[Eugene]

Originally Posted by PB PM It's news to me too, my iPad 3 is very fast on WIFI and never has connection issues.

Not necessarily related, but my iPhone 5 has terrible WiFi reception 30 feet away, though through two thick walls. I sometimes turn WiFi off altogether on my phone because LTE is 10x as fast.

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses just do a google search for iPad 3 wifi problems. Apple's tech support forums are overrun with complaints and issues. dropped connections, poor speeds, terrible reception drop-offs, error messages..... unfortunately as it has not improved it seems it is hardware based... and seems even more so since Apple highlighted the revised antenna design, throughput and reception of the new iPad 4. For myself I've never seem such bad wifi reception. 10 feet from my Airport Extreme router the iPad 3 gets 36mb/sec down. 16-18 feet away through an open doorway it gets 8-12mb/sec and 30 feet away through 2 interior wood stud walls it gets .5mb/sec. iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 perform better, as does a 2007 MacBook Pro. I've also had terrible experiences getting my iPad 3 to connect to congested routers at hotels, airports and coffee shops. Sucks... but unfortunately seems very common.

Yeah, mine is just terrible. It drops WiFi almost every time I open the smart cover to use it at work... I have considered taking it in multiple times, but I just don't know how much good it would do... I also have a very similar problem with my iPhone 5 but that's for a different thread, I suppose.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses The iPad 3 actually has notoriously awful WiFi. Anything would be better.

Huh. Works great in my house when I'm on another floor from the Router, and has worked pretty well the couple hotels I used it in. There was one bad experience I had but it was a large condo area and the router was nowhere close to my room so I assumed that to be the problem.

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses just do a google search for iPad 3 wifi problems. Apple's tech support forums are overrun with complaints and issues. dropped connections, poor speeds, terrible reception drop-offs, error messages..... unfortunately as it has not improved it seems it is hardware based... and seems even more so since Apple highlighted the revised antenna design, throughput and reception of the new iPad 4.=

Hrm. Maybe an upgrade not a bad idea if I discover I have problems with it elsewhere.

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Interesting. I've never heard of it, or followed that.

Ditto but sounds like the typical "big problem hiding out in Apple's forums" situation, which I've seen a few of in my day.

[Brave Ulysses]

I'm almost tempted to upgrade just for the lightning connector. The dock connector always annoys me on the iPad... I think because of its location on the beveled edge... i just always have a hard time with it.

[psmith2.0]

Is it not that way with Lightning? Is it that much smaller to avoid being so much on that "curve"? I know it's drastically smaller in the one dimension (width), but it's still roughly the same thickness in depth? But it might've been scooted up a bit. The times where I've had to plug a 30-pin connector into an iPad, I've not liked it either. Feels like I'm going in at a weird angle, or that I'm going to break/snap something.

As someone who is now about four weeks into an iPhone 5, I do love the Lightning connector. No more worrying about "do I have this oriented correctly?", especially in the dark/dim lighting. The 30-pin now feels like SCSI or a serial connector, in comparison...yesterday's news/old school. Granted, all I'm doing is charging/syncing, so if the Lightning connector is lacking some special features that the 30-pin had, I'm not aware, and, therefore, not bothered.

So for my specific scenario/usage, Lightning has indeed been a nice step up/improvement all around. I've already gotten rid of my 30-pin cables and replaced them with two Lightning-to-USB cables (car and iMac). I'd rather just buy two $19 cables and have them permanently in place/ready to use vs. buying one $29-$39 adapter (and having to remember to take it with me daily, or move it around the house as needed). I'll gladly pay $10 for convenience, or not having to think about or remember those kinds of things.

In addition to that taller screen (which somehow just feels so much more "right"), my favorite part of the new iPhone is the Lightning connector and port. Sounds silly, and it's not something that just hits you over the head on an ongoing basis. But it's a small, subtle improvement that you come to appreciate at odd, random times.

[dmegatool]

I've read a couple of reviews of the Nexus 4 and one of the complain is the micro usb port. It's like "I don't care how universal it is, it just suck"

So... the Lightning connector does seem great after all

[psmith2.0]

I notice my music and photo library totals, shown in iTunes and iPhoto, are different (less) than the actual music and pictures folders in the Finder. Which of those tallies is a more accurate number of what would be transferred to my iPad?

For example, in iTunes my music library is shown as something like 16.6GB (4,400+ songs). When I do a "get info" on the music folder in my home folder, it's a tad over 20GB (is that album cover artwork and various other supporting files)?

If I synced my entire music library to an iPad, which of those two (or is there some sort of third "middle ground" number) would wind up on the iPad?

