Less elegant than I would have liked.
Short answer: you have to use what’s called iTunes file sharing.
Your argument is flawed. It’s not a matter of trying to get a toaster to make soup. It’s like trying to get the toaster to make toast from storebought bread instead of buying whole loaves and passing them through the specially designed manufacturers bread slicer.
And you’re wrong - it is a computer that lacks a keyboard and it’s as powerful or more powerful than many desktops and laptops. It also has storage capability just like a USB stick. Users realize that it has the potential for these uses and want to know how to get there. Just because the manufacturer placed physical design barriers to these features doesn’t mean that the customers don’t want to get around them.
I have tons of fun with my ipad but I still get vexed when I travel with it and want to transfer my camera pics to the ipad for viewing (a perfectly logical use for it). I shouldn’t have to lug around a PC so that I can use Itunes to transfer files from my camera to PC to Ipad. My Ipad has a connection point. My camera has a connection point. but getting the proper hardware and software lined up for the ipad in order for me to accomplish this feat is not a small task.
Change the start of your quote to “Tech-savvy users…” and you have a point. But the iPad was not designed for tech-savvy users any more then a Kia was designed for street racing.
If the iPad doesn’t do the things you want it to do, you have 3 options:
- Wait for someone to write an app that does it,
- Write an app yourself, or
- Buy a different tablet.
Analogies are imperfect, film at 11.
No! It isn’t! Technically, sure, it’s a computer. But the popular perception of what a desktop computer is and what the iPad actually is are different things. And the differences are far more important than the similarities. People think they’re the same, or very similar. They’re not. Hence the frustration.
Ditto with USB sticks. Yes, you can load some stuff on your iPad, sometimes. And you can load stuff on USB sticks. They have that factor in common. But that doesn’t make them equivalent. My hypothetical toaster heats food. So does my hypothetical microwave. So does a campfire, for that matter, but they all have very different uses and methods of using them, even though if you’re only looking at that one aspect they’re the same.
Sure. Push the stuff to its limits and then past. I get that. What I don’t get it is people claiming that it “should” be able to do this or that it’s “dumb” that it can’t or whatever. It wasn’t designed to do that. If it does, somehow, that’s just gravy. But if it doesn’t, why were you expecting it?
An example: I have a USB microphone that I can use with the Camera Connection Kit as an external mic. It’s pretty awesome that it works. But just before I bought the mic, iOS upgraded (I think from 3 to 4, but I’m not sure about that). Before the upgrade, you could plug in the mic and it would work straight away. After, you needed an external power source because the update limited the amount of power the iPad would give to the dock connector. Is it a bummer that I now need to plug the mic into a powered USB port, and the port into the wall and the iPad to record? Sure. But I’m not going to claim it’s the end of the world or anything, because it wasn’t designed to work that way in the first place. If iOS 5 disables that function altogether, I’m still not going to complain about it, because that’s not what the dock or the Camera Connection Kit are for.
The Camera Connection Kit does seem to work pretty well for me for that purpose. I can see how it would strongly depend on what kind of camera you had though.
I’m not saying I’ve never been frustrated with the way the iPad (or iPhone, or iTunes) does stuff. What I am saying is that in those instances, more often than not a far better solution is to find out how Apple wants me to solve that problem, and then do it that way, rather than taking a short cut which often winds up being a longer way around.
Krokodil, you seem pretty reasonable – the OP was missing some needed details, but I think with the info you’ve provided there are likely some solutions. A (not free) program that seems to be pretty good at handling documents is Good Reader. I don’t know whether it will handle your files in their current format or not, but I’ve been impressed with what it can do. It also has many options for pulling files in – if the iPad and your computer are on the same wireless network, you can turn on file sharing on the iPad, connect to a server that it creates and then dump everything over in one fell swoop. Once there, you might be able to shuttle it over to your comic book reader app.
But yes, iTunes File Sharing is probably the “Apple sanctioned” way of doing this. Plug in the iPad, click the iPad in the left sidebar, click the Applications Tab, scroll down, choose the reader app, and there should be a button or something to upload files from your computer.
…and flawed argument number 2. Kia isn’t charging top dollar for their cars because they aren’t putting top dollar into them. That’s OK but it’s an economical issue, not a design issue that keeps them from building street racers. The IPad , on the other hand, is supposed to represent the top of the line consumer tech product. I don’t see Apple taking the Kia low road on this one.
