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rtay

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 16, 2010
221
0
I have barely put down my ipad since I bought it. I love it, but it should be able to do some much more. The only time i have opened my laptop is when i had to sync it, annoying, but not a deal breaker. But the worst part of it is how you cannot download files from the internet. I can see how they wanted to still sell macs, which is fine, but this could totally replace a laptop. I can see how people just call this a big iPod touch, which is fine, iPod touch is a little computer. But now i have to wait for jail breaking just to get a browser that will let me download the PDA I get from my teachers. And there is no easy way I can get those onto my iPad even then to get into something like pad notes where i can highlight parts of the text. I hope they at least fix this in 4.0, this thing could easily kill laptops if you could just download files from the Internet.
 
I'm surprised you're surprised by this. It was very apparent from the moment the iPad was announced that it would not be capable of doing the things you've described.
 
I'm surprised you're surprised by this. It was very apparent from the moment the iPad was announced that it would not be capable of doing the things you've described.

No, a lot of the features, like downloading free-range content from the internet wasn't known until now.
 
I have barely put down my ipad since I bought it. I love it, but it should be able to do some much more. The only time i have opened my laptop is when i had to sync it, annoying, but not a deal breaker. But the worst part of it is how you cannot download files from the internet. I can see how they wanted to still sell macs, which is fine, but this could totally replace a laptop. I can see how people just call this a big iPod touch, which is fine, iPod touch is a little computer. But now i have to wait for jail breaking just to get a browser that will let me download the PDA I get from my teachers. And there is no easy way I can get those onto my iPad even then to get into something like pad notes where i can highlight parts of the text. I hope they at least fix this in 4.0, this thing could easily kill laptops if you could just download files from the Internet.

ah, didn't you realize any of this BEFORE you whipped out your credit card???

I mean, if I went out and bought a car with no trunk space, shame on me if I went back to the dealer bitching about it.

THINK, before you buy.
 
I think there are 3rd party browsers and other apps in the app store that will allow you to download content
 
I hope they at least fix this in 4.0, this thing could easily kill laptops if you could just download files from the Internet.

ah, it won't "kill" laptops if it has the features you want, because there is no physical keyboard, not to mention a whole slew of other issues like no USB slots, no...do I really need to mention ALL the things the iPad DOESN'T have, that a laptop has???
 
Just out of curiosity, what sort of files would you want to download? You can already get content from the iTunes store, iBooks, etc., and meanwhile you can stream audio/video entertainment from a host of places including ABC, CBS and Netflix. Dropbox and MobileMe provide other ways of accessing files. So, what are you missing (besides viruses and malware)? And then there's Calibre, which I just discovered yesterday. http://calibre-ebook.com/demo --not super-easy to use, but works well and does some wondrous things for getting readable stuff into the iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad, though it requires a computer.
 
Just out of curiosity, what sort of files would you want to download? You can already get content from the iTunes store, iBooks, etc., and meanwhile you can stream audio/video entertainment from a host of places including ABC, CBS and Netflix. Dropbox and MobileMe provide other ways of accessing files. So, what are you missing (besides viruses and malware)? And then there's Calibre, which I just discovered yesterday. http://calibre-ebook.com/demo --not super-easy to use, but works well and does some wondrous things for getting readable stuff into the iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad, though it requires a computer.

There's loads of free-range legal content that users post for others that aren't hosted through mainstream portals.
 
ah, it won't "kill" laptops if it has the features you want, because there is no physical keyboard, not to mention a whole slew of other issues like no USB slots, no...do I really need to mention ALL the things the iPad DOESN'T have, that a laptop has???

Apple has no intention of killing laptops. This is a new computing paradigm, the first to really make sense on a tablet format. It plugs into a host of emerging user behaviors and preferences-- for example, at a time when folks are starting to resort to using Google and Spotlight to navigate their computers' file systems, the iPad does away with the file system. Files are just there, yet you can still organize things (as, for example, most of us do with iTunes when we make playlists etc).

Just as laptops haven't killed desktop computers (and won't), the iPad will not kill laptops. There's room in the world for both.

It might kill other things, though: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/04/02/ipad-the-destroyer-19-things-it-will-kill/
 
Just out of curiosity, what sort of files would you want to download? You can already get content from the iTunes store, iBooks, etc., and meanwhile you can stream audio/video entertainment from a host of places including ABC, CBS and Netflix. Dropbox and MobileMe provide other ways of accessing files. So, what are you missing (besides viruses and malware)? And then there's Calibre, which I just discovered yesterday. http://calibre-ebook.com/demo --not super-easy to use, but works well and does some wondrous things for getting readable stuff into the iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad, though it requires a computer.

In case you missed his original post, he specifically mentioned the need to download PDF files posted from his teacher. Where you got video streaming out of that, I don't know.
 
But now i have to wait for jail breaking just to get a browser that will let me download the PDA I get from my teachers.

