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The Apple iPad | The Official Thread

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Alright guys - now that the ipad has been out for a short while can anybody a good way to manage PDF files?

I've got a ton of research to do and was able to find a good amount of the information via PDF, and my plan is to use ITunes to synch the files to the iPad for long term storage as part of a reference library. Then what?

Do I *need* a PDF app to view them? And is there any way to download a PDF via Safari and keep it on the iPad? Or do I have to use iTunes to synch?

Any help is appreciated
 
NullPointer said:
Alright guys - now that the ipad has been out for a short while can anybody a good way to manage PDF files?

I've got a ton of research to do and was able to find a good amount of the information via PDF, and my plan is to use ITunes to synch the files to the iPad for long term storage as part of a reference library. Then what?

Do I *need* a PDF app to view them?

Any help is appreciated
Get GoodReader.
 
LovingSteam said:
We talked about this! You will repay me in other ways...
D':

BTW, I'm going on the record as to the HP Slate being a dismal failure. Windows 7 + Atom + 1GB of RAM MAX = FAIL
 
NullPointer said:
99 cents? I'm game to give it a try. Thanks.
What I love about it is you don't even need to sync via iTunes. If I want to transfer a file to my iPad I just add it to my Dropbox (if you don't have Dropbox, get it) and then GoodReader can sync to my Dropbox and pull the file from there. Seamless and brilliant. There are multiple other ways to do it too, that's just the easiest one for me.
 

Eggo

GameFan Alumnus
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but using the iPad as a digital picture frame is a major battery drain. I've had my iPad displaying pictures (from the 'screen locked' screen) for 6 hours, and my battery went from 100% -> 50%. I didn't access the Internet, didn't play any music, ran no apps, and the battery is half gone. Screen brightness is at 50% and I don't have push enabled on any apps.

That seems like a major drain, considering how great/long-lasting the iPad's battery normally is.
 
Gary Whitta said:
What I love about it is you don't even need to sync via iTunes. If I want to transfer a file to my iPad I just add it to my Dropbox (if you don't have Dropbox, get it) and then GoodReader can sync to my Dropbox and pull the file from there. Seamless and brilliant. There are multiple other ways to do it too, that's just the easiest one for me.
Looks like I'll be setting that up tonight. And thanks again - GoodReader seems like exactly what I've wanted.

The file management stuff is a little janky though. Seems like it should be drag and drop. The process of moving freshly downloaded files into a folder feels unnecessarily complicated - unless I'm doing it wrong of course - but it works.
 
Eggo said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but using the iPad as a digital picture frame is a major battery drain. I've had my iPad displaying pictures (from the 'screen locked' screen) for 6 hours, and my battery went from 100% -> 50%. I didn't access the Internet, didn't play any music, ran no apps, and the battery is half gone. Screen brightness is at 50% and I don't have push enabled on any apps.

That seems like a major drain, considering how great/long-lasting the iPad's battery normally is.
That's because the screen is what eats battery, not necessarily what you're doing on it. This goes for any device with flash memory.
 
Eggo said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but using the iPad as a digital picture frame is a major battery drain. I've had my iPad displaying pictures (from the 'screen locked' screen) for 6 hours, and my battery went from 100% -> 50%. I didn't access the Internet, didn't play any music, ran no apps, and the battery is half gone. Screen brightness is at 50% and I don't have push enabled on any apps.

That seems like a major drain, considering how great/long-lasting the iPad's battery normally is.

I'm not exactly sure how you come to that conclusion. For a 10 hour battery, you used half the battery for 6 hours of usage. Double that is 12 hours for complete bgattery usage. One of the biggest drains to the battery is the screen.
 
LovingSteam said:
I wonder if the new OS will have a drastic change with the UI. If they will modernize it someway.

I'm hoping that this is the case. In fact, I think in order to incorporate some of the new rumored features, a change to the interface seems almost needed.
 
Marty Chinn said:
I'm hoping that this is the case. In fact, I think in order to incorporate some of the new rumored features, a change to the interface seems almost needed.

