2015 MacBook & 2016 MacBook Pro’s Vs An iPad

With the latest MacBooks starting with the 2015 MacBook & continuing with the 2016 MacBook Pro’s to less regular USB Ports to a single or multiple USB C/Thunderbolt 3 Ports for connectivity and charging, & iPads getting more useful as a Laptop replacement & with the introduction of the iPad Pro’s getting more Powerfull & 3rd party Keyboard Cases is there any real need to pay for a MacBook Pro?

This question holds true when there are plenty of Productivity Apps like mobile versions of the iWork Suite (Pages, Numbers & Keynote), Microsoft Office Mobile (Word, Excel, OneNote& PowerPoint), Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides & Keep) There is plenty of choice in Apps for the usual Document creation, Spredsheet creation & Presentations).

If you’re into Content creation for YouTube there are google Apps for Capturing & Uploading your videos along with managing your YouTube channel, there are also mobile versions on GarageBand & iMovie if you fancy something a little more advanced than the YouTube Capture & Creator Studio Apps for editing your videos.

The only lacking Apps for the iPad are the more Pro Apps like Logic Pro or Final Cut Pro & Adobe PhotoShop, but if you need. These Pro Apps then you really don’t need to be making the decision about wether or not that an iPad & Keyboard Case instead of a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

If you’re a Blogger and use WordPress or Blogger then there’s first party WordPress & Blogger Apps that allow you to do pretty much everything that you can do on the respective websites (or self hosted site inn the case of WordPress), if you’re a Scriot writer then there’s Celtx Script to allow you to work on your Scripts. If you’re a Novel writer then you can use Pages, Word, Docs or a dedicated App like Werdsmith.

It all depends on what you require from a Laptop as to wether you need a MacBook of MacBook Pro or an iPad Air, iPad Mini, iPad Pro or iPad Pro 9.7″ & a Keyboard Case.

For what I need a Laptop for my iPad Mini 4 and Keyboard Case suits my needs perfectly & is more portable than my HP Stream 11 or Acer C720 Chromebook & defiantly more portable than a MacBook or MacBook Pro (Word is covered by Word Mobile, Pages & Docs. Calendar, Mail & Photos on iOS work just as well as any Desktop equivalent). An iPad & Keyboard Case is just as convenient as a Microsoft Surface Pro & runs all the same apps as on my iPhone, Using an iPad Mini 4 and Keyboard Case turns a simple iPad into a 2in1 Laptop/Tablet meaning that a can be used however you require at a particular time.

Roland

Using The iPad Mini 4 In Place of A Windows Laptop/Windows Tablet

Since my iPad Mini 4 has got all the computing power of my HP Stream 11 Laptop & then some thanks to the highly efficient & optimised iOS Operating System I’m going to see if I can live with coupled with my Bluetooth Keyboard case that I reviewed in my last Article as my main Computer for a month.

the iOS version of Safari is just as capable as Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 & unlike the iPhone version displays full websites instead of Mobile versions by default, the iOS version of Apples iWork suite Pages, Numbers & Keynote along with the iOS version of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint & OneNote are just as capable as there Desktop counter parts. iCloud Drive works with both iWork Mobile & Office Mobile making OneDrive redundant once you’ve saved your Office Documents to iCloud Drive. If you prefer Googles Productivity suite then the iOS version of Drive, Docs, Sheets & slides is just as capable as the web apps, but there is a downside in that there isn’t any iCloud Drive integration meaning that you’ll need to have the Google Drive installed as well (but like Microsoft Office Mobile OneDrive isn’t required to actually do any work other than file management).

The iOS Mail App is just as good as the Windows 10 Mail App, but there are several 3rd Party Mail Apps including Microsoft Outlook Mobile. All of the Stock iOS Apps are very capable at what the do and have 3rd Party equivelants meaning that you don’t have to stick to stock if you don’t want to. The added benefit of using an iPad as your main Computer is that you get the same Handoff & Continuity as what you get with a Mac as long as you’ve got an iPhone.

The iPads multitasking has to be one of the best multitasking implications going & coupled with a hardware keyboard you can cmd+tab (alt+tab on Windows) through open Applications as well as just double tap the Home Button to bring up the multitasking carousel, & the swipe from the right gesture to bring up the multitasking App list for split screen multitasking is very useful for using FaceTime Audio or Messages while working on something else is very useful.

With all theProductivity Apps that are available to me on my iPad I’m sure that replacing my Laptop with my iPad Mini 4 & Bluetooth Keeyboard case will be a breeze.

Roland

Bluetooth iPad Mini 4 Keyboard Case Review

Since I’ve had my iPad Mini 4 I’ve found that I tend to rely on it a lot more than my HP Stream 11 Laptop, HP Stream 7 Tablet and Acer C720 Chromebook to do things that I used to do on my Toshiba Satellite C660-15R Notebook. But there is a downside in that the Onscreen Keyboard takes up a lot of Screen real estate that could be used for Mail, Pages, Numbers & Keynote iOS Apps, Word, Excel & PowerPoint iOS Apps, Google Docs, Google Sheets & Google Slides iOS Apps documents or for other Productivity apps.

