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iPad on a "deserted" island?

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dakine85

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2008
29
0
I have a friend who is going to Laysan Atoll, it is a very remote land mass in the middle of the Pacific. It is part of the Hawaiian chain, but about 800 miles away from Honolulu. My friend will be there for 8 months as an environmental specialist. He will have electricity and a satellite phone for emergencies. He'll be able to send simple text emails. So he technically has access to the internet, but just not as his leisure. So let's say for all intents and purposes, he doesn't have internet access. And therefore he won't be able to update via iTunes.

He won't be alone on the atoll, there are 4-5 other people on the job too.

I was wondering what your thoughts are about him getting an iPad to help him not go crazy while he's on the atoll? I was thinking it would be good so he'd have photos and videos of friends and family back home. Plus he could load up games, books, whatnot before he leaves to hopefully keep him occupied. He has a MacBook pro, but i'm not certain he is going to bring it.

Is it a good choice to get him an iPad for the 8 months? Bad choice? Any other alternatives you suggest? I've already thought of portable DVD players, portable video game systems (Nintendo DS, PSP), books (electronic or paper).
 
My iPad would be the first thing I would grab if I am going on something like that.
I would load it up music, videos, games, books to last me probably not as long as 8 months but hey, close enough.
From what you have described, your friend will just want to consume content whilst he is there, which is what every review has raved about the iPad
 
If I were going to this place, the iPad would be the first item in my suitcase. Portable DVD players, gaming systems are single purpose devices. The iPad will do all that and more.

The only downside is that if your friend has an extensive DVD collection that he wants to watch, he would have to either rip them to a computer and convert to put on iPad, or rebuy the ones he wants to watch from iTunes before he leaves.
 
Wait... He's going to a beautiful island in the middle of the pacific? I'd say, bring a lot of sunscreen and a nice lounge chair, a crap load of your favorite beer, and about $2000.00 worth of Kindle books (to use the kindle by day and the iPad at night).

Paper books would be good too in case of a power outage. But hell, he's on an island in the Pacific. Enjoy it without the screen in front of your face.

Buy a snorkel.
 
... Sudoku, originally part of the Big Bang Brain Games suite, and Mystery of Shark Island, a new hidden object game taking place on a deserted island...
 
harry20larry said:
My iPad would be the first thing I would grab if I am going on something like that.
I would load it up music, videos, games, books to last me probably not as long as 8 months but hey, close enough.
From what you have described, your friend will just want to consume content whilst he is there, which is what every review has raved about the iPad
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. Without the cloud to take things from and put things in, the iPad would be useless in my opinion. The apps I open most are Safari, Mail, and Netflix.

If I was on the island, I'd bring my Touch with music and DoodleJump on it :)
 
OGDaniel said:
I don't know about that. Without the cloud to take things from and put things in, the iPad would be useless in my opinion. The apps I open most are Safari, Mail, and Netflix.
Click to expand...

Therein lies the beauty of the device. People use it in different ways. I used the ABC app and Netflix when I first got it, but haven't touched them since. I use it to read books during my commute and I've loaded it up with lots of pdf work documents. And I play the occasional game when I'm bored. I wouldn't hesitate to bring it with me if I were going to an isolated setting for a long time. Lack of Internet doesn't render the device unusable.
 
8 months! Well you'll need to get a 64gb iPad for all those movies n stuff, buy a load of book as they don't take up much space and they last longer than movies and things, so I would say get a load of book a few tv series, loads of apps that have a really long story mode and a spare charger
 
The lack of an ethernet port is a bit limiting at times - so many hotels I have stayed at recently have wired but no wireless Internet. Luckily I can survive a day or two, but 8 months would be pushing it a bit.
 
Tulipone said:
The lack of an ethernet port is a bit limiting at times - so many hotels I have stayed at recently have wired but no wireless Internet. Luckily I can survive a day or two, but 8 months would be pushing it a bit.
Click to expand...

Airport express
 
I'd be tempted to ditch the movies and music (I'd get an iPod for music) and just load the iPad up with books, the number of books you could get on a 64GB is mind boggling! Project guttenburg has loads of freebies that are a good read, like Sherlock Holmes.

+1 for the girl though.

Oh and get the Pages app so you could do some writing, maybe a journal?

Edit: I wish they would let us normal people go, I'd love to go!

Edit2: This sounds an awful lot like the dharma initiative (Lost - TV program)
 
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