Sadly, iPad not for me. Not enough productivity

[Chupa Chupa]

He still didn't say he cannot afford it. Some people just don't want to throw money unnecessarily.

And what does that have to do with the post re: "price" that I was responding to? The exact point I was responding to was where the poster wrote 'I have yet to see a phrase or word about "price" in his post.... Man you must be high. I want what you're having'. That of course is untrue, b/c OP does infer price. I never flatly stated or inferred anything about OP's ability or inability to purchase the iPad. Let's not go changing the subject to fit your point.

Obviously there are plenty of people in the world than can afford things but opt not to buy them for one reason or another. But that is not what I was responding too. Maybe you need a little something for your reading comprehension, or lack thereof, too.

 

[Dsr1205]

I feel the same

I bought a 3g+wifi 64GB on launch day and since i bought it i have felt like it is was just not worth the money. I personally wanted a netbook-esk experience. I mean i LOVE my iPhone and will probably use one until i die, and every time i want to see a flash website or do something really productive like code or write something in Microsoft /pages, i say to myself, hey its just a phone that does a few things very well, and thats fine.
Now when i look at my iPad, i see this huge iPhone. Now i never use my iphone except for texting. Why even bother having my iPhone anymore? I think a netbook will be what i want, and im gonna buy a nice one for 400-600$ Personally, this is my story.
If I was super into reading books id love the iPad, or if i was super into holding a 10 inch screen up to my face all the time to do video watching or half-assed webbrowsing, but TBH i rather sit on my couch and watch netflix there because i just never use the iPad for all its magical and revolutionary features.

Also, one of the biggest problems i have had is while trying to use this thing, all my friends constantly put their fingers all over it to **** with what im trying to do. It was funny at first but got annoying fast. Also, when using this on my lap, i have never felt more "exposed" while viewing the web. Like everyone can see what your doing, i just feel odd.

TLDR: What might be right for you, may not be right for some. I'm a apple fanboy who just doesn't NEED an iPad and could use something else.

/flamesuit on

 

[Buck987]

I have yet to see a phrase or word about "price" in his post.... Man you must be high. I want what you're having

I agree. Some people are reading too much into this post.

 

[MRU]

Any device is only as good or as useful as the end user makes of it.

Yes the ipad has limitations, but it has more positives too. Sure it's not going to be for everyone and thats alright.

As for the assumption that it's no good for productivity, i suggest some of you need to check out the art threads in this sub forum.

For me the iPad is the perfect companion productive little friend. My diary and journal, my tool for mocking up ideas for design work (omnigraffle, mockup, adobe ideas) whilst I'm with clients, fantastic drawing tool for those times when you just want to relax and let your creative streak run wild (brushes, layers pro, sketchbook pro), I have all my projects and jobs catalogued and scheduled (evernote, things, bento), i'm able to keep track of my day to day expenses (expenses, money), download files and share them (good reader, downloader, airsharing HD), print documents (airsharing HD, print central), show off websites, flyers, brochures, illustrations to potential and existing clients in my own little portable portfolio. I can keep track of my emails at all times and yes attach more than one attachment I can multi-track record song ideas (studio tracks) and so so much more...

Can't do anything productive? For some this may be the case. For others like me the iPad has become an idespensible tool.

 

[MacVDS]

As a photographer myself there are some wishes I had for this thing but it seems that most won't be answer in this revision
1) live preview with camera straight to ipad - From everything i've read and asked to developer friends. There is no way the ipad can do this. The usb dongle is too locked down.
2) On a long trip even at my 32 gb I could probably blow through that space easy with pictures. That's saying I don't have any other pictures or videos on there (I do video work also) that would take up space.
3) Editing is really minimal on it. If it's a fun picture i'm only going to post on something like facebook it's fine. If it's something I'm doing for a gig or anything else that is more serious then I want a real editor to use.
4) Why oh why do I have to go through iTunes or Buy another App just to get pictures off of this thing.
5) Again the USB lockdown ... can't just copy pictures off it to an external harddrive.

