What do you use an iPad for?

Wooph · Post by **Wooph** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:35 am

I little while ago I got the chance to try out Mushihimesama on my friend's iPad. It was so fun I just couldn't put it down.

I'm thinking of buying an iPad for myself now, but I'm having a hard time coming up non-gaming related uses for it. For around the same amount of money, I could get a laptop instead.

So to those shooter fans out there who own these devices, what do you use them for? (Besides gaming of course.)

Drachenherz · Post by **Drachenherz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:54 am

Surfing, mailing, foto-Player, videos, skype.

A really huge advantage is its battery life. And that you can leave it on all the time, so there is NO boot-time, when you quickly want to checkthe forums/news/mails.

If yo need to write documents, you can hook up a bluetooth keyboard easily.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:41 am

Web surfing in bed, EBook reading and occasional gaming, not much else really. Anything that requires more than a paragraph or so of typing is just too much of a pain to deal with on the iPad, I've been looking at getting an Ultrabook to replace it for computing while traveling, mainly because I want something with a real keyboard on it and without the restrictions of the App Store. It's great for what I use it for, pretty much useless for just about anything beyond that.

brentsg · Post by **brentsg** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:14 am

Web surfing, email, gaming, e-reading, watching TV/movies..

It gets used a lot while I'm watching TV or laying in bed. When I'm away from the office it is always with me for light work and communication. If I travel for work or otherwise it's very useful and enjoyable.

Honestly I really was skeptical. In the end I didn't bat an eye when I ordered the 3rd gen iPad. I can't think of many items I've gotten this much use from.

Another great thing is that I don't hesitate to have it on hand around my small kids, where I have to be much more careful with a notebook.

Drachenherz · Post by **Drachenherz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:07 am

Speaking of the new iPad, I ordered one too. I'm really curious how well the speech-to-text function works. I had the chance to try this function on the iPhone 4s of a friend. There, it worked flawlessly, quite to my surprise. And in german, after all... So if the speech-to-text really works well enough, it could make a keyboard pretty much obsolete.

Can't wait for the 22. March to come. (also: finally Playing ddp doj on the larger screen of the pad, yay! )

moh · Post by **moh** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:43 pm

its like the ipad was designed for use in a bathroom.

perfect to use while sittin on the can.

Drachenherz · Post by **Drachenherz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:48 pm

moh wrote:its like the ipad was designed for use in a bathroom.

perfect to use while sittin on the can.

If I had a closomat (an ass shower), my toilet would be completely paperless by now. ^^

Friendly · Post by **Friendly** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:22 pm

moh wrote:its like the ipad was designed for use in a bathroom.

perfect to use while sittin on the can.

Introducing: The new iWipe.

trap15 · Post by **trap15** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:12 pm

Porn and Cave shmups. That's literally it.

brentsg · Post by **brentsg** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:39 pm

Drachenherz wrote:Speaking of the new iPad, I ordered one too. I'm really curious how well the speech-to-text function works. I had the chance to try this function on the iPhone 4s of a friend. There, it worked flawlessly, quite to my surprise. And in german, after all... So if the speech-to-text really works well enough, it could make a keyboard pretty much obsolete.

Can't wait for the 22. March to come. (also: finally Playing ddp doj on the larger screen of the pad, yay! )

Siri is neat but definitely very much still beta. I think it's just one of those things that's not really been done on a large scale so it takes continuous tweaks on the speech side, as well as the server side. Not to mention things to filter out background noise and such.

I had a funny moment that I figured would blow up in my face. My coworkers were poking around on their notebooks and Android phones looking for directions to a local sushi place on the web. In an joking/exaggerated way, I asked Siri about it.. BAM the directions popped up. It went from laughs to .. damn that was pretty neat.

Drachenherz · Post by **Drachenherz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:22 pm

brentsg wrote:
Drachenherz wrote:Speaking of the new iPad, I ordered one too. I'm really curious how well the speech-to-text function works. I had the chance to try this function on the iPhone 4s of a friend. There, it worked flawlessly, quite to my surprise. And in german, after all... So if the speech-to-text really works well enough, it could make a keyboard pretty much obsolete.

