Choosing a tablet: a few questions about iOS and iPad

Question

iOS

I'm going to buy a tablet, for the 2nd month I read all the reviews on Habré, w3bsit3-dns.com, etc., I'm already tired of everything and my head is swollen. But I do not want to buy something that does not suit me and will create problems when used.
I think there are enough competent iPad users on the hub who can answer a couple of specific questions.

After the start of sales of the new iPad, iPad2 (gray, 16 GB WiFi) became cheaper than SGT, which attracted me even more.
But there are some questions that reach me very hard, since I have never dealt with Apple technology.

1. I'm afraid I will have a problem with uploading content - I'm a Linux user.
iTunes to run in VirtualBox in order to fill the movie smacks of perversion.
Maybe you can watch movies in the stream? For example, run VLC on a PC, it seems like it can give for streaming or it can raise a web server ... I think that there are players that support streaming video playback?

2. How convenient is it to upload books by mail and via DropBox, third-party file managers via wifi? And I'm only interested in 3 formats: djvu, pdf, doc. Is it possible to work normally without jail?

3. If I take it, then the youngest version is 16 GB WiFi, but I wonder how much free space there actually remains after installing the software?

4. By the way, software on iPad without a big brother can be downloaded via WiFi directly from the AppStore?

6. Are there still problems with registration in the AppStore in Ukraine? It's strange - the devices are now officially sold ... maybe there are no problems anymore.

7. If I buy a "gray" iPad, will I lose the 12-month warranty from the manufacturer?

Maybe you need to wait a bit: they announce the release of a 7" google tablet in the fall, Kindle Fire 10", and allegedly even Apple will change its principles and release a 7-8" iPad mini - and all these joys should be no more than $ 300. The Chinese are also history : they are now changing platforms - switching to 2-core processors, so I don’t want to buy old ones.

Answer 1

Judging by the questions, I’ll say right away, don’t take an iPad - you will be disappointed. There are too many restrictions that are hard for Linux users to accept.
Free pouring will not work, only with hemorrhoids. This is not linux for you.
There is a lot of different software for iOS, but a lot of paid software, are you ready to pay for it?
I will answer only those questions that I myself have encountered.
1) I don't watch streaming video on the iPad.
2) I don't use dropbox. Generally.
3) I have had a 16 GB iPad-2 for a year now. I never thought about problems with the place. Now, only your question made me look - 10 GB is free. Yes, I do not copy music and videos to it. I miss games and books.
4) Aypad is sharpened for this so that the user can climb into the app store with minimal gestures, this is their bread. Yes, without a big computer, right from the iPad itself, you can climb into the app store via Wi-Fi and take / buy software from there
6) I think that there should be no problems with registering in the app store in Ukraine. All you need is a credit or debit card.
7) You will lose the stump.
You can always wait for anything.
But if you already started looking towards the Kindle, take it. I have a Kindle DX. I had a story with him. I broke his screen. The warranty has passed (at that time he was a year and a half). I turned to Amazon - I say, they say, help me repair it. They told me - no problem - send your damaged one, and we will send a new one. They sent a new Kindle, and I sent the broken one back to them.
With Apple, this will not work.
I will now, if possible, take Kindles and advise others. But then the iPad also does not refuse. The wife and children are happy, the device is worthy. An extra animal in my zoo will not hurt.
You mess with the Chinese. If you are ready for hemorrhoids (and what Linuxoid does not like hemorrhoids? :)) - then take it.

Answer 2

I will answer you as an android tablet user and as a person who sometimes uses the iPad of classmates.
Buy for sure on android. What you can do fs, install programs, etc. it's certainly possible on an iPad, but you still have to use iTunes all the time.
1. Under Linux, there is mediatomb and minidlna. You install them, set up demons and then download for free from the Play Market - MediaHouse and MoboPlayer under the tablet, after which you hook up to the waffle and if everything is set up correctly, you can watch streaming any video, movies, etc. You can even download it over the net if you want.
2. Readers see the sea EBookDroid, FBReader and of course Adobe Reader. Look, either through a cord or via Wifi, for example, through AirDroid, and also a hint from a Linuxoid to a Linuxoid: put SSHdroid on your computer, put sshfs on your computer and call
ssh [email protected]:/ mountpoint
In short, you can mount a tablet over the network without iTunes synchronization and even without root. To be more precise, everything that I wrote above can be done without breaking and rooting.
3. Take it all the same on android, there you can buy a 16 gigabyte version and also finish off 32 gigabytes with a card, and if you need a high transfer rate (movies for example) - nothing faster than a card reader will work in any case.
4. Yes, you can, but according to my observations, even the SSH client or FTP server is either paid or terribly curtailed. There is no Linux community spirit and all apps are built around the developer making money.

