The Future Of Writing: An iPad Review
Exclusively for ChuckPalahniuk.net
by Xander Davis
Imagine the freedom to easily type anytime, anywhere, without any hassle. The iPad just might grant you this wish, but you're not sure yet what to make of it, if it's worth the expense.
If you have a laptop, wherever you go, you've got your cumbersome bag, charger brick, and cable to lug along, like a nomad gypsy with only an hour or two of battery, or you're anchored entirely with a traditional desktop computer at home.
This was me, and now after taking a chance, I can say that the writer's dream machine has finally arrived.
I've been using an iPad to write for weeks now. I'm not talking about little e-mails and status updates. I'm talking about tapping out entire chapters on glass.
And I haven't looked back. Sure, it's not without its problems, but it certainly works so well, you'll want to bash up your laptop, Office-Space-Printer style, for making you suffer carrying its weight like Atlas this whole freaking time.
In fact, I'm writing this iPad review on the device right now. So let's get right down to it.
1. Typing on the Keyboard
How it felt to type and the accuracy were the biggest concerns I had about the iPad before pulling out the wallet to find out. It was a risk, but it paid off. Luckily, Apple has somehow done what seems improbable: the keyboard works like a charm.
There will be a few days of adjusting to it, where you can't help but stare at the keys themselves, but soon after that, you'll find yourself flying, watching your words appear in your document like magic. Without tactile sense, your brain starts remembering exactly where the keys are on the glass, exactly how to switch between character sets, and it's soon as effortless as a traditional keyboard. You'll realize you can take advantage of the auto-correct for things with apostrophes or even capitalization, making you faster, and the lack of a tab key on the actual keyboard isn't that big of a deal, since there's a tab button in each of your writing apps.
Don't bother getting the keyboard accessories; they defeat the whole point of the elegance and freedom of the iPad. Just take a few days to adapt and soon the only thing between you and the cursor will simply be ideas.
2. The Last Book Cover
You actually can easily set the iPad flat on its back, lean over it and type with few hiccups. But getting the official Apple iPad Cover ($40, but worth it) and folding it back into itself will prop it up at an angle and really improve your typing accuracy and comfort. The cover also makes handling the iPad itself more practical. It feels better in your hand, less likely to slip out and crack on the pavement.
Equally important, the cover hides the iPad, disguising it as simply a daily planner. Believe me, this is a very good trait. In public, nearly everyone will walk up to you and ask about your new, "magical" Apple gadget. Also, you might feel overly protective of it from theft. The cover helps it go incognito when it's just lying around on a desk, in your car, or even in your hand.
3. Battery Life is Amazing!
Leave that charger at home. You won't need it when you're out. I've regularly used my iPad for the entire day, off and on, writing here and there, watching movies, surfing the Internet, downloading apps, and never once did I run out of battery life.
Sure, by the time I'd get home into the late evening, I'd be down to about 25%, but I probably wouldn't have to charge it until bed if I really wanted to go crazy. Compared to the short-span battery life of traditional laptops, using a computer like this all day was impossible. This is a dream come true, especially if the words are really flowing and you don't want any interruptions.
4. Pages
Let's talk about the first critical app you will immediately buy after unboxing your shiny slate. Pages is the app to get if you're writing anything, especially if you need particular formatting.
In about ten minutes, I had created two important first documents: my novel template and my short story template, both adjusted to meet exact standard manuscript formatting. In under fifteen minutes, I had transferred my current novel text from my laptop (e-mail RTF to myself, copy and paste) to iPad Pages, and I was ready to rock.
From the iPad, you can e-mail your manuscript in Pages format, PDF, or as a Word Doc. You can also share your docs with iWork.com for free (though currently there's a lame 50 page limit). However, the exporting process is where Pages raises a major red flag right now, especially if your manuscript uses either Courier or Courier New (which it probably should, to meet certain manuscript standards).