[Wyatt]

Paul, the Music folder in your home folder on your Mac also includes all your iTunes content, including apps and iBook books. When you're looking in iTunes, you're only seeing the music library.

If you want to have all your music on there, plus plenty of room to grow, I'd recommend the 64GB iPad for you. You could make do with the 32GB model, but once you start adding in a bunch of new apps and new music, you may find yourself wishing you had bought the 64.

[psmith2.0]

Oh, the 64GB is a dead lock. I want space for all my music and pics, and everything else. 32GB wouldn't easily allow that.

[drewprops]

I want a 128GB version.




...

[torifile]

Originally Posted by drewprops I want a 128GB version. ...

I used to until I figured out that Rdio/Spotify takes care of a lot of my storage needs. When/if Apple comes out with their streaming solution for music, I'm sure that will be the case for many others.

[drewprops]

I'm not always around wi-fi and find it foolish (no offense!!) to rely on a network.

Plus, a growing app library robs me of storage.


...

[Wyatt]

Apps are a much bigger issue for me. I don't really download media at all. I guess I just don't care enough about music & movies to buy a bunch. Pandora + Netflix + Hulu get the job done for me on that front. But with many apps coming in over 1GB now, I don't think I could settle for 16 GB any more.

As it is, I'm hoping to get a 32 GB mini later this month. I got to use one for the first time today, and I was completely blown away by it. I can't wait to get my own.

Quick side question for those of you who already bought one: How much free space did yours have available out of the box?

[turtle]

My iPad uses almost all of it's space with apps. It's a 16GB original iPad too. Needless to say this is not very fun since I can't even really bring videos and music on it. Music is handled by iTunes in the Cloud/Match now so it's not a problem, except when my WiFi model has no signal.

32GB really needs to be the minimum now.

[psmith2.0]

After four generations, it would be nice to see the next go-around be 32, 64 and 128GB. Apps aren't getting any smaller or less popular, and some people are indeed making these things their sole computers (I know several).

But I doubt it'll happen. Apple will probably keep the 16/32/64 thing forever.

[turtle]

Really. I'm holding out hoping for more storage but Apple hasn't been forced to do so yet. Since they don't feel like the market is making them, they won't either.

[Brave Ulysses]

The demand isn't there unfortunately and there are too many reasons for them not to do so:

1. Margins
2. Average selling price... I believe far fewer people would opt to spend $100 more to go from 32 to 64 than people currently do for 16 to 32.

[psmith2.0]

I have an iPad audio-related question. I have my beloved JBL Creature speakers. I've had them forever and they're connected to my iMac. They plug into the iMac in the headphone jack and sound great.

Would these work with an iPad? If I plugged that same cable from the speakers into the iPad's headphone jack, wouldn't it work the same?

EDIT: second question...

I can connect/import iPhone 5 pics into an iPad right? I know this was possible before with earlier models (iPhone 4 and iPad 2/3), but I'm just not finding anything specifically confirming this is still the case. I'd need that Lightning-to-USB camera connector cable, I know. But software-wise, these things do "see" each other, correct? My iPhone is my (sole) camera/camcorder these days. Wanna be sure everything I take can make it to the iPad...

[Yontsey]

Speakers should be fine.

If you're trying to share pictures between iPhone 5 and your iPad, just use photo stream.

[psmith2.0]

But does the other work? Isn't photo stream relying on a network connection? If so, and I don't always have that (and I don't want to abuse my data usage), does the direct connect thing still work? I'm assuming it does.

[Yontsey]

It does rely on a network connection but I believe you can set it to Wifi only.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by Yontsey It does rely on a network connection but I believe you can set it to Wifi only.

I actually thought Photo Stream was WiFi only by default.

We use Photo Stream on both of our phones, my wife's Macbook, and my iPad, and it's wonderful - especially since it sends our non-iOS photos to our devices from iPhoto on her Mac.

[Yontsey]

You may be right. I went in and looked at the iCloud settings and there wasn't a Wifi only option so that would make sense.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 But does the other work? Isn't photo stream relying on a network connection? If so, and I don't always have that (and I don't want to abuse my data usage), does the direct connect thing still work? I'm assuming it does.

If you have iPhoto on both iToys, you can use that to xfer photos directly between devices.

[psmith2.0]

I have iPhoto. I took it off the iPhone, but I'd have it on the iPad. I'd put it on the iPhone if needed, but I didn't really like it (it's not the most intuitive, easy-to-figure-out app I've come across, which is odd, considering the source...and how easy it is on the Mac).

