Well, I am at Chicago O'Hare, waiting for my flight to Stockholm, Sweden, where I'll be giving a presentation on trends and concepts in mobile computing. The plan is that I'll woo the audience by whipping out my iPad and do a long Keynote presentation on it. It should work, in theory. Best Buy had the requisite iPad dock-to-VGA converter in stock, and the iPad version of my Keynote presentation looks almost identical to the original. The only issues I noticed are that my 3D graphics where converted into 2D, and the iPad version cannot pick a small part of a larger QuickTime file, so I had to crop that file.
For now, I am not off to a good start. During my four hour layover at Chicago O'Hare's International Terminal, I was not able to get the iPad to communicate at all. Not via 3G where AT&T shamefully had no usable signal. A weak 2-bar winked in and out, and I wasn't even able to get email. Or even notify AT&T of this egregious situation; their own notification app couldn't connect either. Okay, there's always the WiFi fallback. Or is there. I do have a Boingo account, but, sadly, Boingo wants you to log in via it own downloaded application, which, of course, is not available for the iPad. So now I am on Plan C: my MacBook. Honestly, right now I am a bit torqued. I mean, what good is wondrous technology like the iPad when I need to shlep along a big old MacBook anyway?
Conrad - do you have a
Conrad - do you have a MacBook with you that you connected to with Wi-Fi? If Boingo had the iPad app, would you have been OK? That really is inexcusable about AT&T.
I did end up using the
I did end up using the MacBook with Boingo at Chicago O'Hare's International Terminal which had no usable AT&T voice or data coverage. There is a Boingo iPhone app, but without any access at all, I couldn't download it and, frankly, I am getting a bit sick of needing an app for everything. Don't we have the Web for that?
Anyway, the iPad came through with flying colors on my trip (see my latest blog entry). I hardly used the MacBook at all. And the iPad handled a big Keynote presentation without any problems at all. As far as Boingo go, well, when I tried to use it at Stockholm airport, it didn't work either as it no longer liked my login and password, refused to give me online help and demanded I call them which, from Stockholm, I was not about to do. We do need free, problem-free WiFi.WiFi should not become the latest in a long line of nuisances to squeeze money out of people and inconvenience them.
A week in Dublin
I spent a week in Dublin at the end of May with only my iPad 3G. I took it everywhere and used it constantly. I really enjoyed the experience. I spent the most time using email, calendar, Safari and the Map application. I used the iTap RDP client some, watched some video I had preloaded before my trip, used iThoughtHD to do some outlining of my organization and an upcoming presentation, played some sudoku, uploaded my photos from my camera periodically, called with Skype over WiFi, documented my return trip as a guide for my son who will be returning at the end of June and more...
I was surprised and disappointed by the high cost of the international 3G plan. I used up 20MB in then1st half day. I recommend that most people keep to WiFi unless they have deep pockets. I also would have liked a WiFi survey tool on my iPad. Our hotel WiGi was flaky. I had my son download a tool to his Mac and we discovered the problems with the wireless implementation in the hotel.
Unless I need to do a lot of content creation on a trip, I will just take my iPad from now on. Super light, instant on, very convenient to use while standing or on a bus.
Hi AncientGeek, We may want
Hi AncientGeek,
thaddeus [dot] com (E-mail me) with your name, and if you like for possible publication your bio and photo?
We may want incorporate your comment into an article based on Conrad's two posts. I want to give you proper credit. Can you hal
Thanks
O'Hare is Fine
I don't know what you people are talking about. I have used the iPhone, AT&T 3G Wireless Network, and the AT&T Blackberry in O'Hare about 40 times/year. There is NO AT&T signal issue I have found in any of the terminals with the exception of the International where they have wireless signal jamming within the customs area that bleeds out into the rest of the terminal. Check your equipment before complaining about AT&T.