Ipadded!

[gwyn]

You guys, I'm writing this on my spankin' new iPad! I've been trying for ages to rack up points on my credit card rewards, but it just seemed to take forever to accumulate enough, so I could only get a 16 GB one, but I finally have one! I've already downloaded the Nook app so I could move all my ebooks here, and got the Kindle app even though I have a lot of beeves with Amazon about publishing. But I could never get copies of some of the books by friends that were only on Kindle.

So what do you use on yours? Tina recced Evernote, so I got that, but not sure what else to do. Honestly, the most I do with my iPhone is play solitaire since I find reading on it hard. Also, do you use a screen protector? Mine came with some but I can't get the air bubbles and sticky residue from the tab off, so I'm not sold. It also came with a case but it's not really my style. Plus it smells.

Augh, I don't have time for a new toy! Vid is due in a couple weeks, and a book proof is due in 10 days. But...toy!

Comments

[frayadjacent]

Fun!

I use Mailboxes for email because it supports multiple (gmail) accounts, and multiple users as well. I think maybe the gmail app now does that too, though.

I use GoodPlayer to watch vids (which I transfer from my computer, it's a bit of a pain -- you have to go through iTunes and use the app in question to transfer files; this is not a GoodPlayer thing it's an iPad thing). I like it because it can handle a lot more types of video files than the iTunes video player can.

I use Colloquy for chat.

I guess the others I use regularly come up pretty obviously when you want/need them: facebook, netflix, pandora, adobe reader, etc. I wish DW had an app!

I have a full cover, but not a screen protector. The cover has probably saved my iPad more than once since I drop things easily. And I like that the foldy-back thing allows you to prop it up in several different positions.

[musesfool]

I don't have a screen protector and I've never needed one and my iPad just turned *gulp* 2.

I don't use that many apps besides all the ones for reading - nook and kindle and ibook and stanza - plus comixology and comiczeal for comics. I do like iZip, which will unzip files on your iPad, though they have to be in a format some other app can open once they're unzipped.

I also like paprika, which is a recipe app.

[hypertwink]

All free -

Games:
Kingdom Rush
Flight
Icon
Pop Quiz
Frotz

Apps:
iBooks

[gwyn]

Can you tell me more about GoodPlayer? I have been trying to figure out how to put video on it, but I haven't figured any of that out (codecs and shit). Is it sort of like the iPad version of VLC? I'd love to be able to cart around some of my favorite vids.

Huh! Chat! That never occurred to me. Not that I have anyone to chat with, but...

[gwyn]

I find my computer screens almost impossible to clean -- between me spraying snot or iced tea on them, or the cats spraying snot or rubbing all over them, they get so gross and never seem to really come clean. And my grubby little fingerprints on my Nook Color never come off! But I'm not sure it's worth it -- the damn air bubbles never completely disappear.

I'm glad to hear about Comixology -- I was wondering about getting some comics on this and how they would read. I keep hoping to borrow the Winter Soldier books from a friend, but that never seems to happen, so...

[frayadjacent]

I'm not sure it's as good as VLC; I seem to remember having issues with wmv files. But it's handled mov, avi, divx, and mp4 just fine. I think it does fine with all the codecs you'd typically find in a vid or a movie or episode you downloaded from the Internet. I can't recall if I've tried mkv on it but I bet it would work?

What you have to do is plug your iPad into your computer, then open iTunes on your computer. Go to the part of iTunes that controls your iPad, and there's an applications tab. If you've installed GoodPlayer, you can click on it from applications and import video files from your computer onto your iPad that way. It annoys me that you have to go through iTunes to control your iPad, but it works ok. I think you might also be able to download videos directly via GoodPlayer, but I've never actually done it!

[the_shoshanna]

I had a screen protector on my old iPad, but I find I'm happier without one. I love the folio cover I got for five bucks from handhelditems.com.

I use Eggmaps because Apple Maps doesn't have traffic data for Montreal; Google Maps doesn't have an iPad version yet, and Eggmaps uses Google's map data. For video, I use OPlayer, the ad-supported free version (protip: put the iPad in airplane mode while watching video, and OPlayer can't download and display ads!). My main browser is iCab Mobile, which I adore, but I also use Chrome and Safari and occasionally Atomic. I couldn't live without Dropbox, I use QuickOffice to edit Word documents and Nebulous Notes to write text, and I have desktop and iOS versions of Password Wallet to manage my passwords. I looked at a bunch of weather programs and found all the iPad ones way too busy and overloaded, so I use an iPhone app called WeatherEye, which just tells me what I want.

And although I have four or five ereader apps, I mostly just read downloaded HTML files in a browser.

[gwyn]

These are all great, thank you! If you put the video player in airplane mode, how can you watch vids? Do you mean ones you've DLed? This is my level of ignorance about these things... I'm probably going to have to stream everything, with only 16Gb.

[gwyn]

Oh, pop quiz might be right up my alley!

[the_shoshanna]

I watch TV that I've downloaded and moved to the iPad using iTunes; I never stream anything. You're right that that wouldn't work! FWIW, although I have a 32GB model, I've never used more than 16GB of its memory, and if I didn't keep so much TV on it waiting to be watched, I wouldn't get near that. Of course, I watch the lower-quality versions, not HD, but even so, right now I have about fourteen hours of video on it, and that only takes up 7.2 GB.

