What does iPad do? - Apple haters stay out

[ArnoldPalmer]

Tablet computers were the first time I had asked myself the following question; "How does this improve upon computers of the past?"

The answer, in short, is that they don't. In fact, they're barely able to qualify as a computer. It's 100% pure low-grade entertainment. Nothing you use an iPad for is a superior experience to having a regular computer. It's a big smartphone with no telephony. Just get an older laptop and slap Linux or Windows 10 on it.

 

[ducktales4gameboy]

Goodreader is the only ios exclusive I miss since ditching mine.

If you want an iPad solely for reading and shitposting just get an original iPad air for 60 bucks online. You can also jailbreak for emulators or piracy or whatever else if you have interest.

 

[Naturally]

The art uses are convenient. Procreate for 2D, Nomad Sculpt for 3D sculpting. Clip Studio is on it but not only is it subscription based, but the interface seems hilariously bad for iPad, it looks like it's begging to be used with a mouse and keyboard even on that device, and if you do that, what's the point?

But if you're not into art or music and you're not interested in the apps (and considering how mobile marketing is a hellhole why would you be?), yeah, it seems like it would be of little use. Then again, what do you use your actual computer for? For most people, 'browsing the web, looking at pictures, checking out social media and reading books/watching movies' is the main computer use anyway, so why not do that with more convenience.

 

[Pissmaster]

iPads (and tablets in general) are good if you want basically a reading-off-of-your-phone experience but with a bigger screen. They're lightweight, so they're great for reading before bed or chucking into your bag. But if you never look at your phone and think "this screen is too small", you probably won't have much use for one.

I like mine, but I could live without it. Older people love them for the big screen + light weight + smartphone interface.

Most of my complaints about the iPad would extend out to iOS in general. Its App Store is full of total garbageware. Tons of apps are now subscription-based and can't be purchased outright. Apps that can be purchased have no guarantee that you could redownload them later on, which is extra painful, considering there are no SD cards in iOS World. There've even been apps that've pulled their paid versions, only to reintroduce that same app as freemium with a paid unlock for the full version, screwing over older purchasers. Bastion did that.

Never buy an app on iOS you aren't willing to lose at any time.

If you still want one, just buy whatever's cheap. They're all about the same, with different sizes and storage. The iPad line's been around for 12 years now, and has barely changed since the very first one. iPads are very boring and utilitarian, much like iPhones.

 

[glow]

I didn't need an iPad but I certainly wanted one. It's nice for travelling, watching videos and reading ebooks when I don't need a laptop, and with a keyboard attachment it's decent for taking notes or writing a few emails here and there. If you're into art and shit it's good for that too apparently, I know a few artists who have dumped their Wacom tablets for it.

It does exactly the same things a £40 tablet from Tesco does.

Yes in the same way that a 20 year old Mazda does exactly the same thing a brand new range rover does. I have an Android tablet too which I used for some dev work but I never ever use it because it's hyper fucking shit. It's certainly higher end than the £40 tablet, but it still feels like I'm using some university student's final year project or a rough prototype thrown together by some software developers before the UX team gets involved.

 

[The Chubby Behemouth]

I bought an iPad years and years ago. At the time I was looking for something that had the basic functions but not a full blown laptop. At first I was really enjoying it but after a few months I started realizing most of the things I used it for I could do on my phone and I slowly stopped using it.

However this was just my experience. I know some people that really enjoy their iPad and tablets in general, they are just not for me.

 

[Gar For Archer]

iPad is easily the best device for hobbyist digital artists. It’s also amazing for taking notes for class. It’s also sufficient for basic documents/spreadsheets/PowerPoints if you have a Bluetooth keyboard to use with it.

Other than that it doesn’t have much practical use besides being a biggish screen to consoom media on.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

If you fly GA, ipad for flight logging can be useful.

 

[1988 prick]

I got an Ipad mini mostly cuz of it's portability as at the time I found myself spending more time away from home making it difficult for me to draw.
Now I find myself using it for things other than drawing though they are mostly average shit like note taking, writing up a word doc ,emails etc.

Now for why and how it has become part of my life is because of it's size and portability and how good it is to use Procreate and Goodnotes.

Procreate has it's limitation compared to Clip Studio obviously but it utilizes touch gestures really well making doodling/drawing more fun and even less fussy as you fiddle with the tools a lot less.

I know you can take notes with anything but I prefer goodnotes mostly because it feels a lot cleaner and I can drop in pics and write on them and in the end no matter how messy it is the notes will still look clear and clean.

for portability it just makes shit so much easier and makes me look a lot less gay when walking around.

The only con I can think of is that the Ipad is ONLY good at those along with media consumption.
I hear there are people that do their coding on an Ipad, I tried and and it is possible and I only recommend it if you are desperate and don't mind pulling your hair out, I could be doing something wrong or that I am too used to the desktop IDE I use but I generally discourage it until they make it a close or a uniquely better experience.

 

[Stabmaster Arson II]

The whole point of any Apple product is it's used to publicly signal to everyone that you swallow cum.

 

[hotcheetospuffs]

Like phones they become obsolete really fast and won't let you update your apps rendering the thing little more than an alarm clock and a timer. I have a mini and I can't even use the youtube app, play the sims, or do much of anything. Tried to pawn it and they didn't want it.

 

[独人13]

 

[Pissmaster]

Like phones they become obsolete really fast and won't let you update your apps rendering the thing little more than an alarm clock and a timer. I have a mini and I can't even use the youtube app, play the sims, or do much of anything. Tried to pawn it and they didn't want it.

