iPad 3 and iPad mini

In two previous blogs, I dealt with the iPad. After more than two years of use, this tablet meets all my mobile computing needs, particularly when paired with the Logitech keyboard. The keyboard is a perfect cover for the iPad 3 screen when not in use. However, reading e-books in bed on the iPad 3 becomes "heavy" over time. So why not get an iPad mini?

I received my pre-ordered iPad mini on December 7 and immediately started loving it. During its initial setup, I simply copied the content of my iPad3 to the iPad mini, but became more selective about applications. I keep on the mini onlyprograms I am likely to use. It is convenient to have two machines that are programmed alike but fulfill different purposes. The iPad 3 is the tablet I now use at home as my "notebook," whereas the iPad mini is the ideal travel companion and e-book reader. Hence, I shall choose a Wi-Fi-only model if I ever replace my iPad 3 with a newer edition.

As far as the arrangement of apps on my iPad home screens is concerned, they both look the same. However, compared to the display shown in my previous blog, there are some changes:

For managing my appointments, tasks, and contacts, I still adore the eventually matured Pocket Informant. I now use iOS calendars that perfectly synchronize in iCloud with all my devices (Desktop PC, iPad3, iPad mini, and iPhone5). Cloud services make all the difference in modern computing. There are no longer any "lost" appointments or duplicate task entries.

Contacts in Pocket Informant are also kept in an iOS database, except for group e-mails. Apple still needs to provide a decent possibility to build groups from single e-mail addresses. A third-party application is available in the Apple store, but setting up groups with more than ten people is a lengthy operation and prone to crashing, especially when I had just entered 90% of the names. So I still manage my e-mail distribution groups in MS Outlook on my desktop.

The many third-party apps for managing tasks in the Apple store that lack proper synchronization are not worth downloading. Apple offers its frugal Reminder application, so I have lately been using the task database in my favorite Pocket Informant, which I keep synchronized across my iOS devices using Toodledo. Luckily, things have moved. Two months ago, Pocket Informant incorporated iOS Reminder into their platform in a significant update. Tasks are now accessible and editable in PI and synchronized in the cloud. The only thing still needing to be added, and I would like to see, is the fusion of iOS Notes with the notes in Pocket Informant.

Mail is the following icon in the first row of applications, with, as mentioned above, the restriction of offering no group mail.

The next icon on the screen, marked Launch, hides an iPhone-only application that runs on the iPad too. A panel opens with nine programmable fields you may assign to apps and actions when you tap on it. Instead of moving to and struggling through menus and other pages to launch less frequently used apps, using Launch the following apps are just two clicks away: YouTube, my Wikipedia watch list, Google Maps, Toggle brightness, the Kindle book reader, Quickoffice that can handle MS Office files, Wikipanion (switching quickly between the German, English and French versions of Wikipedia), the iBooks reader, and PCalc, an RPN-calculator. It seems that Launch is one of those applications Apple dislikes, because the app's authors have so far hesitated to launch a dedicated iPad version.

Nothing is to be added about Apple's Safari browser. Facebook still allows me to follow my son's travels.

The first application in the second row remains Flipboard, that gorgeous newsreader. With Flipboard, I follow the most important national and international news. However, I replaced the Pulp reader with the somewhat faster Newsflash app for further reading. The next icon launches PhatNotes, the most cherished carryover from my Windows Mobile days. The database contains all my personal information and passwords. Of all the browsers available in the Apple Store, I eventually settled on Google's Chrome for its speed and stability, especially when Safari is compromised.

I still jot down my ideas with the simple text processor Nebulous (they changed their icon), synchronizing the texts into Dropbox and retrieving them with TextPad on my desktop. The additional row of freely programmable keys in Nebulous remains on the screen when the Logitech keyboard is connected via Bluetooth, but I slightly changed the disposition of these keys.

The fourth row starts with my now-favorite weather application. Meteogram is a graphical presentation of temperature, rainfall, etc., detailed for the next two days and spanning the coming week. The following icon marked Wetter contains my collection of nearly all the weather applications I accumulated when I used to look up the best available weather forecast. 

In Utilities, I keep stored useful apps, some of which I described previously. Both my iPads are delivered with a camera I never use. Don't people simply look ridiculous taking photos with the iPad? Should the need for a camera shot with my iPads arise one day, the Camera+ app features more possibilities than the native one. Notizen is what is called Notes in English.

In the last row, the SPORT1 app and the DB Navigator are known to those who have read my earlier iPad blog. New are ReaddleDocs and an alarm clock (Wecker), the latter chosen among a dozen others. ReaddleDocs is remarkable because it lets me view all my cloud files in a single application. 

Besides the old and faithful workhorse Dropbox, I am hooked on Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive. I am still deciding the possible use and usefulness of these various cloud services, hoping that ReaddleDocs will eventually help spark my ideas on this matter.

On the apps bar at the bottom, there is one newcomer: Bluetooth on/off again is one of those applications Apple does not like. Without getting lost in the iPad Settings submenus, just hitting the button toggles Bluetooth on and off, connecting or disconnecting my Logitech keyboard instantly.

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