Can we lose the mini with a ipad and a iphone?

[steve knight]

My wife is blind and She just got a new ipad and she had a 4s.
I was trying to work out if we can live without her mini. The first problem is typing. the ipad kind of sucks for her to type on as the keys are far apart and it is slow. but that's easy to fix with a bluetooth keyboard.
a lot of times it is faster to get around by touch too. itunes can be finicky and can crash along with mail.
she types email and streams pandora and iheart radio and AOL radio and serfs the web. most of the time she uses her iphone but now uses the ipad for this. But there are a few web pages she streams to her stereo and I think that's out with a ipad. where she can use a 3rd party app to do that.
she takes notes too and calendar and such. we have icloud and I can put her music on an external drive somewhere in house. But what about podcasts? right now itunes syncs the 3 newest unread ones. do you have to manually download each new one?

 

[chickenwingfly]

My wife is blind and She just got a new ipad and she had a 4s.

I had no idea blind people could use an iPhone or iPad. But then I'm a total ignorant on the accessibility side of iOS.

but that's easy to fix with a bluetooth keyboard.

Sure thing. Even a comfy cheapie USB one with the CCK works wonders.

itunes can be finicky and can crash along with mail.

Well I never got iTunes or Mail crash on me, but I guess you probably either have an old Mac Mini model or small amount of RAM (but I'm a Mac n00b so I can't advice on anything here).

But there are a few web pages she streams to her stereo and I think that's out with a ipad. where she can use a 3rd party app to do that.

The last part, was it a question?
What do you mean by "streams to her stereo" (example)?

But what about podcasts? right now itunes syncs the 3 newest unread ones. do you have to manually download each new one?

You mean syncs to the iPad/iPhone?
Anyway, iTunes auto-downloads podcasts to the frequency you specify (I think you can set this by podcast or globally), so once you subscribe, you forget about "updating" the feed. I'm a big podcast fan so yeah, I never worry about anything once I'm subscribed, I just expect the new "episodes" to be right on my iDevice once synched at night.
But also there is now a "Podcast" app by Apple (released yesterday or so), so, although I haven't tried that one yet, I'm guessing it will make us podcast lovers happier by being able to manage subscriptions and whatnot right on the iDevice without even needing to sync.

In short, I think you're in a good route to get rid of that pesky Mini

 

[steve knight]

below is a pic of her using it. it is voiceover that causes itunes and mail to crash. She has a new mini with 8 gigs of memory and only runs itunes and safari mail and maybe text edit.
Anyone to sync music like when using a smart playlist?
just downloaded the podcast app and that works well.

 

[chickenwingfly]

Anyone to sync music like when using a smart playlist?

I don't get you, sorry. Was that the answer to what does she stream from a webpage to her stereo?

 

[foranor]

Well, if you lose the computer, you can of course still use iPad / iPhone. There will be problems syncing music to the devices, I kind of ran into the same problem when I wondered how to get Music to my iPad which I took out of its box and ran without ever connecting it to a computer.
I don't use iTunes Match, so there was no way for me get the music on it.

I now use CopyTransManager because iTunes insisted on wiping my iPad when I hooked it up.

But if Music on your iPad is no issue because she only streams, you will be good to go with only the iPad.

When you say she streams to her stereo, I am guessing you have a wifi enabled speakerset somewhere? Or is the mini hooked up to some stereo over lan, using DLNA?
AirPlay should be your friend here, I think.

The only real issue I see is how to get music ON her pad, if you buy a new CD and want the music on it. Even if you have a digital download from Amazon, you will have problems getting it into your library.

 

[Chippy99]

below is a pic of her using it.

Cruel of you not to tell her she has green hair ;-)

(Only joking - please take this in the humorous way it is intended.)

 

[steve knight]

She uses airfoil to stream web music. Plus I think writing emails would be much faster on her mini. So we may not be mini free but she may not use it often. pandora and such work better on her iphone or ipad as she can see who is playing and thumb down or up them where she can't do that in safari.

 

[chickenwingfly]

She uses airfoil to stream web music.

I see. Then it won't be so easy on the iPad, maybe through bluetooth (I don't know if Airplay works for sound-only and can stream to the stereo same way you guys do with the mini now), and also consider browsers don't implement "real" multitasking as far as I know so she wouldn't be able to use the iPad for streaming music (if possible at all on mobile Safari and the likes) and using other app at the same time.

Plus I think writing emails would be much faster on her mini.

Yes indeed, unles she was using a keyboard, then things would be leveled.

 

[steve knight]

I was thinking os6 or is it mountain lion would have safari streaming?
would a keyboard let her tab though person and subject and message? to do it on the ipad she would have to touch on new email type in the email address and touch the right one then touch subject then touch message. each time she would have to find the right place unless she can move through them with the keyboard.

 

[Martyimac]

I can only tell you my experience. We are out of state looking for a new house. While the iPad was okay, I am very glad I brought my mini and a monitor for us to use while house hunting. More screen space, easier to go from app to app if I need to. Now, if I were not able to bring the mini/monitor with me, the iPad would have worked but when there is a choice, I use the mini/monitor combination for the computer work I had to do.

So my thoughts are that iPad is for consumption, a bigger computer is needed to do work. YMMV

 

[chickenwingfly]

would a keyboard let her tab though person and subject and message? to do it on the ipad she would have to touch on new email type in the email address and touch the right one then touch subject then touch message. each time she would have to find the right place unless she can move through them with the keyboard.

You're right. By default I think most of this is kaput.
I just tried with my iPad and tab works for changing, I even was able to open a "new mail" window via keyboard, but thinks like "Send" or picking up a mail from a list of contacts that come out = no idea, they don't work.
But then I realized I had BeeKeyboard (one of those install and forget tweaks), which is a Cydia (jailbroken) app that extends the keyboard functionality to use your own shortcuts etc (but then there is no way to customize it for "Mail" app I'm afraid).