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Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

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Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#581

Post by djfdat »

guidoism wrote: post #299
legends2k wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally respect this viewpoint. I think the parent comment is about the shame of having a powerful device that could be programmed but is locked down only because the manufacturer thought so: an iPad can do a lot more but isn't allowed to just for it to appear as an appliance. In your analogy, it's like a truck is clothed as a Camry but it really needn't be. I guess it's the difference between a geek's and generalist…

Hmm, maybe…? I think there’s a difference in people who are thinking the power and abilities and differences come from the hardware and those who think it’s the software. Now clearly the hardware is different too. But I think the whole “appliance” thing is software. Maybe refining the argument to: It’s a Camry with the same horsepower as the truck? Funny thing I was at the hardware store today looking at modern truck…

It's like having a truck that can haul lumber, and anything smaller, but is restricted to specifally only hauling groceries.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#582

Post by leokennis »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #356

Missing from this article: why is he traveling with his iPad at all? He loudly asserts "I’m not leaving my iPad at home" but does not explain why. From where I'm standing, the iPad is a crappy platform that has no reason to exist. It's a worse Mac. I can maybe see artists using an iPad for the touch screen, but that use case only exists because Apple refuses to give the Mac a touch screen.

The iPad is great for reading and great for video:

- ebooks - web articles - RSS - newspaper - tv series and films

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#583

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

oracle2025 wrote: post #541
TeMPOraL wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In US, I hear it's a common "computer for non-tech-savvy people, who you want to set up with once, and have them not bother you for the next couple years" choice. As for the form factor, I do travel with a tablet. More specifically, a 2-in-1 device, with a stylus. An x86 one, though (specifically, Dell Latitude 5290, which has specs like MS Surface, but was 3x cheaper) - because I've learned from experience that iPad…

Android Tablets with Mobile Internet are perfectly fine phones. I've used a LTE Samsung tablet exclusively as my only "Smart" phone for a while, and had a Dual-Sim to share the same Phone number as on my "Dumb"-phone, (Nokia 8110 4G) ...

From 2015-2019, my only mobile device was an Android tablet with no SIM card. At purchase, I signed up for a Google Voice number, and I sort of got by with VoIP service over WiFi wherever I could.

Since then, I've purchased a proper mobile phone, and I transferred my landline home phone over to that SIM card, and it's my main line now. I use my Voice number very rarely.

One of the drawbacks to SIM cards is that you can't really get the phone service mirrored or transferred to a regular computer. Sure, you can "link" the phone if it's nearby, but the service itself stays there.

I've had a number of times where I'd really like to have voice/SMS service on that number available via computer (some people I know are actually creeped out by my having two phone numbers at once), but what can you do.

I haven't traveled since the Before Times anyway, so boarding a plane with devices is the least of my worries.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#584

Post by Roark66 »

jll29 wrote: post #149

The key sentence here is: > This is the fundamental difference between the Mac (a platform that basically lets developers and users do anything they want) and the iPad (where if Apple doesn’t specifically allow it, it can’t be done). Apple (since Lisa/Mac, after Apple II, which had an open architecture) likes appliances and to control the user experience, so the iPad is "more Apple" than Macs are. Whenever I am waiti…

>At least - thanks to the EU - soon they can all share the same USB-C charger

Good luck with that... I've a very nice dell laptop a client gave me to access their network. It uses USB-C (90W) for charging. Recently I had another dell laptop shipped to me by another client for the same purpose. This one too uses USB-C charger, but a 130W one.

A 130W charger had a broken plug so I attempted to use the 90W charger to charge the 130W laptop. You knew w what happened? It started charging and in under a minute it detected this as a "wrong" charger. It stopped charging and it would not boot with the 90W charger plugged in.

So if we can't use USB-C to swap chargers between two very similar devices made by the same manufacturer, what hope is there for having a truly "universal" charger? Yes, the 130W laptop couldn't possibly pull 130W from the 90W charger, but why couldn't it throttle, the cpu? Set the built in gpu to the igpu mode (yes it has both a igpu and another nVidia one)? Sad.

