Jeff, on the case… You know how you and I like the same stuff? :) So here’s what you want:
Rear protection: Incipio Smart Feather. Super-thin plastic, looks good, and it holds the Smart Cover in place.
Front Protection: Apple Smart Cover.
The combo adds very little thickness, protects things well, turns the iPad on/off when you open the cover, and doubles as a stand.
No need for a screen overlay; the iPad’s glass is super-hard and you’d have to work to scratch it.
One of my favorite things about the iPhone / iPad combo is the photo stream. To use it, you need to have an iCloud account (free tier is fine) set up on both devices. It also integrates with AppleTV and iPhoto on the Mac, if you have either of those.
Basically, take a photo on the iPhone or iPad and it appears automatically on all of the other devices. I love being able to snap pictures on my phone (frequently of my 18m old daughter) and then show them to my wife via the AppleTV or on the iPad.
It also eases the management of photos between the portable device and the computer. When I launch iPhoto on my Mac, all of the photos that I took on the phone are there and I can do with them what I want.
Games I enjoy on the iPad:
Avadon
Neuroshima Hex
Carcassone
Waking Mars
Oh, and get one of those star gazing apps if you’re at all interested in astronomy.
I use a GreatShield for the back, and an Apple cover for the front. No screen protector. I know 4-5 people with this setup, never had any problems.
Okay, Jeff, this looks like the answer to your case question… Basically, Apple is now selling what I assembled for my own iPad as a single case:
Argh, and I’m receiving my SmartSuit3 Wednesday. Why wasnt I aware of the case upgrade cycle?!
The iPad is the only Apple product I’ve purchased AppleCare for because I knew I’d carry it around everywhere and one good drop is going to break it, case or not. The same is true of the phone but at least that is in my pocket most of the time.
Also, I hate cases. The SmartCover is nice, though, since it doubles as a stand, triples as a screen cleaner and doesn’t add anything to the size of the device.
Yes.
I also invested in AppleCare+ for my iPad 3, although not for my phone. My iPad is expensive and my daughter loves to play with it. And I think it’s already too heavy, so I didn’t want to add a case. So I chose a simple SmartCover for the reasons Mike mentioned, and got the AppleCare+ to extend my warranty and cover any accidents cheaply in the event of a drop. I get the best of both worlds that way - no extra bulk and peace of mind.
I don’t like the big cases, but the thin plastic shells that snap on the back like the Incipio Smart Feather (and Apple’s new case) add almost no bulk, but they protect the one part of your iPad that actually IS likely to get scratched up in everyday usage. The screen is such hard glass that it’s very, very hard to damage. The back isn’t hard to scratch at all.
Lots of great suggestions, but Denny you and I seem to share similar likes and dislikes so I think I’ll go with this.
BTW - trivial question, but what do you guys normally use to wipe off the smudges?
Microfiber cloth. Multi-pack for cheap from Walmart.
Cool. Probably better than my soft flannel boxer shorts.
It doesn’t really matter, you’re not gonna scratch the gorilla glass with your tidy whities.
The first hands-on experience with the new Smart Case over at The Verge did not come across as all that great. From what I read, the third party options sound superior. I’d recommend pretty much anything from Incipio or SwitchEasy.
$4
The cleaning solution works great.
Probably a dumb question, but how do you guys typically move files onto your iPad? I’m so used to using USB flash sticks to move docs, pics, movies, etc. from computer to computer. Do you all use iTunes for everything?
Also - does iTunes work well for moving things off of the iPad to the PC?
What type of files were you thinking of moving around?
For the most part, I use Dropbox to get files on and off the iPad. I also tend to e-mail myself documents on occasion. I never use iTunes unless I have no choice. Most apps do allow you to transfer files through iTunes, but I find that experience extremely clunky. The better apps have their own syncing with a computer mechanism, and again, that’s often Dropbox or iCloud-based. A few of the apps I own have their own built in WiFi-based syncing mechanisms. They run a little program on the PC side, and detect it on the iPad and then transfer files that way. Papers and ComicBookLover both do this, for example.
There are also specific file sharing apps. Avatron’s Air Sharing comes to mind.
I stream video using Air Video.
I have 300+ apps on my iPad/iPhone so using iTunes to add files is kind of a pain as it chugs when it refreshes the springboard layout. Most of the good programs have Dropbox has their file system.
air video, subsonic/isub, goodreader, and drop box takes care of almost all content I care about. I think I might hook up my ipad to a pc once every 6 months.
Here’s a really simple question. On my iPhone using the standard Facebook app, when I look at a posted photo and want to see the photo without the menu/options bars on the top and bottom I just tap the photo and I get the photo alone on the screen. That doesn’t seem to work on the iPad Facebook app. Is there some trick every iPad owner but me knows?
Also when you get an app from the App store, only looking in the iPad section, how do you avoid apps that run in small/iPhone mode? Very frustrating to download what you think is a full screen iPad app and have it open up in small iPhone mode.
Thanks