Answer 3

Don't get an iPad, at least not first. First you need to go through the pain on the android, so that later the joy from the iPad would be greater.
I've used the Asus Transformer myself and the iPad went just fine after that. And if the author is a Linuxoid, then the iPad is generally contraindicated.

Answer 4

Don't take the iPad, save your nerves.

Answer 5

1. There are players that support streaming video. Used for a long time. They cost about $4-$5.
2. For PDF I use PerfectReader. Allows you to upload via WiFi directly to your tablet / phone. When the upload mode is activated, it starts a web server on port 8080, through which files are uploaded. The cost is about $2-$3.
3. Depends on the needs. I would recommend taking WiFi + 3G, greatly expands the tablet's capabilities beyond home WiFi. If you have a car, an excellent gps tracker will help you navigate in a new place.
4. Yes
6. No and never was.
7. No idea.
“Maybe you need to wait a bit...”
And then there will be new announcements :)
Good luck!

Answer 6

1. www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html
and I like www.inmethod.com/air-video/download.html

Answer 7

On occasion, I owned both Ipad2 and Asus Transformer, about which, by the way, I can’t say anything bad.
As a result, Ipad remained, because I just noticed that all the additional Asus bonuses in the form of ports, a clip-on docking station with a full-fledged keyboard, etc. I don't really use it.
Ipad was enough for all daily tasks. So Transformer sold and bought Samsung Galaxy II :)

Answer 8

1 - www.plexapp.com/linux/linux-pms-download.php
2 - I live without a jail, everything is in Dropbox, but there are a lot of alternatives
3 - without music and movies should be enough, if you give up games, enough for music ( some games weigh more than a gigabyte)
4 - yes, for me now the problem is how not to clog my computer with applications, because iTunes is still trying to “transfer purchases”, but I don’t need them on my computer
6 - I don’t know
7 - the iPad does not have a worldwide guarantees (unlike the same poppies)
It is most convenient to dial using an external Bluetooth keyboard
Father really likes to stream movies to the TV, and in which case turn off and inspect on i, so the adapter to hdmi is even a cake.

Answer 9

If you are not a Mac / Win user and are going to constantly synchronize the tablet with a PC, then I advise you to look towards androids. And so, in general, the iPad is a cool thing and completely independent, for it a PC starting from iOS 5 is not needed. True, I don’t see the point in tablets without the Internet = you need to take 3G.

Answer 10

1. I won’t tell you about streaming, but I think what kind of thread third-party players can make it possible to upload movies to them via wifi
2. I don’t know about djvu, but about pdf / doc - there is a file with a letter as an attachment, click on it and it will open there in ibooks or another program, and there will be dropbox and other readers
3. So it depends on the software - there are games and 50 megabytes, and there are also half a gigabyte. Multimedia books also weigh gigabytes. Based on my experience, I’ll say that I prefer software, but I want more for movies on the road.
4. yes
5?
as for other tablets - the iPad is a hot commodity - it will always be possible to sell.

Answer 11

4. Yes.
6. No, but it's better to register an American acc.

Answer 12

Thanks to all who answered and to those who will answer :) ! After reading the first few comments for myself regarding the iPad, I came up with the following summary:
1. Buying a “gray” will lose the warranty.
2. Purchase in a retail network + $ 100 to the cost :( this is bad
3. Problems with the video are solvable.
4. You can register on the AppStore, but my salary credit card for online payments is blocked by the bank. I think the Qiwi card will go virtual, I paid her for the turboprint 5.
Software up to $ 10 is ready to buy for both iOS and Android.For example, I have an ancient Canon iP1500 printer (but the cartridge can be refilled as much as needed, just with a syringe) under Ubuntu 11.10 stopped working, I had to buy TurboPrint - it allows not only print, but also fully maintain the printer.
*6. There is a question on reading djvu. For some reason, techies rarely use it. And I have 90% of the books in it. Moreover, I digitize some books myself and translate them into djvu because of its sharpness for scans of the compactness of the format.

Answer 13

For the App Store, I use iTunes Gift Cards.
DjVu Reader for iPad

Answer 14

1) I use OPlayerHD - it allows you to upload movies simply via WiFi (and probably shows the stream, but I have not tried it). To play streaming video locally, there are a lot of solutions in the AppStore.
2) It is possible through dropbox, you can send yourself a letter - when you click on the attachment, it will ask what to open (if there is more than one suitable program). I use iBooks and GoodReader, my wife uses Stanza.
3) How much you put - so much will remain, memory is not divided by media type.
4) Yes
6) To pay with a credit card, you register in the Russian AppStore to the left address and link a Ukrainian credit card. Everything is bought normally (I have been using it for more than 2 years). Our credit card will not be tied to the American app store (as recommended here), and buying all sorts of gift cards is a dark matter IMHO.
7) Officially, we are served by ERC (it is also the only distributor). In theory, the guarantee is global, in practice - anything can happen. But IMHO, the possibility of hardware failure is very low, and it is impossible to kill it in software.