While browsing for Keyboard Cases for my iPad I came across this particular case and I decided to go for it as apart from the very reasonable price, it reminded me of the style of the old MacBook Air and the newer MacBook (non Pro). The Keyboard is a standard Mac layout with option and cmd keys replacing alt & the Windows Key, the esc key has been replaced by the iOS Home Key.

The relatively small size of the Keyboard makes touch typing feel a little awkward until you get used to it. There is a Power switch& Pairing button on the top right of the Keyboard & the pairing process is painless as it doesn’t require a PIN to be inserted during the pairing process. On the right hand side of the Keyboard potion of the case sits a standard Micro USB Port for charging the internal Keyboard Battery, unlike other Bluetooth devices you can continue to use the Keyboard while charging it which is a huge bonus.

The iPad Mini sits in the Lid potion of the case and has cutouts for the 3.5mm Headphone jack, Sleep/Wake switch, Microphone, Volume rocker, Lightning port & Speakers along with Camera cutout. There is a circular cutout that lines up perfectly with the Apple Logo on the back of the iPad. But unfortunately with the Apple Logo being on its side inLanscape mode it kind of ruins the whole MacBook look, this is redeemed by the fact that the case works like a normal Smart case and puts the iPad into Standby when closed.

Due to the case being made from Plastic and only having Keyboard membrain, Bluetooth Radio and a battery the centre of balance is off just enough that the weight of the iPad can cause the case to tip up slightly, but this isn’t enough to make it un usable.

I’ve not been using the case long but its made the use of Productivity Apps a lot better than what it was when using the Onscreen Keyboard. This case also turns your iPad Mini 4 into a 2in1 Laptop/Tablet while still retaining the slim and relatively lightweight look of the iPad Mini 4 when using it as a Tablet.

The iPad fits fairly snugly into the Lid potion of the case meaning that it wont fall out when opening & closing the case, but it’s not such a tight fit that it makes removing the iPad hard. Apart from the sideways Apple Logo & all the cutouts on the Lid of the case you’d be forgiven that Apple had made a 7.9 inch Laptop or a 2in1 Laptop/Tablet.

If being productive on the go without the expense or size of the MacBook & the option of being able to use your iPad Mini 4 without a hardware keyboard then I recommend this case. The case also comes with a decent length Micir USB to USB cable instead of the short cables that tend to come with a lot of Bluetooth devices.

Roland

What Does Apple Discontinuing iPhoto & Aperture For Mac Mean For iPhotoOn iOS

iPhoto has been the standard for working with photos while Aperture has been Apples professional photo editor on a Mac for years, but with the recent announcement that iPhoto and Aperture will be discontinued in favour of Photos on Mac when OS X 10.10 is released although both will still continue to work on OS X 10.10 at least what does it mean for iPhoto on iOS?

iPhoto on Mac is a simple Photo Organizing and Editing Application for Mac that allows you to organize your photos into albums as well as do simple editing tasks like what the photo preview app on windows and the photo gallery feature of the Chrome OS browser allows you to do.

Aperture is Apples professional Photo Editor and is similar to Adobe PhotoShop in that it gives you more editing features compared to iPhoto.

iPhoto on iOS is a more feature rich version of the stock Photos App that focuses more on creating themed sharable web albums over organizing your photos into local albums.

With the demise of iPhoto and Aperture on Mac what does this mean for iPhoto on iOS, will Apple keep the iOS version of iPhoto or will they abandon it all together in favour of the iOS Photos App? My guess is that they’ll abandon it all together as OS X 10.10 and iOS 8 seem to be converging certain aspects of iOS and OS X, whether they remove it from the App Store meaning that it can’t be installed or reinstalled with the release of iOS or just leave the current version up while ever it’s still available for OS X, but as this is all speculation on my part Apple could still leave it available for iOS and keep updating it.

I’d rather that Apple integrate the features of iPhoto into the iOS Photos App and end iPhoto as iPhoto has some good features that Photos doesn’t have, but it’s not worth having an extra photos App installed.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Roland

Are OS X 10.10 Yosemite & iOS 8 Game Changes In The Mobile & Desktop OSMarket?

With iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite set to bring a new level of convergence between Mobile OS’s and Desktop OS’s with two new features in both iOS and OS X 10.10 that Apple calls Continuity and Hand-Off.

Continuity basically brings over the flat look that was introduced in iOS 7 and partially implemented in OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the new look of OS X 10.10 also brings a new flat widow controls theme along with a new Notification Centre that has a Today tab like that of the Notification Centre in iOS 8 along with Widgets and a Notifications tab. In the iOS 8 Notification Centre gone is the Missed Notifications tab & the All Notifications tab has been replaced by the Notifications tab.

