logo

iPad 2

The other week our iPad went nuts. Possessed is the word I used to describe it to Apple Support. Things were swiping all over the place and apps opening of the own accord.

After it had calmed down over night it was usable but parts of the screen no longer responded to touch. In particular the letter O on the keyboard never worked.

So, on Sunday, three weeks before Christmas and against my better judgement I drove in to town to return it to the shop. The man at the shop confirmed it was broken and said a new one would be back in the store within 14 working days. This worked out that (if I was lucky) it was be back just before Christmas. Now a) I didn't want to come in to town again so close to Christmas and b) didn't want to risk not having it back in time for Christmas.

The option I went for was to buy an Apple Care "protection plan" for 70 pounds. With this I called on the Monday and the replacement arrived on Wednesday.

Like an idiot I returned the old one in its original box with the charger and cable. Luckily I had a spare one (not now I don't though). Lucky also that it got back to Apple in one piece as the original box offers it no protection. Shame Apple refuse to return anything sent to them in error.

Putting aside the hassle I went through to get the new one (you have to expect this to a degree when IT kit goes bad I suppose) what surprised me was just what a pain it is to manage your iPad's content via iTunes.

You'd assume that all things Apple are super-user-friendly. Is that really the case though? I found backing up and restoring all the apps from the old to new iPad a frustrating and tedious process and I still didn't get any of the data back (I lost hours and hours -if not days - of gameplay achievements too).

The iPad syncing process if full of confusion. Like the fact you can't sync apps if "restrictions" (of any kind) are enabled on the iPad itself. Then there's the warnings every time you choose to sync something - normally along the lines of "If you do this you'll have to buy all your apps again" or "If you do this all music and videos on the iPad will be erased" etc etc.

I love my iPad and was at a bit of a loose-end for the two days we were without it. But now I have my "new" iPad I can't help feeling it's somehow tainted. Like taking an old girlfriend back after a messy split. You never quite got the same kind of affection for them do you...

Comments

    • avatar
    • Dragon Cotterill
    • Fri 17 Dec 2010 03:33 AM

    Just one more reason why I avoid all Apple products. If it isn't easy and configurable *my* way, then I don't want to know. Somebody pass me my Playbook.

      • avatar
      • Jake Howlett
      • Fri 17 Dec 2010 03:41 AM

      Yeah, I share the sentiment (to a degree), but, Apple products (the iPad in particular) are truly amazing. To avoid them at all costs is to deny yourself access to an amazing experience.

      What does your Playbook let you do that the iPad won't?

      Hide the rest of this thread

        • avatar
        • Dragon Cotterill
        • Fri 17 Dec 2010 04:47 AM

        Flash!

          • avatar
          • Jake Howlett
          • Fri 17 Dec 2010 04:55 AM

          Is that it?

          Can't say the lack of Flash has been as much of an issue as I'd thought it might be. Lots of sites now are using MP4 (I assume) which iPad can play natively.

          Every now and then (as a Flex follower) I open a webpage with Flex demos that don't work, but it's no biggy. It's normally inside Twitter so I favourite the tweet and then it appears in my Tweetdeck app on the PC as a reminder to look again.

          Apart from that I've not missed Flash at all.

            • avatar
            • Dragon Cotterill
            • Fri 17 Dec 2010 05:23 AM

            No of course thats not it. There is a shed load more stuff which the Playbook can do which the ipad cannot.

            True multitasking. HDMI out. USB. And those are just for starters.

            Quite frankly, it's horses for courses. If the iPad does what you need it to do, then it is the tablet of choice for you. It's not my choice. I need a lot more freedom, and a lot better security.

    • avatar
    • S.
    • Fri 17 Dec 2010 07:10 AM

    Sometimes Apple products can be annoying when you don't use them as Apple expects you to use them. In this situation, Apple expects you to sync with a computer/itunes with the same itunes user that you used to buy apps & whatever in your iPad.

    If you do so, it makes a full backup of everything, DRM protected or not (and if you bought songs or movies, they appear in iTunes). In fact, as you discovered, it comes quite handy to backup from time to time just in case anything happens to the iPad. It can also be used to migrate to a new device (ex. if you get an iPhone or a new model of iPad, you can restore your backup to the new device so you don't loose anything).

      • avatar
      • Jake Howlett
      • Fri 17 Dec 2010 07:19 AM

      At some point during my ownership of the iPad I've changed the Mac mini with which it syncs. During this process it somehow changed between the two Apple IDs I have registered (don't recall why). Having then bought apps on two IDs made it a whole lot more of a headache than it probably should have been.

      Show the rest of this thread

Your Comments

Name:
E-mail:
(optional)
Website:
(optional)
Comment:


About This Page

Written by Jake Howlett on Fri 17 Dec 2010

Share This Page

# ( ) '

Comments

The most recent comments added:

Skip to the comments or add your own.

You can subscribe to an individual RSS feed of comments on this entry.

Let's Get Social


About This Website

CodeStore is all about web development. Concentrating on Lotus Domino, ASP.NET, Flex, SharePoint and all things internet.

Your host is Jake Howlett who runs his own web development company called Rockall Design and is always on the lookout for new and interesting work to do.

You can find me on Twitter and on Linked In.

Read more about this site »

More Content