Currently, an exported PDF will show up as completely blank when opened with Gmail's PDF viewer. Try downloading the PDF on Windows and opening it, and with Courier, you'll get a document full of dots; with Courier New, it reverts to an alternative system font, which looks horribly ugly (and non-standard, making you look unprofessional, should an agent or editor receive this from you).
It seems the iPad doesn't embed fonts into the PDF on export, and I've never ran into this problem anywhere else. I can't fathom how Apple missed this, because the entire point of a PDF is that it's portable. It should work anywhere.
It's completely unacceptable, but the day I discovered this problem, Pages was issued an update patch that fixed other exporting issues I hadn't even run into. So it seems Apple is likely going to get around to fixing these exporting issues eventually.
Judging from the shortage of supply and the staggered release dates of the iPad domestically and around the world, I'm guessing they've rolled out their new device and its software as fast as humanly possible, with some flaws like these. Luckily, updates to Pages will be free.
My current work-around is to simply e-mail it back to myself as a Word document, which I can open on my laptop, re-import into Final Draft into my novel template there, and re-export to PDF. Cumbersome, but really about a five or ten minute task. Luckily, this is not something I plan on doing often, but I still can't wait for Apple to get their act together on this one and issue the fix.
To get a draft to a friend on Windows for feedback, I had to convert all the text to Arial. So, apparently, the document only works on Windows if Windows has the font, despite it being a PDF.
Of course, iPad to Mac or iPhone, exporting and font viewing works just fine.
Day to day, all of this doesn't hinder the freedom of writing with the iPad, and that freedom alone makes it all worth it.
And no Word Count feature? Really, Apple? Really?! I added a web-page to my home screen to a copy-and-paste word-counter website (just Google 'cut and paste word count'). While again, not perfect, Final Draft also doesn't have a word count (again, ridiculous), so this isn't anything I'm not already used to doing. It all works like a virtual little Word Count app and requires 3G or WiFi to utilize.
Other than that, I have no other complaints with Pages.
5. Scripts Pro
While there will soon be Final Draft on iPad for screenwriting, there is a very enticing and low-cost alternative available right now: Scripts Pro. The same app works on both the iPad and iPhone. While I can imagine writing a screenplay with this on the iPhone, I can't imagine wanting to. It'd feel way too claustrophobic. However, on the iPad, it's a perfect experience that unlocks your ability to pen your next screenplay wherever the heck you want.
Probably the most amazing feature about it is the price. It's $5.99, compared to PC/Mac Final Draft's $250 price tag!
Scripts Pro also features a handy Tab key supplement to the iPad's OS keyboard. This is a very nice feature I wish Pages would implement.
I noticed a bug with the way the title page displayed my e-mail address. I was also annoyed that, while it can detect INT./EXT. or character dialogue headings, it doesn't currently auto-capitalize. That's about it for my gripes with the app.
I quickly sent my suggestions for improvements to the creator, Stephen M. Levinson, and he replied within minutes, informing me about a coming update (that I've since already happily installed) and that more updates were on the way. He added my requests to his development list and I’m excited to see them in soon.
When you create a script, you can pick between .TXT, .CELTX, and .FDX formats to save in, and the script writing experience in Scripts Pro is nicely the same regardless. That, in combination with the fact that you will forever get free updates, makes Scripts Pro a no-brainer purchase of amazing value.
While it isn't yet perfect, it's showing incredible promise that it will easily end up being a Final Draft killer.
6. Kindle
A writer should be reading, and, luckily getting books on the iPad is an effortless joy.
While iBooks is visually striking with its bookshelf metaphor, where Kindle lacks in user interface design, it more than makes up for in Amazon's astounding content availability. The iBookstore barely ever has anything I'm looking for, yet.
The Barnes and Noble app is hailed by many as the best, but I find it annoying I can’t delete the sample books it shoves in your face, namely Laura Bush’s memoir, and while it offers a lot of customization features, the content availability is also lacking.
