Last week, I took delivery of an iPad mini. My previous tablet was a Nexus-something, an Android. It was also over a year out of support, which means it no longer got security updates from Google. Since security is important, and I didn’t want to have to buy a new tablet every year or two, I asked my techie husband what was most likely to remain in support the longest. Google’s current tablet, the Pixel C, has been out for over a year already, so I didn’t want to risk them deciding to discontinuing it six months down the road, and then two years later … no more security updates. Plus, it’s larger than I prefer in a tablet. Apparently Apple tends to support their products for longer, even when they release newer versions, so I decided to take the plunge with the iPad.
Now, I have an iPod; it’s one of the later gen classics. But that’s about as far into the Apple ecosystem as I’ve been in the past. My smartphones have all been android; I have a GMail account & use some of their cloud services; and I’ve had two android tablets. So the iPad experience is a whole new world to me. I’m not certain whether I like it. Mind you, mostly I use my tablet for browsing the internet, reading ebooks, checking the weather, tracking appointments, and reading email. I’m not exactly a heavy or savvy user. And yet, even these simple tasks are in some ways vastly different. In part, this is because some of the apps I was used to have no iOS equivalent. For example, my alarm app on android allowed you to have settings like gradually increasing the volume the longer the alarm goes off, and being able to adjust the length of the snooze. But even some of the apps I use that have iOS equivalents work entirely differently on the iPad than they do on the android tablet.
So, I’m trying to adapt. I’m sure I’ll eventually figure it out, but if anyone has iPad tips they want to share, or favorite apps, I’ll happily take suggestions. :-) What about you? Are you more invested in one digital ecosystem than the other, or can you easily switch between?
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by and tell us about your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper. Newcomers may notice that many who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
As always, this is an open thread and nothing is off topic. What do you want to kibitz about tonight?