Moving to The Dark Side.... thinking of getting an IPAD, but have reservations.

[brunodjkj]

Not read all the posts, I use a program called cineXplayer brilliant for playing all your moviies such as avi etc

 

[no1up]

I've owned the iPad 1, iPad 2, sold both bought a xoom, sold, it, bought an acer iconia (returned), went for some tim with no tablet, bought the transformer (loved it but speakers were terrible and no apps at the time) returned it, bought an iPad one, used it for months needed quick cash and sold it. Went for 8 months or so with no tablet, decided to give a small e-reader a try bought the kindle fire, like the software Hardware can't keep up, needs more ram (returned it) bought an HTC flyer LOVED it, come to find out apps are still lacking, but whatever. Seen the new iPad 3, did not impress me..... had some more time with the iPad 3 and came to a revolution, my mystery headaches were from low res screen!! Bought an iPad 3 and remembered what I loved about the iPad, it really is an amazon device....

iPad one still running strong against Newer android tablets, try the tegra 2 acer iconia vs iPad 1 and you see what I mean. 9 out of 10 times you'll pick up the iPad and won't look back.. that said, no miniSD sucks but with the iPad there are work around like connectors, or wireless hard drives that stream. the iPad 3 screen is wonderful if you read a lot, it really is a great device.

to me Android phone all the way (galaxy note here) Love my high-res, bright, beautiful, large screen with a sweet stylus. Also miniSD card and 3 extra batteries, not that I need them the Gnote battery gives my 40 hours low use, 24 house good use, 14 hours heavy gaming and netflix!

 

[DannyDroid]

OK... IPAD3 got delivered yesterday evening. Opened the outer box to find that it had taken a knock somewhere along its journey to me. There was a dent through the outer and inner packaging. When I opened the IPAD box there was a small nick in the side of the tablet. Called TescoDirect and they are sending me a replacement unit tomorrow (picking up my tablet and providing a replacement at the same time). Top customer service marks if it all comes off as planned !!

Anyway...... it took only 20mins for me to decide to keep the Ipad and return the transformer prime (which I did today on the way to work..). I had planned on using both for a few days, but there was a clear winner very quickly. A number of things clinched it.

• The WIFI reception was consistently 20%+ better than the prime (using speedtest)
• The display is SO FLUID !. No sign of re-rendering when you move google maps around, for instance.
• Very smooth on browsing... no signs of lag which was often apparent on the transformer.
• Streaming from NAS drive was easy to sort and worked much better than Transformer (down to improved WIFI I would imagine).
• Feels better in the hand. It is VERY SLIGHTLY thicker and heavier than the prime, but the prime actually has fairly sharp edges...

There are some annoyances of course.

• I wish the google mail app worked like it does on Android with lots of off-line storage and swipe navigating. I am using the native mail app (exchange sync for calendar and contact sync with my google account), but the google mail app on android is a much nicer experience. No surprise, but true. Also, only my own google calendar is visible.
• No browser add-ons. LastPass (paid version) plug in for Dolphin on Android is fantastic for form filling and syncing log ins and passwords. No where near as useful on IOS.
• I'll miss screen widgets
• I'll miss being able to navigate my home network with a file manager, grabbing docs and music etc from my NAS/PC wirelessly.
• No SD card slot, no simple drag and drop of media, having to use Itunes to load up on media...
• I will miss the new Chrome browser. Especially handy to be able to see what tabs are open on your other devices.

But all in all I'm very glad I did the comparison and am happy with my choice. I still much prefer Android as a phone OS, but I think what I've discovered is that it has a way to go before it matures into a true competitor to IOS on a tablet.

Now..... where are those jailbreak guides ? ;->

 

[milkmilklemonade]

Getting rid of my prime was tough after how long I had to wait for it, and how much work went into getting it. But i made the right choice..

Anyway, be sure to check out appsfire deals - shows you what apps are temporarily free/discounted during the day.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[dhevans_6]

Danny, odd, all of my google calendars are showing up. One's a shared one from a golf club (so i know when hubby is disappearing lol) and one is shared just between hubby and myself, but they all show up..

Nice to hear tesco seeing you right, I've bought both my iPads from there and my latest laptop lol, clubcard points and quidco, can't go wrong!

 

[DannyDroid]

It was the 28day cooling off period that sent me to Tesco. I forgot out Quidco. Arrggh!. oh well. These calendars of yours.. Are you using the exchange settings, or syncing them some other way ?

 

[DannyDroid]

ignore that last question..... i worked it out

 

[Tonyj]

Danny

No problem streaming using the air video app from the app store. Connects easily to both my home laptops and plays every file, including wmv and avi. Never had a single crash with the operating system either.

 

[Seadog]

One thing I have learned is that many of the issues that the anti-Apple gurus harp on, are not as montrous as portrayed. Most people find easy workarounds, or that they did not really need that feature as much as they thought they would. Since every person has different needs, it still depends on an individual assessment of what is important. It is just that we see so many people come here that have made the switch and find they are happier with iPad. Enjoy your iPad.

 

[Erwaso]

Like you, I have a bunch of videos encoded in non-iTunes formats stored on a NAS drive attached to a router that has a built-in DLNA server. I also have some videos stored on my regular computer which doesn't have a DLNA server installed. On the iPads, after trying a ton of apps, I finally settled on OPlayer HD. It's basically just like BSPlayer (on Android) in terms of being able to play a wide variety of formats, including the ones you mentioned; also, it can stream without DLNA (via Samba ...). There's no intermediate re-encoding, so the quality is no different from playing it back on your regular computer. There's a free "lite" version which has all of the functionality, except for an annoying ad that appears on screen during playback. But it's good for seeing if the app serves your needs. The paid version is $4.99. .

Is there a walk thru on how to get started on this? I got a bunch of .avi movies on my hp laptop that I would rather watch on my iPad instead of my ill android smartphone.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[SquiderDragon]

Is there a walk thru on how to get started on this? I got a bunch of .avi movies on my hp laptop that I would rather watch on my iPad instead of my ill android smartphone.

Thanks in advance!!!

Try AVPlayerHD on apps store. Plays just about any format, no need for conversion. You just need to download app and then use iTunes via apps to load up your vids to the app.

As an alternate to stream from your laptop try VLCStreamer. Here you also need a simple free download onto your laptop. Note however this would need to be tied to your laptop and whatever home wifi network you have.

Good Luck!

SquiderDragon

 

[brunodjkj]

Is there a walk thru on how to get started on this? I got a bunch of .avi movies on my hp laptop that I would rather watch on my iPad instead of my ill android smartphone.

Thanks in advance!!!

I use cineXplayer, plays .avi files no problem

 

[DannyDroid]

Oplayer HD does the job very nicely indeed. Local AVIs and MKVs, plus can read windows share drives on your network. Marvellous !. Ive also worked out how to use get lastpass to play (reasonably) nice with Safari with bookmarklets, and anyone wanting to sync with their Chrome browser needs "Chrome Sync".

All in all, I have worked around all my reservations and am happy with my purchase.

Thanks for all your help folks...