Actually, some of these issues are addressed with the camera kit. While you can't "preview" your photos (other than thumbnails) you can simply import them in full resolution. The imported photos can be viewed and deleted as you wish while in the import folder of the iPad. You can't really transfer your imported photos and videos via iTunes, but you can import them anywhere you like with Windows Photo Gallery (free) and more than likely with iPhoto for the Mac (which I think is free) though since I don't have a Mac someone who does needs to confirm this. In Windows photo gallery, it recognizes the iPad as a camera for importing, allows you to select photos in the Camera Roll and Events galleries, even grouped by date taken. You can also choose to have imported photos deleted on your iPad after transfer is complete. I'm going to assume iPhoto works somewhat similar???? The whole process can be done quickly without ever involving iTunes and can be directed to any drive or directory you designate. Very slick.

 

[anthonymoody]

For my part I've retired my MBP and use my iPad as my primary computer. Yes, as has been pointed out there are some workflow and productivity issues that can be largely solved by apps and patience. I have no doubt those solutions will get even better, whether from apps or the OS itself. And for the true remaining shortfalls i retain a household iMac which serves as central hub for media storage and syncing. So if i really need to do something the iPad cannot, i have that option.

Beyond that, everything else is better, more enjoyable, and more convenient on the iPad than it ever was on my MBP.

 

[Zazoh]

What??? Welcome to dealing with other people and working in groups, especially since not everyone else is digital.

Printing, though, is certainly archaic, but how do you get around attachments and files?

In dealing with groups the most efficient way is to have the work objects in a centralized location with check-out and versioning. If you are sending files around, they must at some point be merged and the process doesn't allow for concurrent work, only serial. HIGHLY inefficient.

I can't think of a task handled digitally that interfaces with the analog world, in my realm of work.

Files exist outside of an application, this puts the files at risk from a control perspective. Files should be transparent to a user and internal to the application until there purpose no longer fits that application. Thus, the traditional word document of yesteryear becomes an online document accessible by many through an application. (Wiki sites and blog sites use this functionality) Content should live in a data structure or XML format to allow parsing by applications that need it, and ultimately live in the cloud.

 

[aperry]

I just love how offended some people around here sound when someone describes their decision to return (or not purchase) the iPad due to it's limitations.

I love my iPad, but there's no way I'll be reaching for the iPad when I have a deadline looming. I work with "typical" productivity-related apps (MS Office, Excel, PPT, etc) and I find it hard to believe that anyone like me (and there are a LOT of people like me) can be as efficient or productive on an iPad compared to a laptop/desktop.

Typing? Even if I could buy the argument that typing on an iPad is as fast as typing on a physical keyboard (and it's not), it's near impossible to place the cursor between two letters with any kind of reliability and speed which makes it fairly inefficient for document creation IMO. Selecting text is even worse!

Document management? Yeah, I have Goodreader rigged to Dropbox, which automatically syncs certain laptop/desktop folders. This is acceptable, I guess. But the Goodreader interface is terrible and awfully inconsistent with the iPad's UI and it's still limiting. Goodreader can send documents to a new email, and it has cut and paste, but the cut and paste functions aren't system-wide. Maybe someone will correct me on this, but I can't figure out how to display my iPad's photos inside of Goodreader, which means I also don't know how to send an email with both a PDF and a photo attached. It's just a small example of how kludgy this whole thing is.

How can I print to a network-attached printer? To the guy who said "there's an app for that". Which app is that exactly? I see apps for shared printers and I see apps for specific brands of printers. None of them seem to print to enough printers to make them worthwhile in an enterprise environment and all of their reviews are terrible.

Anyway, I agree with the much of what the OP said. For most people this is not a productivity device and it certainly wasn't designed to be one (as evidenced by all these crappy workarounds required to perform basic tasks expected out of any $250 netbook).

That said, what it does....it does beautifully and extremely well. I agree with the guys who defend the iPad as a great portfolio viewer. Even though that's not my field, I could imaging impressing people in that situation. For me it's worth every penny as a device that I use for entertainment and light emailing and a whole lot of web browsing.