Can't wait for the 22. March to come. (also: finally Playing ddp doj on the larger screen of the pad, yay! )
Siri is neat but definitely very much still beta. I think it's just one of those things that's not really been done on a large scale so it takes continuous tweaks on the speech side, as well as the server side. Not to mention things to filter out background noise and such.

I had a funny moment that I figured would blow up in my face. My coworkers were poking around on their notebooks and Android phones looking for directions to a local sushi place on the web. In an joking/exaggerated way, I asked Siri about it.. BAM the directions popped up. It went from laughs to .. damn that was pretty neat.

Unfortunately, siri isn't on board on the new iPad. Only a tuned down version with speech-to-text, nothing more... But if this really works... If it really recognizes speech well enough to say, write 97 to 98 % correctly what you're dictating... Damn, that could change usability dramatically...

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:25 pm

Anybody using their iPad's shiny surfaces for cancer self-exams yet?

Drachenherz · Post by **Drachenherz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:29 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:Anybody using their iPad's shiny surfaces for cancer self-exams yet?

No.

But there's an app for that!

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:45 am

trap15 wrote:Porn

Seriously though, image what you favourite image gallery would look like on that ridiculous new screen.

Screen resolution is something that has been annoyingly stagnant in the past decades, at least that´s my impression. I have an iPod Touch 4th gen and even on that small screen pictures look absolutely gorgeous, it makes everything else look like blocky lego soup. I hope that this makes regular screens look bad enough that they finally start to ramp up screen res sizes for everyone else.

I don´t have an iPad (yet), but the way I see it is that it certainly isn´t a computer replacement, no matter how much Apple wants it to be. I know there are some bloggers that boast about "why my iPad completely replaced my computer" (and those people are usually just writers who basically are satisfied with glorified typewriters), but I need my Wacom (no, fingerpainting doesn´t cut it), Photoshop and a proper keyboard for shortcuts as well as a proper filesystem and normal means of exchanging data (iOS is a joke in this regard, even with Dropbox).

As a nice way to casually browse the web or look at all kinds of pictures in stupidly high detail it certainly is a nice piece of hardware, no doubt about it. It´s a nice companion, a very cool and often useful add-on. Sadly, a lot of discussion about the iPad gets quickly distorted by people who think that the iPad is going to replace laptops, computers, handhelds and consoles all in one blow. There´s a reason we have keyboards, buttons, d-pad, mice, Wacoms, USB and file systems.

Oh, and I used to absolutely love iOS gaming for a few months. The only games I still play are the Cave ports and the only thing that I really want now are official Meteos and Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon ports, which most likely will never happen.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:09 am

Until you can develop iPad apps on the iPad itself, I do not consider it to be a computer replacement.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:39 am

Drachenherz wrote:I don´t have an iPad (yet), but the way I see it is that it certainly isn´t a computer replacement, no matter how much Apple wants it to be. I know there are some bloggers that boast about "why my iPad completely replaced my computer" (and those people are usually just writers who basically are satisfied with glorified typewriters), but I need my Wacom (no, fingerpainting doesn´t cut it), Photoshop and a proper keyboard for shortcuts as well as a proper filesystem and normal means of exchanging data (iOS is a joke in this regard, even with Dropbox).

I think eventually tablets could replace computers. There are already wireless keyboards and such for it, and the processors are getting faster. I'm betting in the future you just take your phone or tablet, park it next to your HDTV that it docks with (alongside other peripherals), and voila- now it's a computer.

At the moment it sure as hell isn't though. But it does seem like portable tech is outpacing desktop tech in terms of growth to me.

maxlords · Post by **maxlords** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:01 am

iPads are evil. I expect they will replace most people's puters in the next 5 years. Humanity is doomed.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:02 am

My art looks beautiful on the iPad's screen.

I suppose they would be fine for some gaming and viewing documents/reading. I'd love to have one, but not at such a high price. I'm waiting it out.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:12 pm

louisg wrote: I think eventually tablets could replace computers. There are already wireless keyboards and such for it, and the processors are getting faster. I'm betting in the future you just take your phone or tablet, park it next to your HDTV that it docks with (alongside other peripherals), and voila- now it's a computer.

