Object Identification on iOS

August 5, 2024 | Comment

I belong to a walking group called “Walking with Cameras” which is pretty good in not being too sniffy about what camera you bring. This means there are quite a few iPhones, a smattering of Android devices along with some compacts and DSLRs.

We reached an open area where several varieties of wildflowers were growing and the discussion turned first to what they were and then to how there were dedicated apps that would identify them (which nobody had installed!).

I whipped out my iPhone snapped a few pictures of the flowers and then opened the Photos app. If you … Read the rest

Leaving the MacBook at Home

October 13, 2023 | Comment

I’ve recently returned from holiday and for the first time in a while, I travelled without a laptop. I wanted to return to the question of whether it was possible to do a trip without one. My requirements while I am away are pretty light: blogging and editing photos to go with the posts – not too much to ask surely?

Heading Out

I left my MacBook Pro at home and in its place I took my iPad Mini, a Bluetooth keyboard with the same footprint as the iPad and a Magic Mouse.

The immediate advantage of this was a … Read the rest

The Paperlike2 for iPad

November 15, 2019 | Comment

If there is any gadget related job worse than cleanly applying a screen protector to a device I don’t know what it is. So it was with mixed emotions when my Paperlike2 arrived in the post this morning.

Paperlike2 is yet another Kickstarter project but one that had a higher chance of success as it it the follow-up to, of course, Paperlike. Basically Paperlike is an iPad screen protector that adds a slightly course layer on top of the screen making it more, well, paper like, and better for writing and drawing.

Application

But before you can get to the … Read the rest

Brydge iPad Pro Keyboard

August 23, 2019 | Comment

Little by little, year by year Apple are slowly turning the iPad into a pretty decent workhorse. And with the ability in iOS 13 to pair it with a mouse even more so. With this in mind I have been looking for a keyboard that would give a more laptop type feel to the iPad.

I already have the Apple keyboard case and that works well but the keys aren’t great for long typing sessions. I also tried using a full sized Apple Magic Keyboard and that was lovely for typing but didn’t have the portability that I was looking … Read the rest

Mouse support in iPadOS/iOS13 Public Beta 3

July 19, 2019 | Comment

The latest beta version of iOS13/iPadOS was released yesterday evening and I gave it a quick test this morning to see how the mouse support was coming along.

I know form comments made elsewhere that mouse support is not for everyone and some don’t understand why it is even necessary. For me it is a useful tool for when working away from my desk as I find it speeds up my work and make it a more pleasant experience. I still don’t think I could ever use the iPad as a permanent desktop replacement but it is a lot more … Read the rest

iPad Pro, iOS13 and USB-c Dongles

July 5, 2019 | Comment

Each year, regular as clockwork, Apple releases a new version of their operating system for mobile devices – iOS. This years version, iOS13, has recently been release for public beta and I took the plunge and installed it on my iPad Pro so you don’t have to!

Can’t we all run the beta?

Before we get too much into the new features of iOS here are a couple of reasons why you might not want to be installing it on your main device just yet. Beta software by definition is not fully baked and still has a number of bugs … Read the rest

Using the iPad Mini as a Kindle Replacement

June 11, 2019 | Comment

I like reading and for years I have been happily doing so on a very old Amazon Kindle which was a hand-me-down from the wife. I never bothered to upgrade as the newer models always seemed bulkier than what I had.

That was until like everyone else on the planet when you reach a certain age you need glasses and things become difficult to see, particularly in low light. My existing Kindle had no light and so I was forced to start thinking about a replacement.

Initially I toyed with the idea of a new Kindle or more likely my … Read the rest

Is this the world’s most expensive charger?

April 9, 2019 | Comment

One of the disappointments of the new iPad Pro was that all those lightning charge cables and accessories that I’d accumulated over the years immediately became useless. However, the move to USB-C meant that the iPad had a bit of a trick up its sleeve – charging. As you can see from the image above here it is charging my Apple Watch.

The iPad Pro can charge accessories such as your watch, iPhone etc. at a 7.5W charge rate – providing that you have the right cables. To do so requires a potentially expensive outlay in new USB-C to lightning … Read the rest

Remove (Some) Stock Apps in iOS 10

June 14, 2016 | Comment

By and large the Apple announcement last night was pretty dull. That so much time was devoted to emojis showed (to me at any rate) that there wasn’t anything ground breaking to offer. What was interesting was one thing that wasn’t discussed and that was the ability to remove (some) of the stock apps in iOS10.

iOS comes with an ever increasing number of preinstalled apps such as stocks, mail, weather, compass, calendar etc. and many, myself included, have long wanted to remove these from the device but that hasn’t been possible – until now. It now appears that on … Read the rest

Connecting an iPad Pro over Ethernet

May 11, 2016 | Comment

So it has been a fun few first weeks with my iPad Pro and I am really loving the portability, the keyboard and pencil and the update to iOS to make it more suitable as a work tool. However, it was while I was on holiday that I came across a feature that I really could have done with – ether-networking. The wifi was poor where I was and it would have been good to connect over ethernet and upload more.

Turns out ethernet networking is possible with the iPad Pro and a few (costly) dongles. The major deal breaker … Read the rest