The iPad as a laptop replacement: The Misses

This is a follow-up to my last post about the add-ons that make the iPad a viable laptop replacement. Although it does so many things well, there are still times when you need a computer.

For me, the biggest stumbling blocks are,

1. Photo Backup
2. Blogging
3. Web Forms

Photo Backup

When traveling with just an iPad, you definitely want to backup your photos in case your iPad gets damaged or stolen. Dropbox and the like are great if you have a good internet connection and wifi. But on the road, that's not always the case. There are wireless drives out there -- like these from Kingston -- but they are pretty expensive: $100 for 32GB?!? That's hard to justify when you can get a 1 TB external hard drive for $60 these days!

What I really want to be able to do is connect a USB key or SD card directly to my iPad and copy photos from the iPad to the USB/SD. Going from USB/SD to iPad is currently possible with the right connector, but going in the other direction requires a computer.

I recently read a review for a device that seems to do exactly what I want at a much more reasonable price: The Apotop Wi Copy. If anyone has personal experience with it, I'd love to hear how it's working out. And I'll certainly write a review if I ever decide to get one!

Blogging

I have only been blogging for a month or two, but I am already finding it difficult to do so on my iPad. This blog is hosted by Blogger and I have used Safari, Chrome and the Blogger app to edit posts. Sadly, none of them are any good.

There was no difference between Safari and Chrome. Both of them, technically, give me access to the full set of features. But it was so difficult to use that I eventually gave up. I mean, basic things like cursor positioning and scrolling don't work! At least not at the same time.

When I click the "Edit" link on a post, it takes me to page where there seem to be two "modes". I can either click on the post and have my cursor positioned where I clicked -- but scrolling doesn't work. Or, I can scroll through a long post -- but I can no longer position my cursor by clicking on the screen. So just getting to the part of the post that I want to edit is painful. Nevermind that operations like adding an image or creating a link will kick you out of one "mode" or the other, or take you back to the top of the page. Grrr!

Unfortunately, the Blogger app is not much of an improvement. Although I can scroll, the app is little more than a notes application. There is just too much basic functionality missing. Here is a list of things you *cannot* do in the blogger app,

• Create a link
• Add a jump break
• Create a list
• Change the text alignment
• Edit in HTML
• Preview the post

So basically, the only things you can do are add/delete posts and attach images.

There are third-party blogger apps out there. For example, Blogsy seems to have good reviews. If I continue to enjoy blogging, I'll definitely check it out. But I figure I should hit the 10 post threshold before I invest any real money in an app :)

Web Forms

When I was applying for jobs last year, I was able to apply to 95% of them from my iPad. But a few sites wanted me to upload pdf versions of my resume. Although you can attach images via a browser on the iPad, there is currently no way to upload an arbitrary document. I really hope Apple provides a solution for this soon. On a day-to-day basis, this isn't a blocker. But these kinds of limitations sneak up on you when you least expect it and can leave you dead in the water.