avargov
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January 19th, 2011 at 4:18:20 PM permalink
I know this could be a sore subject, but I am looking into buying a IPad. Rest assured it is not from a Vegas carwash employee ;-).

I have a couple of questions that I can't find the answer.

1. Does it come, out of the box, with an app to manipulate Word, Excel, and Access files? I would rather not pay extra for this functionality.

2. Is the GPS and mapping independent of Wi-Fi service? Most of you know I drive for a living and most of the US is not a hotspot.

Thanks in advance for any info

Edited to reflect that I am in the market for an Ipad..
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Wizard
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January 19th, 2011 at 4:38:19 PM permalink
1. No. I don't even know if they have apps for that.
2. The GPS and Internet are via cell phone towers, so you get coverage almost everywhere. I think you need the "G3" wireless for that feature.
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P90
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January 19th, 2011 at 4:59:17 PM permalink
They actually have proper GPS, so cell phone towers are not necessary, but it's still only available in the 3G model.

There is a third party app for working with Word and Excel files, though: http://www.quickoffice.com/quickoffice_connect_suite_ipad/

But you'll have to forget about Access, it's not going to work in any way. If you need that functionality, and generally serious work with MS office documents, it's better to get a Windows tablet.
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thecesspit
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January 19th, 2011 at 4:59:24 PM permalink
Quote: Wizard

1. No. I don't even know if they have apps for that.



There are apps for that... that cost between free and a few dollars. Mostly they are readers, not writers. We use a Powerpoint display tool at work on the ipad, and it works very well.

Quote:


2. The GPS and Internet are via cell phone towers, so you get coverage almost everywhere. I think you need the "G3" wireless for that feature.



In the wi-fi only version you can't get a GPS position. But you can still use it as a more than passable map for navigation, providing you can read a map. The 3G version does have GPS (and also uses the local cell towers and any wifi hot spots) to locate itself.
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Wizard
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January 19th, 2011 at 5:16:41 PM permalink
Quote: P90

They actually have proper GPS, so cell phone towers are not necessary, but it's still only available in the 3G model.



Last summer I took my now stolen GPS to Alaska. It always knew where you were, but if you were out of cell phone range, you couldn't get any map information about where you were. Just a grey area.
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thecesspit
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January 19th, 2011 at 5:37:31 PM permalink
Quote: Wizard

Last summer I took my now stolen GPS to Alaska. It always knew where you were, but if you were out of cell phone range, you couldn't get any map information about where you were. Just a grey area.



You can prefill some of the map information by looking at it before you travel... thats what I did with the wi-fi only one.
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EvenBob
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January 19th, 2011 at 5:48:45 PM permalink
Quote: Wizard

Last summer I took my now stolen GPS to Alaska. .



My daughter had the GPS stolen out of her car twice, they broke the window both times to get it. The first time it was in her own driveway and she lives in a very nice neighborhood. Now she has the removable kind and puts it in the trunk.
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ten2win
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January 19th, 2011 at 5:49:05 PM permalink
There are Apps you can purchase for the iPad which mimic Excel Numbers and Word Pages for $9.99 each.
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P90
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January 19th, 2011 at 6:29:02 PM permalink
Quote: Wizard

Last summer I took my now stolen GPS to Alaska. It always knew where you were, but if you were out of cell phone range, you couldn't get any map information about where you were. Just a grey area.


There is that, of course, although there is preloading. The presence of a proper GPS chip matters in that you can still use it if you have a paper map.
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mkl654321
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January 19th, 2011 at 7:12:15 PM permalink
Quote: Wizard

Last summer I took my now stolen GPS to Alaska. It always knew where you were, but if you were out of cell phone range, you couldn't get any map information about where you were. Just a grey area.



How much does the total package with the GPS cost? I have a friend who is perpetually lost, and she has been thinking about getting an IPad for other reasons anyway. The GPS option, if it's not too expensive, might seal the deal.
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sunrise089
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January 19th, 2011 at 10:27:52 PM permalink
Quote: mkl654321

How much does the total package with the GPS cost? I have a friend who is perpetually lost, and she has been thinking about getting an IPad for other reasons anyway. The GPS option, if it's not too expensive, might seal the deal.

