FMYI | For My Innovation

Or Sign up

Forgot your username or your password?

Previous Conversations

• Is the iPad a laptop replacement?

  July 21, 2010

  Can the iPad be used as a laptop replacement at work? To figure this out, I kept my laptop off for a week after first deciding to get an iPad, setting it up, and leaving the laptop at the office. Part of the week I was in Manila on a trip, and during the other part my laptop stayed turned off in the office.

  My general impressions? I didn’t miss the extra complexity of the laptop, but I did miss doing some key workflow related tasks that aren’t possible on the iPad:

  1. Pros

  • Singletasking: I found the lack of multitasking (until iOS4 is released on the iPad) to be actually refreshing. Focusing on one task at a time made it easier to get things done.
  • Travel: The iPad is perfect for traveling and leaving the laptop behind. Battery life is outstanding. During my 18 hour trip back, I watched two movies, read an iBook, did some work, and only used up half the battery! And if you get the built in wireless data 3G version, you can work in more places without committing to a wireless data contract.
  • Worklife: Using a tablet is truly “A New Day“ for working. How you sit, being able to work from anywhere with built in Internet access and a longer battery life, making it easy to pass around during group brainstorming, and not having a screen cluttered with too many things at once will change how you work.

  2. Cons

  • Emails and calendar: The Mail app doesn’t show flagged emails for follow up (essential to my system of never filing an email), you can’t search the full text of emails on the server, you can’t click on an original email to view the sent email, no iCal tasks show up, and .ics file import is lacking. Together, these have a major impact on my workflow, although I can use FMYI’s Activity Manager and shared calendar to get around this.
  • Writing: Without a physical keyboard, typing anything more than a paragraph is a pain. A Bluetooth keyboard is a must if you plan to do a lot of writing. Copying and pasting URLs, critical to blog posts, is awkward.
  • Sharing: There’s no videochat (at FMYI, we rely on it because of team members working around the country) and IM through push notifications is a bit clunky. And the biggest problem of all is you can’t upload documents easily to websites/web apps.

  3. Tricks

  • Get access to your laptop’s document folders by using services like Dropbox, MobileMe, or SugarSync. That way, you won’t have to use iTunes to sync individual files.
  • Use web apps to collaborate especially if you have a 3G iPad. This keeps your team’s info in the cloud and accessible from anywhere. Check out FMYI, which blends a social networking site ease of use with project management, contact tracking, file/calendar/task sharing, and more. I may be a little biased, but we created FMYI for exactly this situation.

  My conclusion? If you’re traveling for awhile and shut down the laptop, the iPad works well, but in the office, you’re not going to replace the laptop or desktop computer just yet. You can get close if you have a cloud based file and collaboration solution though.

  Next: final thoughts on the iPad, tablets, and the future of computing in the workplace.

  -Justin

  Continue Reading…

  

• Using the iPad away from the office

  July 06, 2010

  So I’ve been exploring whether I can use the iPad for work. After I set up my iPad, my first experiment was to see if I could leave my laptop behind at the office for a week. The iPad served as my email, web, calendar, and presentation device at home, in between meetings, and during client visits.

  How did it do? Remarkably well. The form factor made running around town a breeze. Not only did I save my back a little because of how much lighter the iPad is than a regular laptop, but I was also able to carry a smaller (man)bag. The simple iOS interface made quick tasks easy like checking email, the weather forecast, tweaking a slide, and finding the best route to my next meeting. A full desktop OS soon felt clunky. And the extra screen real estate is a big benefit over a small smartphone for extended work.

  1. Pros

  
  • The touchscreen interface is a revelation for web browsing. By touching the screen directly to navigate links, the experience is so much faster and fun than using an intermediary input device like a mouse or trackpad. The downside is the time your spend browsing aimlessly goes way up!
  • It’s a pleasure to read PDFs, books, and presentations. You’ll find yourself curling up with the iPad going through all those work documents you haven’t scanned.
  • The speed is outstanding. Combine the fast processor with the simple iOS interface, and you have a winner. Startup takes seconds, as does going from app to app.

  2. Cons

  • The lack of Flash makes it hard to watch embedded videos that haven’t been converted to HTML5. And company websites using Flash for navigation are worthless on the iPad. You can get around this using one of the tricks I mention below.
  • Content creation isn’t ideal as we all know. There’s no multiple undo. You can’t upload files to websites using the Safari browser. Keynote is very limited for presentations. The touchscreen keyboard is a pain for typing more than a few sentences at a time and is missing numerous characters like a bullet (•). Either you have to keep things simple with your presentations, or you’ll need to do them on your laptop/desktop computer.
  • Of course, being an early adopter means the device is a little rough around the edges. I had to return mine after some mysterious problems with the iPad restarting on its own without me touching it. Fortunately, Apple’s legendary customer service was a joy to deal with, and they replaced my unit with a new one. I also had some problems with syncing the iPad and having my apps deleted, meaning I had to reinstall them and set up the preferences all over again.

  3. Tricks

  
  • One of the coolest things you can set up is a VNC client like iTeleport. This allows you to access your work computer remotely from your iPad. You’ll be able to view Flash sites, email yourself a file, or run an application you don’t have on your iPad. Definitely a must have.
  • Definitely get a case of some sort. The iPad is slippery and you’ll want one to prevent it from sliding off a table, and it’s a bonus to have it angled for typing.

  My conclusion? The iPad is ideally suited for mobile work. You can confidently keep your laptop at the office. Having an iPad makes those long hours on the road or burning the midnight oil at home almost enjoyable. And it helps that you’ll never be far from music, videos, and books when you need a break.

  Next: keeping the work computer off for a week and using only the iPad for work!

  -Justin

  Continue Reading…