As for travelling with devices. I have been travelling with a laptop + cellphone forever. Few years ago I bought a little "convertible" laptop. I think it originally run windows 7. I installed Linux on it (with xfce desktop). It is essentially a tablet with a power of a laptop and detachable keyboard. I expected the keyboard interface to fail very quickly, but it hasn't. This way I have the convenience to browse the Web on a tablet, or plug the keyboard in and do actual work.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#585

Post by tiffanyh »

djfdat wrote: post #581
guidoism wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, maybe…? I think there’s a difference in people who are thinking the power and abilities and differences come from the hardware and those who think it’s the software. Now clearly the hardware is different too. But I think the whole “appliance” thing is software. Maybe refining the argument to: It’s a Camry with the same horsepower as the truck? Funny thing I was at the hardware store today looking at modern truck…

It's like having a truck that can haul lumber, and anything smaller, but is restricted to specifally only hauling groceries.

Food for thought …

Why are people trying to use a tool it wasn’t designed for?

Eg the iPad does not have a built in keyboard. Why are people trying to use it to write long form essays/books when it’s designed default keyboard is on display - and then they get upset at Apple.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#586

Post by wiseowise »

emodendroket wrote: post #560
wiseowise wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it become worse if they add support for keyboard and mouse on top of it?

It does offer support for a keyboard and a mouse but what you're proposing is adding features or programs that would only work (or at least only work well) with a keyboard and a mouse, which would be a pretty big departure from the current design of the device.

If they don’t take anything from general experience, why do you care? Core of the system will still be touch oriented.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#587

Post by seanthemon »

Joe_Boogz wrote: post #163
seanthemon wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which cloud provider do you use? I'm currently connecting to my pc but i don't like this solution. I'd like to run a docker instance

I use Azure. Also going to be looking into Cloud PC or Dev box soon (also azure)

How's the cost? I'm thinking of running a docker instance from my pc and connecting to it remotely

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#588

Post by emodendroket »

wiseowise wrote: post #586
emodendroket wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does offer support for a keyboard and a mouse but what you're proposing is adding features or programs that would only work (or at least only work well) with a keyboard and a mouse, which would be a pretty big departure from the current design of the device.

If they don’t take anything from general experience, why do you care? Core of the system will still be touch oriented.

I am contesting the idea that it's possible to compromise the design philosophy that had guided it up till now and NOT "take anything from the general experience."

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#589

Post by oflannabhra »

hhh wrote: post #537
oflannabhra wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t offer macOS. My whole point is that when I have a keyboard I don’t want to be touching a screen, and I want the power and freedom macOS offers to be able to do productive work. I also want iPadOS for other types of interaction, like reading or watching, or drawing.

By 'It just needs to swap' I mean to be able to swap into MacOS (when you hook up the magic keyboard)

Oh, then yeah! This is exactly what I would like.

I don’t care about the particulars of the hardware that enables such an experience.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#590

Post by IggleSniggle »

shiggaz wrote: post #396
IggleSniggle wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had my "single device for everything" experience with the original Galaxy Note. I would plug in a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and use it as a computer (it required a special OTG USB to HDMI adapter). It connected to my car. It had a big enough screen to be a mobile Tv. It was fun for sketching with the included pressure sensitive pencil. I had a game-controller that it could click into, making it into a handheld g…

I miss my Moto X too! Which phone did you move on to?

I used the original Moto X as long as I could. I can't even remember what I got after. I'm now sporting a iPhone mini.

Obviously the market just isn't there for smaller phones, but I actually think the iPhone 3GS had the best form factor of any phone I've used, and it's smaller screen encouraged information density, which I like.

I say I use an iPhone mini now, and it's true, but only because Apple requires you to use an iPhone with their Watch. I've given up on the phone form factor, and use an Apple Watch with an ear bud and cellular, and keep the phone in drawer most of the time. Actually is was the Moto lineup that got me onto that: they had that short-lived earbud that was marketed as requiring zero screen in order to do all your mobile computing (I never got one though).

You might wonder why one wouldn't just use an Android watch that could do all of it without the bullshit Apple tax across multiple devices. It's for similar reasons for why I didn't end up liking the Galaxy Note, even though it still, to this day, feels like a miracle that they could cram so many features AND so much quality into that device, and that it could legitimately perform in all those categories.

The iPhone mini still feels too big, but at least it's mostly usable with one hand, even if it's not comfortable to do something like pull down the control panel shade on the top right corner with your left hand.

I know I'm just a weirdo though. I thought the Windows Phone UI was brilliant, especially the audio design.

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