And how tech-savvy is it to use a common USB port to transfer files?
I’m not asking my Ipad to act as the primary server for Norad defense. I just want the friggin thing to be able to load pictures from my camera or smart card. The Ipad already has the necessary viewing apps loaded with the operating system. A jpg or MPEG file upload utility isn’t exactly a technical anomaly.
Actually, if you look at the market even today, the iPad is pretty much the cheapest 10" tablet you can buy (assuming comparable other specs).
ASUS EEE Pad Transformer (10.1", 16GB, WiFi): $399
Acer Iconia Tab A500 (10.1", 16GB, WiFi): $449
iPad 2 (9.7", 16GB, WiFi): $499
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (10.1", 16GB, WiFi): $499
Some differences are:
- They all have dual-core processors at around 1GHz. The iPad has a somewhat better graphics chip.
- The WiFi-only iPad lacks GPS. The WiFi-only Android devices do have GPS.
- The ASUS and Acer are somewhat heavier than the iPad 2, but the Samsung is lighter.
- The 10.1" devices all have 1280x800 displays, compared to the 1024x768 for the iPad.
- The iPad has an IPS display, but so does the ASUS. Not sure about the other two, but they reportedly have very good view angles.
- The Android devices have expandable storage (micro-SD card slot). The iPad does not.
- The Samsung is not yet shipping, but is expected to start this week.
All in all, I’d say these are all “comparable” specs.
Fine. “No more expensive than other tablets that each match some but not all of its specs.”
As always, Apple chooses form over function and the fanbois strap on their blinders to it entirely.
-Or (4) find out whether and how other users of the product have gotten around the limitations, on a message board like this one.
I think some combination of the suggestions I’ve gotten so far should do the trick. Thanks to all who answered!
It can do that. Who ever said it couldn’t?
Apple Camera Connection Kit
The OP wanted to upload an obscure document format, and wasn’t happy with the inefficient methods that he knew about.
Sorry to the OP for derailing the thread. Any Apple thread is prone to the “I hate apple, their fanboys and apologists, and I want everyone to know about it!” trainwreck.*
*ETA: Not directed at Bubbadog
The key step that the OP might be missing, is that you have to select the right app before adding the file.
(And, of course, the app has to understand the file format).
For video files, use the VLC app. For comic books, either convert them to a format used by iBooks (pdf, epub) or install a comic book app.
And all of which have specs that the iPad doesn’t match. Higher resolution screens and built-in card slots are significant advantages. Plus I’m pretty sure I can play Crysis at max settings on my Transformer (haven’t tried yet and there’s really no point, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work). Let’s see the iPad do that.
Is the VLC app available for an iPad that isn’t jailbroken?
It was. Seems it has since been removed from the app store, I didn’t know that (it’s still on my un-jailbroken ipad).
There are various other apps currently in the store that claim to play videos, either from the ipad or streamed over wifi. I haven’t tried them.
[mod note]
This is GQ, and the OP asked a question about USB ports on iPads.
Please take your snide anti-Apple potshots to a different forum.
[/mod note]
All I gotta say is that it is a new technological niche. The iPod Touch and it’s apps turned up to 11. Or 9.7", anyway. I do not own either, but I can easily see where it would do about 95% of what I use my computer to do, and 100% of what my mother uses her computer for. It isn’t going to replace your desktop or laptop, and you need one to use an iPad, but it fills a gap as a new form of tool.
That being said, it really doesn’t need, or wasn’t assumed to need, a USB port other than the existing Apple USB connector that connects it to iTunes.
I gotta kinda figure that in another 5-7 years as the technology matures, they will become more and more capable and similar to laptops in functionality.
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:36, topic:585203”]
[mod note]
This is GQ, and the OP asked a question about USB ports on iPads.
Please take your snide anti-Apple potshots to a different forum.
[/mod note]
[/QUOTE]
While Omniscient’s observation might not have been appropriate, it was no more off-topic that Garfield’s diatribe about why it’s stupid to want USB transfer on an iPad.
The difference being I actually tried to solicit helpful information from the OP and later followed up with a suggestion.
But other than that, our posts were identical.
[moderating]
You really don’t see the difference between a one-liner slamming Apple (and its customers) and Garfield’s lengthy contributions to the thread? Then feel free to open a thread in IMHO and discuss whether my mod note was appropriate. Let’s not continue to side-track this thread, though.
[/moderating]