Answer 15

In general, a cool topic by the way. :)

Answer 16

In ubuntu 12.04, the iPad connects without problems and opens by the system itself, not quite like a flash drive, but it looks like it. I uploaded movies in avi by simply copying them to the video player folder, everything works. It's the same with books. I did not try music, because. for music there is an iPod. The problem with registration in Ukraine is that during registration there is no such country in the list (I bought it a couple of months ago, though ipad from Thailand, maybe this was the case), but you can just put Russia. It is not necessary to enter a credit card number, you can choose "enter later", then it will be asked when you first buy something.

Answer 17

iOS is not as scary as it seems :)
In general, I realized that a tablet for both iOS and Android is suitable for my modest needs. Because for me the main functions are surfing and reading books - both systems can handle such tasks without any problems.
For more complex tasks, there is a PC and a netbook.
Now you need a screen diagonal: 7, 9 or 10". I'll have to go to the store and look at the devices live.
Since I'm short-sighted, 7" confuses me.
Well, you need to get some subjective impressions. Strange as it may seem, but for some reason the iPad makes the strongest subjective impression on me. Although the design and screen of the same Samsung is objectively no worse.
It is unlikely that this is the effect of advertising - I do not watch TV.
One way or another, it will still be necessary to start with something, and then it will be possible to compare platforms. It is impossible to evaluate such things in absentia.

Answer 18

1. - 2. there is an iBook, there is an Adobe Reader, you can upload it from the client, you can download it through a browser and choose where to open it from. It’s convenient to read even in iBook, but it’s better to add pdf there, then you can read without the frills that you have when reading from ePub
3. I recommend version 32, because. With the release of Retina, due to the high parity, many app distributions began to weigh 2 times more.
4. Any.
6. I registered it through the Russian market, the Ukrainian one is simply not on the list
7. What kind of guarantee is this? Perhaps they will offer something from the store, but again, the Ukrainian support is simply not on the list.
And I also have a question for experts: is it possible to jailbreak the iPad on which you are developing for it? Can they get banned for it?

Answer 19

I will say specifically about the issue of free space on the iPad 16GB.
As far as I remember, initially free ~ 13.8 GB. It is better not to fill them entirely, it is better to leave 2-3 GB of free space, otherwise problems may arise.
For example, when I update something large (rarely more than 1 GB is free), the Pocket cache is forcibly cleared and then I have to upload all the articles on a new one, and this is a long time.
Of the programs, games weigh the most (I have Asphalt 6 - 1.7 GB, Max Payne - 1.3 GB). Against this background, the size of conventional applications is vanishingly small. Thus, if you are going to use the iPad mainly for reading, then expect that it will be easy to fill in 8-9 GB of books there.
You don’t need a place for the video - the same notorious OPlayer easily plays movies from ftp via Wi-Fi.
If you are interested, you can jailbreak and customize the device no less than the notorious androids (work with it from Linux, download torrents, upload files like a flash drive, cling via ssh, etc.). As far as I know, jailbreaking is now officially allowed, and besides, no one is forcing you to use pirated software.
In general, the iPad 2 is now a very good choice. The tablet costs very sane money (“official” and with a guarantee for 15,000), works great and will be relevant in terms of software updates for at least another year and a half. Compare with the same Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which went on sale last fall at a price identical to the iPad, and still (!) Has not received an update to Android 4.0

Answer 20

1) Oplayerhd lite - can work with everything including streaming video + free

Answer 21

Why are you afraid to jailbreak? It is done elementary: press one button and wait. I didn’t notice any minuses (I don’t mindlessly put all the tweaks in a row).
1) If you jailbreak, you can install Xmbc - an excellent media combine with support for hardware acceleration. Can play files directly from samba, upnp/dlna, etc. All my .mkv (720p and 1080p) plays great from the shared drive. To be honest, this is the only reason why I did a jailbreak.
2) The AppStore has a great program - GoodReader. Understands a bunch of formats, except for Djvu. Files can be uploaded from anywhere - built-in server (via Wi-fi), support for Dropbox, Gmail, Google Docs, etc. Pdf look only in it. For books, iBooks is enough.
3) I have a 3rd generation iPad with 32Gb. Now after installing all the necessary programs and games, 11 gigabytes are free. All movies and music are on my network drive (I watch using Xmbc).
Starting with iOS 5, a computer is almost not needed to fully use the tablet. I already forgot when I bought the program through iTunes on my computer - everything is on the tablet. Backup is done to a remote server via iCloud.
If you do not need all sorts of perversions such as endless customizations of everything that is possible, connecting flash drives and other things, then I advise you to buy an iPad. If you don't like it, then it will be easier to sell it than Android. I also chose between Android (Asus Transformer Prime) and iOs.

