Tablet on Vacation

leebase · 04-06-2011, 02:09 PM

I took my iPad and iPad 2 on spring break to Miami Beach this past week. They came in handy in the following ways.

1. Great car entertainment. It was a 20 hour drive (straight through) and judging by the many wacky photos, the iPad 2's "Photo Booth" app provided quite a bit of entertainment. And, of course, the games like Angry Birds.

2. I loaded up NetFlix and Hulu Plus so that I could watch movies and Tv shows on demand while we were on vacation. Worked like a charm.

3. Had a gloriously lazy vacation -- just hanging out on the beach, the pool or the hotel room. Lots of time for reading. I'm in the middle of a great book (1634: The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint). It stormed almost every day we were there -- or was largely over cast. Had no problem reading in the hotel room, or outside on the balcony. The one time I went to the beach thinking I would read (and tan) -- the sun came out the moment I fired up the iPad. Of course, you can't read in full sun light. No worries, I had my iPhone with me and was prepared to just listen to an audio book. Instead, I just picked up from where I was reading (love how both the iBook app and Kindle apps can do this) and was able to read on the iPhone.

I know, I said I was going to bring a paper back book with me to read on my beach vacation. I just never got around to picking one up. Still, I got plenty of reading in with my iPad though clearly if "reading in the sun" was something I wanted to do a lot of, it would not be the device to use.

4. I brought along my Clearwire hotspot with me as Daytona Beach is one of the relatively few cities they support -- and just in case the in room internet didn't work. The hotspot worked like a charm. Never even bothered to try out the in room internet. My iPad's, iPhone, my kids' iPod touches -- and a laptop -- all connected and worked just fine. Terrific speeds.

5. Used the Weather Channel and Accuweather apps on the iPad to track the storms -- to know when it was likely that we could go out on the beach. I don't have the 3G version of the iPad, and the Clearwire hotspot has pitiful national coverage -- so I couldn't use the iPad to track the weather while we were driving. I could use the iPhone, however, and it was a VERY nice ability to have. We were able to read the radar maps and determine when would be a good time for my wife to drive (storms aplenty on our drive down).

6. Used skype to video chat with my sister and make her jealous with showing her the ocean right outside the bedroom. The kids skyped with their friends as well.

7. Watch some tech video podcasts (like This Week in Tech).

You may have noticed that I mentioned bringing my laptop. The only thing I used it for was loading and processing photos. Everything else I did on my iPad.

I'd love to have made a rebuttal commercial for the kindle. Sure, that cute lady with the kindle and sunglasses can read her kindle out on the beach. Then you show fat-boy me doing everything else.

Lee

tubemonkey · 04-06-2011, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

1. Great car entertainment. It was a 20 hour drive (straight through) and judging by the many wacky photos, the iPad 2's "Photo Booth" app provided quite a bit of entertainment. And, of course, the games like Angry Birds.

queentess · 04-06-2011, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

I'd love to have made a rebuttal commercial for the kindle. Sure, that cute lady with the kindle and sunglasses can read her kindle out on the beach. Then you show fat-boy me doing everything else.

Tablets are great, but you can pry my Kindle from my cold dead hands

I am far too easily distracted on a tablet to get any reading done. Also, I have to share with the husband, so he can have the other device while I'm on the Kindle.

leebase · 04-08-2011, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Er...I was speaking of my kids using it in the car

Lee

tubemonkey · 04-08-2011, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Er...I was speaking of my kids using it in the car

Lee

Where's the fun in that? Live a little and walk the wild side every now and then.

pholy · 04-08-2011, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Where's the fun in that? Live a little and drive the wild side every now and then.

Fixed that for ya...

tubemonkey · 04-09-2011, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pholy

Fixed that for ya...

..thanks; that sounds much better

04-06-2011, 02:09 PM	#1
leebase Karma Kameleon Posts: 2,934 Karma: 26616647 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: iPad Mini, iPhone X, Kindle Fire Tab HD 8, Walmart Onn	Tablet on Vacation I took my iPad and iPad 2 on spring break to Miami Beach this past week. They came in handy in the following ways. 1. Great car entertainment. It was a 20 hour drive (straight through) and judging by the many wacky photos, the iPad 2's "Photo Booth" app provided quite a bit of entertainment. And, of course, the games like Angry Birds. 2. I loaded up NetFlix and Hulu Plus so that I could watch movies and Tv shows on demand while we were on vacation. Worked like a charm. 3. Had a gloriously lazy vacation -- just hanging out on the beach, the pool or the hotel room. Lots of time for reading. I'm in the middle of a great book (1634: The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint). It stormed almost every day we were there -- or was largely over cast. Had no problem reading in the hotel room, or outside on the balcony. The one time I went to the beach thinking I would read (and tan) -- the sun came out the moment I fired up the iPad. Of course, you can't read in full sun light. No worries, I had my iPhone with me and was prepared to just listen to an audio book. Instead, I just picked up from where I was reading (love how both the iBook app and Kindle apps can do this) and was able to read on the iPhone. I know, I said I was going to bring a paper back book with me to read on my beach vacation. I just never got around to picking one up. Still, I got plenty of reading in with my iPad though clearly if "reading in the sun" was something I wanted to do a lot of, it would not be the device to use. 4. I brought along my Clearwire hotspot with me as Daytona Beach is one of the relatively few cities they support -- and just in case the in room internet didn't work. The hotspot worked like a charm. Never even bothered to try out the in room internet. My iPad's, iPhone, my kids' iPod touches -- and a laptop -- all connected and worked just fine. Terrific speeds. 5. Used the Weather Channel and Accuweather apps on the iPad to track the storms -- to know when it was likely that we could go out on the beach. I don't have the 3G version of the iPad, and the Clearwire hotspot has pitiful national coverage -- so I couldn't use the iPad to track the weather while we were driving. I could use the iPhone, however, and it was a VERY nice ability to have. We were able to read the radar maps and determine when would be a good time for my wife to drive (storms aplenty on our drive down). 6. Used skype to video chat with my sister and make her jealous with showing her the ocean right outside the bedroom. The kids skyped with their friends as well. 7. Watch some tech video podcasts (like This Week in Tech). You may have noticed that I mentioned bringing my laptop. The only thing I used it for was loading and processing photos. Everything else I did on my iPad. I'd love to have made a rebuttal commercial for the kindle. Sure, that cute lady with the kindle and sunglasses can read her kindle out on the beach. Then you show fat-boy me doing everything else. Lee

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