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Functionality Holes Being Filled Quickly

redman042

redman042

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 13, 2008
3,063
1,657
Clearly the iPad is already great for consumption and fun, with some creation, but I would love to see the iPad reach a point where you truly can leave the laptop at home and get 95% of your work done on it. I haven't even purchased my iPad yet and it already seems like those holes are getting filled fast.

OS 4.0 will obviously take care of multitasking. It might also improve file sharing but we'll see. I'm seeing mention that you can already specify a "viewer" app for file types on iPad (but I don't know how this works) theoretically allowing you to get an email with a Word attachment and open it in Documents to Go or whatever app you want, rather than the built-in file viewer.

iWork for iPad isn't very fluent with Office files. It may get better over time. Browsing the iPad section of the App Store, I see Office2 Pro which implies that it does better - looks rough but may become a great alternative over time. I fully expect Documents to Go to end up with an iPad version as well. Heck, maybe even Office will come some day - it's on the Mac after all. I don't need all Office functionality but I need an app that won't mess up existing formatting in a document emailed to me.

I also see FileBrowser in the iPad app store. It's called NetPortal on the iPhone but looks almost the same. It gives you access to remote server files, downloading, opening and editing, and attaching to email. That will go a long way to making my iPad work-worthy.

So we're getting there. I'm convinced owning the iPad will definitely be worth it and this will only be more true over time, as apps are released and the OS is updated.
 
I don't think the ipad was made with with the intention to replace the laptop so I believe that their are certain things that we just won't see. Although some things are things that apps can take care of but certainly they won't be things across the OS.
 
redman042 said:
Clearly the iPad is already great for consumption and fun, with some creation, but I would love to see the iPad reach a point where you truly can leave the laptop at home and get 95% of your work done on it. I haven't even purchased my iPad yet and it already seems like those holes are getting filled fast.

OS 4.0 will obviously take care of multitasking. It might also improve file sharing but we'll see. I'm seeing mention that you can already specify a "viewer" app for file types on iPad (but I don't know how this works) theoretically allowing you to get an email with a Word attachment and open it in Documents to Go or whatever app you want, rather than the built-in file viewer.

iWork for iPad isn't very fluent with Office files. It may get better over time. Browsing the iPad section of the App Store, I see Office2 Pro which implies that it does better - looks rough but may become a great alternative over time. I fully expect Documents to Go to end up with an iPad version as well. Heck, maybe even Office will come some day - it's on the Mac after all. I don't need all Office functionality but I need an app that won't mess up existing formatting in a document emailed to me.

I also see FileBrowser in the iPad app store. It's called NetPortal on the iPhone but looks almost the same. It gives you access to remote server files, downloading, opening and editing, and attaching to email. That will go a long way to making my iPad work-worthy.

So we're getting there. I'm convinced owning the iPad will definitely be worth it and this will only be more true over time, as apps are released and the OS is updated.
Click to expand...

Holes are being filled slowly. We have to wait till fall for os 4. As a day one iPad owner, that seems too slow.

macDonalds said:
I think using this as a productivity device defeats its purpose.
Click to expand...

No it does not. It defeats Apple's desire ti avoid cannibalizing MacBook sales but the iPad feels exactly like the right form factor for a low end general purpose computer.

hchavarria said:
I don't think the ipad was made with with the intention to replace the laptop so I believe that their are certain things that we just won't see. Although some things are things that apps can take care of but certainly they won't be things across the OS.
Click to expand...

I agree, but in the end the Market dictates how gadgets get used. Just as jail breakers forced Apple to finally support wallpaper, there are enough net book replacement users out here that Apple will have to reluctantly support basic things like a filesystem. Apple started this when they advertised iWork on the iPad. It's called iWork,not iPlay!
 
r0k said:
I agree, but in the end the Market dictates how gadgets get used. Just as jail breakers forced Apple to finally support wallpaper, there are enough net book replacement users out here that Apple will have to reluctantly support basic things like a filesystem. Apple started this when they advertised iWork on the iPad. It's called iWork,not iPlay!
Click to expand...

I agree. In the end, the market will always win. I bet that the market for the iPad is primarily comprised of people who will also have a computer for their more complex tasks and file system management needs, who will continue to buy the iPad in droves without Apple every adding a dedicated file system.
 
czachorski said:
I agree. In the end, the market will always win. I bet that the market for the iPad is primarily comprised of people who will also have a computer for their more complex tasks and file system management needs, who will continue to buy the iPad in droves without Apple every adding a dedicated file system.
Click to expand...

Of course it will always win, it is APPLE.

Look it the HP slate....8x better than the iPad, YET people will not switch to the salte because this is APPLE.
 
I think the iPad will replace BASIC laptop productivity functions and that's what Apple had in mind. They did release iWork with the device and that certainly sends a message. While there could be some cannabalizing of Mac sales, the iPad makes them a healthy profit too and is more likely to pull customers away from Windows netbooks than Macs. It will also usher a new era of touch computing for the masses, and could easily expand into much more powerful touch-based Macs.

I don't ever see the iPad doing complex content creation, but it could easily evolve much beyond what it can do today, and for many, will be the perfect stand-alone road warrior tool.
 
iLiveUdie said:
Of course it will always win, it is APPLE.