[hypertwink]

Sorry, it's Icon Pop Quiz -- it's great drawings of movies, people, characters and you guess. Some are easy, some are witty, there's a new one now where they do Game of Throne characters. It's a great way to pass the time

[destina.livejournal.com]

I actually just upgraded to a 128GB because I need more space for stuff! (I started off with a 16.) Wow, what don't I use it for. I have probably 60 excellent games on it, plus all my books (Nook, Kindle, and iBooks, all three). I have a whole bunch of audiobooks and a lot of TV shows (because I watch TV on it while on the treadmill). And I have all my news apps, and my word processing aps, and the faux-Windows apps I need for work, and quite a bit of music, and my Amazon Prime app (SO MANY FREE SHOWS TO STREAM), and my Tumblr app, and...yeah! Lots of stuff! *g*

[smithereen.livejournal.com]

I have an android tablet (Nexus 7) but I think a lot of the apps I use are on the iPad too. Pocket is good for saving fics that aren't on AO3 (or any random webpages) to read later. Also, I've heard people say Instapaper is good. I don't have a ton of games, but I have Solitaire, Fruit Ninja, Tetris, Star Wars Angry Birds and Words Free. Which are all decent time killers and don't require advanced gaming skills. Also, if you read any comics or manga there's probably an app for that. I use Perfect Viewer, but not sure if that's on the iPad or not. I also have the Box app (for box.com) so I can transfer files to myself without hooking up to my computer. I think Dropbox also works for that as well. I have five reading apps, but I think the ones you don't have are Android only. You might want to look at Bluefire though. I've read that it lets you do some things like check out library books and sideload books more easily so you don't have to go through a specific store. What else? I have a writing word count meter that I like a lot, but they have similar type things for any kind of goal tracking. Instant messaging and e-mail, obviously. TV listings. Recipes. RSS feeds. Twitter. One of my friends uses Yelp every time we go on a trip to pick out restaurants...

I don't have a screen protector on mine, but I do have a case. I kept putting off getting the case, and then the tablet fell out of my purse onto concrete (and I went... *slow motion Nooooooooooo!*) By some miracle it didn't break, but after that I started using a case. If I'm just sitting around reading at home I'll take it out because it does make it slightly heavier/bulkier to hold, but otherwise I use it all the time. Mine smelled too when I first got it, btw. But it faded after a month or so. The one I bought was only $13, and I really like it, so there might be better options out there for you than the one it came with.

[carbonel]

I am very boring. The apps that I use the most on my iPad are Stanza (which is no longer supported, and isn't configurable in iOS 6.0 *sob*), PerfectBrowser (my Safari substitute that lets me change font size on the fly), and Wikipanion, a Wikipedia app.

When Big Fish Games had all its iPad/iPhone games on sale for $1 each, I bought every hidden object game it had available, but I mostly play HO games on my desktop computer. It's nice to know they are there, though.

And when I travel, if I have good Wi-Fi, I'll watch stuff on Netflix streaming.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Holy cow! What word processing apps do you have? I"ve wondered about that -- what I could write with if the inspiration struck while I had the iPad with me.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I am pretty much the clumsiest person on the planet so I cannot be trusted with electronics. I've already dropped my iPhone so many times, and I'm amazed that so far I haven't broken it. But I've already dropped it out of the case! Ha ha. I need to go find one that's idiot proof. Oh, a writing count word meter -- that's cool!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I don't even know what a hidden object game is. ;-) Because I'm missing the game gene. I guess I'm going to have to look into the Netflix thing -- I hadn't wanted to pay extra since I'm already getting dvds, but it sounds like that's one of the things everyone uses it for.

[carbonel]

A hidden object game is rather like those kids' games where there are five wolves (or whatever) hiding in the picture of the tree, and you have to find them all. The computer-based ones are a lot more sophisticated, and are usually tied in with some sort of story plot. They're a general category of computer game called casual games, and that's how I use them -- to wind down at the end of the day. Here's a link to a free trial of one of my very favorites. If you have no interest in this, the category isn't for you, at a guess.

My primary Netflix usage is the DVDs as well, but I decided that I got enough out of the streaming end of things to keep that part of the subscription, despite the huge price increase. About 90% of my Netflix queue is DVDs, but when I'm traveling, I watch stuff that I otherwise wouldn't (like Glee), because that's what's available.

[carbonel]

I don't use my iPad for writing, but Pages seems to be the main winner there, even though it started life as a Mac application.

[carbonel]

Two more things:

1. Dropbox is brilliant. I forgot to mention it, but it's free, and it's my go-to application for file sharing of any kind.

2. If you'd like a case and don't have one yet, you can have one for the cost of postage. There was a site selling leather ones for $1 each, and I bought a handful, just because. I still have a couple of extras.

[destina.livejournal.com]

I use Pages for writing most of the time, because I can save documents as Word docs and email them to myself. It's a good, basic, functional app. I also like ommwriter (http://www.ommwriter.com/), because it's aesthetically pleasing, but it's not quite as functional for me. There's a video demo on the site.

I also don't type on the iPad if I'm writing something longer than a paragraph, it's too annoying. Sometimes I use voice dictation, but I have a Kensington case with a Bluetooth keyboard, and I love it like pie.