Now.....who have I offended?

 

[Riviera122]

How's word processing on the iPad? With the keyboard dock, can writing long documents (e.g. Engilsh essays) be taken seriously on the Pages app?

 

[AJsAWiz]

I use my iPad for fun and my iMac for productivity

 

[H00513R]

I use my iPad for fun and my iMac for productivity

+1 I just use mine to surf. If you need heavy productivity then get a laptop.

 

[dcsatt]

...If you need heavy productivity then get a laptop.

I understand what you're saying, but that's simply not entirely true. It really depends on what workflow one employs.

In the last 30 days, I have successfully implemented a combination of cloud computing (including document storage/management/collaboration via Dropbox) and apps to allow me to run my small litigation law firm (three employees) from my iPad. Of course, the document-heavy side of things is handled at the office with the iMacs and Xerox scanners, but I can manage the entire process remotely with the iPad (including reviewing volumes of documents; editing Pages drafts; signing electronically; sending/receiving faxes via MaxEmail; managing the cases/tasks/milestones through Basecamp; researching case law; reviewing property damage photos; creating mediation presentations on Keynote for iPad; reviewing medical records and radiology scans; annotating PDFs; live-chatting with my staff; and emailing all of the above, among many other things).

I use the iPad from sun up to sun down, and 90% of that usage is productivity-based. So, it's quite possible. It's a paradigm shift.

 

[blg123]

Personally, I'm not looking for heavy productivity out of my iPad, but I am still looking for good ideas for ways to integrate it into my daily work routine.

I am starting to use Things for task management, but I would prefer if it would sync to a web version of Things so I could update tasks if I'm away from my iPad (which isn't very often).

I have Evernote installed, but haven't found much use for it for business yet. I hear rave reviews, especially for people who are doing home improvement projects, etc. Ideas?

I tried using Penultimate to take notes in a meeting, and that was a waste of time. Great app, but won't serve my purpose. I'm hesitant to tap out notes in meetings as I think it will distract or annoy people. I also don't think I can tap notes out as fast as I could write in a notebook. Any suggestions here would be great.

I have Goodreader, but haven't found many business uses yet. I am in an MBA program, so I'll try loading PDF's articles to read.

Also have Pages / Numbers / Keynote, and have loaded a few docs / spreadsheets / presentations. Need to experiment more with those.

 

[ippikiokami]

I understand what you're saying, but that's simply not entirely true. It really depends on what workflow one employs.

In the last 30 days, I have successfully implemented a combination of cloud computing (including document storage/management/collaboration via Dropbox) and apps to allow me to run my small litigation law firm (three employees) from my iPad. Of course, the document-heavy side of things is handled at the office with the iMacs and Xerox scanners, but I can manage the entire process remotely with the iPad (including reviewing volumes of documents; editing Pages drafts; signing electronically; sending/receiving faxes via MaxEmail; managing the cases/tasks/milestones through Basecamp; researching case law; reviewing property damage photos; creating mediation presentations on Keynote for iPad; reviewing medical records and radiology scans; annotating PDFs; live-chatting with my staff; and emailing all of the above, among many other things).

I use the iPad from sun up to sun down, and 90% of that usage is productivity-based. So, it's quite possible. It's a paradigm shift.

First you have to get cloud computing up and going for your document management. Meaning you need to have a wifi / 3g connection wherever you are to share a file. You can't just copy it on a usb stick.
You have separate iMacs and Printers connected to them to get your documents printed out. You're supplementing your functionality with a paid basecamp and maxemail and almost all the productivity you are getting out of it comes from third party apps / webpages / resources. Pages , Keynote , Numbers while functional .. you can not say they can handle every situation as efficiently as a notebook. So in the end. What about the iPad made it a better productivity tool than a thin and light notebook of anykind? If you were just a 1 man firm would you be be even less efficient just on an iPad? I am definitely not knocking your use of the iPad if you love it that's great

A lot of people seem to be saying if I do a, b ,c ,d and add x amount of apps, while having this and that it's just efficient as a laptop and I'll spend 499$ on up on it! Or maybe in half a year, a year, next gen, etc it will have the functionality I need. Well folks that means right now it's not right for you! I've been to a few of the Apple Store meetings for business owners with iPads and even in those meetings it seems a lot of compromises are made or extra apps / functionality are used to supplement the iPad to be a laptop.

