48 replies to this topic

[DeadP1xels]

Hey fellas long time no speak!

Been off gaming tech recently and have gotten into music production so nothing has really intrested me enough to stop by and discuss sorry about that.

Christmas is coming again and i got the dreaded question "What do you want for christmas?" which is always a ***BAD*** because im pretty satisfied with what i have atm

Thinking about an iPad my parents have agreed to chip in £150 which will leave me paying most of it but no biggy im wondering is it really worth my time?

Im not big on laptop portability my laptop never really leaves the house just because i always get moaned at if i take it anywhere with me "Put that away and be more social" i do that and everyone pulls there phones out.....

Im a Foundation degree student but i really hate having to worry about a laptop in my bag just because it takes up so much room theres nothing to buffer it if i dropped my bag etc and its a complete pain to take out if theres no desk space (which is pretty much all the time)

I can see quite a few benefits to getting one but im not sure theres enough to spend £400 heres what i see would benefit me

- Portability (easier to pull out and use without needing room for it)
- Lighter smaller (easier to put in bag maybe in a hardcase to avoid damage unlike laptop)
- Alot of use within DJ community with TouchOsc etc so might benefit my future in music and Djing
- Alot of good apps for things like Korg Electribe and stuff for added fun when loosing inspiration
- A good buffer between laptop and smartphone use for social media and forum use

What do you guys think of yours if you have one?
what do you use it most for?
Do you regret paying so much for it?

[Luke]

I bought an ipad 2 about 3 months ago.

I love it for reasons I didn't even buy it for.

• It's nice and light
  
• perfect for reading journal articles
  
• AMAZING for interactive magazines like EVO
  
• If you have a netflix/hulu plus account, you'll love it for movies in bed
  
• suprisingly, it's incredible fun to play games on... not just angry birds but really games like dead space

[Challenger]

Since coming to uni I've only used pen and paper a handful of times. I use my iPad (and a great app called notesplus) to write all my course notes and even record all the lectures. I literally couldn't live without it. I don't have to worry about filing lots of pieces of paper or fear loosing them as the are all on the iPad and even backed up to dropbox.

Notesplus however (bar the default apps) is THE only app I have installed. I purely use it as a notepad. Maybe it is because I have the wifi version but I don't really find it useful for web browsing of social networking. I find my iPhone far better suited to all my email, forums stuff, twitter, facebook etc etc.

When I'm in my room I'm surrounded by computers so yet again I don't find the ipad useful here. Having said that though despite my limited use my time is pretty much split evenly between computers, my iPhone and the iPad so it was a good investment.

if you don't have to write notes for your course though all of the above will probably lead you to think the iPad isn't worth it. Unfortunately I haven't got experience with music creation so can't say if the iPad is worth it on that stand front.... only think I can say though is I've heard that it is "ok" for creation but really limited and as such a proper computer could be better.

Maybe rent one for a week or something and see if you find it useful?

[DeadP1xels]

Challenger, on 14 November 2011 - 12:09 AM, said:

Since coming to uni I've only used pen and paper a handful of times. I use my iPad (and a great app called notesplus) to write all my course notes and even record all the lectures. I literally couldn't live without it. I don't have to worry about filing lots of pieces of paper or fear loosing them as the are all on the iPad and even backed up to dropbox.

Notesplus however (bar the default apps) is THE only app I have installed. I purely use it as a notepad. Maybe it is because I have the wifi version but I don't really find it useful for web browsing of social networking. I find my iPhone far better suited to all my email, forums stuff, twitter, facebook etc etc.

When I'm in my room I'm surrounded by computers so yet again I don't find the ipad useful here. Having said that though despite my limited use my time is pretty much split evenly between computers, my iPhone and the iPad so it was a good investment.

if you don't have to write notes for your course though all of the above will probably lead you to think the iPad isn't worth it. Unfortunately I haven't got experience with music creation so can't say if the iPad is worth it on that stand front.... only think I can say though is I've heard that it is "ok" for creation but really limited and as such a proper computer could be better.

Maybe rent one for a week or something and see if you find it useful?

I take tons of rough notes that end up hard to read or in a crumpled ball...

i was speaking to some other people on other forums who said its not good for note taking which is what i said i think would be another good use for it.

do you find the touchscreen and keyboard ok for that? is it big enough or do you use an external keyboard with it

As for music i mean theres such apps that replicate analog synths and such more of a beat making inspiration or something along the lines of a portable note taker for my musical creations another words if i came up with a melody i could do it on a crappy synth just for visual reference until i get back home to try it on the real deal.

And use the apps for korg electribe that i hear are pretty good for the money

Ultimately im trying to find a justification where this device would be beneficial in multiple ways if not i see no point in getting it even though i want one (if that makes sense...)

Edited by DeadP1xels, 14 November 2011 - 12:25 AM.

