Tablets - what are they for?

[zorro]

I was an Apple-hater for years due to their locked-down software but I bit the bullet a couple of months ago and bought the new 64GB iPad. I love it and it's changed for good the way I use computers. I use it mainly for surfing and communications. The keyboard was initially problematic but now on a good day I'm as fast on it as I am on a real keyboard. Photos look superb on the display which is by far the best screen I've ever used. For video it excels although with some caveats. Apple don't support a lot of codecs so you're stuck with mp4 primarily. There are apps which will allow playback of almost any file type but to do this they use the main CPU rather than the quad-core graphics chip. This is a problem when it comes to battery life. However there's an app called Airvideo which will convert files stored on your main PC on the fly. Alternatively you can convert the videos to mp4 format before transferring them to the iPad. I'll be taking the iPad and my iPhone 4S away when we go on holiday in the caravan. I have the Three One Plan on my iPhone which allows me to tether the iPad to the iPhone for unlimited data. This is great for me.

There's definitely some annoyances which stem from Apples closed shop approach to software but then there's no threat from virii either so it's swings and roundabouts. YMMV.

Zorro.

[Phil Lee]

As a follow up to my previous post I can give more information on what tablets are for. I'm off on holiday for a week and have been getting our family's 2 iPads ready. My iPad has films and TV programs for my wife and I loaded on it. I've cleared off all my photos leaving 30GB of free space to backup holiday photos during the week using the camera connection kit. My wife's iPad 2 has a load of childrens TV and films for our daughter. This will be great for the flight plus I'll be taking an HDMI cable and digital AV adapter with us to connect to the villa's TV.

[zorro]

Just insert the card into the dongle, insert the dongle into the slot and the built-in Photos app opens ready to import. Couldn't be simpler. Well, actually, it could. Apple could have just included a card slot to begin with (but that would be too easy).

Zorro.

[Jean-Pierre]

While not a tablet per se, I did get an iPhone 4S and mostly use it as a portable Wikipedia. Also enjoy using imdb.com whenever I'm watching TV and have one of those "uhm, haven't I seen that actor/actress somewhere else before?" moments.

I've also used it as a B-cam a few times with decent results when there's enough light.