Nobody is beating Kindle right now.
I've already been using Kindle for iPhone anyway, and Amazon thankfully allows you to keep all your purchases saved in your account, re-downloadable as many times as you want, to as many devices as you want. I've got all my past purchases, like Fight Club, Neuromancer, Apathy and Other Small Victories, Layer Cake, Casino Royale, and so on, with other new purchases like The Great Gatsby and a pre-ordered auto-delivering Imperial Bedrooms.
There's also a handy Kindle Store feature that allows you to send an alert off to the publisher of books not currently available; you can't do that with the iBookstore or Barnes and Noble. I wanted all of Bret Easton Ellis’s books (only Lunar Park was available) and clicked this notification link. Within a week, they were all made available by June 9th. They downloaded immediately to my iPad at that date exactly at midnight!
Amazon’s customer service is amazing. I had trouble getting a past purchase to download on my iPad, even though it would download on my iPhone. I clicked a link from their website to have Amazon call me, and within minutes I was talking to an American who pressed a few buttons and remotely solved the problem. The book downloaded as we were on the phone.
With iBooks, I'm not sure if you can re-download books you've already purchased if you somehow lose or delete them, as you can with Amazon's Kindle.
Kindle's reading experience is also less metaphorical than the iBooks. While you can activate page flipping, I prefer the straight up slightly yellow tinted page of text with no graphical border, which I can flip through quickly. It’s less distracting and makes the content more the center of attention.
To me, when I can carry my entire library around in a pad-thick device, the future of the literary world is clearly on screen. With all three platforms (iBooks, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble) offering direct eBook self-publishing, the future of publishing itself is already changed and will continue to change fast.
7. Other Apps to Get for Writing
Here are a few other handy apps I use while writing: Dictionary (free; includes Thesaurus), Wikipanion (free), Maps (included), Jumbo Calculator, and Convertbot. I also recommend adding home screen icon links from Safari for Cut and Paste Word Count, Urban Dictionary, and RhymeZone. With these, it's never been easier to research things and locations. Once the multi-tasking ability comes in the update for iPad's OS this fall, it will be even more a breeze.
8. Definitely Go 3G
Don't skimp and cheat yourself out of more anytime-anywhere ability for researching details for your writing. Don't just get the Wi-Fi iPad. You definitely want one with 3G.
The data plan is pre-paid monthly and ordered on demand. You don't have to keep ordering it every month if you don't want to, but I certainly am doing that. To me, having the Internet in hand, all the time, is just invaluable.
AT&T did really screw this up though. They sent us back to the ages of dial-up billing, where you paid for bandwidth. Before June 7th, customers got to pay just $30 bucks for unlimited. After June 7th, this option is gone to any newcomers, while only existing customers can keep it. Now, there are only two options: $15 for 250 MB or $25 for 2GB. LAME. If you got in early, you’re lucky. Everyone else has to now manage their use of the iPad, which is horrible. It was such a joy to freely use the Internet and apps like Netflix on the iPhone and iPad, but this is going out the window. The demand is either too great on AT&T’s networks, or they’re just being greedy jerks.
2GB probably won’t be consumed on general web-surfing in a month, but you might need to be more careful for anything else. The new plans shouldn’t choke your ability to research Google Maps, Wikipedia and send PDFs around for your writing. If you’ve got a wifi hotspot at home, definitely use it over 3G. And if there are wifi hotspots out in the world that you think would make comfy writing nooks away from your home, now you can easily go right ahead and enjoy them with the ease the iPad provides.
9. Do More
Unlike buying a Kindle or a Nook, you're not buying an iPad just to read eBooks, and you can do much more than just write with it. The iPad is fast becoming a total replacement for the laptop. The magic of the screen is that it can become anything. Whatever you want to do, there's an app for that.
