Apple iPad 2 buyers and owner's thread (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Our Verizon iPad 2 finally showed up, 4.5 weeks after ordering it. We had begun the Dispute process with our credit card. Refused shipment from FedEx, and awaiting the refund. Be glad to be done with that and get the charge fully off my credit card.


Never again buying from Verizon a retail product. They don't know how to do retail sales.

 

[TonyD]

Our Verizon iPad 2 finally showed up, 4.5 weeks after ordering it. We had begun the Dispute process with our credit card. Refused shipment from FedEx, and awaiting the refund. Be glad to be done with that and get the charge fully off my credit card.


Never again buying from Verizon a retail product. They don't know how to do retail sales.

Why'd you do that? Wasn't that the expected time frame 4-6 weeks?

 

[DaveF]

Verizon would make the Byzantines jealous.


The problem was I ordered in store the Sunday after launch, on the assurance from the salesman that they had the model I wanted in the warehouse and it would ship that week; I'd have it three days later. He was absolutely positive if I placed the order with him that day, I'd have my iPad that week.


It didn't show up.


Worse, I had no info on it. I went to the Verizon store two weeks later to cancel it; they said they couldn't help me. I hadn't received any order information emails; all I had was my receipt. I contacted Verizon service online, and they couldn't find my order from my receipt information, and told me to work with my store.


Then we found our credit card had been charged the $630 the day we ordered it. The bill was coming due and we had no iPad 2, no shipping info, no way to cancel the order.


In the mean time, we received our iPad from Apple.


I went back to the store a week later, and talk to Cust Serv rep. For the next hour, he banged on his computer, called five different people at Verizon Corporate, and asked for help from three different people in the store. No one, and I mean *no one*, could tell me a thing about it. They could not tell me the status of the order, nor the expected shipping date, nor stock status. And they could not cancel the order. The only way to cancel the order was for us to refuse shipment. And they'd already charged us for it. And every new person in this investigation first asked , "What's your Verizon account #', and seemed puzzled when informed we weren't Verizon customers, we simply ordered an iPad.


Verizon effectively said, 'Thanks for your money. We promise to get you an iPad someday. Again, thanks for your money.'


We gave it one more week -- the week left in our billing cycle. Then called our credit card company and disputed the charge. We were not paying for a product that had not been delivered and had no delivery date.



The gulf between quality retail company like Apple or Amazon, and Verizon, is amazing.

 

[DaveF]

My wife bought the Targus Versavu™ Cover & Stand for iPad® 2. It doesn't support the Magic Magnets, but besides that my initial impression is very positive. And obviously she likes it, having bought it. I'm not sure I'd want a case for an iPad, besides a Magic Cover, but if this gets a revision for the magnet support, I'd be tempted by it.


http://www.targus.com/us/productdetail.aspx?regionId=7&sku=THZ045US&PageName=Targus%20for%20Mac&productCategoryId=-1&bucketTypeId=194&searchedTerms=&navlevel1=products&cp=undefined&bannertxt=for%20Mac%20Cases%20%26%20Accessories

 

[JohnRice]

I'm a last-tech kind of guy, so I just went for an original 32GB iPad refurb. The iPad2 doesn't really offer anything I want that much and the nearly $200 savings was too much to resist. It just arrived here at work and has been charged up, but I'm not firing it up until I can get on WiFi at home. Like most Apple "refurbs", it appears to be brand new.

 

[Nelson Au]

Interesting post about refurbs from Apple. I've never had a refurb from Apple before, and I just ordered a 5th gen iPod Nano from the refurb site because I wanted to grab one of those before they were gone. (I wanted a Nano that could still play video)

In looking at the FedEx tracking info from Apple, it says it is shipping from China! From ShenZhen. So that tells me that these units, and probably that iPad is coming straight from the factory. The Nano is described as having a brand new battery and outer case. Sounds like a great deal! So your iPad probably got a new outer case and battery!

If my Nano is in good working order and looks new, I may buy more stuff from Apple that way! Some good deals on other products, Apple TV, iPod's, Macs.

 

[JohnRice]

The iPad didn't come with a case, but I got 2nd stock on that too. The iPad came from China too, and arrived in 4 days, if you can believe it. Everything looks brand new. Apple's Remote app is great for anyone with streaming music using iTunes.

 

[Nelson Au]

John, I meant that the Apple factory replaces the external aluminum shell on the Nano so you get a brand new looking unit, no scratches. Not a protective case. I bet your iPad got a new aluminum bottom.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I won an iPad 2 through my employer, and it finally arrived yesterday. I have a few questions for the iPad users out there.