Look it the HP slate....8x better than the iPad, YET people will not switch to the salte because this is APPLE.
Click to expand...

It's either magic and voodoo, or there is something else going it. Could it just be that 8x better (as defined by some functionality list, I suppose), makes it harder to use with a worse end user experience? Could it be that the lack of integration between the hardware and the OS will decrease the end user experience? Could it be that Apple can just design things better than HP and MS?

No, no, I'm sure that's not it. :rolleyes:
 
iLiveUdie said:
Of course it will always win, it is APPLE.

Look it the HP slate....8x better than the iPad, YET people will not switch to the salte because this is APPLE.
Click to expand...

8x better? What are you basing this on? The HP hasn't even come out yet, so no one really knows how it will function in real life. Its like the Joo Joo, everyone was saying how great that was going to be, and then when it finally came out it was horrible and no where near to what the ipad was.
 
macDonalds said:
I think using this as a productivity device defeats its purpose.
Click to expand...

The best thing about that is developers will help expand how the iPad can and will be used, just like most other platforms. No one was looking at the iPhone as a gaming platform when it first came until developers started creating really cool games. Apple may have a sense of what they see as the iPad's "purpose," but that sense can and will change as more apps bring more capabilities.

I think it's actually smart of Apple to leave some holes that can be filled by third parties to create a market that will push the iPad forward. Someone will create the means for the iPad to be a "productivity device."
 
redman042 said:
Clearly the iPad is already great for consumption and fun, with some creation, but I would love to see the iPad reach a point where you truly can leave the laptop at home and get 95% of your work done on it. I haven't even purchased my iPad yet and it already seems like those holes are getting filled fast.

OS 4.0 will obviously take care of multitasking. It might also improve file sharing but we'll see. I'm seeing mention that you can already specify a "viewer" app for file types on iPad (but I don't know how this works) theoretically allowing you to get an email with a Word attachment and open it in Documents to Go or whatever app you want, rather than the built-in file viewer.

iWork for iPad isn't very fluent with Office files. It may get better over time. Browsing the iPad section of the App Store, I see Office2 Pro which implies that it does better - looks rough but may become a great alternative over time. I fully expect Documents to Go to end up with an iPad version as well. Heck, maybe even Office will come some day - it's on the Mac after all. I don't need all Office functionality but I need an app that won't mess up existing formatting in a document emailed to me.

I also see FileBrowser in the iPad app store. It's called NetPortal on the iPhone but looks almost the same. It gives you access to remote server files, downloading, opening and editing, and attaching to email. That will go a long way to making my iPad work-worthy.

So we're getting there. I'm convinced owning the iPad will definitely be worth it and this will only be more true over time, as apps are released and the OS is updated.
Click to expand...

PDF annotation will help tremendously. Existing few options have poor UI. There are a number of these prgrams for windows based tablets but few for ipad. Stylus input helps here too.
 
redman042 said:
Clearly the iPad is already great for consumption and fun, with some creation, but I would love to see the iPad reach a point where you truly can leave the laptop at home and get 95% of your work done on it. I haven't even purchased my iPad yet and it already seems like those holes are getting filled fast.
Click to expand...

There are people, professionals, who agree with you. In this case, the writer is of some renown and feels it's already 90% there. http://kos.dailykos.com/
 
uraniumwilly said:
There are people, professionals, who agree with you. In this case, the writer is of some renown and feels it's already 90% there. http://kos.dailykos.com/
Click to expand...

For content creation I still don't see how this is better than a macbook air or a laptop in the 11-12 inch category.

While it is lighter if i'm doing my work those laptops aren't heavy enough that it really makes any noticeable difference and the speed i can get things on a laptop vs an ipad gives puts it on top. Note i'm someone who has to refer to many docs while i'm creating one. Right now and even in 4.0 this won't be very fluid.

As an entertainment device it's equal to those laptops as if i'm just lounging around wanting to read or watch something the fact it's light and small would encourage me to do it more.
 
ippikiokami said:
For content creation I still don't see how this is better than a macbook air or a laptop in the 11-12 inch category.

While it is lighter if i'm doing my work those laptops aren't heavy enough that it really makes any noticeable difference and the speed i can get things on a laptop vs an ipad gives puts it on top. Note i'm someone who has to refer to many docs while i'm creating one. Right now and even in 4.0 this won't be very fluid.

As an entertainment device it's equal to those laptops as if i'm just lounging around wanting to read or watch something the fact it's light and small would encourage me to do it more.
Click to expand...

I think you make good points. My MBP doesn't last too long on a charge. It's a 17", heavy and for travel I can do all I personally want to do on an iPad. I only need to write and get internet access. Everything else, movies, games, etc. or all extras - sexy extras.

It's as if my MBP has become my mothership and my desktop is no longer necessary.
 
uraniumwilly said:
There are people, professionals, who agree with you. In this case, the writer is of some renown and feels it's already 90% there. http://kos.dailykos.com/
Click to expand...

Best summary I've seen in a while:
Will this work for you? Beats the **** out of me. It depends on what your job is, whether there are apps that fill your needs, whether you're happy or not with an on-screen keyboard, and whether you care enough about "open versus closed" systems to let Apple's heavy-handed control over the device's hardware and software bother you.
Click to expand...
 
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