It's great for anything, especially killing time. My girlfriend and I were standing a half an hour in line to eat at Phil's BBQ in Point Loma, San Diego this past Sunday, but the wait flew by as we split a pair of earbuds to watch an episode of The Office on Netflix (streaming over 3G) and later played a fun game of Checkers. Every time we go out to eat, we sit side by side in a booth and play an awesome game called Angry Birds (seriously, check that out). Everyone looks at us with envy. Be that couple! Which leads me to the final reason.
10. You Look Good
I can't tell you how many times people have come up to me with eyes lit up, like kids in a candy store. People are entranced by the elegance and beauty of this device and you look damn cool penning the next great American novel or Hollywood hit on it. But it's not just how you look; it's how you act with an iPad. You're not fumbling around with your load of tangled, heavy gear. You're on the go, agile and ready for anything, anywhere, in any situation.
Conclusion: Get One Now
As a writer, the iPad is everything I hoped it would be and then some. I had truly high hopes for how it could change my writing habits and it has completely surpassed them. I’ve also never read so much; I must have bought three dozen eBooks in the last three weeks. I definitely recommend getting the 32 GB or 65 GB version and not the 16 GB (you don't want to run out of space with what will quickly become your primary computer).
It truly is a revolution that's going to usher in a new era of mobile computing. I can't imagine going back. Go get one and enjoy your new, amazing writing experience!
Xander Davis is writing a novel, producing electronic music as Force Effect on iTunes, and designing in the video game industry for Activision as a User Interface Artist at High Moon Studios on Transformers: War for Cybertron (out June 22nd). He was born in 1984, raised in Ohio, is a graduate of Wright State University and lives in San Diego, California.
Website: www.xanderdavis.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/XanderDavisLive
Facebook: www.facebook.com/XanderDavisLive
Comments
great review, Xander.
kind of makes me want one--and i generally repel technology.
seriously though, no word count? what the fuck are they thinking?
iPads are a waste. My laptop gets 9 hours of battery life, can multitask, runs Flash, is the same size as an iPad when closed, has an actual keyboard attached, if I watch a movie I don't need to purchase an extra thing to tilt it up on my desktop.
On the other hand, the iPad has a bright touchscreen.
If you're looking for a laptop replacement, you're certainly right Monkey. But that isn't really the market that the iPad is in.
For instance, I'm considering one because I would love it to read comics. Sure, I can read comics on my laptop now, but the experience of doing so is total shit.
Also, from all the people I know who have one, it has completely changed how they do simple computing tasks. For instance, when you're watching a TV show and want to check something on the net. There is no boot time required. You don't have to sit in a way that accommodates a laptop. It's kind of just there.
And though you may have a small laptop, I'm sure it isn't as small and light as the iPad is.
Not to mention, I think there is a huge market here for people who only need minimal computer usage. Such as grandparents who want to stay in touch with their families. My grandmother was able to get around a computer just enough. If she were still alive, I would buy her one in a heartbeat. You really can't get any easier to use than "touch your finger to the thing you want to do". Not to mention not having to deal with software related issues and maintenance.
Both have their place. If one of them doesn't meet your requirements, you don't buy it.
Word Count for Pages is always running down in the bottom left of the page. At least that's how it looks on my MacBook and I'm assuming the Pages app works the same. Maybe not - but I know when I first switched from Word to Pages I spent embarrassingly too much time searching for the Word Count calculator (looking in the drop down menus) only to realize it was there in front of me the entire time at the bottom of the page.
Great review. I hadn't thought of its usefulness for writers. But, if I had the money, I'd still get a laptop. The iPad seems like a fun toy for people who can afford it, but it doesn't appear necessary in any of its possible applications. Prove me wrong if you can. I'd like to be proven wrong in this case.
I will say, though, that my merchandising manager bought an iPad for work. Now instead of carrying around a bunch of loose leaf papers that he printed out, he can carry around his iPad and see all of the store plans. I thought that was pretty cool, but again, it's convenient, not necessary.
