I have an iPad 3, which I’ve bought some time ago. It used to be my scrolling machine (mostly Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, some websites and blogs). I used to use it solely in the evenings, and I only slept with it.
But since I’ve bought the cellular (with a sim-card) version, I decided why won’t it be something that I use for my work?
These days, I’m mostly on the go, and as my role is more managerial (I’m an art director inside my team, and I’m mostly a manager for my clients), I decided to try using iPad, instead of bringing my quite-heavy MacBook Pro everywhere. Since I don’t really need a full-blown operating system (which my MacBook and Mac Pro have). What I use is email (we use Gmail Workspace) and Skype sometimes, when I need to discuss some details of the project.
I decided to try it out. Theoretically, it should fit my workflow. Especially the on-the-go part, as these days I’m just too often just not at my desk.
Size#
The body of the gadget is small while compared to any laptop. Yet, it much larger than my iPhone 5S.
It’s quite heavy, especially when compared to the newely released iPad Air, which is so much lighter! (But I’m just trying to not update my iPad only because of its weight!)
It easily fits any bag that I carry, and since I have a full-body case, I don’t even think of it’s protection. It’s safe.
Battery Life#
First thing that I’d highlight, it’s the battery life. It’s just amazing! I can easily take it with me wherever I want and it’ll hold for days! Not hours!
It’s very underappreciated thing, actually. When I want to take my laptop anywhere, I must take my charger, which is quite heavy, about 300g. Plus I need to manage it, I need to remember to take it with me. Here, I can take just my iPad + any usb cable, even the cheap 3rd party one. If I’m happened to leave home for days, I can charge my iPad overnight, and it will hold its charge till the next night, easily.
Software#
Software is the main culprit. While I’ve managed to successfully use it for most of my tasks, I’m still quite stressed when I’m not able to do some job. Sometimes, I have these tasks, where my expertise is needed (usually, some very short coding session). If I’m with my laptop, it could be just opening it, syncing files (usually seconds, we use Dropbox for sync), opening the file, working on it, testing changes, done. I can write message from my iPhone then, reporting it’s done.
On the iPad, it’s just different. All I can do is communicate. I can explore images from our synced Dropbox directory, but if there’s a .fla (Adobe Flash) file or an After Effects source file, I’m unable to open it. We have many of these files in our work either.
The always-available cellular network is just awesome. It’s connected all the time, I’m getting the notifications easily, and I can reply right away. I have a directory of templates in my Notes, and observing them from the bigger screen is just so much better, comparing to my tiny iPhone.
No Separation#
Although, there’s a trade-off. Previously, I had my iPad only for my leisure activities. Now, it’s all blended, again. I bought iPad to take-off this burden from my MacBook Pro, so I would only work from it. Now, my work is on my iPad too. Not a bad thing, for sure. But the separation thing is just so very useful.
Conclusion#
I’m going to keep this approach, as it’s very useful. I just wish iPad had some real OS, so it be of a better value for me. Still, even without any changes, iPad is much better than iPhone for me.
Reply by Email