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Can the iPad 2 be used as a stand alone computer?

2011-08-09T14:47:00.027+02:00

During a period of 14 days i will take a closer look at this question and post my findings and results on this page, so lay back and keep reading.

First of all, why am i doing this, what is the purpose of this undertaking?

Well, I was asked by my mom to help her finding her a computer, actually her first computer, she has never had one before. My mom is a total computer newbee with little to no experience at all. She is able to write and send e-mails, look things up at Wikipedia, saving images from a e-mail to a USB stick, and i think she can make and save a Microsoft office Word document. But that's it.

So i was thinking, that what she needs for her everyday computer use is mainly some e-mailing, Internet browsing and simple word processing. At the moment her only access to a computer is at her work, so she is really starting from scratch concerning computers, Internet and operating systems.
My thought is, since she has to learn how a computer is working anyways, it doesn't matter what operating system she is starting out on. I think the iPad and IOS is a system with very little possibility in "fucking something up" ore ending somewhere in the OS where you can't help yourself.

If you have question ore want me to test something, please leave a comment and i will get back to you.

The Setup
First of all, what kind of setup am i going for, iPad only, iPad and keyboard docking station ore the iPad with a docking station and an bluetooth keyboard. I did some research and ended up with the combination of an docking station and a bluetooth keyboard. For further information on this take a look at the following two videos:

My main point in going with the dock and a separat bluetooth keyboard is for being able to move the iPad and keyboard separately around and controlling the distance of them.

On the picture below you can see my setup for the experiment:

Hardware:
iPad 2 16BG Wi-fi with IOS 4.3.5
Apple Docking station for iPad
Apple Wireless keyboard

Software:
I have decided to only use legal software, no jailbreaking and trying to keep it as cheap as possible and therefore going with the Google App's family like Gmail, Blogger, Doc's and Picasa. Also Google App's because my mom already has an Gmail account, and O this way can keep the experiment as real as possible, concerning her part in it.

I will of course need more software during this experiment and will add them constantly as i progress.

My first hands on experiences:
The bluetooth connection really sucks out the power of the iPad. But it's worth it.
The possibility of mowing the keyboard and the iPad separately around works great. When touching the iPad it feels stable in it's dock even if it looks a little bit shaky.

The use of the keyboard feels really naturally and typing e-mails and this blogpost works just fine. Short key functions like selecting text and copy/past works just like on every other computer.

The responds of the keyboard trough the bluetooth connection is flawless and no sign of delay when typing.

Since i have decided to go with the Google App's family i have already run into some problems. Google Blogger only works in the official mode and only in "Edit HTML" mode. It is not possible to use the draft version since i do get error messages when saving changes to posts and loosing all typed content. But maybe i will be able to find an app in the App store that will do.

Embedding videos from YouTube works OK, but you need to use the desktop version of YouTube ore else you wont have access to this feature. Linking to images from Picasa also works OK, I had to try a couple of times until i got it right though.

Further do I really need a solution for spell checking, since this feature neither works on Blogger.
Last but not least, not being able to switch between taps/windows in Safari only with the keyboard is a little disturbing.

Apps for the daily use
After the first hours of use i find it very complicated to use the Googles web version of Blogger and have found an App called BlogPress. The app works so fare fine, but you need a basic understanding of HTML to mark up your text. As for now, i don't think it supports spell checking, but it's much more user friendly then Bloggers native site.
Further app's i have installed are the official Twitter app and HootSuite for Facebook use (Here you also can add your Twitter account). I find it really annoying that their is no native iPad app for Facebook, maybe one is coming soon.
I have also installed Analytics for the use of Google Analytics, the free version works fine so fare. The web version of Analytics (just like Blogger) works not really well in mobile Safari. I think their could be some JavaScript that is not supported, but i am not sure.
For book reading the Amazon Kindle app ore Apple's own iBooks are really god. Most of the time i use the Kindle app since Amazon's at the moment offers a lot more content then Apple's store.

BlogPress app:

Analytics app:

HootSuite app:

Still having my mom and people like her as end user in mind, they probably will not use app's like Analytics. As for me, and my daily use of software and web services they are crucial.

