fitzage.me

Now that I've had both an iPhone and an iPad for a while, I thought I'd write a little bit about the breakdown between the two devices. In other words, what do I use them for?

When I first got the iPad, I used it a lot for all kinds of things. Now that the newness has worn off, my usage of it is falling into a more steady rhythm, and I'm back to using the iPhone for some things that I had been using the iPad for (although some of this could be the fault of getting a new iPhone 4, from which the newness hasn't quite worn off).

For some of these things, I know the iPad is better but tend to use the iPhone instead because it's almost always in my pocket. I don't always remember to grab the iPad when I leave the office, and don't always feel like going back to get it.

Reading

I've mentioned in previous articles that I do my long-form reading on the Kindle. There are some things that I still read on the iPad or iPhone, however. Primarily, this means Instapaper. I like Instapaper on the iPad because of the larger screen, but I like the crisper text on the iPhone 4. Lately, I've been doing most of my Instapaper reading on the iPhone 4 because I'm doing it out of convenience rather than purpose.

What I mean by that is that when I decide that I'm going to read some articles, I'll grab the iPad. But what I've mostly been doing lately is just reading when I'm in the bathroom or have some other available time, and then I use the iPhone because it's handy. I didn't really do this before the iPhone 4, though, so it's probably also a matter of the crisper text.

Writing and Note Taking

The iPad is much more pleasant to type on than the iPhone, in my opinion, unless I'm laying in bed or something. But sometimes I get an idea for a blog idea when I'm not at my computer and don't feel like getting the computer. Or I'll take notes in church in Pages. All of this works better on the iPad than the iPhone. Obviously, it's nicer to type with a physical keyboard, but the iPad isn't bad in a pinch.

Email

Email includes kind of a combination of several other items, like reading and writing and maybe some others. I prefer reading emails on the iPad because of screen space, and most emails aren't optimal for the iPhone screen size.

I tend to write more emails on the iPhone, but they tend to be short and are usually replies. I write longer ones on the iPad, though, because it's so much easier to type.

Also, the screen size makes it easier to read things like the three daily comic strip emails I get. I tend to read these along with my news feeds at breakfast.

The iPad suffers from some usability concerns in the Mail app, though. First is the fact that there is no unified inbox yet (that should come when iOS 4 comes to the iPad), and I've gotten quite used to having a unified inbox on my iPhone. It takes too many taps to go back to another account on the iPad.

But the biggest problem goes beyond that. I have always been obsessive about disabling the preview pane in my email clients. I remember doing this with GroupWise back in my college days. The iPhone doesn't offer a preview pane because of screen size, so I don't have to do this. The iPad, on the other hand, doesn't offer a view with no preview pane.

At first this doesn't seem like a big deal, until you realize that this means an email must always be selected. What happens is I often end up deleting that email from another device (either my iPhone or my computer), and then the iPad sometimes ends up marking an email as read that I haven't actually read yet because it switches from the email I deleted to the next email which isn't necessarily an email that I've seen. I've submitted this as a bug to Apple, but I doubt it will make much difference.

Remote Access

Occasionally I'll use the iPad or iPhone to remotely access one of my Macs or one of my servers. I have an app called iTeleport (which is like VNC, with much better control features than the other iPad VNC apps I've tried) for accessing the Macs, and I use an SSH client for accessing the servers.

Obviously, when it comes to remotely controlling a screen, the iPad is a better choice. The iPhone works in a pinch, but the iPad is actually quite useful. The iPad also works better for SSH, but that's more due to keyboard usability than it is to screen size, although the screen size also makes a difference.

Twitter

When I first got the iPad, I used Twitter on it a lot. I also used it a lot when travelling. For normal daily usage, however, I find myself almost never using Twitter on the iPad. I use it on the iPhone a lot and on my laptop a lot, but not on the iPad much. I'm not really sure why this is, but that's the way it's settled out.

Facebook

Facebook on the iPhone has the advantage of having a purpose-built app that's pretty well done. Facebook on the iPad uses the normal Facebook web interface. I probably use Facebook more on the iPhone, just because it's handy for checking things quickly, but I use it fairly frequently on the iPad as well.

