Apple Tablet: iPad

[haven]

"The a-gps is not as accurate or as fast to connect with the gps satellites"

Accuracy of the iPad's built in GPS is 20 to 30 feet. Not inches like the external GPS receivers can deliver, but close enough for navigation of a vehicle.

"I believe it will be very slow to connect"

I don't have the external GPS to compare. In my experience, the iPad gps, working without the help of cell phone tower triangulation, takes a couple of seconds to acquire its first position. Not the sort of performance one needs in a cruise missile, but for car navigation it's no problem. Once the starting position is calculated, there's no delay in keeping up.

"...probably won't connect reliably in a canyon or in trees as a decent "sirfstar iii" gps would."

Again, without direct comparison between the two, all we can do is speculate. The iPad 3G uses the Broadcom BCM4750UBG GPS chip, which is a "real" GPS chip. Undoubtedly the placement of the external antenna of the SirfSTAR GPS up close to the windshield, or even outside the vehicle, would help performance in challenging situations. I suppose if you really needed the iPad GPS to be its most accurate, you could stop and take the iPad out of the vehicle to get a reading.

A lot of the criticism aimed at the iPad 3G is made by GPS enthusiasts, who rightly point out that an external solution is faster and more accurate. The question is whether the 3G is fast and accurate enough for your particular use. In my case, I'm not surveying or geocaching, just driving. The iPad 3G works OK for me.

 

[Root Moose]

Exactly - some times it can be hard to discern the difference between "works well enough" and "gadget geek excellence".

Buy an iPad if that's the device you want. If you find it lacking throw on an external GPS.

Done.

 

[mikelite80]

I've had a 3g iPad since the day they came out so I've used it on a few trips.

Accuracy and connection are good. Usually get an accuracy of around 13 feet. Connecting can sometimes take a bit when in some areas but these are the same areas my USB GPS puck have some problems too. Usually as long as you have some clear sky above you and start moving it will lock on to you within a minute or so. Heavy tree cover and narrow canyons will cause problems for any GPS under the right circumstances.

I use either my iPad or iPhone for my daily city navigation and they both are amazing! Lots depends on the app you use but find the one you like and you'll never look back. As for route planning and off road stuff there still doesn't seem to be 1 great app. I use Route Buddy with topo maps which has been good for tracking and waypointing.

Once you have it you'll learn how to make it work for you. Then you'll start watching movies in your tent, surfing the net on the couch,and playing games.

Mike

 

[off-roader]

"The a-gps is not as accurate or as fast to connect with the gps satellites"

Accuracy of the iPad's built in GPS is 20 to 30 feet. Not inches like the external GPS receivers can deliver, but close enough for navigation of a vehicle.

"I believe it will be very slow to connect"

I don't have the external GPS to compare. In my experience, the iPad gps, working without the help of cell phone tower triangulation, takes a couple of seconds to acquire its first position. Not the sort of performance one needs in a cruise missile, but for car navigation it's no problem. Once the starting position is calculated, there's no delay in keeping up.

"...probably won't connect reliably in a canyon or in trees as a decent "sirfstar iii" gps would."

Again, without direct comparison between the two, all we can do is speculate. The iPad 3G uses the Broadcom BCM4750UBG GPS chip, which is a "real" GPS chip. Undoubtedly the placement of the external antenna of the SirfSTAR GPS up close to the windshield, or even outside the vehicle, would help performance in challenging situations. I suppose if you really needed the iPad GPS to be its most accurate, you could stop and take the iPad out of the vehicle to get a reading.

A lot of the criticism aimed at the iPad 3G is made by GPS enthusiasts, who rightly point out that an external solution is faster and more accurate. The question is whether the 3G is fast and accurate enough for your particular use. In my case, I'm not surveying or geocaching, just driving. The iPad 3G works OK for me.

I still stand buy all those statements. Nobody's quantifying anything but for me the difference in accuracy can mean taking the wrong trail and having to take a few hours to backtrack after you find out. Personally I'd rather trust my gps and not constantly 2nd guess it.

 

[off-roader]

Exactly - some times it can be hard to discern the difference between "works well enough" and "gadget geek excellence".

