I suspect this is a workflow issue as I have no issues editing excel files in excel on my iPad that I have stored on cloud storage (Dropbox or onedrive) and then opening them on PC or Mac. What are you using to work with spreadsheets on the iPad?
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So... why buy an iPad?
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I suspect this is a workflow issue as I have no issues editing excel files in excel on my iPad that I have stored on cloud storage (Dropbox or onedrive) and then opening them on PC or Mac. What are you using to work with spreadsheets on the iPad?
I don't have my own office subscription and I think unless my device has airwatch I can't use my work office 365. So I use numbers. I mean I wouldn't care if it wasn't 100% to excel, but that coversheet is annoying. I end up just saving things to pdf if they are meant to be "viewed only".
Yeah, I don’t have any issues going from one to the other either. Maybe it’s a version thing?
Yea if you depend on Excel and use it quite a bit I’d bite the bullet if you can and pay for Office 365 - their iPad apps are incredible
I've had the luxury of my employer paying for my Office 365 subscription for the last several years and they let me use it on my personal iPad. I often wonder if I would pay for it out of pocket if I switched jobs and didn't have it anymore. I'm not sure that I would, but it sure is nice to have for free.
If I really needed it I would be happy to pay for it. iWork does everything just fine for me. It mostly is just how incompatible everything is with ms office that is the problem. It’s passable but not good enough to rely on. Thankfully 99% of the documents I have to do are meant to be read only and PDF is universally well supported.
Thanks. That was an interesting read. I share your enthusiasm for tablets and the IPP 10.5 seems to me to be really a polished device. I also share some of your complaints with my biggest being the lack of a decent and touch friendly file management system.
But what I am having a bit of a problem understanding is related to your taking pics with the iPad. So, for example, I would ask when out in the field, how do you take pics? Is your iPad in a case (very likely). Does it have a front cover? When you take pics do you have to remove the case and/ or the cover? That could be cumbersome? If yes, how do you mitigate it? I am just interested in the process, if you know what I mean. Thanks in advance.
Probably less cumbersome than blueprints and sheafs of paper on a clipboard. I've seen geotech engineers and land surveyors carrying around iPads in Otterbox cases (construction sites).
This is what it looks like. Case has a built-in clear screen protector. It has a stand that doubles as extra protection for the screen (useful when lugging it inside a bag or something). I expect most of them just leave that stand/cover in the car/home/office as I don't see those at job sites.
https://www.otterbox.com/en-us/ipad--5th-and-6th-gen-/defender-series-case/apl2-ipad-5th-gen.html
No problem.
I do work in construction. My iPad Pro replaces all of the paperwork for contracts, order forms, invoices, blueprints and designs. I also use it to organize and document ongoing jobs.
I imagine the 12.9 inch would be cumbersome but the 10.5 inch is actually nice taking photos with such a large view finder. My primary reason is that I have found iPhones die in half a day with how much heavy use I would put it through.
I have a solid case on the back. I only have it so I can set the iPad down on rough surfaces like stone with scratching the aluminum or the camera.
I also use it when I am on vacation. It tucks away into my bag and I pull it out when I want to get shots for vacation memories. I use affinity photo, and various other apps for editing photos. I’ve had excellent results with it.
Way nicer than shooting on a heavy tiny screen slr and moving all of that to my desktop to edit and reupload to my iCloud.
Let me know if you have any more questions or want specifics.
Ps: I never use the iPad in “laptop mode” with a stand or keyboard. I either hold it or set it flat.
I don't work in construction, but I definitely identify with your use cases. I used my iPad Pro for a lot of that kind of stuff when we were shopping for houses. I had a notebook going in Notability for various things we needed to take care of as well as all the properties we were looking at. I'd take pictures of the houses from the curb so I'd remember what was what, and then take handwritten notes with my Pencil while we were walking around looking at stuff. (I do use a keyboard, but I'd leave that at home while we were out and about.)
When we actually bought our new house and sold our old one, we were using the iPad to sign and send back documents. That proved to be so much better and faster than printing them, signing them, scanning them back in somewhere, and then sending them back again. And all parties involved really appreciated how prompt we could be.
Side note--I never understood why people are so critical of others using the iPad's camera. Like you said--it's a GREAT viewfinder and gets some really great results if that happens to be what you have in your hand when you need the picture. Also, it's there to add functionality, not be your every day all day camera. I use it more as a scanner and to flip the view if needed during FaceTime calls, and I would hate to not have it there. Of course I wouldn't want someone in front of me at a concert taking pictures with an iPad, and I see some people using them in really inappropriate situations, but that's not the iPad's fault. It's just lack of common sense.
Awesome post. This is exactly it. I take notes on the fly. Work of course, but also planning vacations or events. I drag and drop links to map locations, pictures, and can have handwritten or typed notes in between. When I attend lectures, I record the full audio of the lecture as I take notes. So I can sit through few hour long lectures, recording everything to review later, looking up relevant info to add with a drag and drop, and my battery isn’t even 1/4 gone.
I do this for work all the time. Our carbon paper contracts (have to have hard copies, company policy) are simply scanned into pdf, uploaded to one drive, and emailed out to relevant parties. We went from the yellow/pink blurry blob our scanner would take to full resolution iPad scans automatically converted to black and white for legibility.
See attached.
10.5 inch iPad Pro and Afterlight.Agreed. It’s all about respecting other people. I don’t care if people see me taking pictures on an iPad, but I won’t disrupt anyone.
Attachments
Thanks. One last question. Does the case you use have a cover for the screen?
No I wouldn’t have a case at all if I wasn’t worried about seriously scratching my iPad or camera. I am generally setting it down on rough surfaces.
This is the one thing I had to figure out before I could go iOS only. It takes an investment but I have found it to be worth it. I bought a QNAP server and set up a Plex server on it. QNAP has an app to manage the server and it includes a download center that basically searches 5 popular torrent sites. I then download directly to the server. It’s been useful as my own personal cloud, a Plex server, and recently a Homebridge. Nice investment. I have the QNAP TS251+ I think. It was like $500.
I bought an iPad for note taking, reading magazines and pdf files and for its ultra portability. My 12.9" ipad is lighter than 12" MacBook.
I’d like to rent or borrow a 12.9” IPP for a week to try it out. Trying it out in the store hasn’t really given me a good handle on how it would be in daily use. My sense is that it would be too large for me, but then again, I didn’t think I’d use an iPad before I bought mine. Plus I recently sold my 13” MBP, since I wasn’t using it, so I’m lugging around only one screen. Ok, two if you count my phone.
Spreadsheets would seem to be nicer on the larger model, as would some documents. Or websites. Photos. Hmmmm. Come to think of it, a larger screen is sounding better...
Spreadsheets would seem to be nicer on the larger model, as would some documents. Or websites. Photos. Hmmmm. Come to think of it, a larger screen is sounding better...
Buy from a vendor with a good return policy, such as Apple for example, and try the device during the return period. I guess at this stage you’re just waiting for the new models to be announced?
Yes, I’m guessing we’ll see something new from Apple this fall or winter.
I have considered purchasing it with the idea of returning it if it’s not all that, and going for the 10.5”.
It’s probably the only way I’ll be able to know which one I want, for sure.