[Challenger]

DeadP1xels, on 14 November 2011 - 12:16 AM, said:

i was speaking to some other people on other forums who said its not good for note taking which is what i said i think would be another good use for it.
do you find the touchscreen and keyboard ok for that? is it big enough or do you use an external keyboard with it

I originally got the iPad specifically to write notes and as others have said to you I found it not very useful and a bit clunky to use. So everyone is saying the correct thing to you that it isn't very good HOWEVER I bet they haven't tried http://notesplusapp.com/ ... Sounds like a sales pitch but this app makes note taking really easy, Before I found the ipad slow and harder to use than just using a pen but no jokes this £3 app makes it perfect for notes. I'm much faster and my notes are a lot neater than if I did it using a pen. It took me a couple weeks of note taking to get used to the app but not I am used to it, it's a breeze. Because I do lots of maths and stuff on it I found that also getting the right stylus is key I had one of the pogo styluses before which are meant to be really good but i found it far too inaccurate and I personally use a "boxwave" one (Amazon) which is really nice to use.

Here is what my notes look like for an example: http://dl.dropbox.co...1114_003028.jpg

As for the keyboard I find it really easy to use - Because of the speed the lecturers go I do sometimes make mistakes but with autocorrect it fixes most things - most other things are easy to spot when reading through later and of course it's fully editable - Add bits in, move text around. So really I feel the benefits of having digital notes far outweigh any of the negatives - and an iPad is so much easier to carry around than paper. Also it's nice to have all my textbooks in a ~500g device! Only thing that does annoy me is switching between ibooks and notesplus - but I hear that with a soon to be released update you'll be able to have pdf's, powerpoints and webpages open in notesplus so you can view both easier.

If the keyboard is an issue then I've seen some people use cases with built in keyboards but tbh because I find the on screen keyboard adequate an external keyboard would only add weight.

[DeadP1xels]

Challenger, on 14 November 2011 - 12:37 AM, said:

I originally got the iPad specifically to write notes and as others have said to you I found it not very useful and a bit clunky to use. So everyone is saying the correct thing to you that it isn't very good HOWEVER I bet they haven't tried http://notesplusapp.com/ ... Sounds like a sales pitch but this app makes note taking really easy, Before I found the ipad slow and harder to use than just using a pen but no jokes this £3 app makes it perfect for notes. I'm much faster and my notes are a lot neater than if I did it using a pen. It took me a couple weeks of note taking to get used to the app but not I am used to it, it's a breeze. Because I do lots of maths and stuff on it I found that also getting the right stylus is key I had one of the pogo styluses before which are meant to be really good but i found it far too inaccurate and I personally use a "boxwave" one (Amazon) which is really nice to use.

Here is what my notes look like for an example: http://dl.dropbox.co...1114_003028.jpg

As for the keyboard I find it really easy to use - Because of the speed the lecturers go I do sometimes make mistakes but with autocorrect it fixes most things - most other things are easy to spot when reading through later and of course it's fully editable - Add bits in, move text around. So really I feel the benefits of having digital notes far outweigh any of the negatives - and an iPad is so much easier to carry around than paper. Also it's nice to have all my textbooks in a ~500g device! Only thing that does annoy me is switching between ibooks and notesplus - but I hear that with a soon to be released update you'll be able to have pdf's, powerpoints and webpages open in notesplus so you can view both easier.

If the keyboard is an issue then I've seen some people use cases with built in keyboards but tbh because I find the on screen keyboard adequate an external keyboard would only add weight.

Thats impressive!! i was mainly focused on text based notes but when i saw your diagrams i instantly saw potential! i do electronics in my course which means lots of formulae and circuit diagrams and the best way i find is just by doing an example using a circuit so i can see where my numbers came from, my notes seem to be jumbled and unorganised on paper that ends up in a massive pile.

I tried using my laptop but waiting for it to load up and getting diagrams in is just a pain (having to use paint) im really thinking this might be worth it now

Speaking to a couple guys now it seems as a DJing tool is far better than i expected so that would be quite nice, being able to create my own midi control surface would be good to use with production aswell

[Luke]

Wow, I need to get that app. I've been waiting for an e-ink tablet for these purposes.

[Challenger]

That app recognizes basic shapes and lines so if I draw a rough circle or square it will convert it into a perfect one so it looks neat. You can then select the shapes and you get the handles like in Photoshop or whatever so you can resize it all. I believe, although haven't tried it, the output is 100% vector so you should be able to open it in illustrator and edit away - why you'd want to do that is a different story!

Also notice how basic my Electronics is at uni!

[mihapiha]

I bought my iPad about a month ago and I've been using it ever since pretty intensively.
It doesn't seem to be a replacement for anything. So don't have illusions about that. It is
just a nice feature toy you can have for some amount of money. I'd personally suggest
that you'd get a bluetooth keyboard too. It's easier to work with then and almost replaces
the laptop, if you're only making few notes and surfing. Some programs are good but some
apps are really good for nothing.

[Luke]

mihapiha, on 14 November 2011 - 06:28 AM, said:

I bought my iPad about a month ago and I've been using it ever since pretty intensively.
It doesn't seem to be a replacement for anything. So don't have illusions about that. It is
just a nice feature toy you can have for some amount of money. I'd personally suggest
that you'd get a bluetooth keyboard too. It's easier to work with then and almost replaces
the laptop, if you're only making few notes and surfing. Some programs are good but some
apps are really good for nothing.

