourth day and it takes that long for it to drop to about 60% charge.
Recharge my Internet every month with a prepaid £15 voucher that I buy at the supermarket.I also have wifi of course, which is handy when travelling, but the network I am with has 95 % coverage in Australia, so no changing zones every few miles.

I especially love visiting all of the pretty little villages in uk on street view and walking down the high streets and looking in shop windows.
It sits beside me on the couch each evening and has solved many an argument having instant access to trivia..

How much does Internet access cost for the iPad in uk? Do you buy prepaid vouchers, like me?
( I have never used up the £15 pound worth yet...so it accumulates every month. I have so much up my sleeve now I could be on it all day. And that is with two of us using it too....he is addicted as I am.)

[Tripps]

I know the iPad is brilliant, but still a bit expensive for me. Even online they are £300 + Has anyone any experience of the cheaper alternatives? I am thinking of Android tablets which in their smaller 7" size seem very reasonably priced at £50 to £100 ish. . I think 4G is coming next year, so will that may make all current devices obsolete?

PS - realise now that 4G won't affect a wifi connection....

[Sue]

I didn't know about night mode for reading, I could do with that

[Callunna]

Sue, I think it depends on the app but most of the book apps seem to have it. Just go into the Settings and choose it from there.

[Tizer]

We can be away in the tin tent and he can keep up with work by viewing his emails etc.

That reminds me of when we see TV film of under-nourished kids in India running down muddy (or worse) village streets, probably suffering diarrhoea and malaria....but talking on a mobile phone!

[Marilyn]

Trips...couldn't comment on the android tablets, as I have never had the pleasure of a play on one.

Tiz...I get your visual...thanks for that.
Febby isn't as bad as he used to be about keeping in touch with the office now that he has a more competent partner. And I am happy to report that his mobile actually disturbs us less these days too, so our weekends are a lot more relaxing ( and there are no more night calls).

[Sue]

Has any one got KNOWHOW to share files from a. Non mac PC. I can import my files to my iPad but cannot open the documents

[Marilyn]

Search for a 'document reader' app, Sue.
I had one at one stage but can't remember the name of it.

[Sue]

I have a couple but they won't do it. I wondered what anyone else uses

[Pluggy]

It would depend a lot on what kind of documnets they are. Standard stuff like Microsoft Office documents and PDF shouldn't be a problem. More obscure stuff may not have something on the Ipad that will work. There are hundreds if not thousands of different types of document on Windows, many of them long since consigned to the history books.

No doubt when I eventually give in to the inevitable and buy a tablet, I suspect a sub 200 quid Android will be looking a lot more attractive than a 400 quid + Ipad.

[Tripps]

"I suspect a sub 200 quid Android will be looking a lot more attractive than a 400 quid + Ipad"

I think it is now! Let us know when you make your mind up. I took your advice on ASUS, and never regretted it.

[Wendyf]

My hubby won't allow anything made by Apple in the house. He seems quite happy with the Google android.