I guess I'm just wanting to know, for sure, if the iPad sees an iPhone like a regular camera, via the cabling/camera connector kit. I have other reasons I'd want to do it that way. I'm going with "yes" unless/until I hear differently, because I can't seem to get an answer on that one, specific question so far.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I've never tried that. If I had the connector kit, I'd give it a shot for you.

[psmith2.0]

No worries. I know for a fact it worked in the past (iPhone 4 and iPad 2, because I did it). But, Apple being Apple, I was just wondering if maybe they put some sort of crazy barrier (in the iPhone 5 and/or iPad 4) in place to prevent this.

I'm going to go on faith and say "they didn't", but I'm hoping to get some real-world confirmation at some point.

They changed the camera kit from a adapter-based two-piece kit for $29 to two separate cable-based designs for the Lightning connector...charging $29 each now (see my earlier "Apple being Apple" statement ).

But I'll just get the one USB-oriented one (vs. SD) because that's what I'd need most (I don't have a standalone digital camera with an SD card anyway).

[Wrao]

Got to play with an iPad Mini today and I was surprisingly underwhelmed by it. I kept wanting it to be something I could use with one hand and kept having to remind myself "Think of it as a small iPad, not a big iPhone". I have particularly large hands, and it's not difficult for me to hold the thing with one hand well enough, but that only tempted the frustration because my hands aren't so large that I can actually approximate how I use an iPhone in the Mini's form factor. Still, the fit and finish is exceptional, I like the design better than the new iPhone and new iPad I think, and the build quality seems to be top rung.

No idea if I'll end up getting one at this point, might just convince myself to get an iPad 4 instead. I do hope that Apple can eventually make the full sized iPad nearly as light as the iPad mini is today though, that's probably the Mini's most appealing attribute, how little it weighs.

Also played with the new Macbook 13" Retina, and while it certainly has an air of being kind of a weird product(not quite pro-pro, hefty premium...etc.) It really is an incredibly well put together laptop that just 'feels' awesome to hold and use.

This is only the first step for the future of both product lines, and it looks really good.

[psmith2.0]

Well, I did it. I'm now a member of iPad nation.

I just hate spending large chunks of money like this. If I can get over that hump, I'll be okay with it all. Between this and my iPhone 5, I'm into Apple for $1,000. But, at the same time, these are things (the iPhone, anyway) I use every single day. And if this iPad thing goes the way I'm hoping, I could find myself using it a hell of a lot more than I've been using this iMac in the past six or so months. So if I can get a current, modern and powerful device from Apple that does what I need/want for $700 vs. $1,200+, I'm willing to give it a go. I may be pleasantly surprised at what I learn and how things might change.

I got off my shift at 3am and stopped by a Walmart close to the plant. They had the new fourth-gens in stock, to my surprise (I was the only customer in the whole store, I think). I got the 64GB, white, wifi-only model, plus a light gray Smart Cover to help keep the screen in good shape (and give me a little kickstand/easel if I need it). Oh, and a $25 iTunes card (but I buy those all the time, so I was just "recharging" my account...I prefer to prepay and then buy things on a whim, as I want, knowing it's already covered).

We went to a new schedule this week so I now have two off-days (Wednesday and Thursday) for the first time in over two months, so I thought "get it tonight, have all day and night tomorrow and Thursday to monkey with it...". So I did. Didn't make sense to get it smack-dab in the middle of a work cycle because all I do is sleep, work and drive to and from the plant (45+ minutes each way). So at least I was smart on the timing. I've got two days of lying around/goofing off ahead of me...

I intend to throw my entire music and photo library on here, and see if I can wean myself fully off the iMac with a few vector apps and some other art apps I've been researching. We'll see how it goes. Now, with the outage winding down and me getting an extra day of free-time, seemed like a good time. And I can take it into work at night and prop it up and watch rented movies or video podcasts I've downloaded here at home (I cover the overnight shift solo, so I can pretty much do whatever I want/need to help pass the time or "keep me company").

It'll be an interesting experiment. Either I wind up making this my device, or I find it's not or me and wind up selling it and my iMac for a MacBook Air in a few months? I'm open to wherever the path takes me. But I'm never going to know if I just didn't make the plunge and give it an honest shot.

It's still in the box. Believe it or not, I'm not going to fool with it tonight. I'm going to bed now. I'll wake up in the early afternoon and get into it with a clear, rested head.

BTW, I did get the last white, 64GB model they had in stock. So maybe it was meant to be? They had other colors and capacities, but I was dead-set on this one...white iPhone, I gotta have a white iPad. Right?!

Okay, off to bed...I'm dead on my feet. Zzzzzzz.

[psmith2.0]

It's heavier than you think it would be, huh? BTW, I love that split keyboard thing.