No added cost just for GPS. But because it's bundled with the 3G version (wireless Internet) you're looking at ~$300 more up front and ~$20/month in data fees. Of course it can do WAY more than serve as a gps receiver...it could even be an only computer for a casual user.

But if all you want is gps, I'd just buy a $100 standalone unit.
P90
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January 20th, 2011 at 2:45:37 AM permalink
Very casual user. The main limitation of iPad is that it's based on an enlarged phone, with a pretty closed OS, so it quickly hits a brick wall in terms of what it can do as a computer. It's mostly intended as a multimedia device and a web browser, with some computer-like functions. Windows-based tablets can be used as fully-featured PCs, but unfortunately tend to be heavier. However, there is a lot more of them on the market now than when Ipad first came out, from cheaper to more expensive ones, so it may very well be worth looking into them, if you are looking for a working machine.
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odiousgambit
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January 20th, 2011 at 2:58:12 AM permalink
Quote: Wizard

Last summer I took my now stolen GPS to Alaska. It always knew where you were, but if you were out of cell phone range, you couldn't get any map information about where you were. Just a grey area.



now that is a wrinkle for vehicle GPS I hadn't realized existed. The location function is free thanks to the dept of defense, of course, so with my handheld this is just not something to factor. If you use GPS with maps in an auto, are you getting charged for cell phone time somehow? must be a monthly fee with so many minutes or something?
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weaselman
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January 20th, 2011 at 5:03:46 AM permalink
Quote: thecesspit


In the wi-fi only version you can't get a GPS position. .


Actually, you can (probably, not everywhere, certainly not in the wilderness or at sea, but in a populated areas in US, yes), and it is better than GPS, because it works indoors, and is more accurate.
You can't navigate with that, of course (need internet access for that), but as long as you are stationary and have internet access, it knows your position, and can plot it on map.
(In case you wonder how it does it without a GPS unit - from what I heard, they have created a huge database of wifi networks, and it can figure out your position from the ids and the signal strengths of the networks it sees in range. It also has a built-in accelerometer, so, at least in theory, it could calculate its own position precisely by simply knowing the coordinates of the factory where it was made :)).
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weaselman
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January 20th, 2011 at 5:11:36 AM permalink
Quote: odiousgambit

now that is a wrinkle for vehicle GPS I hadn't realized existed. The location function is free thanks to the dept of defense, of course, so with my handheld this is just not something to factor. If you use GPS with maps in an auto, are you getting charged for cell phone time somehow? must be a monthly fee with so many minutes or something?



It certainly does not count as your phone air time. You have to subscribe to a separate plan ("data-plan") that goves you access to internet (about $15-$20 per month). Something may have changed recently, but last I heard, even if you already have a data plan for your cell phone, you still cannot use it with your iPad - need a separate plan for that.
Most of these plans give you either unlimited download capacity or have limits so high, that a few kilos here and there to update your map, simply doesn't matter.
The real problem is getting those updates when you are out of your provider's range (you can still be getting cell phone signal via roaming, but no internet, and your gps goes dead).
To solve this, there are aps that let you preload maps on the device, so that you can navigate without constantly accessing internet. I have never heard of a free one of this kind though.
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weaselman
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January 20th, 2011 at 5:20:17 AM permalink
Quote: avargov

I know this could be a sore subject, but I am looking into buying a IPad.



Don't!
Get a windows/linux tablet, an android device, a netbook - you'll have a real, usable and universal device, not a weird surrogate, that makes just about any everyday task you can think of (store a file on disk, get a file from disk, open an image or an office document, read a pdf book, watch a flash movie, view photos from a flash drive or a card, download them from your phone) into a challenge, and a puzzle, often, without a solution. On top of that, if you sync it with you pc, and then replace it (the PC), and try to sync it with another one, it'll give you lots of grief, and likely erase all of your stuff too.

Seriously, it is nowhere near worth the outrageous price they charge for it. Heck, I would not have it for free if I could.

If you are just looking for a GPS device, get a Tom-Tom unit.
Or buy an android phone with a data plan (the only thing lacking compared to iPad is the screen size, everything else is way better, and you can actually make calls with it, and it is about 30% cheaper).
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