Do any of you UI professionals have any type of idea what you would prefer to see in a revamped UI for 4.0? I have no clue.
 

LCfiner

Member
I’m not willing to bet a big change for the homescreen UI, but I will bet that the home button function is gonna change.

right now it’s loaded with lots of functions for double and triple tapping and holding but that will likely change if they’re doing multitasking.
 
Off the top of my head, tap and release home will do what it always does, but maybe hold home and different single or multiple finger gestures will pull up other stuff, like multitasking, alerts/messages, etc.
 

Eggo

GameFan Alumnus
Marty Chinn said:
I'm not exactly sure how you come to that conclusion. For a 10 hour battery, you used half the battery for 6 hours of usage. Double that is 12 hours for complete bgattery usage. One of the biggest drains to the battery is the screen.

Didn't tested get 16 hours out of their battery while doing a bunch of things: playing video, surfing the web, downloading apps via wi-fi? Yes, displaying an image is a battery drain, but using no other processor/resources, I would think it would last longer than 12 hours.
 
Eggo said:
Didn't tested get 16 hours out of their battery while doing a bunch of things: playing video, surfing the web, downloading apps via wi-fi? Yes, displaying an image is a battery drain, but using no other processor/resources, I would think it would last longer than 12 hours.
They did 25% brightness.

Either way, Apple promised 10 hours. You're getting greedy.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
LovingSteam said:
I have come to appreciate Shog in this thread. Not only does he make it more lively and entertaining, he also can put forth good points without being an asshole.
Shog has always been a good poster. He has an opposing view, yeah, but he's not rambling on about nothing. That said, he was banned for other reasons than perceived trolling.

LovingSteam said:
I wonder if the new OS will have a drastic change with the UI. If they will modernize it someway.
I hope so. This chicklet stuff works and is iconic on the iPhone. I get that. But it is ridiculous on the iPad. Here's hoping Apple moves forward. Also, things don't necessarily have to be radically different from the iconic for there to be major changes. For example, BMW's kidney grill. It is iconic, instantly recognizable, but still doesn't hold the company's car designs back. I'm not sure how it can be done but Apple doesn't pay me so what do I care. Just give me the results.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
Sentry said:
Decided to iPad-ify a ton of my desktop wallpapers, might as well share them (click for the full album);

nzepuc.jpg


Sorry for the huge post.. If you'd like a landscape version of any specific wallpaper let me know.

I'd take a widescreen version of this one, for sure! PM, if you'd be so kind.
 
LovingSteam said:
I wonder if the new OS will have a drastic change with the UI. If they will modernize it someway.

I assume you mean iPhone? I have a feeling the iPhone OS will get glossy updates similar to the apps on the iPad.
 
Eggo said:
Didn't tested get 16 hours out of their battery while doing a bunch of things: playing video, surfing the web, downloading apps via wi-fi? Yes, displaying an image is a battery drain, but using no other processor/resources, I would think it would last longer than 12 hours.

Lower brightness, SD video only, and black and white video (this may or may not be a factor)
 

Burger

Member
Interesting aside, whenever I visit people who own digital picture frames, they are always turned off. Always. I don't know of anyone who actually leaves them turned on.

I think the digital picture frame is quite possibly the most common, uninvented device ever. A completely pointless solution to a problem nobody had.
 
Marty Chinn said:
Off the top of my head, tap and release home will do what it always does, but maybe hold home and different single or multiple finger gestures will pull up other stuff, like multitasking, alerts/messages, etc.

Yeah; double tapping the home button already does a little fake multitasking: bringing up the iPod app or controls, so double tapping to bring up expose to quickly switch to those apps would make sense
 

LCfiner

Member
So I used articles for a bit and I think I prefer wikipanion free.

Articles is prettier, yes, but it's slower than wikipanion in retrieving and formatting the article and there is no obvious table of contents in landscape mode.

I know about the double tap on chapter titles to enable chapter scrolling but it's just not as easy as seeing all chapters laid out in a panel on the side. It made sense on the iPhone since the screen is so small but I think that it should change to add the panel view in landscape to make actual browsing easier. It's a case of aesthetics over function.