Well, you could make the "convenient, not necessary" argument for nearly all modern technology. But the application in which your manager is using it could quickly become a "necessary" usage scenario.
Yeah, it'd be nice if it got to a point where technology like that was standard in stores. But he bought it with his own money.
It'll be a long time before things like that are "necessary." I don't even have a laptop right now let alone an iPhone or iPad. And I do just fine. For writing on the go, I carry around this thing called a notebook and this other thing called a pencil.
Use the tools that work best for you, that's what is important. If a pad and pencil works for you, so be it.
do NOT use an iPad and pencil though. You'll ruin it.
AT&T's bait-and-switch with their date plan irks me to no end. Even if I wouldn't use that much bandwith, it boils down to a trust issue with me.
Not only that, but a little birdy told me that the iPhone will be available through Verizon by the end of the year. Verizon, with their FAR more stable network. Verizon, WITHOUT as many dropped calls. Verizon, fantastic in comparison.
No coincidence, then, that AT&T is allowing people to upgrade to the new iPhone EARLY... provided they sign a new, 2-year contract.
I say all that to say this: I want an iPad like I want boobs in my face. A lot, and pretty much all the time. But, unlike the boobs in the face, I think I'm going to wait on getting one until we all see what pans out with Verizon.
Then, it'll be the best of both worlds (iPad & boobs in the face). YES, I tell you. YES!
Doesn't appeal to me. More of a gimmick it seems. But, I don't even use a laptop to write, except to get my stuff online, and have hard copies. And I've used the iPhone dictionary and thesaurus Apps before and don't like 'em. At least I haven't found a free one that's as good or as easy as the real thing. And Kindle? Not a chance. Good write up, but I think ipads are like huge phones that don't make calls.
as for word count, there's always this:
http://www.wordcounttool.com/
great article, xander
First off, great review Xander, and thanks for making the review relevant to those of us here, and not a regurgitation of some Gizmodo feed...
I like the whole design of the iPad, and I really mean this, I think the thing is pretty slick. I always wanted a tablet PC, but I wanted it for writing longhand in a digital format, something that, with the absence of a stylus, the iPad cannot fulfill for me.
I wanted to get my wife one of these for her job, she's always "on the road" and basically surfs and checks email, the two things (flash not withstanding) the iPad seems to do extremely well.
But three things turned me off of it:
1) Right way her company's website was "out" because of the compatibility issues with Safari, and the only other option at the time of release was basically a mobile phone version of Opera - so she'd have this nice piece of hardware that she couldn't use to visit the one website she needed to visit on a daily basis (and this is the website for a fortune 500 company, so no weird coding here, just basic incompatibility).
2)The data plan issues with AT&T which I think everyone is now aware of.
3) The Dell 1012 Mini with 4G (a.k.a. HSPA) from Tmobile. For the price of one iPad (basic), I was able to buy TWO of these things from Tmobile ($398 for TWO), and our total monthly unlimited data plan was only about $40 more a month that one of AT&T's current 2GB plan ($70 for both lines). I got a small form factor (10 inches and under three pounds) I average about 7 hours battery life, with broadband on, email going, typing, etc... and the keyboard, despite being such a small machine, is only 12% smaller than a typical full-size laptop, so my typing, while undergoing a bit of learning curve, well my wpm hasn't suffered needlessly. I have a forward facing camera for Skype, 160GB of storage, SD card slot, no fan like larger laptops, I don't have issues pertaining to tilt, desktop placement, as well as all the other issues mentioned before, blah blah etc etc…
I really like the iPad, I spent hours playing with the thing on release day at the local Apple Store (much to the dismay of the Justin Bieber-ites waiting to try out the Tony Hawk skate app). IT is the BEST way to surf the web and read email, IMHO. And it seems to work well as an ereader, though I’m still a bit of a Luddite on that front and prefer the feel of dead forests and non-biodegradable ink. Games were good, but they were just iTouch upsized. I will admit, secretly, to the Scrabble set up one could attain for about $1600 where the iPad is the board and each player uses their iTouch as their tile holder, it is the most awesome form of electronic excess ever, especially when my actually wood and cardboard set does just fine. And there’s where a LOT of this comes into play for me: it’s a play-pretty. Lose the novelty of the interface, the form factor, and the like, and you see it for what it is. Add the compatibility issues, AT&T, and other drawbacks, against a netbook, and well, meh.