At the moment it sure as hell isn't though. But it does seem like portable tech is outpacing desktop tech in terms of growth to me.

I know what you´re saying, but at that point we´re arguing about semantics, a split between "will iOS be able to replace Windows/iOS" and "will a purely touchscreen-based device be enough?". There are already Android smartphones out there that go into a little dock and turn into Linux desktops, I can certainly see bigger devices being a purley touchscreen device on the go or on the couch and becoming a full-fledged productivity machine when docked, but right now we´re not quite there yet.

I have to add that my iPod Touch certainly has changed my mind on what mobile devices can do, and I hope that as we go along the iPad will become more capable and open. To give a specific example, ever since I updated my iPod Touch 4th gen to iOS 5 is has introduced a very noticable interface lag - when I hit the "lock" button sometimes a good 4-5 seconds pass until it plays the "click" sound. On iOS 4 everything was smooth as butter. But as far as I know I´m stuck with iOS 5 and just have to deal with my device being slightly crappier than it was before - I can´t revert to iOS 4 now, at least not without some kind of intricate jailbreaking.

One the one hand, I sometimes love the ultra-simplistic nature of iOS, the always-on nature of it. On other occasions I really hate it. Well, at least it has put back a momentum of innovation in the computing space that´s pretty wild, and it´s going to be interesting either way.

circuitface wrote:My art looks beautiful on the iPad's screen.

Can´t wait to check out the new screen. The old one was pretty sweet, but the new one has to be stunning and is easily the one feature I´m most interested in.

brentsg · Post by **brentsg** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:24 pm

Frederik wrote:I have to add that my iPod Touch certainly has changed my mind on what mobile devices can do, and I hope that as we go along the iPad will become more capable and open. To give a specific example, ever since I updated my iPod Touch 4th gen to iOS 5 is has introduced a very noticable interface lag - when I hit the "lock" button sometimes a good 4-5 seconds pass until it plays the "click" sound. On iOS 4 everything was smooth as butter. But as far as I know I´m stuck with iOS 5 and just have to deal with my device being slightly crappier than it was before - I can´t revert to iOS 4 now, at least not without some kind of intricate jailbreaking.

One the one hand, I sometimes love the ultra-simplistic nature of iOS, the always-on nature of it. On other occasions I really hate it. Well, at least it has put back a momentum of innovation in the computing space that´s pretty wild, and it´s going to be interesting either way.

On topic, I have to say that I will never want my tablet to be a full fledged PC. I appreciate the simplicity and it's already doing what I want it to do. I don't need a local filesystem, as I'm already trying to minimize my local storage b/c it just makes things more complicated when you access the same data from different devices.

Second, make sure to try the new iOS 5.1 update. It has greatly improved my older device's performance.

hzt · Post by **hzt** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:37 pm

Picking up girls

and taking pictures of other people's notes when I'm too lazy to make my own

You can even combine the two if you have the skills.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:45 pm

louisg wrote:I think eventually tablets could replace computers. There are already wireless keyboards and such for it, and the processors are getting faster. I'm betting in the future you just take your phone or tablet, park it next to your HDTV that it docks with (alongside other peripherals), and voila- now it's a computer.

I'm sure this'll happen, although it seems like it could be bad for UIs. You could end up with a UI that's really geared towards one form factor and is subpar for the other. Alternatively, app developers could customize the interface for each form factor, although that could create an inconsistent experience for the average user. Realistically, they might just make compromises and end up with a UI that sucks all around...

I'll admit I'm kind of a tablet hater, though. I haven't spend much time with them, but every touchscreen I've ever used has felt really cumbersome. Small, smudgy screen, lack of keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures, imprecise pointer (my fingertip can't compete with mouse)... bleh. Besides, being a hermit with a comfy computer chair, a desktop provides me with all of the portability I need.

And I think I'd see a doctor if my shits took so long that I needed entertainment to endure them, but every iPad thread ever has made me feel like I'm in the minority there.

xbl0x180 · Post by **xbl0x180** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:33 am

I bought one for my mother and she uses it for just about everything to the point that she doesn't use the laptop I bought for her the previous year

No printing option, though...

manatworks · Post by **manatworks** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:35 am

i paint on apps like sketchbook/brushes from time to time , i still think pen and ink on normal sketchbook is better for me but it's pretty interesting way to sketches

StarCreator · Post by **StarCreator** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:42 am

xbl0x180 wrote:I bought one for my mother and she uses it for just about everything to the point that she doesn't use the laptop I bought for her the previous year

No printing option, though...