Anyway, for a buck it's still a nice app. I wouldn't bu it for five considering the quality of wikipanion for free.
 

Tobor

Member
Does anybody mind doing a quick book check for me in iBooks?

Foundation Trilogy by Asimov
Dune by Herbert
1776 by McCullough

I will return the favor with hugs.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Tobor said:
Does anybody mind doing a quick book check for me in iBooks?

Foundation Trilogy by Asimov
Dune by Herbert
1776 by McCullough

I will return the favor with hugs.
Dune is there, I got the sample even.
 

Bog

Junior Ace
Tobor said:
Does anybody mind doing a quick book check for me in iBooks?

Foundation Trilogy by Asimov
Dune by Herbert
1776 by McCullough

I will return the favor with hugs.

No, yes, yes.
 

Fox1304

Member
NullPointer said:
Looks like I'll be setting that up tonight. And thanks again - GoodReader seems like exactly what I've wanted.

The file management stuff is a little janky though. Seems like it should be drag and drop. The process of moving freshly downloaded files into a folder feels unnecessarily complicated - unless I'm doing it wrong of course - but it works.
There is ReaddleDocs too. Been using it for a little while on the iphone. Dropbox sync, mails sync too, network transfer, offlie viewing etc ... I'm pretty pleased for now ... No idea if an iPad version is here/coming though ^^

edit : mobileme and google docs sync too.
 

mrkgoo

Member
Awwww. I wanted a hug :(


NullPointer said:
Looks like I'll be setting that up tonight. And thanks again - GoodReader seems like exactly what I've wanted.

The file management stuff is a little janky though. Seems like it should be drag and drop. The process of moving freshly downloaded files into a folder feels unnecessarily complicated - unless I'm doing it wrong of course - but it works.


I know this is overkill (It's $14.99 - and I didn't know it went up on launch day, it was $9.99 before iPad came out), but Papers does for PDFs what iTunes does for music, more or less. It keeps a structured library based on year, author, and journal, keeps track of metadata and also links to many scientific article search engines. There's actually two apps, the Mac version which costs money also, that does the organisation, and the iPad version which syncs wirelessly and displays PDFs. The sync is seamless. If both apps are open, and they devices on the same network, they will detect each other, and a sync is just one click away.

Obviously, only more hardcore science majors need apply. I can, also, stick other PDFs in it and they will sync automatically too, so it's a neat side thing.
 

Foob

Member
What's the difference between good reader and that Mac app someone posted earlier that converts things to epub? I can essentially do the same things with either one, right?

Also, I'm seriously considering selling my brand new Kindle 2 now. I just wish I could get the new yorker on here..
 

LCfiner

Member
FYI, those Asimov books are available on the kindle store. You may above already checked that out, though. They're about 8 bucks each

edit: my current homescreen and lockscreen just for kicks

8b06b2c4.jpg




55be2216.jpg
 

Tobor

Member
LCfiner said:
FYI, those Asimov books are available on the kindle store. You may above already checked that out, though. They're about 8 bucks each

I did indeed. That's why I asked actually. I have an old run down paper copy of the Trilogy, but it's time to upgrade.
 

noah111

Still Alive
Tathanen said:
I'd take a widescreen version of this one, for sure! PM, if you'd be so kind.
Here you go;

2147036.png


Unless you meant the original desktop version.. (source)

gkrykewy said:
Many of those are astonishing. Thanks so much for posting them.
My pleasure. :D

chaoticprout said:
Is there any way you can make a .zip with all of those? They're stunning.

edit: is there a way so that they can be 1024x1024 and work in both orientations?
Sure, here you go. Though i'm not really sure about the dimension thing tbh, sorry..
 

Foob

Member
Patrick Klepek said:
I wish Google Reader would update with an iPad-compatible layout. No need for an app anymore, except for offline reading.

Whats wrong with just using the desktop version? Works fine for me
 
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