First, a little background. I am currently using a 2-year old netbook running Ubuntu as a portable device both for work and when we travel for personal use. I mostly use just a web browser for email and Open Office for word processing and occasional spreadsheet work. While I am very computer literate (been in IT for over 35 years), my only recent experience with Apple products are the four iPod's we've owned and iTunes running on Windows-based PC's to manage my mp3 music library. I'm also an Android smart phone user.


I want the iPad to be able to replace the functions of the netbook. I have the browser handled, so no problem there. My questions are:


1. Are there any decent free apps that will provide basic word processing and spreadsheet functions? I need something that can read and save in Microsoft's format, since I require that compatibility for both work and personal use. A co-worker recommended Quick Office, which costs $15. I'll go that route if there is nothing decent as a free app, but I am put off that there are no free trial periods for the purchased apps in the App Store in case I do not like the product.


2. Any recommendations for a combined cover / keyboard? While the touch screen will work for occasional typing, I need a real keyboard for typing notes in meetings at work and email correspondences. I would prefer something that does not add much bulk to the iPad, and offers a simple battery charging solution. A smart cover came as part of the gift, so I can protect the screen until I come up with a keyboard solution.


3. Do I need to use iTunes to transfer my personal photos from my PC to the iPad, similar to being forced to use iTunes to transfer music and movies?


4. I installed the Kindle iPad app, as I also own a Kindle. Does anyone know if I can use Calibre to transfer ebooks to the iPad? I use Calibre on my PC to organize and transfer ebooks that I've collected or purchased from sources other than Amazon to my Kindle.

5. What is the best way to transfer and read Abode PDF files on the iPad? Specifically, the National Park Services has lots of maps in pdf format. We will be going to Yellowstone this summer, and I would like to download some of the trail maps to the iPad. I also have a pdf version of the manual for my Canon 7D dSLR camera that I would like to store on the iPad, as I do currently on my Kindle.


Thanks for helping out an Apple newbie.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield

I won an iPad 2 through my employer, and it finally arrived yesterday. I have a few questions for the iPad users out there.


First, a little background. I am currently using a 2-year old netbook running Ubuntu as a portable device both for work and when we travel for personal use. I mostly use just a web browser for email and Open Office for word processing and occasional spreadsheet work. While I am very computer literate (been in IT for over 35 years), my only recent experience with Apple products are the four iPod's we've owned and iTunes running on Windows-based PC's to manage my mp3 music library. I'm also an Android smart phone user.


I want the iPad to be able to replace the functions of the netbook. I have the browser handled, so no problem there. My questions are:



3. Do I need to use iTunes to transfer my personal photos from my PC to the iPad, similar to being forced to use iTunes to transfer music and movies?


4. I installed the Kindle iPad app, as I also own a Kindle. Does anyone know if I can use Calibre to transfer ebooks to the iPad? I use Calibre on my PC to organize and transfer ebooks that I've collected or purchased from sources other than Amazon to my Kindle.

5. What is the best way to transfer and read Abode PDF files on the iPad? Specifically, the National Park Services has lots of maps in pdf format. We will be going to Yellowstone this summer, and I would like to download some of the trail maps to the iPad. I also have a pdf version of the manual for my Canon 7D dSLR camera that I would like to store on the iPad, as I do currently on my Kindle.


Thanks for helping out an Apple newbie.

iTunes is the primary portal to the iPad. It syncs with iPhoto (and presumably some photo software under Windows). For PDFs, drag and drop the documents in iTunes and it will sync to the iPad. Likewise, I presume, eBooks since iBooks can read those.


If you want to avoid iTunes as much as possible, you can email documents to yourself, or use DropBox to get documents onto your iPad.


The one free word processor that's Word compatible is GoogleDocs. Otherwise, the others I've looked are paid, like Pages, Documents To Go, and QuickOffice.

 

[Ted Todorov]

To clarify Dave's answer -- Apple's iBooks software will happily display unencrypted ePub files (eBooks) as well as PDFs -- synchable through iTunes as well as stuff from its own store or free alternatives such as Project Gutenberg over-the-air through the iBooks app directly. The only way I know to synch stuff to the Kindle app is over-the-air, via your Amazon account, which I presume only works for Kindle purchases.


There are tons of other third party eBook readers, and I've heard many people using Good Reader for PDFs. No idea what, if any, advantages it has over iBooks for PDFs.


Try the Apple magnetic cover (I have an iPad 1 and have found the Apple case super practical -- no reason to think they have dropped the ball with the new cover). As for a keyboard try going without for a while (remember that using the on-screen keyboard in horizontal orientation is best). You may find you don't need one if you aren't doing an inordinate amount of typing. I thought I'd be using my bluetooth keyboard with the iPad a lot -- in fact I used it exactly once -- to test to make sure it was working...


