Would an iPad suit my needs?

[the-manxman]

Hope you ladies and gentleman will be able to help me decide whether to get an iPad. I'm a writer, and often work on the move (buses, trains, boats). At present, I take my MacBook Air with me (alongside a USB 3G device for internet connectivity).

This works well in some ways — the Air is light and portable, and I keep all my documents on the one device. But sending and receiving emails when I'm out can be fiddly. My iPhone notifies me by push email when I have a message, and is good for typing short replies, but if I need to compose something longer or add an attachment, then I need to get the Air out of its case, open it, allow it to awake, plug in the 3G device (which sometimes causes the Air to crash and require restarting) and dial up before I can receive or send mail. Then I have to allow messages to send fully before quitting 3G Watcher, removing the 3G device, and shutting and putting the Air away.

I believe this would be so much quicker with an iPad, but a few questions:

1 Can the iPad receive push email and complete sending messages when it is asleep, like the iPhone?

2 If I get Pages, can I create Microsoft Word-compatible documents on the iPad? Is there any way to name and store them on the device, then send them as email attachments?

3 Can I open incoming Microsoft Word attachments and read them as I write? (In other words, does Pages allow more than one document to be open and visible on-screen simultaneously?)

4 I know I can access all my documents on the iPad via Dropbox. But can I add new documents to Dropbox on the iPad so they will immediately sync with my MacBook Air's folder when I get home?

Thanks for any help and advice!

 

[ditzy]

1, Yes
2, Yes
3, No
4, Yes

Hope that helps

 

[the-manxman]

Thanks Ditzy, thats enormously useful. Until there is a way around issue 3 (having more than one document open simultaneously — one for reference and the other being written), the iPad is useless to me. I take it there is currently no workaround for this?

 

[Night Spring]

Thanks Ditzy, thats enormously useful. Until there is a way around issue 3 (having more than one document open simultaneously — one for reference and the other being written), the iPad is useless to me. I take it there is currently no workaround for this?

How do you envision such a thing working? I'd think having two documents open side-by-side on a screen the size of an iPad would make the font too small to read comfortably. Currently, you can have two or more documents loaded in Pages and switch between them -- not instantanious, but fast enough. Or I just copy and paste the relevant portions into the same document as needed.

 

[saberahul]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9550/5.0.0.713 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Pages doesn't have a tab like numbers? I thought you could slide the tabs on top. I don't own these but if you watch the numbers video on apple site you'll see what I mean.

 

[the-manxman]

I was thinking that presumably you could tile windows, as you do on a laptop screen. But if you can switch almost instantaneously between two documents (one for reading, one for writing), that would be a decent substitute.

 

[ditzy]

I was thinking that presumably you could tile windows, as you do on a laptop screen. But if you can switch almost instantaneously between two documents (one for reading, one for writing), that would be a decent substitute.

It takes about three seconds to switch between one document and another. I would say doable but slightly annoying.

 

[Night Spring]

Pages doesn't have a tab like numbers? I thought you could slide the tabs on top. I don't own these but if you watch the numbers video on apple site you'll see what I mean.

Nope, no tabs in Pages. And do correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought tabs in Numbers was for seeing different views of the same spreadsheet. Or can you actually have two different spreadsheets open at once?

I was thinking that presumably you could tile windows, as you do on a laptop screen.

Sorry, iPad isn't a laptop -- it really is a giant ipod touch! If you have a touch or iPhone, just think the iPad is bigger and faster, but the way it operates is pretty much the same as iPhone/touch. If you don't have one of the other iDevices, do stop by an Apple store or Best Buy and play with a display iPad for a while before you decide whether it's right for you or not. Personally, I find the iPad to be a great supplemental productivity device when I'm out and about, but only you can know what's righht for you.

 

[the-manxman]

I suppose the device I'd really like Apple to produce is a laptop with built-in 3G capability, that can directly accept a SIM card and receive push email. I'm baffled as to why they haven't produced this — surely it would sell millions?

 

[Tom G.]

I would warn you that going to an Apple Store or Best Buy etc to have some hands on time with the iPad seems to bring on an insatiable desire to pull out your credit card and purchase one.

 

[sapporobaby]

I would warn you that going to an Apple Store or Best Buy etc to have some hands on time with the iPad seems to bring on an insatiable desire to pull out your credit card and purchase one.

Try this app and see if it works for you:

There is an App called Desktop that lets you sort of do two things at the same time. Not sure if you can open two docs at the same time but go to the iTunes store and read about it. Also there is Quick Office Mobile Suite for iPad. It might be what you are looking for.

Cheers.