About to buy an iPad - can you help me with final decision...

[blusterywinds]

I have read all the old threads on here and done some other research and for a 10 inch tablet the choice seems to be between Google Nexus or iPad. I am not at all tech savvy and can't be bothered to spend loads of time on set up and like the idea of being able to go to an Apple shop if I have a problem so am thinking iPad is the way to go.

Now need to decide whether to get iPad 2 or new iPad. I only expect to use it for surfing web, bit of mn and fb, emails, internet shopping (food and clothes), iPlayer and therefore was thinking iPad 2 would be fine but Apple only have it with 16gb memory...will this be enough? We may longer term want to have a couple of films on there for camping with DC and am worried we may need more memory but £150 extra for new iPad with 32gb seems a lot when the iPad2 would prob fill al other requirements! Also, as I've never owned a tablet, maybe i'll use it for other things that i haven't thought of?

Finally, where would you buy from?

Thanks for any help.

[GrumpySod]

For purposes you outline 16 GB would be plenty.
But, check functionality. I have a feeling iPad2 doesn't have a camera, maybe, for instance? Anyway, double check.

We coughed up extra to get it from a local(ish) retailer with good customer service.

[TheMonster]

I have an iPad 3 and use it for similar things as you and it's been great.

[Theas18]

2 has a camera and will be fine for one or 2 films, as long as you don't want to host your entire media library on it.

I'd buy direct from apple TBH

[trixymalixy]

I have an ipad2, if it breaks for any reason I don't think I'd get another. The main reason being the lack of Flash compatibility. It's really bloody annoying when DS wants to look up e.g. The Bakugan website and we can't play any of the games on it because they need Flash.

When I bought the iPad I was told that Flash was on the way out, but we cone across so many sites that still use it that the iPad isn't compatible with that it really bugs me.

[cathpip]

I am typing from my iPad 2 16gb, I love it and it does have a camera and video and plenty of storage for DVDs and games, we also chose this one over the newer model and 32gb. Hope this helps

[ChippingInLovesChristmasLights]

[noblegiraffe]

You can buy extra storage on the iCloud if necessary.

[Chopstheduck]

I've never had a problem really with the lack of flash. The kids play games on apps, so it doesn't bother them, and most sites now have at least basic non flash alternatives.


I have the 16gb ipad 2. It has 2 cameras. I have struggled with memory a little bit, but I do have thousands of photos and over 5000 songs in my media library - I've just had to be a bit more selective about what I keep on the ipad. A typical film is about 750MB so you can easily get a few on there if you haven't filled it with other things.

Having said that, the nexus isn't difficult to set up neither, so it really depends how much you want to spend. I prefer the ipad because it syncs with all my other apple products, but the nexus is a very good tablet.

[GwendolineMaryLacedwithBrandy]

Doesn't matter where you buy it, it always goes back to Apple with problems. So if you bought it in Tesco you wouldn't take it back to Tesco if it developed a problem.

I'd always go for the most space you can afford. You might find you want to put more and more on it. Other than that there's no difference between the 2 and 3 that would make me upgrade from the 2 that I have.

[janek]

I would worry about an older model becoming obsolete more quickly - the original ipad can already not download the newest operating system os6 which will, in time, limit the apps that can be downloaded.

Also (and i'm willing to be corrected on this) i believe the camera on my fil's ipad 2 to be inferior to the one my ipad3. Could anyone confirm or deny these allegations?

[tribpot]

Availability may be a factor - I'm not sure where is selling the Nexus at the moment anyway!

We went for a Samsung Galaxy Tab, very happy with it. The 16 gb has been eaten up quite quickly with videos for ds but this is simply a convenience; it isn't at all difficult to transfer them on and off another machine (prior to DH pulling his finger out and sorting out the 'media server' he keeps banging on about).

The flash thing has been a problem as trixy outlines. Playing games on lego.com has become unexpectedly difficult, and I've had difficulties with iPlayer as well.

[Chopstheduck]

yeah ipad 2 - 0.7MP, ipad 3 - 5MP. If you do actually need a camera, the ipad 2 is a bit pathetic. I only really use it for facetime so doesn't really bother me.

True too that apple will stop supporting it sooner. Though, they are still selling it, so can't see them stopping too soon, and most apps will still want to support the ipad 2, so will continue to support whatever ios apple stop at for the ipad 2.

[Longdistance]

Yeah, the camera on iPad2 is crappy. I agree. Thought it'd be better, but it's not great. My htc smart phone has a better camera.

[GrumpySod]

There's a lot to be said for futureproofing your gadgets, get the best most recent ones you can so that they still seem adequate in 5 years time.

[storynanny]

We have had ipad3for couple of months and love it. Havent got wifi in house so got 16gb one with cellular (internal )data. Decided to get one from 3store, paid £100 I think and £25 per month for lots of data allowance, didnt work out any dearer than buying it outright and getting a dongle for data. If you already have bt road and though, that comes with free wi if so you wouldn't need extra data allowance for the iPad, if that makes sense.

[janek]

Interesting camera facts. Thanks .

[Longdistance]

Although, I didn't buy it for its camera purpose, as have a digital SLR camera for that sort of thing, and the htc does fab shots.

Mainly bought it for Internet and apps. Have a few for educational purposes for dd1. She's learnt so much with it.

[storynanny]

Ps, the FaceTime thingy on iPad is great as an alternative to sky ping. I do FaceTime with my overseas son and grandson and you can take pictures while you are doing FaceTime just by screen touch. It's really easy to photograph things for sale and post straight onto eBay.

[tribpot]

Yes - Facetime is great. Skype is more flexible (i.e. you can do voice only calls if your friend is on his mobile in the Australian outback as a random example!), instant messaging and application sharing too. But both are excellent.

[Willdoitinaminute]

Hi I've just been checking which version iPad I have and discovered the dictation button which is brilliant. I have successfully dictated this message and it's so easy.
We ha 16gb. Apps don't take up much space and you can use sky if you already have an account.
Internet access much quicker than pc if you do a lot of reading online( I look at a lot of scientific papers) then new iPad has clearer display.

[Virgil]

You can view flash sites with an ipad2. Just download iswifter.

[blusterywinds]

Thanks for all the replies - really helpful but I am still confused!

Our laptop is about to die too so I was thinking we might become a PC and tablet household and ditch the laptop. If I take photos on iPad can I transfer them to an external hard drive or to a Toshiba (for example) PC/laptop? Or am I completely tied into Apple?

I was thinking if I get the iPad2 that's £150 towards a new computer for the house which will be useful for other stuff maybe? The only thing from the posts above that puts me off the 2 is the future proofing part.

[nannynick]

I have an iPad mini and have been trying to get used to it since Xmas. I have installed Dropbox which uploads a photo I take using iPad and I can then view it on my mobile, or laptop. I can download the photo to laptop, mobile lets me export the image to SDcard or send by email, Bluetooth.

By storing images on some Internet cloud service, you can access them from various devices, so that could work for you in terms of transferring images from iPad to laptop.

[RustyBear]

Virgil - is I swifter better than the Puffin browser? I use Puffin for flash sites, but I don't tend to play flash games on it, and I think it might be a bit slow for them.

I use the PhotoSync app to move photos from my iPad/iPhone to my laptop or to Dropbox (though you can also move them directly to Dropbox using its own app)

[nannynick]

I have used 6.6GB on my iPad mini, various apps and around 7 hours of video (mostly via iPlayer download). Think my iPad mini is 16GB, it has 7.1GB left available for use so some of the 16GB is being used by things the iPad does not tell me about, I guess the OS.