A lot of Google services like Gmail, Reader and Google+ have web app versions/ mobile versions and they work in most of the cases fine. But if you use them for a longer period of time they feel not that streamlined in their design and layout. I tend to think that all their versions where rolled out in a hurry to support new devices like the iPad and iPhone as fast as possible and thereby some of the UX-design got lost.

Battery status
For now i have used the iPad with bluetooth turned on for around 5-6 hours and the battery status is at 10%. I would guess that constant bluetooth use drains the battery 50% faster than when turned off.

The daily use
Status over the last couple of days use and its daily routines for browsing.
The setup is really nice for browsing the web and listening to music with. But not more. When using a laptop ore desktop computer i am used to keyboard short-keys for switching between applications and taps in web browsers. All this is not possible with the iPad and bluetooth keyboard setup. Having in mind, that this kind of setup never was Apple's first intention with the iPad it is understandable that it not works really well.

Keyboard short keys
I found a few keyboard short keys that would come in handy and might be of good use:

Switching between the onscreen keyboard and the bluetooth one press the eject button.
When using more than one language setup for the keyboard switch between them by pressing cmd + space.
Manny of the F-keys are working too, like the brightness and iTunes and volume keys (volume keys do not work when using the headphone output on the docking station).

When active in an text input field all normal keyboard shortcuts like copy/past are working fine. Find a complete list of short keys for the iPad + bluetooth keyboard here.

File transfer
As for now it looks like it is kind of complicated to copy files from the iPad to a external drive, like a USB stick. When using the iPad as a stand alone computer and not having a USB port this can be a challenge. Again my mom in mind, i often e-mail here pictures which she then copies to a USB drive and get developed at at photo store. I know that there are various online service for this, but the main point here is that it nearly is impossible to extract files to an external drive when not syncing whit an other computer and iTunes. However i have found an guide about how to use a USB drive formatted in FAT32 whit an folder on it named DCIM and then connected to the iPad with the Apple camera connection kit. Dough for recognizing the image files they must have file name of at least 8 characters.
I find this whole process and workaround dough a little complicated at not suitable for an older person like my mom.

Flash
The lack of Flash support can in some casses be quite annoying, specially if the iPad is your only device you are able to visit a website with. I am here thinking about the support of online banking for example, not all banks do have native app's for their customers and some websites use flash based menue, which will neither be available for the visitor.
Another issue is, that still a lot of websites use flash for video encoding, and you are not able to see them without any complicated workarounds, which my mom definitely not is able to figure out.

Syncing and activating the iPad - IOS 5
To be able to use your iPad in the first way you need to sync it with iTunes on an other computer, and when the iPad is your only device, you are some how stuck. Of course you could get somebody to sync it for you to get it activated, but this is not really a god solution. You need to be able to have acces to iTunes for updating the iPad software and whenever their is a need for resetting the device you also need that acces.
This problem will dough be solved with the release of IOS 5, the software will enable activation of the iPad without the need for connecting to iTunes.

Conclusion
After the testing and daily use of the iPad as an standalone computer i can say that it dosen't quite make it. You can go pretty fare with the device for a long way on various task like e-mail writing (specially with the bluetooth keyboard), book reading and web browsing, but more advanced stuff, like blogging, will get complicated and challenging. There is not really a simple flow between using the keyboard and the device when switching between app's and for every little change you need to touch the screen. A lot of the web based app's like the Google web app family is badly designed and works not really well ore is complicated to use.
As for my mom and people with similarly computer ad IT skills, I will say they needs a laptop with a prober OS for the everyday use.
This all said, no doubt that the iPad 2 is a great device for a lot of the tested things, but it is at this point not suited as a stand alone computer. This dough might change ore, will get better with the release of IOS 5.
And last bu not least, the iPad 2 was never supposed to be used as a standalone computer in the first way, so I must say, that the result of the test is not really surprising me.

I hope you had a god read, if you have any questions ore remarks, please leave comment below and I will get back to you.