New Flat Theme in OS X 10.10 Yosemite

New iOS 8 Notification Centre.

Hand-Off basically allows you to start doing something like write an Email on your iOS device and continue working on it on your Mac (this feature is only handy if you own both an iOS Device and a Mac, or quite possibly multiple iOS Devices), another good Hand-Off feature is the ability to use your Mac to receive phone calls or SMS Messages while your phone is on charge or in a different room.

Conclusion

if features like Continuity and Hand-Off are done correctly without changing the original Desktop OS too much then it’s only a good thing for Computing and Smartphones, but if it’s done wrong then it is a bad thing.

I’d like to see something like what Apple is doing with Hand-Off done by Microsoft on both Windows and Windows Phone, along with Google with Chrome OS and Android.

Roland

Sunrise Calendar for iOS Review

After using Sunrise Calendar for iOS for a week i’ve hardly used it compared to the stock iOS Calendar.

Sunrise Calendar on iOS is ok but compared to the stock iOS Calendar it’s a little lacking, but the biggest thing lacking from Sunrise Calendar is missing from all third-party iOS Calendars and that’s the ability to launch a third-party Calendar from the Notification Centre. This problem isn’t caused by third-party Calendars not being coded properly for iOS 7 but iOS not having the ability to set a third-party Calendar as the default.

If Apple introduced this feature it’d make iOS a little less strict than it is, but then it might cause people to move away from the stock iOS apps to third-party ones which could then introduce problems for iOS and Mac OS X users that use say Sunrise Calendar on their iOS device and the stock Calendar on their OS X computer leaving potential problems with syncing between Calendars.

I like Sunrise Calendar in Chrome/Chrome OS, and if the iOS version had the same month view as the iOS version then I might be inclined to stay with sunrise Calendar over the stock iOS Calendar.

Sunrise Calendar has many good features that I mentioned in my combined review, but the lack of the ability to make Sunrise Calendar as the default Calendar makes it a deal breaker for me, and I can always add my Google Account onto my iPhone to get my Google Calendar events on the stock Calendar.

Roland

Sunrise Calendar For iOS, Chrome/Chrome OS & Android Review

After installing Sunrise Calendar on my Chromebook as well as my iPhone 4S & discovering that there is an Android version in Beta I thought I’d write a review of all three versions of Sunrise Calendar.

Sunrise Calendar for Chrome/Chrome OS

compared to the amount of different views in Google Calendar as Sunrise Calendar is a little lacking as it only has two views compared to the 5 in Google Calendar.

But where it’s got the edge over Google Calendar is the ability to have Google Calendar and iCalender in iCloud in the same Calendar along with Facebook Calendar and a few other services calendars all together, but unfortunately there is no option for a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live & Outlook) along with some built-in Sports fixture Calendars & Religious & National Holiday Calendars.

Sunrise Calendar in Chrome/Chrome OS is a more stylish option to Google Calendar if you rely on different Online Calendar services, but if you also use Microsoft Calender then you are left out in the cold.

Sunrise Calender on iOS

Like Sunrise Calendar in Chrome/Chrome OS Sunrise Calendar in iOS only has two views compared to the four in iOS Calendar.

But where it’s got the edge over iOS Calendar is the ability to have Google Calendar and iCalender in iCloud in the same Calendar along with Facebook Calendar and a few other services calendars all together, but unfortunately there is no option for a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live & Outlook) along with some built-in Sports fixture Calendars & Religious & National Holiday Calendars.

Sunrise Calender compared to iCalendar in iCloud

When it comes to comparing Sunrise Calendar to iCalendar in iCloud there isn’t too much difference when it comes to views as iCalendar in iCloud only has one extra view.

But where it’s got the edge over iCalendar in iCloud is the ability to have Google Calendar and iCalender in iCloud in the same Calendar along with Facebook Calendar and a few other services calendars all together, but unfortunately there is no option for a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live & Outlook) along with some built-in Sports fixture Calendars & Religious & National Holiday Calendars.

Sunrise Calendar Android Beta

Sunrise Calender for Android is only in a closed Beta at the moment and like sunrise Calendar on the other platforms has only got 2 views compared to the 4 views in the Android Calendar.

Sunrise Calendar Android Beta 3 Day view

But where it’s got the edge over the Android Calendar is the ability to have Google Calendar and iCalender in iCloud in the same Calendar along with Facebook Calendar and a few other services calendars all together, but unfortunately there is no option for a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live & Outlook) along with some built-in Sports fixture Calendars & Religious & National Holiday Calendars.

Conclusion

Sunrise Calendar on all platforms is a nice alternative to the stock Calendars & really comes into its own is if you use Android, Chrome/Chrome OS & iOS as everything is nicely synced between all devices that have Sunrise Calendar installed.

Roland

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