 

[ct2k7]

And what does that have to do with the post re: "price" that I was responding to? The exact point I was responding to was where the poster wrote 'I have yet to see a phrase or word about "price" in his post.... Man you must be high. I want what you're having'. That of course is untrue, b/c OP does infer price. I never flatly stated or inferred anything about OP's ability or inability to purchase the iPad. Let's not go changing the subject to fit your point.

Obviously there are plenty of people in the world than can afford things but opt not to buy them for one reason or another. But that is not what I was responding too. Maybe you need a little something for your reading comprehension, or lack thereof, too.

I've completely misunderstood what you mean, and henceforth, I apologise.

 

[raremage]

First you have to get cloud computing up and going for your document management. Meaning you need to have a wifi / 3g connection wherever you are to share a file. You can't just copy it on a usb stick.
You have separate iMacs and Printers connected to them to get your documents printed out. You're supplementing your functionality with a paid basecamp and maxemail and almost all the productivity you are getting out of it comes from third party apps / webpages / resources. Pages , Keynote , Numbers while functional .. you can not say they can handle every situation as efficiently as a notebook. So in the end. What about the iPad made it a better productivity tool than a thin and light notebook of anykind? If you were just a 1 man firm would you be be even less efficient just on an iPad? I am definitely not knocking your use of the iPad if you love it that's great

It works for some, not so much for others. Just because it requires a change in workflow process does not mean it is not worth the change.

A lot of people seem to be saying if I do a, b ,c ,d and add x amount of apps, while having this and that it's just efficient as a laptop and I'll spend 499$ on up on it! Or maybe in half a year, a year, next gen, etc it will have the functionality I need. Well folks that means right now it's not right for you! I've been to a few of the Apple Store meetings for business owners with iPads and even in those meetings it seems a lot of compromises are made or extra apps / functionality are used to supplement the iPad to be a laptop.

If you take a look at his basecamp or your laptop, you might notice you had to setup an infrastructure to truly leverage the old workflow. That included buying apps to support workflow functions.
Very few people can rely on what comes on the laptop / PC / iPad to meet their needs without adding additional software. So how does the need to supplement functionality with additional software refute building a business workflow that supports the ipad as a productivity tool?

There's another argument to be made here as well: just because we are used to the current paradigm, does not mean we will continue to do it that way forever. Cloud Services are predicted (by some, not others) to be the way business computing will work in the future. It's possible that the iPad is a key step in motivating business workflow to move in that direction...

 

[MRU]

@ ippikioami


So your saying the functionality we use is from the software and therefore the iPad is inheritantly useless?

How the heck is it any different to a pc? A pc is inheritantly useless without software/applications.

Your argument is so full of holes.

 

[147798]

OP here -- well, I bought an iPad today anyway (call it peer pressure -- my colleague has one and we talked about some productivity workflows with it).

One thing that drove me was the idea of doing a presentation, driven by my MBP, where i can run a capture application (audio and screen content) on the MBP that is running the content to the room projector. I can walk the room with my iPad controlling the presentation, bringing up excel spreadsheets, etc. The MBP runs the presentation (not just ppt, but spreadsheets and everything) to the projector, and captures it, I am free to roam and work with people around the room.

I've just downloaded numbers, pages, dropbox, goodreader, etc. and will see how it handles documents and work. If it proves to be difficult I can either return (with a 10% restock) or resell (without too much loss, I'm sure).

It's worth a look (it wouldn't have been if I couldn't have done the things I mentioned in my post, but some very knowledgeable people pointed out the apps -- it should still be built in, but maybe it will be at some point).

