More iPad Woes

Okay, after paying my $9.99 a month over and above the $71 a year I already pay for Rhapsody I got it working on my iPad. I can't say that it is as feature rich as the version for the PC, but given the longer battery life on the iPad and the fact that you can download music for your queue to be played later I can see where this will be useful, especially for on a plane and where there is no internet connectivity.

I bought a plastic shield to protect the iPad's screen but after reading the installation instructions I returned it. When I got to the point about leaving the iPad off for 12 to 24 hours and removing the battery I kind of gave up.

Next, I had to order a stylus. I do not have particularly large fingers but I found it almost impossible to highlight words in order to cut and paste. Invariably I ended up highlighting whole blocks of text and then when I tried to use the little dots to resize the highlighted area the whole area usually just disappeared and I had to start over again.

Got my Hotmail working, although not by using the mail icon on the iPad. When I use that it only shows me my primary inbox but there doesn't seem to be any way to access my auxiliary folders. I use Safari to access msn.com and then get to Hotmail that way.

I am getting used to Safari now, I find it works kind of like Chrome in terms of being able to access previously opened sites. There was a little icon up at the top of the screen that you touch.  Took me awhile to figure that out.  Chrome has tabs for your open sites but Safari doesn't seem to have that same feature.  Or perhaps I just haven't discovered it yet.

Another slight problem I am having, the touch screen is somewhat heat sensitive. That is why you need a special stylus and can't just use a pen or something. Often when I am trying to touch a letter or a number on the upper part of the keyboard that fat part of my hand, right below the thumb (the one you can use for a guide as to how well-done your steaks are) brushes the lower portion of the keyboard where you switch from alpha to numeric. This usually means deleting the character that I inadvertently entered and then switching back to either alpha or numeric. I suppose I will have to use my stylus for typing now and that will slow me down a bit because I am a fairly fast touch typist.

On the other hand, with its orange cover it really does look cool. I like the map feature and that GPS thing is pretty neat as well.

I am warming up to it. I do like the long battery life and the 3G connectivity. If Adobe Photoshop and Quicken come out with applications for the iPad I could probably use it exclusively for prolonged trips. Not so much now, it is more of an auxiliary device at this point, but good for a long-weekend getaway.

Not going to hold my breath for Adobe working nicely with Apple though. Click on the picture below to check out a link to one take on why Apple doesn't support Adobe Flash:



Can't we all just get along?

Now, to Apple's credit, I find their customer service people to be very helpful and extremely polite.

And, based upon the number and content of comments I get on my posts about the iPad, I will have to say that Apple users are much more passionate than PC users.  I certainly hope that e-Harmony and those other match-making services have at least one question that asks whether you are a PC or an Apple user.