This is how I felt after the first two months. Give it some time mihapiha, you'll be swearing undying love to it.

[mihapiha]

maybe so. I've been playing bard games like Monopoly or Risk mostly. And I've been reading... Either PDFs or books or on the web. I haven't invested that much time in writing real papers. Only E-mails...

[duelistgamer]

OP get the galaxy Tab IMHO. Or the EEPC Transformer.

[Honey Badger]

I'd recommend an Android OS tablet over an IPad... simply because I hate Apple, and to be frank, Tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are just pain better/faster than the IPad/IPad 2.

It's like comparing a Mac & PC gaming... the PC's always gonna win...

[Timer]

and the galaxy tabs/Asus transformer actually have connectivity while you cant even plug in a usb keyboard to an ipad (because they have no usb or mini usb ports or any port for that matter). correct me if im wrong.

[Challenger]

I agree with Mihaphia - the iPad will not replace a laptop - I still have to use my laptop an awful lot - it does however in my case replace an A4 refill pad It also I suppose replaces the need for me to carry my laptop around with me so in that respect its really good.

Honey Badger, on 14 November 2011 - 07:41 AM, said:

I'd recommend an Android OS tablet over an IPad... simply because I hate Apple, and to be frank, Tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are just pain better/faster than the IPad/IPad 2.

It's like comparing a Mac & PC gaming... the PC's always gonna win...

I going to have to strongly disagree with you Honey and actually say you don't know how wrong you are.

Yes android tablets may have better hardware in but when you factor in that the android OS is built very similar to java in that it is running on a Dalvik virtual machine which in turn is running on a Virtual ARM processor the difference is not worth it in reality. It simply has to do this for compatibility reasons so they can stick it on pretty much any hardware then wish. The downside to this is simply put they are wasting the extra horsepower their hardware has. Android is just generally a very clunky system to use... Yes you can write notes on it in lots of apps or even a full office package but they sure are not going to be anywhere near as easy or as user friendly to use as apps such as NotesPlus. It's exactly the same really when it boils down to it with the whole MAC vs PC debate... You don't buy a MAC because more powerful or whatever, you buy it because everything you do on it, all the apps and stuff are more elegant - it is exactly the same with the iPad. Because app developers don't have to worry about compatibility on iOS they can make a really well designed UI and backend to thieir app which overall equals an App that runs really well on the hardware and has a great user experience.

Before anyone throws in the "It doesn't have flash" debate I must note that A) you need to read the news. and realistically thinking how many sites do you go on that have flash now don't have either a native iOS app or a html5 website with VIDEO tags? I can only think of one I personally use and i'll just wait till i'm at a computer to view their content as generally they don't have a whole lot of decent content!

Timer, on 14 November 2011 - 07:45 AM, said:

and the galaxy tabs/Asus transformer actually have connectivity while you cant even plug in a usb keyboard to an ipad (because they have no usb or mini usb ports or any port for that matter). correct me if im wrong.

You can either use a Bluetooth keyboard like stated before - the Apple wireless keyboard works really well for this and tbh apple keyboards are a thing of beauty to type on! There is just something about them - maybe the spacing - maybe the short travel on the keys but it makes typeing really fast and easy. I even use them on PCs! Or if you really want you can buy a dock connector to USB adapter and then you can use USB keyboards or storage devices etc... Tbh though I think if your trying to plug in a keyboard you are totally missing the point. The iPad is meant to be light weight so you can just pop it in your small bag then in a lecture pull it out and use it as is. The onscreen keyboard is very good and I'd say almost as good as a real keyboard - lets just say good enough to out weigh the extra hassle of using an external one. The other thing is maybe your lecture desks are larger than the ones over here but I certainly wouldn't have room to fit a keyboard and iPad on the same desk!

I also feel Timer you might be trying to blur the line between laptop and iPad, As I've said many times before the iPad is NOT a laptop replacement. I've personally never had the need or want to connect anything to my iPad - I use Dropbox to backup all my notes to the cloud so I can access them anywhere, A Bluetooth keyboard is a far more elegant solution to plugging on in, In a world of constant Wifi and 3G the need for USB storage is becoming almost none existent.

[Timer]

so you would basically pay more to get 0 connectivity unless its wireless just because its elegant?

[Honey Badger]

:-D Oh man that gave me a good laugh.

I actually don't advocate buying a tablet period, but if I were to recommend one, it'd be an Android OS Tablet. "Elegance" doesn't mean jack when it comes down to the uses I'd have for one, and I'm sure a lot of folks feel the same way. Paying more for less because it "looks pretty" is exactly the problem I have with Macs, Apple and all their stuff in general.

[Timer]

also this: http://www.dailymail...-make-iPod.html

[duelistgamer]

Foxconn uses slave labour. Period.

[Honey Badger]

The bigger question is: Who doesn't these days?