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MobileMe and my iPad

N

nickarate

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 19, 2008
176
0
I might be weird here... But I operate all my files on my mbp with my iDisk, automatically saving all of them into the "cloud". The functionality i was hoping to have would be to access and edit this files on my god device (which I'm using to type this out). Is there something I'm missing here? The idisk app is worse than useless as it needs to upscale, and really doesn't do what I want it to... And MobileMe in the browser doesn't seem to work.

I'm sure all the smart people here on macrumors have already found a solution... But I'm pretty epicly lost.

Thanks all,
Nick
 
It all makes sense to me. Because people don't understand file management, Apple gave us no way to do so on iPad...thus making file management on it 1000% harder.

The way you're supposed to get documents onto iPad is through iTunes. As far as I know, there is no way to actually browse and & open files on iPad, and no true way to store them locally.

It annoys me so much.
 
After reading this post, I tested this out with Dropbox. I also have MobileMe and used the iDisk for a few years. I also have a friend who has your exact same setup, using iDisk (formerly) and Dropbox (currently) to store all her files, so I'm used to the setup.

With Dropbox, it works surprisingly well. Clicking on PDF files opened them right in safari, while clicking on a word document opened them in the browser initially, with an option to open (and edit) the files in Pages. You couldn't save the edits back to the Dropbox, but you could move them back there the next time you synced with iTunes.

So, overall, not perfect, but a lot better than I expected.
 
GoodReader for the iPad supports downloading from, and uploading to, the iDisk as well as Google Docs, Dropbox and several other online/cloud servers.

It's quickly becoming my favorite iPad app.
 
MobileMe is eventually gonna have to sync everything! With this iPad I feel like I should be able to access/edit/share any file on my network of macs at any time (including texts and messages from my phone)
 
I will definitely check out good reader... But it really seems like a broken system at the moment. I don't want to have a file stored on my iPad that could potentiLly be different than my Mac. I was hoping they would update the iDisk app to support this... And maybe it is coming.

Trust me, I'm not a troll when i say this... But i feel like apple drooped the ball a bit on the productivity side with iWork without a decent file sharing system.
 
nickarate said:
I will definitely check out good reader... But it really seems like a broken system at the moment. I don't want to have a file stored on my iPad that could potentiLly be different than my Mac. I was hoping they would update the iDisk app to support this... And maybe it is coming.

Trust me, I'm not a troll when i say this... But i feel like apple drooped the ball a bit on the productivity side with iWork without a decent file sharing system.
Click to expand...

I have not downloaded iWork yet... but I am planning to do so. I agree 100% with you that I fully expected to be able to work with my Mobile Me account as the file system for iWork. This change has to be coming. It has to be embarrassing for the MM crew that this is not supported.

/Jim
 
From the sound of it, Apple has also lost the opportunity with the delay between preview and launch to make iPad specific versions of iDisk, MobileMe Gallery, and importantly the Remote App. I think the remote App should be completely redesigned.

On that note it would have been really nice to see the iTunes Store part of the iPod App on iPad since it is so iTunes like. I understand that for movies the files have to go to videos and that the App Store is still a separate App. It just doesn't makes sense to have to leave the iPod App to go buy music.

But like a lot of things Apple does, expect that how it is and how it works today will probably change several times. They don't always just improve, often they scrap and change paradigms and that can be frustrating.
 
This is something that has really surprised me. I was sort of expecting that MobileMe would work flawlessly with the iPad from day one, since there is no other ready file management. And I want to do a lot from the cloud, keep things synced, etc...
 
Yes, file management is horrible on the iPad... Paying for MobileMe, I should be able to open a file in Pages, save it on MobileMe and have the same files on my Desktop. Can't be that difficult.
 
roland.g said:
From the sound of it, Apple has also lost the opportunity with the delay between preview and launch to make iPad specific versions of iDisk, MobileMe Gallery, and importantly the Remote App. I think the remote App should be completely redesigned.

On that note it would have been really nice to see the iTunes Store part of the iPod App on iPad since it is so iTunes like. I understand that for movies the files have to go to videos and that the App Store is still a separate App. It just doesn't makes sense to have to leave the iPod App to go buy music.

But like a lot of things Apple does, expect that how it is and how it works today will probably change several times. They don't always just improve, often they scrap and change paradigms and that can be frustrating.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, I think this should be the way it works on the desktop too. Separate the store(s) from the functionality. iTunes tries to do too much at the moment.
 
schulzmc said:
If you grab a doc file with Goodreader, can you open it in Pages on the iPad?
Click to expand...

Not as far as I can tell. It'll view it, but you can't edit with Pages.
** A work-around would be to pull the file off the server with GoodReader, then email it to yourself, then open it in Pages.

Here's hoping iPhone OS 4 can do better.

I suspect though that Apple isn't interested in adding file management functionality, or they would have done it already.
 
We are definitely caught in limbo with the iPad. It is much more than an iPhone in terms of functionality but it is not a MacBook or MBP. The file downloading/transfer/management protocols are absolutely terrible. Not being able to download and mark up PDF files is a major handicap. Also not being able to download zip files, extract docs, spreadsheets or PDF files etc is a major blow to productivity.

Looks like my trusty MBP is a long way from retirement. This shiny new toy might be OK for short trips but itV's not a business tool, yet.
 
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