Gaming

The iPad is better for most games just because of the size of the screen. It makes such a huge difference even for apps like Angry Birds that are really not that much different between the two devices. Again, though, iPhone gaming tends to happen a lot when I'm out and about with some downtime, or on the toilet.

Surfing

Surfing is by far better on the iPad, and I do more on the iPad than I do on the iPhone. But again, if I just want to look something up quickly, the iPhone often wins out because of convenience. Sometimes, though, I think that going and finding my iPad and using it would take less time than dealing with the screen restraints of the iPhone.

Shopping

I probably do online shopping more on the iPad than the iPhone, although the iPhone Amazon app makes it really easy to do price comparisons when I'm out shopping in a physical store.

I did run into one little problem with the iPad Amazon app the other day, though. I was looking at an item that turned out to be way overpriced. The price was so high, I thought it was a multi-pack before I tapped it and pulled up the full listing. I was about to tap the next item in the list when my other thumb accidentally bumped the one-click ordering button.

I cancelled the order within 5 minutes, but it shipped anyway and I had to return it. Evidently they have to actually have human intervention to cancel the order, and the human wasn't available at the time.

News

I read a number of RSS feeds, and Reeder on the iPad is awesome for this. This is probably one of the things I use the iPad for the most. I prop it up using the awesome Apple case, sit it on the kitchen counter, and go through my feeds while making breakfast. Then, when I sit down to eat breakfast, I put the iPad on the table next to me and continue reading and eating.

I occasionally use the iPhone for news feeds, but again this is a matter of being out and about. Are you sensing a theme here yet?

Chat

I don't do this while mobile often, but when I do I almost exclusively use the iPad. After all, it's all about typing and the iPad is way better for typing than the iPhone. Of course there's SMS. Not really any options for that.

Task Management

I do almost no task management on either mobile device. If I want to do some organizing of tasks and such, the iPad is way better because there's lest switching of screens and such. I usually only use my mobile task management apps when adding tasks. I should probably do more of this. Of course, if I'm out and about running errands and have them listed somewhere, the iPhone is the best option. No need to carry the iPad around the stores with me.

Video

This is one of the key things I use my iPad for, whether it be to watch the latest Futurama episode, or a screencast to help me learn programming or something. I often have it propped up next to me at my desk so I can put the screencast on there, and do my programming on my laptop and external monitor. It's easier than switching back and forth between the screencast and my text editor.

The iPhone is decent for watching video, but the screen is still so small that the iPad is much preferred.

Music

I have most of my music on my iPad because it has so much more storage space than my iPhone. I often use it to listen to music when sitting at my desk since I'm already running so many things on my computer I don't need to run iTunes as well.

Sometimes, if I'm not driving, I'll use the iPad for music in the car. Lately, though, I just use an SD card or my iPhone since both of them integrate into the stereo.

Directions

The iPad is excellent for mapping out routes, but so is the iPhone. I like doing this on the iPad more, but I kind of tend to forget I can use it for that. I think it's partly because I've been mapping out routes on my iPhone for a few years already, so that's just an ingrained habit that having the iPad hasn't changed. It probably also has something to do with the fact that I don't take my iPad with me to that many places, so I'm more likely to use the device that I always have with me.

IMDB

I thought IMDB deserved a specific mention. I mainly use IMDB to look up information on specific actors while I'm watching TV. This is how I do things like verify that the actor who played Bo Duke in the original Dukes of Hazzard series has been showing up on shows like CSI and Leverage as a bad guy in recent years.

The iPad version of the IMDB app is awesome, but I've hardly used it. Why? I guess it's because I already developed the habit of using the iPhone for such things, and I don't have the iPad with me in front of the TV as much as I thought I would.

Summary

So as I've been writing this, it's helped me realize one key thing: I often use my iPhone for things that the iPad is better suited for just because I'm more likely to have the iPhone handy. Perhaps I will start to make an effort to have the iPad handier to be better able to put it to use, or maybe I'll just realize that sometimes good enough is good enough, as long as it's convenient.

So I finally got my Hulu Plus invitation, and signed up immediately. I was expecting not to be charged yet since it's still in "preview" state, but I was. No big deal, but good to know.