 

[raremage]

OP here -- well, I bought an iPad today anyway (call it peer pressure -- my colleague has one and we talked about some productivity workflows with it).

One thing that drove me was the idea of doing a presentation, driven by my MBP, where i can run a capture application (audio and screen content) on the MBP that is running the content to the room projector. I can walk the room with my iPad controlling the presentation, bringing up excel spreadsheets, etc. The MBP runs the presentation (not just ppt, but spreadsheets and everything) to the projector, and captures it, I am free to roam and work with people around the room.

I've just downloaded numbers, pages, dropbox, goodreader, etc. and will see how it handles documents and work. If it proves to be difficult I can either return (with a 10% restock) or resell (without too much loss, I'm sure).

It's worth a look (it wouldn't have been if I couldn't have done the things I mentioned in my post, but some very knowledgeable people pointed out the apps -- it should still be built in, but maybe it will be at some point).

Well THAT's a real thread killer

Congrats, enjoy, and don't be afraid of doing things new ways. They just might turn out to be better than the old ways!

 

[aluren]

I use my iPad for fun and my iMac for productivity

That comment should've ended this thread. I don't get why people need so much productivity out of the iPad when Steve Jobs himself said that the iPad only does certain key things really well - web browsing, mail, photos, music, videos. Apple never said it's a full fledged computer that will replace your laptop.

For me, it's something I use when I'm at home and away from work. The last thing I want to do on the iPad is something productive! But of course, that's just me.

 

[MacVDS]

Let's see, all the people who had to have one got theirs. All the people that needed someone to help them decide if they wanted one got theirs. Now we are working on the people who don't want one, their getting theirs. Wonder when all the people who don't even know they don't want one yet will show up?

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

Reading this thread makes me wonder something.

Is there an app on the marketplace that would allow you to access a shared folder on a NAS between a MBP and an iPad? Like a synched folder 'in the cloud' so to speak. Then you could start working on a file on either device and move freely between both devices as desired, with the most recent changes always saved to the shared document?

I played with the iPad my wife had but never thought about using it like this as I couldn't figure out the file system (it seemed pretty wonky as noted in this thread). But that would open up a lot of new uses for the device in my mind if such an app existed. Thus far all I see are ways to move files to an iPad/iPhone, move them back, etc. I want to eliminate the middleman and just share access to the same file that resides on neither device....totally 'in the cloud.'

 

[diabolic]

Is there an app on the marketplace that would allow you to access a shared folder on a NAS between a MBP and an iPad? Like a synched folder 'in the cloud' so to speak. Then you could start working on a file on either device and move freely between both devices as desired, with the most recent changes always saved to the shared document?

You can do something similar with iWork.com. I was using it to move a presentation I was working on in Keynote from the iPad to my MacBook. You choose Share via iWork.com and then you can access the file from Safari and download it to Keynote on either device. Sharing it again after editing allows you to replace the file that is already there or save a separate version.

 

[dcsatt]

Reading this thread makes me wonder something.

Is there an app on the marketplace that would allow you to access a shared folder on a NAS between a MBP and an iPad? Like a synched folder 'in the cloud' so to speak. Then you could start working on a file on either device and move freely between both devices as desired, with the most recent changes always saved to the shared document?

Dropbox.

 

[raremage]

Reading this thread makes me wonder something.

Is there an app on the marketplace that would allow you to access a shared folder on a NAS between a MBP and an iPad? Like a synched folder 'in the cloud' so to speak. Then you could start working on a file on either device and move freely between both devices as desired, with the most recent changes always saved to the shared document?

I played with the iPad my wife had but never thought about using it like this as I couldn't figure out the file system (it seemed pretty wonky as noted in this thread). But that would open up a lot of new uses for the device in my mind if such an app existed. Thus far all I see are ways to move files to an iPad/iPhone, move them back, etc. I want to eliminate the middleman and just share access to the same file that resides on neither device....totally 'in the cloud.'

Both Air Sharing or Goodreader support file sharing via a central repository.