Location:St. Voldgade,Randers,Denmark

Bandbase icon set

2011-07-20T10:41:00.004+02:00

A quick icon set i needed for a website project i am currently working on, the icons are the logo of the danish music website Bandbase.

128px, 48px, 32px, 24px and 16px

You are welcome to download the complete icon set with sizes (256, 128, 48, 32, 24 and 16 pixel) , and the PSD file for own use.

Smartphone web app for KEA

2011-06-20T14:52:00.000+02:00

Final exam project on how to optimise the communication between KEA's (Copenhagen School of Design and Technology) teachers and students with an smartphone web application. The project was done in cooperation with an fellow student.

The web app serves as a communication tool where teachers can send out vital informations to their students. They can annonce that they are running late for class ore that it is cancelled. This prevents students coming to school for finding out that they can go home again. Further can the application be used for posting messages about what special offers and meals there are in the schools canteen ore what partys there are in the Friday bar. The application is based on Wordpress and jQuery mobile.

Splash-page and promotion

For the promotion of the web app towards the students a splash-page with information's about the application will be lunched on the schools various websites and Facebook profiles.

Promotion video

For the splash-page and the info-screens at the school as well as on the various website and Facebook profiles connected to the school a campaign video would be shown.

(For now the video is just an storyboard animation)

Acces to the web app

The students can get acces to the application trough scanning a QR-Code ore visiting a direct url:

REDIRECT

2011-06-04T16:03:00.002+02:00

Various graphics for INET-DESIGN

2011-05-19T15:59:00.002+02:00

During my internship stay at INET-DESIGN a have worked on various graphics for the use on clients sites's and their Facebook profiles.

Flip book

2011-05-19T15:45:00.000+02:00

A flipbook done for promotion of an nobudget film festival in Germany some years ago.

Job application, QR-Code and a little video

2011-05-17T20:15:00.009+02:00

Some weeks ago i applied for a job as graphic designer for a danish clothing company. My application was a t-shirt with a big print of an QR-Code on it. If you scann the code with your smartphone, you would be able to se my showreel on YouTube.
The t-shirt landed me the first interview

After the first interview i was asked to come up with a graphical idear/solution for a invitation send out by e-mail. The main content was a text for a press day of a autumn/winter collection. All material is in Danish since i applied for a danish speaking job position. My idear was to make a special splash-page which was linked to from the e-mail. On the site you can read the invitation and se a teaser clip of the upcoming collection:

Wokflow: e-mail with link to a splash-page with video and invitation text and a extra PDF invitation

Splash-page with invitation, video and link to print-friendly PDF invitation

Print-friendly PDF dokument in A4 size

Music in the video by Polarforsker - go check him out.

Unfortunately I didn't get the job in the end, though I'm still satisfied with my work and the ideas I came up with.

Print add for PH Metropol

2011-05-17T14:41:00.000+02:00

The add will be displayed in the upcoming Fysioterapeuten (professional journal for physioterapists) July 2011

Wallpaper calendar april 2011 on Smashingmagazine

2011-05-17T14:34:00.000+02:00

For promoting the relaunch of the PDF to flash catalogue transforming site Doomags, there was created a 3D caracter named Pablo Cesar by 3d artist Seid from danish Inet-design.
For som of the promotion I created a wallpaper with the 3d caracter for Smashingmagazines wallpaper calendar april 2011. My work was all the graphical background scenario, the 3d calendar and all technical setup of the wallpaper, so it would display probably on all the common screen resolutions as well as on iPad and iPhone's.

PH Metropol Flyer

2011-04-18T22:39:00.001+02:00

Praktik til Nils

2011-04-05T13:29:00.000+02:00

During my education as a multimedia designer I had to take an internship in the 4. semester. For that purpose I created the website Praktik til Nils (internship for Nils). Since only applying to Danish companies, the site is intierly in Danish.

For the website I made an show reel with some of my work and two other video for promoting me and the website. Further on the side could be found my portfolio, CV and contact informations.

Praktik til Nils website

How to make a paperhat

2011-04-04T11:21:00.000+02:00

Little fun video from cutout materiale for a viral marketing campaigne that didn't get launched.