Oh, and Scott, nice employer you have there

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Ted and Dave,


Thanks for the info. I looked at iBooks, but the only problem there is that it uses epub while the Kindle uses mobi format. So, I would need to keep both formats of the book on my PC. Calibre lets me convert between formats, so it is technically possible for me to do this, but just cumbersome. I was hoping to be able to synch to the Kindle app on the iPad, which would hopefully also allow me to keep my "last page read" in synch between the iPad and Kindle, too (just like it does with content I get through Amazon). It may be a moot point anyway, as I really am not liking the iPad as an ebook reader compared to the Kindle, so I am not sure I will be reading on it much.


I think I will wait on the keyboard for now as you suggested, Ted. As I've been using it, I've found that the iPad does not interface very well with the web version of Outlook that we are using here at work. I think I may end up just continuing to use my netbook at work and only use the iPad around the house and for travel. In that case, the on-screen keyboard will be fine. I have the Apple smart cover, and it works fine as a screen cover.

 

[DaveF]

Sorry, I see your question is more complex that I first understood. I don't know enough about eBooks to help with what you're asking


As for email: if you know your Outlook server's address, you can connect the iPad's email, calendar, address book apps directly to it for an integrated experience. Some of the scheduling functions don't wholly translate to the Calendar system, but as a reader, reminder, and email system it works very well. (I used this with my iPhone at work for a few months.) Outlook Web Access doesn't work very well on anything except IE on Windows.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks for the suggestion, Dave. I wouldn't have thought of trying a direct connection to the Exchange server. Unfortunately, our corporate network is setup to not allow direct network access from personal devices, so I have to go through a VPN and browser for my email access. That method works well enough with my Ubuntu OS netbook and Firefox, but is quite cumbersome with the iPad's Safari browser.


One other thing I discovered that I do not like -- the iPad's integration with Gmail does not include contacts. WTF? Apple did a fine job of integrating Gmail's email and calendar, so why on earth would they leave out contacts? That makes absolutely no sense! Am I missing something in the setup? For a Gmail account, the only options I see for synching are mail, calendars and notes.


Since I will not be using this for every day work at the office, I will not need an app that provides full blown MS Office support, such as creating and saving documents. However, I would like to have the ability to just view Word and Excel documents. Can I do this without paying for an app? My android phone came with an app for this.

 

[DaveF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield

One other thing I discovered that I do not like -- the iPad's integration with Gmail does not include contacts. WTF? Apple did a fine job of integrating Gmail's email and calendar, so why on earth would they leave out contacts? That makes absolutely no sense! Am I missing something in the setup? For a Gmail account, the only options I see for synching are mail, calendars and notes.

Haven't done this (don't use Google contacts), but this popped up in a search:
http://www.tothepc.com/archives/sync-import-google-gmail-contacts-on-ipad/



As for free Office docs: If you can load your docs into Google Docs, you can read them on your iPad. After that. I'd search the AppStore. DocsToGo is not free, but it's cheap.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks for the link on Gmail contacts, Dave. I was hoping for a way to synch them without connecting the iPad to my PC and using iTunes, though. Both email and the calendar synch through normal WiFi Internet access, and that's how I was hoping to synch contacts, too. It works that way with my Android phone, and there should be no reason for Apple to not implement it for the iPad. Seems like a silly omission.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Just as a follow up for anyone who might be interested, I found solutions to a couple of my questions.

1. The free app FileApp provides the ability to view MS Office files, as well as other file types. It also has various file copying methods, including FTP.
2. The free app Stanza is an ebook reader that supports both epub and mobi formats, as well as pdf. It appears to have the ability to communicate with Calibre on a PC, but I have not tried that yet. This should hopefully solve my issue of sending mobi format ebooks acquired from sources other than Amazon to the iPad. The only downside is needing two different ereader apps that have different interfaces -- Kindle for Amazon content, and Stanza for everything else.

 

[DaveF]

Another iPad use: my wife bought Numbers, entered her entire garage-sale list with columns for asking and selling prices, and is tracking today's sale with it.

 

[Kurt Lang]

Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield

That method works well enough with my Ubuntu OS netbook and Firefox, but is quite cumbersome with the iPad's Safari browser.

There is a browser app available for 99 cents called Mercury Browser. It does a lot of things Safari doesn't, like tabs. I've not tried it with Outlook Web Access but for 99 cents it might be worth a try.

 

[DaveF]

Full-blown Outlook Web Access relies on ActiveX features of Windows, I believe. I suspect it will never work fully in an iOS device.


I've not tried the lesser version of OWA, for use on a non-Windows or non-IE browsers, in my iPhone. But coworkers use it and say it's at least sufficient for checking email.