I was expecting that I could then use the iPad app to watch all the Hulu Plus videos I wanted, as well as all the publicly available videos that I can watch on the website.

Not so.

The iPad app only shows the exclusive Hulu Plus content. Granted, there is a lot of content here that I would be interested in. All seasons of Airwolf, for example, and Arrested Devopment. But it seems an unusual limitation to only show premium content in the app, but make me use the computer to view the rest. That's a pain. Also, much of this content is already available from Netflix streaming, which has an iPad app and lets me stream to my TV via my XBox.

Also, Hulu Desktop only shows the available public videos, and doesn't show the premium content, so I'm stuck using the website if I want to watch any content on the computer.

This separation of content is really annoying. Now I have to keep track of which shows I can watch where.

From what I've seen, this applies to the options they offer for getting stuff onto your TV as well, like the XBox streaming (which isn't even available yet) or the PS3.

To add insult to injury, the one show that I've wanted to watch that hasn't been recording on my DVR yet this season, and has started expiring on Hulu is not available in Hulu Plus, so I'm stuck.

I don't see any reason I'll renew this next month, unless I get really hooked on watching old shows on my iPad. The Hulu Plus app is much better designed than the Netflix app.

Update:

I also submitted a complaint to Hulu support, and they got back to me impressively quickly with this response:

"Thanks for taking the time to write in, and I'd like you to know that we recognize the annoyance this cause, and we're working very hard to secure streaming clearances across all devices. We are actively growing our available library and I know you'll see a drastic improvement as we move forward."

I was going to write this big long article that went into detail about various differences between the Kindle and the iPad, and why I prefer the Kindle to the iPad for long-form reading. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized just how subjective this all is. There are things that I consider advantages of the Kindle, that other people wouldn't care about. There are things that other people would think are advantages of the iPad that I don't care about (when it comes to long-form reading, at least).

So I think I'll make a much shorter article, pointing out a lot of the areas that need to be considered when deciding if you want to use a Kindle or an iPad for reading. I'm kind of assuming that you'll get an iPad just because it's so awesome for other stuff, so the question is whether to actually get a Kindle to supplement it.

Backlight

The iPad has a backlight, the Kindle doesn't.

The Kindle is better for reading in bright sunlight, the iPad is better for reading in the dark.

The backlight can cause eyestrain, but it doesn't for everybody.

The Kindle is better for reading on the beach, or on the bench in the backyard, or in the park.

The iPad is better for reading in bed before you go to sleep, or on the bench in the backyard at night, or in the park at night, or in a dark alley, or a bar, or wherever might be darker.

I tend to like the Kindle better because it doesn't have a backlight. I spend enough time staring at backlit screens already. My eyes need a rest. Other people don't seem to be bothered.

Text Rendering

The text on the iPad is a bit fuzzy, in my opinion. The text on the Kindle is fairly crisp (and the Kindle 3 is supposed to be even better).

Some people don't find the text on the iPad to be fuzzy enough to bother them. I do. Eventually the iPhone 4 display quality will make its way to the iPad, and this won't be an issue.

Contrast

The iPad has much better contrast than the Kindle. I find the Kindle contrast level acceptable for reading, but some people don't. The Kindle 3 has improved contrast, but I have yet to see one in person.

Size and Weight

The Kindle weighs a lot less than an iPad, and is therefore easier to hold in one hand without your arm getting tired. Some people don't really hold the device so much as set it on something, so it's not a big deal. If you do hold it while reading, especially if you hold it in one hand, this could make a big difference.

Speed

The iPad is definitely a faster device. E-ink screens, like on the kindle, tend to be slow at turning pages. This has never been slow enough to bother me, but it is slow enough to bother some people. The Kindle 3 turns pages faster, so it may be fast enough for people who were bothered by the old one. Maybe note.

Page Turning

This is a toss-up in some ways, and pretty much depends on your opinion on the preceding two sections: size and weight, and speed. If you like to hold the device in one hand while reading, the iPad can turn pages fine if you're using your right hand. It's a bit more difficult if you're using your left. The Kindle is equally easy with either hand. But if you hold it with two hands, or set it on something, then it really doesn't matter.