The Chris Greys

2011-04-04T11:12:00.000+02:00

An old Photo series I did some years ago for the Danish rock band The Chris Greys on one of their tours. Some of the pictures where realeased on one of denmarks biggest music sites Gaffa.

Open publication

The pig and the bird

2011-04-04T11:11:00.000+02:00

A splashpage and logo design done around a year ago for some friends.

Rix-Rex - the stupidest dino around

2011-03-24T22:25:00.000+01:00

An older just for fun illustration i did some time ago.

Aalborg E45

2011-01-12T23:59:00.000+01:00

The mosquito and the elephant

2010-12-03T16:14:00.000+01:00

A video project done in class about a danish children song from the 80's called Myggen og Elefanten (The mosquito and the elephant)

Little fella

2010-11-27T09:37:00.000+01:00

Some illustrations i did some while ago.

Soundscape

2010-11-17T12:29:00.006+01:00

Soundscape Big City Rain

Big city rain by nillerg

Rainy alley

2010-11-16T00:20:00.000+01:00

Rainy alley sketch for storyboarding on a soundscape.

Some text here

2010-11-10T13:34:00.000+01:00

Just a quick one...Beware of the squirrel!

2010-10-24T22:52:00.000+02:00

Kill A ClassMate

2010-10-13T23:16:00.000+02:00

Sometimes you just want to kill your fellow students!
So here you go, this app. then might just be the right thing for you ;-)

A quick mockup for a mobile app. for a school assignment.

Today in the mail, the first t-shirt test prints

2010-08-28T13:15:00.001+02:00

The print method used is digital direct print, where color gradient and "photorealistic" printing style is possible, whit out a white border ore background like in other digital printing methods . I hope that the print will look "washed/ warn out" after only a few washes to give it a more natural look and feeling. With silk screen printing methods this would take a much longer time, and of course there is no possibility for photorealistic prints.

Vejgaard

2010-07-28T14:46:00.000+02:00

WTF

2010-07-15T08:58:00.001+02:00

Waterlemon

2010-07-14T08:00:00.001+02:00

Reichstag

2010-07-10T13:37:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow

2010-07-09T22:27:00.001+02:00

Aalborg

2010-07-08T13:41:00.001+02:00

Luminarium

2010-07-07T14:04:00.000+02:00

Toilet Graffiti

2010-06-23T11:50:00.000+02:00

The fuzz man

2010-04-30T23:08:00.000+02:00

Watch out for the angry fuzz, he will get you sooner ore later!

English translation: Angry fuzz!

Three

2010-04-28T23:29:00.000+02:00

Something

2010-04-28T23:11:00.000+02:00

Bottle eating monster

2010-04-26T22:54:00.000+02:00

Fast, faster take the highpseed metro

2010-04-11T08:45:00.003+02:00

Some experimenting with the Nokia E71 mobile phone camera during a metro ride from the Copenhagen airport along the Amager beach park (Amager strand park). Even crappy resolution can be very interesting with video effects and some nice music ;-)

Logo discussion at school

2010-03-26T10:40:00.000+01:00

The other day we had discussion about what logos we should present during a school project and as a part of a video user test here is a little teaser on it:

Summer time

2008-05-06T17:54:00.000+02:00

Yes, the god weather has arrived in northern Denmark, the sun is shining and it i nice and warm.

I am supposed to sit inside and write on my final exam, but since the weather is so god, I took my bicycle for a spin and brought my camera along.

DIY Macro Photo Studio

2008-04-17T21:02:00.000+02:00

Since I take many pictures of all sort of thinks at home I often get disappointed about the poor light condition and the effect this has on the quality of the pictures. So the other day I decided to make my own macro photo studio.

Here are some picture's from the work-progress:

Here is one of the the first pictures I took, I think the result is pretty neat.

Just some final level and color adjustments in Photoshop and you have a nice picture to work with ore for presenting things on Ebay for your auction's.

Pic's from Copenhagen

2008-03-03T19:30:00.009+01:00

Typo in the new theater i Copenhagen, very nice building.

Hotel on Nyhavn (Newharbor).