Do you mean PDF? It's not elegant but you can use GoodReader to download PDFs from a website to your iPad. I did it with the iPad manual. You can't highlight but you can bookmark a page which is good enough for me.
 
There's loads of free-range legal content that users post for others that aren't hosted through mainstream portals.

You're describing a potentially dangerous swamp. Not everyone likes the walled-garden approach to computing that Apple has extended now to the iPad, but it avoids malware. It's not a minor concern: some folks recently demonstrated the potential for infecting smartphones by posting a malware-infested but seemingly useful weather app which thousands of Android users promptly downloaded into their handsets. Voila: a demonstration self-assembling botnet of 8,000 powerful, location-aware smartphones.

But just as there are apps which will sluice free-range legal out-of-copyright books into your iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad, if there's demand for such a thing for the content you're talking about, there will soon be an app to do the job. Maybe even safely.
 
I hope they at least fix this in 4.0, this thing could easily kill laptops if you could just download files from the Internet.

fix what?
there is nothing broken on it....

you bought a product you knew couldn't do something then cry when it cant do it....

the iPad is not going to be able to download files in a hurry....perhaps the next Gen. macbook will be the next step up from this but apple are not stupid...why would they cripple macbook sales to sell something cheaper instead???

aint happening, deal with it and enjoy what you paid for
 
In case you missed his original post, he specifically mentioned the need to download PDF files posted from his teacher. Where you got video streaming out of that, I don't know.

Well there's plenty of applications that allow that. GoodReader is one of them.
 
You're describing a potentially dangerous swamp. Not everyone likes the walled-garden approach to computing that Apple has extended now to the iPad, but it avoids malware. It's not a minor concern: some folks recently demonstrated the potential for infecting smartphones by posting a malware-infested but seemingly useful weather app which thousands of Android users promptly downloaded into their handsets. Voila: a demonstration self-assembling botnet of 8,000 powerful, location-aware smartphones.

But just as there are apps which will sluice free-range legal out-of-copyright books into your iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad, if there's demand for such a thing for the content you're talking about, there will soon be an app to do the job. Maybe even safely.

There's a difference between applications and documents.
 
fix what?
there is nothing broken on it....

you bought a product you knew couldn't do something then cry when it cant do it....

the iPad is not going to be able to download files in a hurry....perhaps the next Gen. macbook will be the next step up from this but apple are not stupid...why would they cripple macbook sales to sell something cheaper instead???

aint happening, deal with it and enjoy what you paid for

From my perspective there is nothing broken on the iPad.
Yeah, I can't understand why someone would buy a product then complain about it later. Unless they didn't check it out before buying which makes no sense to me either . . . especially with big ticket items.
 
I do think the laptop has killed the desktop. You don't see them hardly as much anymore, people get laptops. But they still sell, which laptops could still do worth iPad. Who cares about the lack of keyboard, I got a Bluetooth one and hardly have used it. The on screen keyboard is great. I have to go to my colleges website to download lecture slides and And readings, all in PDF form, to my iPad. The browser doesn't allow such an option. Even if it did, where would it get stored to use across 2 or 3 apps?

I don't get how everyone is defending it for it not being able to do this. It could easily be patched in. You can do everything a laptop can, but d downloading files from the internet. How can u not see this as replacing a laptop? It's a great piece of hardware, but apple just needs to unlock it's power. The question isn't how didn't i know it wouldn't pod this, no one did. It's h ow can you not expect that and accept it on a computer.
 
Do you mean PDF? It's not elegant but you can use GoodReader to download PDFs from a website to your iPad. I did it with the iPad manual. You can't highlight but you can bookmark a page which is good enough for me.

I just discovered Calibre last night. It can do the deed as well, making an actual ebook out of .pdfs (with some limitations) and other formats. It's got a bit of geekiness to it but its functionality is spectacular, and the price is right. http://calibre-ebook.com/demo
 
its not a big ipod. it os can do way more than a ipod but it is not a computer either. thats why its called a ipad.
Name one difference from the iPod besides bigger screen. That's what makes it great. But you can do pretty much everything on the iPhone/ touch you can on the iPad. I knew this buying it, I was exicted. They made getting new applications simple and easy. Apple half baked this and you know it, they positioned it for content creation, but they won't let you load anything needed right onto the device.

I'm glad they added syncing to a computer, it makes organization much easier. I said I loved it, but it's frustrating. I knew what i was buying, but I thought it would be able to download off the Internet. Everyone does that, so the consesus that it is for the normal computer user is False. This does not have a mass market when it's a $500-800 content comsumption device
 
If you just want to download PDF files from websites, you can try iCab browser. If you just want to read it then most thurd party browsers such as Atomic browser and Mercury browser should do.
 
If you just want to download PDF files from websites, you can try iCab browser. If you just want to read it then most thurd party browsers such as Atomic browser and Mercury browser should do.
I have good reader, it let's me download them after i send it to gmail. But how would i get them into something like pad notes so i can take notes on the side?
 
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