No geeking out here. See my comments above. Bear in mind my gps knowledge is a key reason I won the recent Hollister Overland Rally off road event. :smiley_drive:

Buy an iPad if that's the device you want. If you find it lacking throw on an external GPS.

Done.

That's a $130 mistake if you do and you could have bought 2 bluetooth sirfstar III gps's for that amount. :Wow1:

 

[Airmonger]

Bad Elf GPS adapter

Bad Elf now makes an apple authorized gps unit, it plugs right into the serial port on the bottom of the ipad and it has a usb hub on the backside so you should be able to charge the ipad while using it.

I just ordered this off Amazon. I was hoping I wouldn't have to jailbreak/bluetooth gps my ipad to get a better gps signal. Looks like it should do the trick for offroad gps signals too or I just waste another 100 bucks.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Elf-Receiver-iPhone-66-channel/dp/B0035Y7ZJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1290010983&sr=8-1"]Amazon Link[/ame]


Bad Elf Website

 

[Errant]

I was just given one for work! No 3G, but it's still going to be fun. First order of business is to find a case for it

 

[haven]

Thanks, Airmonger! The Bad Elf GPS definitely is worth checking out. It's a new product, so there is little independent information about the device at this point. I agree that it's important that you don't need to jailbreak your iPad to use it.

 

[haven]

Hi Errant, I'm curious what functions your company wants you to use the iPad for. Email? Web apps? (Angry Birds?) I've read that businesses are exploring ways to use the iPad.

 

[Errant]

Email, web apps (primarily our student information system), and teacher evaluations will be the main usage.

Figuring out the best method to purchase and install apps needed on each will be a bit different. So far, it looks like the best method will be to setup an iTunes account for the school, which then gets billed to the school account. With that setup, I can purchase the apps and "gift" them to each individual user's iTunes account so that they can then install an sync from their own workstation.

 

[haven]

The day after Thanksgiving is a major shopping day. To attract customers to their stores, retailers offer some of the year's best deals.

Case in point: TJ Maxx stores will offer a limited number of iPads for $399. That's a savings of $100 off the retail price. The trick will be to find a store that has an iPad to sell, and be first in line when the store opens.

http://twitter.com/tjmaxx/status/5361055228231681

 

[haven]

Yet another rumor about the second generation iPad:

A few analysts are predicting that Apple will update the 3G model to include a Qualcomm radio chip that can talk in CDMA (used by Verizon and Sprint) as well as GSM (used by AT&T and T-Mobile). One ring to rule them all!

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/analyst_apple_working_on_gsm_cdma_combo_ipad/

This makes sense because it would mean that Apple could make a single version of the iPad for use with any carrier worldwide. Customers would benefit because individuals could choose the wireless carrier that makes the most sense for their location and needs. It also simplifies traveling with your iPad outside the country.

The same Qualcomm technology could be used in a version of the iPhone.

 

[Outdoorsben]

The day after Thanksgiving is a major shopping day. To attract customers to their stores, retailers offer some of the year's best deals.

Case in point: TJ Maxx stores will offer a limited number of iPads for $399. That's a savings of $100 off the retail price. The trick will be to find a store that has an iPad to sell, and be first in line when the store opens.

http://twitter.com/tjmaxx/status/5361055228231681

TJ Maxx bought iPads at full price and are losing $100 per iPad to get people into their store. Obviously they are not an authorized seller. If you can find a store with them then snatch them up.

 

[haven]

Apple has formally announced that the upgrade to iOS 4.2.1 is now available. You get it by syncing your iPad with a computer running iTunes 10.1

update: The Apple servers doing the download are very busy. The process to download takes about 45 minutes today.

update: It took about 2 hours, longer than expected, to perform the upgrade. I think it had a lot to do with the 1000+ photos I have on my iPad from a recent trip. The process starts with a backup of your files, then upgrades the OS, and finishes with a full restore.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/11/22ios.html

 

[haven]

Apple Australia is offering around 10% off its products for Black Friday. It's expected that Apple USA will do the same, saving you $50 to $75 on an iPad.

It's not clear if these discounts are just for BF, or will become the new standard price.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/25/apples-australian-store-discounts-everything-by-around-10-perce/