Answer 22

Was today in Comfy.
I felt iPad, SGT, Acer A100, Lenovo K1.
Tablets saw live for the first time.
Started with iPad. I really liked the sensitive touch. Works even with a light touch. Indeed, the interface works very softly and smoothly. He wants to work on it. I launched Safari, opened w3bsit3-dns.com, scrolled the pages, followed the links. I downloaded the PDF from the Wikipedia link. It opened directly in the browser. Scrolled well, smoothly without jerks.
Then I switched to SGT and Lenovo K1.
In SGT I went to fs.ua, chose a movie, decided to watch it online :), but instead of a player, you have a black rectangle on you, reloading the page did not help. While I switched to lenovo, shkolota flew in and took SGT.
I uploaded the PDF to lenovo, from the same link: the file did not open, but just downloaded. I opened the link in something there, after it was asked to register, I refused. I did not like the scroll, as it jerks. The zoom after pinching when trying to move sometimes disappeared, that is, instead of moving, it was reset to the original one.
Maybe there the RAM was clogged and it was necessary to reboot? For a day of groping, she walks immeasurably.
Moved to Acer. And then I discovered that I forgot my glasses. Stand with tablets just below the waist. When working with the predecessors, I stooped a little, just to get it. Now I had to bend down harder, for my vision the comfortable distance for such a screen is no more than 50-60 without glasses.
Acer was stupid both on the pages and with the PDF. I realized that the authors of cheap and Chinese tablets mean the word freezes :)
Maybe on the 4th andryusha everything is different, more and more smoothly?
Although the iPad made a very pleasant impression on me, it also found a fly in the ointment: for some reason, the pages in Safari reloaded when switching, which is sad. I hope they are loaded from the cache? That is, it will simply switch between tabs, for example, in order to copy-paste the text without reloading the pages, it will not work?
Let's say I opened a topic on Habré in the 1st tab, typed part of the comment, decided to insert a link. I open the 2nd tab, go, well, let's say to the web EverNote, copy the link, return to the first tab. Will an unsubmitted comment disappear in the form? After all, if the page is reloaded, everything will be reset?
But in chrome on acer it turned out that switching between tabs is just as convenient as on the desktop.
In general, if I came to the store knowing absolutely nothing about tablets, but with the aim of buying, then my choice would definitely be iPad.
The seller said that sales are not possible with tablets (we have a city of 350 thousand people). Ipads charge 2-3 per day, SGS 1-2 per week. They took a few lenovo and a couple of acers. 3 iPads will be put on display only after the sale of the 2nd.
So nothing has been decided.
While I wait.

Answer 23

I will answer this way, my IMHO, please do not engage in populism in comments.
I have an iPad 1, 16 3g+wifi, jailbroken.
Without a Jail - I don’t understand what for it is needed at all, especially if without 3g.
Jail allowed me to:
- Install openSSH and Apt, to install packages (I bought Prompt for the terminal)
- Install iFile (which, among other things, can open vids with a native player)
I did not install anything else from what Cydia allows (any SBS, according to rumors , ruin stability).
Everything, now the happiness began. I upload the vidos there either through SCP, rsync (you can do it in the background) or the iFile web face. This saves me from problems with itunes and content intolerance (once you upload it to itunes, only there you can watch it later, you won’t be able to download the file to another machine).
About the place and vidos. From a rutracker, for example, I download converted series (or I convert them myself to VPS, where I raised the seed box. You need to convert, because unconverted ones eat the battery faster when viewed in a special player) in HD. So 16GB is not enough for a full season. Therefore, if possible, it is better to take 32GB.
You can also pour pdf (although they are also uploaded through regular Safari and quietly opened through iBooks later). There are no problems with this. DJVU, like CHM, are uploaded through reader programs in the app store. About doc - xs. There is an office, but it is paid, I did not look for a crooked one.
An account in the app store can be raised without a card, by the way.
Based on the foregoing: jail is a mandatory thing for me, so before buying, see if there is an untethered jailbreak for your ipad (versions 2 and 3).

Answer 24

Here I found real contenders for myself , who can compete in price with the iPad 2 at the moment on 05/29/2012 in the open spaces of Ukraine:
10 "
Samsung Galaxy Tab II 10.1 Wi-Fi (GT-P5110) ??? no supplies of
Acer Iconia Tab yet A200 8GB such price
7"
Samsung Galaxy Tab II 7.0 Wi-Fi (GT-P3110) 2700 UAH (332.60 $)
Acer Iconia Tab A100 at this price
By the way, if there are citizens from Ukraine? tell me about the reputation of tehnohata.ua, notus.com.ua, stylus.com.ua stores here the prices are suspiciously low

Answer 25

habrahabr.ru/post/144934/ for you.