iPads, writing and Gadget Zen
Yes, it’s another one of those “Hey, I got a shiny new bit of kit and I’m going to bore you all to death by talking about it” posts. I recently got my grubby (if the smudges I am constantly cleaning off the screen are any gauge) hands on an iPad. Thank you, local PC World.
When I first started talking about getting an iPad, rather than just internally musing on it while staring at blogs, Bloke asked me the question everyone really should answer before buying pretty much anything: do you really need it?
With the iPad, that meant thinking up scenarios in which I imagined myself using a tablet, and asking myself whether I already owned tools that would do the same job just as well. I use a Samsung NC10 netbook – a laptop-like device designed with portability in mind, and yet I still find it heavy and cumbersome to lug around with me on a regular basis. I’ve always imagined myself getting more writing done if I could easily move about, gathering inspiration from the places and people around me. Squinting at my iPhone screen, trying to write long passages on the fly, just wasn’t working out. The iPad felt like the perfect middle way.
Of course, I considered the opposing points of view, particularly those from people like Marco (of Instapaper and Readability fame), who hadn’t found the iPad useful for any sort of Real Work.
Gadget Zen
I pitched my final usage scenario to Bloke with my new philosophy of Gadget Zen. I’m finding these days that I don’t obsessively want every single new device on the market*. I’m mellowing, somehow, and actively embracing it.
Gadget Zen philosophy states that every gadget in your life must fill a hole in your workflow. It must justify its place in your life by fulfilling a need that is both identifiable and unique.
My puzzle called for an elegant, portable solution that would enable me to perform basic computing tasks on the move, with a long battery life and a good range of apps. The iPad fit the bill perfectly.
Why not another tablet?
I am not a fangirl by any stretch of the imagination. I strongly considered other tablets, including the downright gorgeous Samsung Galaxy devices, but it kept coming back to one sticking point, and it was one which both impressed and appalled me with regards to my reliance on… you guessed it, App Store apps.
My app collection
Owning an iPhone meant that I already had a library of software which would work on my iPad thanks to the magic of universal apps. The ones which weren’t universal soon pulled me into buying their iPad versions – I know what I like and when I find something I like, I stick with it. Awesome Note being a prime example here.
This is the kind of subtle lock-in that you don’t really think about until the decision is on top of you. If you’ve spent a good chunk of change buying apps for your iPhone and narrowing them down to your favourites, you might be less inclined to spend yet more money going through the Android app market to find the gems. Particularly when so many of your iPhone apps come iPad-enabled without any additional cost.
It’s not that I’m particularly wedded to iOS, or (Gods forbid) Apple but the apps? Yeah, you’ll have to pry Awesome Note, Reeder, Echofon and many others from my cold, dead computer.
I researched apps thoroughly, bookmarking the websites of those I thought might be the best. I read reviews. I watched video after video from app developers. My crazy research phase had really been going on since the launch of the first iPad, and I had made the decision in my head long before I made that trip to PC World, marched straight up to the sales guy and said: “I’ll have one of those, please.” All based on the apps. It is the apps that make the device so compelling.
But what about the writing?
This post was written on an iPad, using the snazzy little Blogsy app. MacStories has already done the gushing for me here, so I will simply point you in their direction. That’s blogging covered.
For other types of writing, I found myself rather spoiled for choice. My important apps are aNote for notes and stories (the Google Docs and Evernote support make this app my number one choice), and Apple’s own Pages for long documents in need of formatting.
There are others – ThinkBook turns my scruffy Guiding planning meeting notes into beautifully formatted minutes with special markers for questions and to-dos. Simplenote is simply seamless, syncing between my iPhone, iPad and the web any time I need to make a note available everywhere. And iFiles persists in being one of my most-used apps by letting me edit and manage files from a wide range of services.
Iain Broome at writery blog Write for Your Life found much the same thing – it comes down to picking the perfect apps for your way of writing, and finding your syncing sweet spot. Although I am actually a a pretty fast typist on the iPad, and it isn’t all down to AutoCorrect… I just have tiny fingers and boy, they can move when Stick Muse is behind me with that cattle prod. Carrot Chocolate Muse helps a lot, mind you!
Other little tricks I’ve discovered include swiping up quickly on the !/, key to produce a ‘. Swiping up on ?/. gives a double quotation mark like so: “
I have a Smart Cover, and the slight tilt really is needed when I’m typing for any length of time. If you’re going to be setting it down on a flat surface to type (hello, fellow cafe writers!), I recommend the Smart Cover or any other type of case that can give you a tilt.
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Obviously, it isn’t all work and no play (even if writing is definitely play when it is going well)! I’ve already mentioned Reeder and Echofon as two of my non-writing essentials. The iPad brings with it a new world of procrastination and joy. Including the fact that YouTube looks purty. Bring on the cat videos!
I’d heard so many rave reviews about Flipboard that it was the first “unknown” app I downloaded to the iPad, and I have been extremely impressed. I’m reading news and other content from so many new sources I didn’t know even existed, and sending links to Twitter and Facebook is wonderfully simple. Seriously, if you own an iPad and haven’t at least tried Flipboard, what on earth have you been doing?
Speaking of Facebook, they haven’t exactly been moving their asses on the iPad app front, despite all the rumours. So, enter MyPad (formerly FacePad), which presents you with the important Facebook information in a lovely interface. If Facebook rips this off – sorry, is inspired by this app – my only surprise would be that Facebook have actually got round to making an app at all.
The major UK free-to-air channels (BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5), have also released iPad apps for their catch-up services. Lovely stuff, but go armed with bug spray. While we’re on the subject of TV, put a bookmark for TVCatchup’s iPad interface on your home screen, fold up that Smart Cover and enjoy live telly on your iPad. Not the best resolution in the world (very blocky, actually, especially when you’ve seen their normal stream).**
There are, of course, many other apps that will delight you and suck you into that time vortex ::coughcoughangrybirdscoughcough::, but I’ll leave you with just a few gems, lest this turn into a really, really long post.
Gadget Zen achieved?
On the whole, I’d say yes. My biggest frustration so far, in owning two iDevices and no Mac, has been stumbling across so many great apps that have desktop counterparts for syncing and advanced functionality, and having no way to run them on my Windows machine. So, my next computer purchase is likely to be a Mac of some description, but I’m going to have to wait a while before that is on the cards. As I’ve said, I am not and never will be a fangirl.
I think I will always need a ‘proper’ computer, particularly as I start to dip my toes into the world of web development, but the iPad has definitely filled a gap for me.
I must say, I’m rather relieved I have managed to find a use for it. That would be a pretty big dose of buyer’s remorse had it proved to be little more than a glorified YouTube player.
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The Footnotes…
* By the way, why does the iPad think ‘market’ and ‘mark’ should always have a capital M? Is there someone called Mark working on the AutoCorrect team who has been playing a practical joke on us all?
** You’ve got a TV licence, haven’t you? Good.