Regular readers might remember my plight to see what all of the fuss regarding iOS is about, one night a few months ago during one of our podcasts I had an idea. An idea that has cost me several hundred pounds so far, I bought an iPhone 4S. Just to see what iOS is about. initially I loved it, but as time wore on I kept thinking about how things worked on my other phones. It just wasn’t for me. At this point I hadn’t touched upon the whole iPad side of iOS.
With Android the tablet side of things is quite good, the hardware is amazing but the software is let down by a massive shortage of tablet optimised apps. So I went and got myself a new iPad (gen 3 btw), I say got myself I meant Vodafone leant me one. I really needed to see if tablet apps on the iPad really were better or whether it was just peoples perspective.
I sat and waited for it to arrive and then mid morning on a Saturday it arrived. I was actually excited when I received the call from “goods in”. It was one of the models with 3G built in and it had a SIM card in. Upon opening the box I was shocked in much the same way as when I opened my iPhone all those weeks ago, it looked great but it was bloody heavy. As I now have an Apple ID setting it up was a doddle. I even knew how to set up my Google Contacts and Email via Exchange.
So off I went installing apps and generally having a play. The offering of free apps is great, most of all my normal iPhone, Android or Windows Phone apps were here in some shape or form. Before I knew it I had a sea of icons that just had to be sorted out. I like to create half a dozen folders and move icons into specific categories. A bit obsessive I know, but hey you can’t really customise it much more now can you?
Slight annoyances that were present on my iPhone were just amplified now. Mainly problems that had occurred from me trying to use app from the Android world, like Pocket, 7digital or Google+. I was just expecting them to work exactly the same as on Android.
Another slight problem was trying to find free stuff. Free apps no problems there is a list of free apps, free games was a bit of a struggle though. Yes there are lots of free games, there just not easy to find. Yes we should all be paying for premium apps to support the developers, but I just wanted to install half a dozen free games to see what the iPad could do.
What I do like though is that companies like Amazon, Ebay, Twitter and countless others can actually be bothered to make a decent version of their apps that are optimised for use on a tablet. All three of those companies do not seem to be bothered to make tablet apps for Android. I just don’t get it. They just use a stretched out phone app. The fuss had all been justified, the apps on the iPad really were miles ahead of tablet apps for Android.
My daily tablet usage is web browsing, emails, social media, multi media and gaming. The iPad excels at all of them. Although I do prefer playing games on my Nexus 7 as it doesn’t hurt to hold up for more than a few minutes. The arrival of the Mini iPad on the scene makes we wonder if it is the combination of the two elements I like. I.E. Decent developer backing & a device small enough not to hurt your wrists.
Hmmm. I can see where part 5 of my experiment is going. But to slightly confuse matters I ordered a Microsoft Surface tablet. So next time I will have hopefully tried out a Mini iPad and the Surface and I should have a better idea of what my ideal favourite tablet is.
Oh and one last thing a big thanks to Vodafone for lending me an iPad. They have deals on subsidised iPads with a data contract available here. I certainly found having built in 3G meant I could almost use the iPad anywhere.
Horrible writing. Very difficult to read.