I thought the typing was great, personally, given the lack of click and clack. The form factor is alluring, but my biggest gripe was lack of a pen and paper function, if this was there, my longhand and typed input would be happily married in one. Perhaps at some point someone will come out with some sort of capacitive touch pen device and corresponding software, or Windows will resurrect the Courier project, or Dell will get serious with this tablet/Android thinking and go beyond their Big Phone/Tiny slate design into something we could really use.
Until then, I can get over two (up to four, depending on iPad model and incentives from the data provider) for one on the netbook, and no downsides except the lack of vanity-appeasement and cool-factor.
Give me a pen, unlock the browsing issues, and unlock the carriers (give me the iPhone 4G five-band 4g chip that is rumored to work on all the major carriers) and I'll get back to you in a year or so, which is about the average life span of my laptops it seems...
[ /rant]
$15 issue solved http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php
Unless that fortune 500 company is Microsoft, it is a weird coding thing, not basic incompatibility. If their website only works in IE, they have a poorly coded site. No questions about that. Either way though, if it can't work for her, I agree with you, it becomes useless.
Kirk,
Yeah I've seen the stylii out there, but there is more functionality needed. I guess I didn't make that clear in my original post. I need/want the writing functions that the tablet pc afforded, written-to-text, etc... right now, you have a sketch program, which acts as a piece of paper, so what else do I want, right? but it doesn't treat written text as text.
As far as her company, no, it isn't a weird code issue, it is a mobile browser versus all-grown-up browser issue. Her site works on IE, FF, even Google Chrome, but try it on a mobile browser, (IE, Opera and Opera Mini, Safari for iPhone, etc...) and things just don't happen. This is another area where we come to the inescapable fact that the iPad is merely an oversized iPhone, sans phone.
Total unadulterated bullshit. No serious writer could possibly operate upon an iPad. I happen to be a genuine writer (English and French), settled in south-east France... but I think it's best I leave your silly circles. Au revoir.
Maybe you might (or might not) visit my blog
Might not indeed!
Such bitterness about someone's opinion on a piece of consumer electronics. It must be very taxing to hang out with you.
Okay, goodbye!
... good riddance. Such anger....
But seriously this was a good and thorough write up.
That post was totally worth registering for.
isn't it just classic when they sit and lurk and lurk and lurk and then after a build up of emotions they come in an post a rubbish opinion like that?
it's classic.
LOL, Drake I was thinking exactly the same thing.
I read this article in utero while Dennis was considering it for the site. Read it on my laptop. Just now, i read over a good portion of it again, then read all the comments, on my mom's brand new iPad. I'm adding this comment from the iPad with considerable ease. I like that it makes a little tick-tick-tick sound when you strike the not-quite-real keys. This Helps my experience with it immensely. I still find, however, that I'm looking at the virtual keypad as I type. I'm not sure how long it would take for typing on this thing to feel transparent, instead of only looking transparent.
If you're a hardwired traditional typist and you like the comfort of felt home keys that need only your fingers and not your eyes, this thing could require some adaptation. But it's a vastly better experience than thumbing in a forum post from a phone. I would'd be ready to make an iPad my principle writing tool anytime soon. But I appreciate the evaluation of it in those terms for the purposes of our membership. This device is excellent for web-surfing, e-mail, wikipedia and dictionary look-ups, and quick notes.
