Got the Ipad 2 also, mainly because I use it with a teleprompter app. which turns out to be a really great combo.

Rob

I have about equal interest in both music and video production. The iPad 2 is nowhere near as versatile as Vegas or Pro Tools. On the other hand, I just whipped out an arrangement of a tune our church does on GarageBand last night, and it was easy as pie and it really does sound good. Looking at iMovie this morning, you are pretty much stuck with the templates, but within that structure you can do a surprisingly professional looking piece using just the iPad. That is, the iPad as the camera, the mic, the editor, the uploader to Youtube... everything! Just amazing when you think about it.

As far as the iPad vs Android or other tablets thing goes, the difference is that with an Android tablet, you are pretty much a consumer of digital media. With the iPad and GarageBand and iMovie, you can create content. GarageBand and iMovie are just starting points, but from the taste I have of this so far, I have no doubt that as these and other applications develop, that a lot of online content will be done with a tablet and nothing more.

Which teleprompter app are you using? I have a decent one for the Android tablet, but with the iPad you can get really cool microphone stand mounts and the screen is a bit crisper.

Hope all you guys are really proud of your purchases:

"Apple's Chinese workers treated 'inhumanely, like machines'

Investigation finds evidence of draconian rules and excessive overtime to meet western demand for iPhones and iPads"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/30/apple-chinese-workers-treated-inhumanely

Sony's not known for their high & mighty morals either, but here you are.... :D

Laurence: I have the Teleprompt+ for iPad http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/teleprompt-for-ipad/id364903926?mt=8#

Which one do you have for android, I couldn't find any that suited my needs, that's why I went for the Ipad?



baysidebas: I was made aware of this matter after my purchase and it's not something I am comfortable with at all.

Here I sit using an iPad that was made by abused workers, about to go to lunch and eat animals that were basically tortured throughout their incredibly short lives, and using who knows how many other products that are produced in a way that is just as bad, but that this hasn't made the news yet.

Now against this backdrop consider this: with the globalization of the economy, we are competing price wise against countries that are allowed to keep their workers at subsistence levels. Meanwhile our economy is dropping as money keeps flowing out from our economy into theirs. The difference between this inflow outflow disparity is made up through astronomical borrowing. If you are looking for a humanely produced product, good luck in finding one. That is the nature of unregulated capitalism. That is the price of cheap goods and food.

Yes I'm against it in theory, but like everyone else here, when I shop and I buy, I want my limited resources to go as far as possible. The vote I cast through these purchases counts way more than any opinion I express in a forum.

Since others have chimed in on which tablet they're currently using, I picked up one of these a couple of months ago: http://www.pandawill.com/gpad-gforce-tablet-pc-97-inch-android-22-ips-capacity-screen-8gb-aluminum-shell-camera-silver-p40084.html

It's basically an iPad1 clone that runs Android 2.2. But it takes 16gb microSD cards and allows me to drag & drop files directly via usb (no itunes syncing). Also it plays 720p video beautifully. The big selliing point for me (besides price and Android) is that it has the same LG screen as the iPads. A joy to view photos and video on.

I should also mention it took 3 days to make it from China to my house in NJ via DHL Express. That's faster then I get stuff from Amazon.

I'm already suffering a horrible addiction to my shiny new Playbook. I LOVE the size of it (found the iPad and Xoom too big). It's prefect. I get tons of writing done with it on the plane, and (honestly) the display spanks the iPad (and technically too...it's not just my eyes).

To each his own...but being a bit of Crackberry addict to begin with...PB rocks my world.

drop files directly via usb (no itunes syncing)

iPad users just put files in their Dropbox folder, and they immediately show up on their iPad (or vice versa).

See if you can get a Dropbox app for your tablet, that is even more convenient that moving cards around.

The fast shipping from China: I think they send containers to the U.S., where each customer's package is then distributed locally (regionally) by the postal service.

"iPad users just put files in their Dropbox folder, and they immediately show up on their iPad (or vice versa)."

I am not sure what you mean by this?
I own an iPad, and enjoy the screen and various apps etc, but the
biggest pita is the use of that archaic piece of software called iTunes.

I use my iPad mainly to show photo's which it can do very well, but one of the problems is that I have not found a way to create seperate folders and drop them in there on the iPad itself.

Nice product, but hate the constraints of it

Ted

Well that's capitalism for you. In the past exactly the same could have been said about USA, UK, where-ever ... Possibly even now in some instances.

geoff

"Sony's not known for their high & mighty morals either"

Care to post some links to back up that statement?

