You've purchased an iPad and you're either thinking "This is the greatest little device I've bought in some time" or maybe, "I can't really figure out what all the fuss is about, could there be more to it than what I'm doing?"
I'm going to give five little tips to turn your iPad from a great device into a really, really great device! And you won't have to spend much money… if at all.
5 Tips
(1) Implement 'developer privilege'. I'm not going to tell you how to do it, you'll have to search somewhere else, but once you've added this, you will now have Apple's 'hidden' feature which makes the iPad so much easier to use! You won't believe how easy it is to maneuver by using finger gestures… close your hand on the screen to instantly go back to home; use fingertips to navigate forward or backward between apps; and four finger 'up' to instantly go to all your recently used apps. No more touching the hardware button or going through several steps to get where you need to go.
(2) Add cloud storage and get all kinds of additional storage. Cloud storage is so practical, simple and easy when you have an app. I've used Dropbox for some time… way before I ever got an iPad, and it's a great basic well-thought out storage solution between devices. The app for SugarSync is so good that I'm using it more and more. With their app you can actually view images, listen to music files, and view others types of documents as well. Their iPad app gets an A+. I'm just now getting acquainted with Box.net and will soon know it's strengths and weaknesses. There are many others too… just look and find what you need. The icing on the cake is they all offer some free storage. Between the three I'm using, I have about 15gb of free storage.
(3) You won't believe how great Facebook looks until you add 'Flipboard'. For those of you who enjoy social media, you've never seen it look so good until you use it on an iPad. Honestly, Facebook is a pretty boring site (design wise) on a computer using a web browser, but when viewing it with one of several media apps, it blossoms and comes to life in a whole new way. The most impressive is Flipboard, an amazing app which allows you to view your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or other blog/news sites which you use. If you want to impress your friends on how the iPad does some things better than a computer, just show them Facebook as displayed on Flipboard's book interface. It honestly makes you want to look at people's trivial images and details!
(4) Who says you can't do flash or view a variety of movie formats? iSwitter is a web browser which can actually play many flash sites. Some play perfectly, others play with bugs, some not-at-all… it all depends. If you have a favorite flash-enabled web site it's worth checking to see if iSwitter can handle it. Also, for non-quicktime video formats both YXplayer and OPlayerHD do a good job of handling several of them. I've even opened media content within Safari and it instantly took me to one of these apps to open and flawlessly play the content. You can't beat that!
(5) Don't use your finger, get a capacitive brush. I'm not talking about one of the stylus pens which use a foam or rubber tip. What works even better are the brush pens (yes, they actually have brush bristles) offered by several companies from $3 to $30. The one I use is called the 'Pogo Sketch' and only cost $2.99 on ebay… shipping included! The soft brush bristles do a great job of emulating your fingers and for many screen activities it's much easier.
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Now you have five little additions which make your iPad even more of a powerhouse than what it was originally. Don't forget, the app market is literally filled with hundreds of thousands of apps… many of which are useful and incredible gems. You just have to do a little exploring and see what's out there. Additionally, another thing which makes the iPad so good is you get to use Apple apps! I have their iMovie, Garageband, and Pages on my iPad and those three apps alone are worth the entire investment for the iPad. If they're your cup of tea, they give you an experience which can't be found anywhere else.
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Also, if you've found some work-arounds, apps, or other add-ons which you've found helpful, feel free to share here. Additionally, I will add to this thread as I come across other improvements in the app market and hardware additions.
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For decades the cry has been "Apple products are wayyyy overpriced." When you discuss it with the person, their statement usually means they feel that a comparable non-Apple computer should be about 30 to 50% cheaper for similar quality and build.
ReplyDeleteAt first this sentiment carried over to the iPad last year when launched. It was apparent that many folks felt that if Apple released their product at $500, it wouldn't take long to see competing tablets around $250 to $350. Fourteen or fifteen months have now passed and this has not come to pass. It's true that a few Chinese imports hit the internet/ebay marketplace selling far below the iPad's cost, but the quality wasn't even in the same ballpark (they ranged from 'junk' to mediocre). None of the major players could even enter the field under the heading of "same (or better) quality... drastically lower price". Apple even pulled a second low-cost punch by offering some super apps at prices far below what we've come to expect (Garageband for $4.99!!! I've purchased several vaguely similar Windows music apps for $50 to $100 each... which couldn't even compete!)
Point is, Apple's done many things right with the iPad. For the first time ever, they've even done 'price' to their advantage. But what's bothering some folks is what they've omitted (Flash, SD slot, restrictive OS, etc) and strict reigns on expandability. If they would only open-up a bit in those areas, while at the same time keeping the ease-of-use for those who could care less about expansion, they would silence their critics and plant their flag so deep it would be hard to remove.
(Okay, probably won't happen, but who knows?)
If Facebook is your thing, the app market offers quite a few for the iPad. Several are top notch, and a few have no equivalent on a PC. I use three extensively, each with it's on strength or niche. I already mention Flipboard, but Facebook is just one of it's many strengths.
ReplyDeleteIf you are wanting an experience that closely matches that from a computer browser, my favorite, and probably the best of the bunch is 'Friendly'. For the most part this one won't make you learn a whole new interface. I do feel it's a little better thought-out than Facebook's website is (you can tell I'm no fan of their interface). They offer a free version, but hey... go ahead and spend the .99 and get the fully loaded version, it pays off in the long haul.
The third one I use a lot is 'Photofeed'. As it's name suggests, this app is for photos. You don't use it to read wall posts, messages or anything else. All you do with it is view images, but it makes viewing Facebook images so simple and easy it's the best way to go if image-viewing is what you have in mind. I personally never look at the images from the majority of people in my friends list. Why should I? There's very little in Facebook's interface to make you want to (again, I'm referring to their official website version). But with Photofeed, you actually want to look at people's images... even those folks you barely know!! You don't have all the clutter to get in the way of navigating around photo albums and the speed at which images pop-up full screen takes away the drudgery. The app also offers an option where it searches and displays images for you to view (it's choice). I don't normally use this option unless some dramatic image pops-up that demands my attention. I have been known to view entire photo albums because an image of interest was suggested by the app.
I can say beyond a doubt that these apps (or others) make the iPad the perfect device for any Facebook fanatic.