You can watch YouTube through Safari. If your iPad Mini can install Brave, that'll even block YT ads.

Or you could epoxy a handle onto it and use it as a little shield

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Like phones they become obsolete really fast and won't let you update your apps rendering the thing little more than an alarm clock and a timer. I have a mini and I can't even use the youtube app, play the sims, or do much of anything. Tried to pawn it and they didn't want it.

I recently inherited a 2016 IPad Pro and it seems to be working fine. Haven't done a ton with it, but haven't had any issues any adding apps or getting iOS updates. How much longer they continue to support it? , but I don't see Apple being worse than anyone else and they might even be a bit better.

Haven't had any issues of note, except for...
@Something Awful ...

I'd like to try messing around with the Apple Pencil,

The person I got it from had not charged the Apple Pencil in years. Apparently if you go more than a month or two without charging it the battery dies and it cannot be charged any longer. And as the battery cannot be replaced, what you've got is $129 piece of useless plastic. That was kind of annoying.

 

[seri0us]

I recently inherited a 2016 IPad Pro and it seems to be working fine. Haven't done a ton with it, but haven't had any issues any adding apps or getting iOS updates. How much longer they continue to support it? , but I don't see Apple being worse than anyone else and they might even be a bit better.

Haven't had any issues of note, except for...
@Something Awful ...

The person I got it from had not charged the Apple Pencil in years. Apparently if you go more than a month or two without charging it the battery dies and it cannot be charged any longer. And as the battery cannot be replaced, what you've got is $129 piece of useless plastic. That was kind of annoying.

How did the person you inherited it from die

 

[Screamer_2]

Tablet with a keyboard cover is a great replacement for a laptop when travelling until you actually want to do something you can't do on your phone. Then it is annoying and useless.

Beyond watching videos when travelling. No point. Unless you don't have a computer.

 

[Command Prompt Disabled]

It's not really worth it unless you have other Apple products you want to use it with. The very fact you have to register a developers account to sideload apps is ridiculous in itself with how locked down it is.

You would be able to do far more cool stuff with a $100 android tablet than an iPad.

 

[Master Xehanort]

Essentially a more powerful version of a lot of cheaper Android tablets. Honestly there really hasn't even been a good tablet on the Android side since the Nexus 7. Probably one of the reasons I'm hoping for the Pixel Tablet to be good.

 

[God's drunkest driver]

In my experience the only thing my ipad does that my android tablets didn't is run foreflight. If you don't fly though, that's moot. I don't use tablets for much though, so my experience is limited. The ipad only really runs foreflight and some other aviation apps, and gets used by my wife for whatever she does with it. The android tablets I've had I use as portable in-car displays/digital dashboards running an app that pulls engine parameters from the ECU (coincidentally not available for ipad), displaying service manuals/how tos which I can use while working on the cars, and some reading and video watching occasionally.

 

[Administrator Flotsam]

Glad you opened a thread about this. I don't own one but I've thought about getting one as well but haven't yet because I can't justify it, though I'd get one if I had more disposable income just to see if it lives up to the hype. My observations and conclusions from what I've read:

Cons
-They're fucking expensive outside the US. It has the image of being a cheap alternative computer for kids in the US but outside of the US , its a device that nickels and dimes you just to let you use the thing you bought. As other users have pointed out, the iOS store and the apps on it are insanely, hipsterically overpriced, subscription-based or both
-Since the software ecosystem is closed, you can be locked out of anything once enough new iPad models have been released
-For the same reason, you can't sideload apps
-No expandable storage, so if you're keeping a stash of pirated goods, they're no good. If you want more storage, you have to sub to their cloud service, which ties you to the internet even further.
-All additional hardware is also hilariously overpriced. The pencil, keyboard etc are insanely over priced for what they are
-Don't have headphone ports so you'll have to buy more expensive wireless earbuds to listen to anything in public

Pros
-Its preferred by artists because it has a higher res screen and enough power to draw on. Besides the screen, I don't see how that's not present on other tablets of a similar price.
-It has good convergence features if you have other apple hardware. Many ''creative'' pros unfortunately are hooked on iMacs or Macbooks and the iPad still offers a level of convergence of features that are absent on even a high-end a windows + android setup
-The hardware is powerful. But if what you can run on it and when you can do it is dependent on Apple and what hardware they want to make obsolete

For iPad havers, please opine on whether you think any of these are any good:

Xiaomi Redmi Pad 10 inch 6GB/128GB version for $240: https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-8000m...2512810&sprefix=xiaomi+pa,aps,855&sr=8-3&th=1 Its screen os 2000x1200 but other than that, it seems like a good substitute. Its Chinesium and has its own UI but it doesn't have a SIM slot so you can keep it offline and you can probably root it or at least sideload apps to uninstall the bloatware. Has expandable storage and a headphone port.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite 4GB/64GB with Pen for $266: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WZ13CBS/ref=dp_cr_wdg_tit_nw_mr?th=1 Has its own UI but again, its more open to modification. Pen is included but resolution is still 2000x1200. Has a headphone port and expandable storage.

Xiaomi Pad 5 6GB/256GB for $403: https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Pad-8...VKSR2B/ref=psdc_1232597011_t2_B0BJ2V8NZ3?th=1 iPad-like screen resolution, expandable storage, headphone jack. Chinesium software. Pen optional and overpriced.

There are also more tablets from Samsung, Lenovo and even Nokia. Could they be good substitutes?