iPad On The Road PadGadget

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iPad On The Road
In a previous post, we took the iPad on a plane to check how well it travels. This time,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], we took it on the road. The trip – from Dallas, Texas to Broken Bow Lake,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Oklahoma – was a little experiment to see how useful the iPad could be while in the car. Note that I was the co-pilot, as using an iPad while driving is a no-go!
The first thing we did while fueling up the car in Dallas was to download a GPS app. We thought MotionX GPS would do the trick, but quickly realized that the app was not really suited for turn by turn navigation – the app is really geared toward hikers and campers. So we quickly switched back to Google Maps, which was more than enough for what we needed.
Given the limited choices on the radio while on the highway in the middle of nowhere, we quickly hooked the iPad to the car stereo via the headphone jack, and it instantly became the “music hub” for the whole trip. Since I was not the driver, I had the privilege to hog the iPad for the majority of the trip, and thanks to Angry Birds and Flight Control HD, boredom never was an issue. Even Words With Friends was fun to play, despite the fact that Edge or 3G were not available all the time. I also used the iPad to catch up with Fringe, since I missed the last two episodes.
I also had to finish a presentation for work, a small price to pay for taking a day off from work. Keynote did the trick just fine, however finding a location with WiFi to send the file to my co-workers was painful. Broken Bow Lake may be a beautiful place, but it is in the middle of nowhere and only offers Edge connectivity, a big no-go for large files like a Keynote presentation. Long story short, if you plan to go to a remote location with your iPad, expect to only be able to send your work documents at the end of your trip.
At the end of the trip to Oklahoma, when we got close to the lake, the iPad became vital, as the cabin we were staying at is in the woods, and was impossible to find without a solid map.
I was a little hesitant leaving my computer at home, but after this trip I have to admit that the iPad lets me do everything I need to while traveling. Granted, I could have accomplished all the tasks described above with other tools,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], such as a GPS navigation system, a laptop, and real maps (for the woods). But having all these tools in one single device makes a huge difference. Oh, and I forgot to mention: this post was written entirely from an iPad, and uploaded to our site from the shores of the lake, via Edge connectivity. Not bad, right?