Bling Factor

One of my friends pointed out that he feels safer reading on his Kindle on the train, rather than his iPad. It's much less of a theft target, and much cheaper to replace if it is stolen. Personally, I don't spend much time reading in public, so this isn't such a big deal.

Distractibility

I'm easily distracted. If I want to do some quality reading, it's best to get away from the iPhone and the iPad. If I grab the iPad, chances are I'll end up playing Angry Birds instead of reading. Some people probably don't have this problem, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Highlighting and Notes

I highlight a lot of stuff in Kindle books. I've gotten used to the whole joystick-based method, and can do it fairly quickly now, but it's still easier to highlight in books on the iPad. The Kindle keyboard blows chunks. Typing on the iPad is way better. I don't type very many notes on the Kindle, and it's probably partly because the keyboard sucks so much. I'm not sure if the Kindle 3 has any new advantages in this regard.

Price

Obviously, the iPad is more expensive, but it can do a lot more stuff. If you're only getting one device, you should probably get the iPad. Unless you don't see yourself using such a device for anything other than reading. But we're assuming you're going to get an iPad anyway, or that you already have one.

So, you'll be out at least $139 to get a Kindle in addition to your iPad. Is it worth it? It is for me. To decide if it's worth it for yourself, you'll need to analyze the issues above (and maybe others).

Loosely Related

Instapaper

Instapaper is awesome. If you haven't checked it out, do so.

I have an app that syncs Instapaper articles to my Kindle when I plug it into my computer. This works OK, but I never plug my Kindle into my computer. The iPad and iPhone have an Instapaper app that downloads articles over the air. I was doing all my Instapaper reading on the iPad for a while because of this, but now I'm doing most of it on the iPhone 4 because of the killer text rendering.

If there was a better way to get Instapaper onto my Kindle, I'd use that. There is an option to have Instapaper email a file to your Kindle, but it was having serious problems last time I tried it.

Paper Books

One-handed operation doesn't always work well, and portability isn't very good. And you can't read them in the dark.

On the other hand, they're not big theft targets and you're out less money if you drop it in the pool. And you can read them in bright sunlight.

This is a tiny subset of the software I own. These applications all have one thing in common: I've attempted to use them to help organize my life.

Some of them are for organizing bits of information (like Yojimbo, VoodooPad, and Evernote). Others are for organizing tasks (like Things, OmniFocus, Inbox, The Hit List, and TaskPaper. Yes—I have a lot of these). Some sit somewhere in the middle, allowing organization of bits of information as well as tasks (like OmniOutliner, Process, and Notebook). Others are much more narrowly focused, attempting to keep just little bits of your life organized (like DomainBrain and Domainer, for managing information about your domain names). Some are for attempting to organize files (like Leap) or specific types of files (like Yep).

Some of them kind of defy classification. Curio is an app that can be squeezed into organizing almost anything, and DEVONthink is kind of in the same boat. Others, like Numbers, are apps I've attempted at some point to press into service for managing tasks, even though they aren't necessarily built for that.

I've also tried a variety of online solutions for task management. Backpack, Basecamp, Highrise, Remember The Milk, and others that I don't even remember anymore.

Some of these tools have been quite useful to me in the past. These were generally the tools for organizing bits of data, not so much the ones for organizing tasks. Task management is probably the biggest problem I have when it comes to organization. I've kind of settled on Evernote for this task at the moment, mainly because I can put stuff in it anywhere and it syncs flawlessly across my devices.

But task management is still a very difficult problem for me.

I was reading Organization is Annoying the other day, an article by a friend of mine. She mentions a few things that resonated with me, and here are the main takeaways I got from the article.

1. She is obsessed with getting organized, and the tools that are supposed to help you get organized, but not so much with staying organized. (This is a loose interpretation.)
2. She's gone back and forth between paper and electronic methods for task management, and can't really decide which to stick with. Each has pros and cons.

I completely understand the first point, and I think this point kind of makes the other point moot. I'm thinking primarily of task management here, and that seems to be the primary thrust of her article.

I get all excited when I see a new tool that is supposed to help me get organized. I buy it. I may use it for a bit, but it never really make it enough of a part of my life to actually get organized and stay that way.

