ipad2 advice

benners

benners

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Ben
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hi everyone

am thinking of getting an ipad2, mainly for casual web browsing, email, etc... just something more convenient to use than sitting with the laptop, and something great to take away on hols, trips, etc.

i'm just not sure whether to get 16 or 32gb and whether to get 3g.

I can't see it being used anywhere there isn't a wifi connection (home, train, hotel, airport)... but i guess that's easy to say and it's the times you don't have wifi that you'd 'need' it!

I don't want to clog it up with music/movies, so would use as much cloud stuff as possible.

I appreciate everyone's different, but just wondering if those with 3g find they never really use it, those with 16gbs wish they'd got a bit more storage, etc, etc.

:thumbs:
 
I went for the 32gb wifi model with no 3G... I found out I can use my mobile as a wifi hotspot and use my mobile data allowance when I need to... As for the 16gb, I figured that I'd be better off going for more storage than I'd probably need - if the iPad is anything like the iPhone 3, the more memory you use, the clunkier it gets...
 
32gb wifi here, if needs be use my HTC as a hotspot and 32gb is looooads of room even for movies and music. a movie file at the correct res and audio shouldnt be more than a gig at the absolute most.
 
Catdaddy said:
I went for the 32gb wifi model with no 3G... I found out I can use my mobile as a wifi hotspot and use my mobile data allowance when I need to... As for the 16gb, I figured that I'd be better off going for more storage than I'd probably need - if the iPad is anything like the iPhone 3, the more memory you use, the clunkier it gets...
Click to expand...

thanks Chris... is 'tethering' limited to any types of handsets/contracts? I have a data plan on my mobile contract with O2. I've also been looking at the Three mifi units... though it's just extra 'stuff' to take out with you.

i can see how 32gb would be a wiser investment than 16gb, so that might be a decisive factor :) Just looking at ways of saving a few quid :thumbs:

(edit - and thanks Neil! we posted at exactly the same time!)
 
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benners said:
thanks Chris... is 'tethering' limited to any types of handsets/contracts? I have a data plan on my mobile contract with O2. I've also been looking at the Three mifi units... though it's just extra 'stuff' to take out with you.

i can see how 32gb would be a wiser investment than 16gb, so that might be a decisive factor :) Just looking at ways of saving a few quid :thumbs:

(edit - and thanks Neil! we posted at exactly the same time!)
Click to expand...

No worries... I have O2 as well, but it's still too expensive so I've gone with giffgaff. They're still on the O2 network, so your mobile shouldn't need unlocking and for £10 a month, you get unlimited data and txts... Quite a sweet deal, really
 
Catdaddy said:
No worries... I have O2 as well, but it's still too expensive so I've gone with giffgaff. They're still on the O2 network, so your mobile shouldn't need unlocking and for £10 a month, you get unlimited data and txts... Quite a sweet deal, really
Click to expand...

i was really tempted by giffgaff... but they're still not up and running with the Blackberry services yet I don't think (which is what I use)

my contract is up for renewal in the next few weeks with O2, and although they're not the most app-happy, smartest smartphones, I do really like my BB and love having a physical keyboard, over full touchscreen... so don't think I'll be changing.
 
If the blackbarry can give you a portable wifi hotspot (and your data allowance isn't too restrictive!) then you won't necessarily need the 3G model iPad... :thumbs:
 
benners said:
i can see how 32gb would be a wiser investment than 16gb, so that might be a decisive factor :) Just looking at ways of saving a few quid :thumbs:
Click to expand...

remember 16gb would not be the storage you have, factor in the stupid bytes conversion and the OS you will probably be around 12gb..

you say you don't want to clog it and mainly for surfing/email etc... but you want to leave your options open.. for EG Fifa goes on offer, 'ill try that for .69p'.. thats 1gb gone, Real Racing 2 HD is around 700mb... it will soon mount up..

what you are thinking before purchase and what actually happens after purchase are 2 different things. with no removable storage option I would(and did) go for the 32gb.

EDIT, like others when I needed 3G I just tethered my phone.
 
Catdaddy said:
If the blackbarry can give you a portable wifi hotspot (and your data allowance isn't too restrictive!) then you won't necessarily need the 3G model iPad... :thumbs:
Click to expand...

i think that sounds good... not sure if the BB/O2 can tether, I would have thought it could though. otherwise, I could look into getting a Three mifi setup if I found myself in non-wifi areas a lot (unlikely though).

strumstrum said:
remember 16gb would not be the storage you have, factor in the stupid bytes conversion and the OS you will probably be around 12gb..

you say you don't want to clog it and mainly for surfing/email etc... but you want to leave your options open.. for EG Fifa goes on offer, 'ill try that for .69p'.. thats 1gb gone, Real Racing 2 HD is around 700mb... it will soon mount up..

what you are thinking before purchase and what actually happens after purchase are 2 different things. with no removable storage option I would(and did) go for the 32gb.