That's easily taken care of if you get an AirPrint compatible network printer.

Selling my iPad 2 in preparation for receiving the new iPad this week... I've already factory reset the iPad 2 and it feels like I've cut off a limb. On the upside, maybe I'll fall asleep earlier tonight...

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:52 am

Vexorg wrote:Until you can develop iPad apps on the iPad itself, I do not consider it to be a computer replacement.

This sort of gets at the issue for me. I don't think I could really embrace iPad as long as Apple keeps locking everything down to the App Store. If apps could at least be freely distributed and "sideloaded" like on Android, that might be enough to sway me.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:33 am

Davey wrote:
louisg wrote:I think eventually tablets could replace computers. There are already wireless keyboards and such for it, and the processors are getting faster. I'm betting in the future you just take your phone or tablet, park it next to your HDTV that it docks with (alongside other peripherals), and voila- now it's a computer.
I'm sure this'll happen, although it seems like it could be bad for UIs. You could end up with a UI that's really geared towards one form factor and is subpar for the other. Alternatively, app developers could customize the interface for each form factor, although that could create an inconsistent experience for the average user. Realistically, they might just make compromises and end up with a UI that sucks all around...

I'll admit I'm kind of a tablet hater, though. I haven't spend much time with them, but every touchscreen I've ever used has felt really cumbersome. Small, smudgy screen, lack of keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures, imprecise pointer (my fingertip can't compete with mouse)... bleh. Besides, being a hermit with a comfy computer chair, a desktop provides me with all of the portability I need. And I think I'd see a doctor if my shits took so long that I needed entertainment to endure them, but every iPad thread ever has made me feel like I'm in the minority there.

I agree the on-screen keyboard isn't great. But I feel that UI-wise it's a fresh start. As far as desktops go, we've had more or less the same style interface since 1984, and it's just progressively gotten more and more kludged. If there's one thing I like about tablets, it's that they're streamlined. Which isn't to say they're good at everything, 'cause they aren't. But, I think there's great potential there. I'm impatient to see what's going to happen next

(which doesn't mean we need to turn every desktop computer interface into a simple launcher! Though Gnome 3 did a great job IMO)

gct · Post by **gct** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:19 pm

Desktop workstations still have a place.

I, for one, would not want to run any kind of development environment or statistical model on a portable tablet's CPU.

One could argue that the tablet could be used as a kind of thin client, but if you're working at home then what's the point? Just do everything on the desktop.

Gamers also aren't going to be running 200W graphics cards on tablets, unless eventually there is some kind of eGPU interface.

I can't speak for any experience using an iPad since I am an Apple anti-fan, but I have a 1st-gen Samsung Galaxy Tab and all I use it for watching "interesting videos" in the bathroom and Androminion. Maybe a little tower defense here and there. In a pinch I could use it as a GPS if I have an unplanned loss of direction while driving, but I have an Android phone for that, and if I'm going on a longer trip then I use a dedicated GPS device.

cools · Post by **cools** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:03 pm

My fingers are crossed that Lenovo release the Yoga. Everything I'd use a tablet for is taken care of by my phone, but it'd be nice to have a bigger screen for browsing. I'm sick of mice, touchpads and trackpoints - all RSI inducing. Full blown CPU and OS meaning I can run Renoise and various other tools and a proper soundcard when necessary. Should be good

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:10 pm

cools wrote:I'm sick of mice, touchpads and trackpoints - all RSI inducing.

I'm a big advocate of vertical mice. I starting experiencing constant wrist pain about a year after getting my first desk job, and switching to an Evoluent V3 pretty much eliminated the pain. They're pretty expensive ($70 at the time, now the new version is $90?!), and it takes a day or two to get really comfortable with it, but it's totally worth it IMHO. Most important piece of computer equipment I ever bought.

shmups.system11.org

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