VP
P.S. Found it tough to go back in after posting and add the section break to make this post more readable. Just did that now from my laptop. The iPad doesn't seem to have cursor keys to allow you to move anywhere in your previous text without erasing things.
You use your finger and point to where you want the cursor, Mark
I ordered a base, 16GB model last night. Mostly to read comic books on, as it is great for that. But I'll also use it for testing so it can be a write-off
Dang, I thought sure I'd tried that! I definitely tapped the Edit tab open and looked before switching back to my own machine. Maybe the relatively small size of the text relative to the tip of my finger caused me to not even try to point my cursor where I wanted it. I'll try again when I have her iPad handy for experiment.
I do like, for general reading purposes, being able to touch the screen with two fingers and stretch them wide apart to make something larger. I just didn't try that while inside my text edit. It's got to be an awesome reader for things that contain graphic art. I'm sure you'll love it for that.
If you're interested in something for writing/typing, perhaps you might want to consider an Alphasmart? http://www.neo-direct.com/default.aspx They are much less expensive, distraction-free, durable and a bunch of other neat stuff... just a thought.
Thanks Stacy, I've had one for years! I love it. No boot-up time, no internet distractions, simple, rugged enough to take camping, light and easy to carry, runs forever on ordinary double-A batteries, and you can USB it to your computer later and transfer files in minutes. It's a superb writer's tool.
Mine rides around in a slightly worn case with shoulder strap. It's nestled inside against a couple of printed drafts of something and a Poets & Writer's Magazine.
It's pretty fantastic, isn't it? I learned about it because my sister used it as an educational tool at school.
Great write up Xander. Very thorough, right down to the bone. And I couldnt agree with you more. It's been a 10 months since I"ve purchased my iPad and about 8 since you wrote this review.
There are truly no negatives to owning an ipad. Sure it may not have every solitary feature you want, but the fact that it does many things, and it does them well..is it's main attraction-but there is one thing. An issue I've experienced after using it more and more that I will find myself using my ipad less and picking up my laptop more...and that is the neck strain.
No matter how you slice it and dice it, you cant deny the pain in your neck after using an ipad for an extended period of time. It's inevitable. Even with a decent stand, you head is still tilted down at the ipad as you write, and if you try to type out a full chapter, expect to pay the consequences for it physically. I have the compass stand which I love and gives me an angle similar to the apple case when folded, but this is still not a permanent solution.
So now I'm at a crossroads. I love my iPad but for writing for long periods, it's just not practical, due to the neck and shoulder strain. The keyboard dock is starting to look very appealing to me now, as is the bluetooth keyboard. This will allow me to have the ipad propped up almost completely vertical as I click clack on the keyboard. But the only thing holding me back is the fact that I'll have to carry the damn thing around. I just don't wanna do it. So what do I do?
This:
Yup, it's an infrared keyboard. It'll do until voice recognition technology eliminates keyboards altogether... I'm hoping anyway. Though I may be just too lazy to actually learn how to type...
I recently picked up a cheap stylus by Griffin Tech and the Penultimate app. Works really well for jotting down notes and sketching down ideas. It then let's you email entire notebooks as PDF files. Pretty sweet, really.
Info here http://www.cocoabox.com/penultimate
IPad newbe here....
How do you scroll down in the comment block.
AhHa. Use two fingers!
Is there a similar trick to inserting a tab?
Other thoughts. How about a topic called "Change Password" (so you can search on it) to tell new users how to get to the right page? Also a writing tools section with maybe a wiki for iPads and software techniques?
Either you have a fast learning instinct or your ipad built is different then mine. But with my spam apple tablet i haven't learnt to type fast yet. You won't believe but i made this comment from my ipad and it took me some 90 seconds lol.
You are right, the portability o using iPad makes my online task easy and comfortable. Little thing that I have always along with me is the variety of ipad cases to make new looks everyday. Thankfully that I got some idea at spamalot.com
I read your post and it was amazing , KEEP IT, great job.
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