EDIT, like others when I needed 3G I just tethered my phone.
Click to expand...

very good points strumstrum, exactly why i posted on here, thank you! i'm thinking the 32gb/wifi model may be the wisest investment.
 
I bought one yesterday to replace a net book and a laptop. I too was faced with the same dilemma and opted for the 32GB model wifi only.
When I synced with iTunes it took all my music and I was left with about 8GB.
After adding a couple of films and a few apps I realised that some better management was going to be necessary as space was diminishing rapidly.

If you have a largish iTunes library then the 16GB model is not for you unless your happy to keep all your music on an iPod. One of the reasons I chose the iPad was to stream my iTunes music over my hifi system using an apple airport device. It works perfectly.
 
footman said:
I bought one yesterday to replace a net book and a laptop. I too was faced with the same dilemma and opted for the 32GB model wifi only.
When I synced with iTunes it took all my music and I was left with about 8GB.
After adding a couple of films and a few apps I realised that some better management was going to be necessary as space was diminishing rapidly.

If you have a largish iTunes library then the 16GB model is not for you unless your happy to keep all your music on an iPod. One of the reasons I chose the iPad was to stream my iTunes music over my hifi system using an apple airport device. It works perfectly.
Click to expand...

hehe in that respect i'm fortunate as I use spotify/other music libraries and will stream music rather than download it to listen on the go... it's grating me enough having an Apple product in the house, but the ipad is the leader in the tablet market as far as i'm concerned, so don't have much choice (and I'm not interested in getting into that deabte at the mo, in case anyone is thinking offering alternatives!).
 
Catdaddy said:
I went for the 32gb wifi model with no 3G... I found out I can use my mobile as a wifi hotspot and use my mobile data allowance when I need to... As for the 16gb, I figured that I'd be better off going for more storage than I'd probably need - if the iPad is anything like the iPhone 3, the more memory you use, the clunkier it gets...
Click to expand...

One other difference between the 3G and WiFi models is that the 3G model includes GPS. This may or may not be relevant to you application. I bought the WiFi model because I can use my Android phone as a hotspot but in some ways wish I had got the 3G model just to get the GPS as well. But if you are trying to save the pennies it may not be an issue.

Andrew
 
andrewm said:
One other difference between the 3G and WiFi models is that the 3G model includes GPS. This may or may not be relevant to you application. I bought the WiFi model because I can use my Android phone as a hotspot but in some ways wish I had got the 3G model just to get the GPS as well. But if you are trying to save the pennies it may not be an issue.

Andrew
Click to expand...

hmm, not sure what benefits the GPS would have? as you can probably tell, not too clued up on it all!
 
benners said:
hmm, not sure what benefits the GPS would have? as you can probably tell, not too clued up on it all!
Click to expand...

The only things I can think of would be a pretty neat SatNav and geotagging photographs taken with the iPad. Not that anyone on these forums would do that would they?

I am not sure whether the Memory Map OS maps access GPS or not. It would be a pretty neat device if they did.
 
andrewm said:
The only things I can think of would be a pretty neat SatNav and geotagging photographs taken with the iPad. Not that anyone on these forums would do that would they?

I am not sure whether the Memory Map OS maps access GPS or not. It would be a pretty neat device if they did.
Click to expand...

hmm good points... I'm sure they'd be cool, but probably not enough to justify the extra i guess. and things that i would rarely see myself using/wanting to use :thumbs:
 
andrewm said:
One other difference between the 3G and WiFi models is that the 3G model includes GPS. This may or may not be relevant to you application. I bought the WiFi model because I can use my Android phone as a hotspot but in some ways wish I had got the 3G model just to get the GPS as well. But if you are trying to save the pennies it may not be an issue.

Andrew
Click to expand...

Mine has GPS... I can click on the Maps app, tap the arrow and it'll tell me where I am... it also has geotagging for any photos I take with it... :thumbs:
 
andrewm said:
The WiFi only version does geolocation using WiFi signals. I am not sure but think that they use Skyhook for this.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying that, Andrew... best I use my mobile for splat-nav then! :thumbs:
 
footman said:
I've used MemoryMap on a PDA and it does use GPS to show your position.
There is a GPS module that fits an Ipad:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GNS-5870-MFi-module-iPhone/dp/B004289ZW0

it can be bought cheaper elsewhere.
I'm going to try out the MemoryMap app to see if I can use my existing maps.
Click to expand...

Totally off topic for a photography forum but does anyone know if one can connect the GPS on an Android phone to an iPad? I was thinking of something along the lines of using it as a bluetooth GPS module.
 
I've got the 32 gig 3g on three.

I was on a £40 a month phone contract with tmobile, my contract ended, so I went with a cheap phone contract from three, and the savings means I only pay £5 more a month than I used to, plus I got a discount off my iPad for being a three customer :)

The 3G is super fast, and three give you 15gig data compared to most peoples 2-5 gig deals.
 
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