ASUS Windows 8.1 tablet/netbook, iPad Air, Sony ereader
Well, I just couldn’t help myself… Millenicom redid an offer for an unlocked cellular iPad with free data until April 1 for the same price as a wi-fi only model. They had the same offer around Thanksgiving but I wasn’t ready to jump then. Especially since I had just decided to go with the ASUS. They only offered the 16GB model and I was a bit concerned about that, but I finally decided that was good enough for the way I would probably be using it.
Rationale?
- I (or Ken) am highly unlikely to download space hogging videos/movies/TV programs to be view at a later date
- Ditto music
- My ebooks are in the cloud on SkyDrive and even if I did load them all on the iPad (if I couldn’t figure out how to access them on SkyDrive) they total less than 1GB
- Based on how I’ve used my Android phone, I don’t appear to be an app junky
So I concluded that, while I preferred something a little roomier, I would probably be OK. And it certainly was going to be the cheapest way for me to test out the Apple ecosystem. And I wanted it. So I ordered one and it came 6 days ago. I’ll cancel the service in March and go without the cellular. Or I may look into the 500mb data offer from T-Mobile. I think you get that just from buying a SIM card from them. I shouldn’t need much, after all. I expect to be using it almost exclusively with wi-fi.
So, what do I think? I’m not really sure yet. I’m really still setting it up and learning how it works. No matter what Apple says, it is not an intuitive experience – especially to an over-thinker.
Here’s my gut take on both devices so far:
- I have the Google app installed on both devices. I’ve really only used it for reading the News so far. And I like that experience better on the ASUS – the home screen on the iPad lacks density. i.e. too much white space and too large a font. It rather surprised me since the screens are very similar in size.
- In fact, there have been several times on the iPad when I wished I could decrease the font size but there was no apparent way to do so. As I tweak my preferred apps, however, I expect that to go away. Or I’ll just get used to it. Or, as I get older, I’ll even appreciate it.
- The other common app I’m using is a jigsaw puzzle game – Magic Puzzle. Same maker, two very different feeling apps. I like it much better in Windows 8.1. I’m surprised that it’s so different.
- I like the email app on the iPad better. Once I got used to it
- I was trying to stick with the native apps as much as possible but I couldn’t stand iBooks. So I bought Marvin (for epub) and GoodReader (for PDFs). Mostly for font size, page color, and layout options. I’ve downloaded Freda for the ASUS but haven’t really done much exploration with it. I do need a better PDF reader – one that lets me get a sepia background or somesuch.
- I like being able to tweak things from within the app itself (Windows vs iOS) rather than going to a general settings app. ‘Course, I could be missing something obvious to veteran Apple users. As I said, it’s not completely obvious to me.
Back to catching up on posting old posts. I’m almost caught up!