The fact is that despite the lists of pros and cons between the various software packages, and even throwing pen and paper into the mix, it doesn't matter. The reason I'm disorganized has absolutely nothing to do with the tools that I use.

Yes, some software tools may work better with my style of thinking, but that's not really the issue.

Here's a list of apps out of the ones above that are very capable for managing tasks:

1. OmniOutliner
2. Process
3. Inbox
4. Notebook
5. OmniFocus
6. TaskPaper
7. The Hit List
8. Things

That's eight applications. Eight freaking applications that are fantastic task management tools. Lets narrow it down a bit farther, and only pick the ones that are designed from the ground up for task management.

1. Inbox
2. OmniFocus
3. TaskPaper
4. The Hit List
5. Things

These are the best task management apps available on the Mac today. There is nothing better. You may argue about which is the best out of this bunch, but the fact remains that I have no less than five applications that are top notch for managing tasks.

I'll say it again: my problem has nothing to do with the tools that are available to me. So what is my problem with getting organized? I'm not completely sure, but I have some ideas.

1. I don't put enough stuff in the system.

   This is a big problem. By not putting everything I need to get done into the system, it becomes primarily a place for stuff I want to get to eventually, which means most of the stuff on the list never gets done. This also means that I don't use the task management app enough, because the stuff I'm actually getting done isn't in the system, so why do I need to bother looking at it?

2. I'm more enamored with the tools than I am with actually getting organized.

   I completely agree with what Stephanie said in her article: "I’m also a little obsessed with office supplies – pens, post-its, notebooks, etc. Let me tell you, back-to-school shopping was my absolute favorite time of the year."

   I think I've taken my infatuation with school supplies from my younger days and turned it into a fascination with software-based supplies. What did I usually end up doing with those school supplies? Doodling. I can tell you the best doodling pens are the liquid-ink Pilot V-Balls. None of that gel pen garbage. What do I do with my software tools? Tinker with them until I get bored.

   What happens is I realize at some point that they're not really helping me accomplish anything, so I try a different one (sometimes one I'd already tried in the past), hoping it will make me organized. It doesn't, because the problem isn't the tools.

3. I blame my organizational problems on some defect in the software, and try to find something else that doesn't have that defect.

   With Things, it's the lack of over-the-air synching with my iPhone and iPad. This is a very frustrating defect, but it's a very easy one to work around. And if this issue is so important to me, I should just use OmniFocus, which has a very good synching mechanism, and stop worrying about it.

So I guess my advice to you and to myself is this:

Stop messing around with the tools and get organized already. Pick one, delete the others, and get going. If you think pen and paper will work better, use it. Don't second-guess yourself, just pick one and use it. When something new comes down the pike, ignore it. 

In the next few days I'm going to decide if I'm sticking with OmniFocus or going back to Things. Then I'm going to stick with it. Whatever choice I make, I'm going to delete all the other ones and give it a go.

But despite the fact that I like the bumper, it has some significant downsides:

1. Remember the first generation iPhone? Where you could only use headphones specifically designed to work with it because of the recessed headphone jack? If you get a bumper, expect a return to that. The hole for the headphone jack is exactly the same size as the headphone jack itself.

This doesn't present a problem for my Shure earphones, but it does present a problem with the speakers in the bedroom, the aux cable in the car, and my AKG over-the-ear headphones.

2. This is related to number 1. The hole for the dock connector is designed specifically to work with the Apple USB cable. The tolerance is very tight, so here are some things it won't work with:

a. The dock connector in my car.
b. The iPhone 4 dock you can buy from Apple.
c. The cheap Chinese knock-off cable that is almost identical to the Apple cable.
d. The older Apple cables that have the spring clips to hold it in.

3. Dirt. The rubberized portion of the case seems to pick up black dirt like crazy, especially on the corners. I have yet to find an effective method of cleaning this, although I haven't tried throwing it in the dishwasher yet. The shiny edges are fine. If you have a black or gray bumper, it's probably not a problem. But the colored bumpers are prone to this issue.

For now, I'm going to continue using the bumper, but the drawbacks are really starting to get to me.

via Salon