The Glade 4.0

I'm heading out to Anime Expo tomorrow, and I was thinking of getting an iPad to keep with my at the con. I have a laptop and I have a smartphone. The laptop is rather large, and I don't want to carry it around the con all day. The smartphone is small, and it only has a 3.7" screen. So I was thinking getting an iPad as something in-between. I would primarily use it for web browsing, email, time wasting while in line, youtube, mp4 video, mp3 playback, maybe note taking during panels. All of these things I can do from my smartphone, but again, it's rather small and can be inconvenient for prolonged use.

If I do get an iPad, I'm debating if I want to get the 3G version or the wifi only version. I can use my phone as a wifi hotspot and connect the iPad through that. It might be more convenient to just have 3G directly on the phone, though.

So basically, the question is, how much is convenience worth? I can spend $0 and make do with my smartphone, I can spend $500 and tether the iPad to my smartphone, or I can $630 and witness the power of a fully armed and operational iPad.

Opinions?

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Go full bore, get the 3G Version. You'll kick yourself later if you don't.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I went with the 3G model, for two reasons: 1) While I love my iPod Touch, the lack of "always on" internet is an annoyance, and 2) I figured if I were to spend that much money, I shouldn't half-ass it, because I knew I'd regret it later.

Also, while I don't know your internet usage needs, but I know that when my assistant uses his iPhone as a wifi hotspot, it's such an incredible battery suck that he said it will actually run down the battery even while plugged into the wall.

My suggestion, if you have the money, is to go 3G. My secondary suggestion would be to just use your phone.

3G, you have it if you need it and you might want to sell it some day - I've never seen additional features be a detriment to selling something.

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In time, this too shall pass.

And.. because of this and that, I ended up getting a 64gb 3G iPad. Now the next thing is to see if I can set up the thing well enough to negate needing my laptop at all on my trip.

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Jailbreak it immediately.

I've copied a bunch of mp3s to my iPad, synced my Gmail and Google contacts, and installed Netflix, Crunchyroll, and an SSH/VNC app.

This leaves me with video playback and timewaster apps (ie games). I tried to copy the video files I converted to work with my phone, but iTunes says they're not compatible. Since I've got almost 60 gigabytes of free space left, what program should I use to convert my video files? Handbrake?

Also, what games would you recommend?

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Angry Birds is a great time-waster and Chaos Rings is a pretty good RPG (pricey app, but you just spent $600+...)

<3 Angry Birds.

I wish Chaos Rings would update to iPad resolution...

iPad resolution? I wish it would update to iPhone4 resolution :p

Well, yeah, that too. I hope that the increased resolution of the iPhone 4 will spur the development of more universal binaries, rather than this "regular" and "HD" nonsense.

Plants v Zombies
Lux Touch
Stanza (3.0.3, so it doesn't interfere with iBooks)
GeoDefense
Sketch Nation
Trivial Pursuit
Phase 10

That is what I view as must-have because there are times where noise and movement aren't good or possible.

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Once, I was a ranger
Then, I was a warlock
And a mage
And a paladin
Now, I seek to be myself

I always use handbrake. It's got settings for the iPhone built in.

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In time, this too shall pass.

I've found that Handbrake's Regular/High Profile preset works on the iPad. If I rip a dvd, it can encode the subtitles into the video, but not with a downloaded mkv fansub.

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Just curious, how much are the data plans for the 3G versions? And do you have to get a data plan when you purchase it, or can you opt in later?

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"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian

$15 for 250 megabytes per month, $25 for 2 gigabytes per month. You can buy 1 month at a time, no contract. But you gotta remember to cancel the recurring charge when you don't want it.

You aren't required to buy 3g time when you get it.

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http://www.apple.com/ipad/3g/

$15 for 250 Mb/month
$25 for 2 Gb/month



And yeah, I know I'm #2, but I tried harder!

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In time, this too shall pass.

I'm posting from my phone in the airport Wendy's...

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I managed to snag the unlimited data plan somehow, despite getting my iPad after the first of the month.

Weird, but not looking the proverbial gift horse in its (also-proverbial) mouth.

Cutoff wasn't the 1st, it was the 7th I think.

While this has been an interesting experiment, and it does turn a few heads at the con, I think that ultimately it isn't going to work out between us. The bigger screen is really nice, and typing is easier with the larger keyboard. However, the phone won out in some very important categories.

First, it is a lot easier to pull my phone out of my pocket while standing up in line. Sitting down, sure the iPad is nice. But standing around, and especially walking, the phone is the go to device. Second, the phone has SMS texting, which I used a lot. Third, and most importantly, the phone can multitask. For someone who is a compulsive alt-tabber, losing my ssh session every time I want to look up something on the web, or check my mail, is unacceptable.

So, I think, on Tuesday once I get home from Los Angeles, the iPad will be returning to Best Buy.

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Multitasking is coming though...

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In time, this too shall pass.

Why couldn't it do it @ release?

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Holy shitsnacks!

If I had to guess, I'd say the OS hadn't gone through QC for that platform yet, but they didn't want to hold up release.

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In time, this too shall pass.

I told you to jailbreak for a reason!