"Sony's not known for their high & mighty morals either"

Care to post some links to back up that statement?


John, most all of the Hi-Tech manufacturer's have / take a part in this Dell, Intel and Sony, just to name a few are using contract manufacturer's in China and elsewhere in the world where the the working conditions are less than perfect.. A quick search on Google will get some info:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,596712,00.html


The real problem is that in this society everyone will be trying to buy
what ever it is they need at the lowest cost, and is not willing to pay the price for 'locally made', this fuels the labor markets in China, India and other low labor rate countries. (take a look at the success of Wallmart)

Ted

hopefully it didn't cost you a kidney....

http://life.globaltimes.cn/life/2011-06/661408.html

"Apple's Chinese workers treated 'inhumanely, like machines'

This could have easily described the USA in the 19th and early 20th-century, Japan in the 1950's, South Korea in the 1960's.....

The fact is, there will *always* be someone, somewhere, ready to work harder for less.

You call it slave labor, the workers call it a job.

I own an iPad, and enjoy the screen and various apps etc, but the

Yeah the whole iTunes/can't-create-separate-folders-for-your-stuff is IMO a huge limitation/PITA with the iPad. On my Android GPad I can create folders & subfolders for my photos and go directly from my computer to the tablet via USB. Oh, and I can also do Flash. My sister's iPad won't do Flash - another PITA, plus the Safari browser is pretty bad IMO.

On the iPad, download the app CloudConnect from the app store:





This gives you access to for example Shared Folders on all your PCs, Macs and Linux machines via Wi-Fi, and you can poke around in your Dropbox folder, and much more.

Think "Windows Explorer" for what it does, then add a bunch of functionality.

Here's one clear review.

As for Dropbox specifically, there are tons of apps that use it to sync with desktop PCs, with no iTunes involved. And it gives you the file system that geeks sometimes crave to feel at home :O).

Flash sites? Of course there's an app for that.

Get iSwifter from the App Store, it's a separate browser that lets you browse Flash video sites and play Flash games, for those who live for for example Farmville on Facebook...

iSwifter is free, or you can pay pay 99 cents if you really like it.

Oh, and iSwifter is available for Android tablets too. Why? Because those Android tablets that "support Flash" have only partial support for Flash, but iSwifter can do much more.

And the iPad Safari browser is great.

Perhaps it takes some time for some to get used to a touch-based UI, but it sure feels very intuitive. More "organic," more natural somehow.
Great rendering too.

it's easy to pan products one has never used, or only touched once or twice without learning how they work.

I saw the same criticism of WIndows PCs in the days when people were used to command line interfaces.

"These windows are stoopid. And this mouse flittering is so inefficient, instead of just typing what you want to do."

But people got used to that too...

Interesting thread encompassing tablets and international social issues.

Addressing both sides of this, I have a Chinese lady friend who has a "very good" job - Sales Director of a Carton/Box producing company. She is number 6 in pecking order of 130 employees, and she earns about $150 a month. No wonder they can compete!

Now, back to tablets, I visited her earlier this year and she is due to come to Oz in September. We both found Google Translator very helpful, but its use was restricted to where there was a PC. It would be wonderful to be able to access this wherever I am, so what would you "experienced" guys recommend for a not too big, easily portable and usable online device - or maybe another solution ?

(My only present tablet is an occasional Paracetamol - it doesn't handle media well, but it does reduce pain)

iPhone or iPad running Speechtrans.

It understands and interprets spoken Mandarin Chinese (which is the mainland Chinese dialect), and speaks the translation to you in English.

Or it listens to you speak English and outputs what you say in Chinese over the built-in speaker.

This is Voice-to-Voice Translation, previously limited to science fiction stories.

And it can also translate Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish, all included.

Not bad for $19.99...

Especially since the same iOS gadgets can also run many hundreds of professional video and film production apps for serious use, all at very moderate prices. Any apps, music, or books you buy for an iPhone you can also install on your iPad at no extra cost

There are very few people left in Hollywood who don't use an iPad for work every day.

Google Translate on an Android phone, like Speechtrans, it too translates spoken speech and it's free.

Thanks for that Coursedesign and JC - I must admit I'm more favourably disposed towards a non-Mac solution, however irrational that might be.

John, does it have to be a Android phone, as opposed to my 3 year old Samsung touch screen Mobile? I guess that means, is this a downloadable app. or Google's online service? If necessary, I'll upgrade .......

Peter