I'm trying to understand the difference between the iPod touch and the
iPad 2, and what they can and cannot do.
Please tell me where any of this is in error:
First, what I understand: The iPod touch is basically a pocket-sized
device (for a good sized pocket), the iPad 2 is basically a tablet.
The iPod has a 326 DPI screen, so it is "printer" resolution -- what
you see will be (outside of gamut considerations) what will print. It
has a wide/tall display, so it can mimic a full sheet of paper, and
then zoom in, or watch a wide TV show/Movie. However, the screen is
640 in the small direction, so the "normal" 4:3 resolution is about
213*(4:3) or about 852 by 640 -- an odd size that might confuse some
web sites. Sites that talk "pixels" in CSS are "re-interpreted" by
Safari to be something reasonable.
The iPad 2 has a 1024x768 resolution ("normal" size), but a DPI of
about 150 -- higher than normal, but only about 1/4th the resolution
of a printer. "Inches" won't match.
Both have multi-touch screens. iPad 2's has some "fingerprint
resistance", as well as a smart cover to protect it. Both have front
and back cameras. Both can zoom/magnify. Both have up/down, tilt, and
acceleration sensors. Neither does GPS by itself (only in the
"telephone" versions, and then only if you're paying for a data plan).
Both have a "Where am I/Recover my lost device" internet-based
location system. While the iPod touch's screen may be small, it's
actually a decent size for my "reading chunk" -- a text document (as
opposed to a PDF of a printed page) is perfectly fine on it, as would
be a web page with no CSS'd forced margins or browser chrome.
The iPod touch has a single core A4 processor; the iPad 2 has a dual
core A5. Or, iPod is a little weaker than a G4, while the iPad is a
little better than a dual G4. (NB: This is probably my biggest mistake
-- I still have not seen an good comparison of the A4/A5 to any other
chip).
Both run Safari. Neither runs Firefox. Other browsers unknown. Neither
runs Flash. I don't know if either runs Java. Since neither runs
Flash, neither will support Netflix online nor Hulu -- so while they
should be good portable TV's/Movie players, they are only really good
for streaming shows that Apple sells through the iTunes store. (Yes,
some free stuff is there, but not much :-). NB: This is probably the
biggest reason I can think of for going for a Droid-based tablet, but
I can't find a droid-based non-phone tablet :-). There is YouTube
support.
Both are "locked" by Apple. I can get a developer key so that I can
run my own stuff on it, and in particular I can write a "terminal"
program (or get one off the web) so I can use it as a small but
reasonable portable computer. The OS (as of version 4) does permit
multitasking graphic apps, but only those written for multitasking
(not the older ones).
Despite the "obvious" match of form and function, neither comes with
any sort of drawing stylus nor any "sketch" or drawing software.
Neither is really designed to save or even edit user documents --
bookmarks are fine, and "read it later" is great for reading stuff,
but generally no actual user documents exist on either machine. There
is nothing to save with "Time Machine". iTunes knows how to get user
settings, preferences, bookmarks, etc, off, and anything you've
downloaded to one can be moved to another, but that's the entirety of
"backup" with these machines. "Photos" and "Movies" taken from the
camera is all the "user documents" these machines understand (and
iTunes is the only official support for copying those).
Both are intended as reader/viewer devices (books/movies/web), and
game playing devices. Not as actual "do something" devices.
As the one big exception, Apple sells (granted, $5 is nominal) a video
editing program, so you can edit the movies you take into a new movie.
Now, how accurate is this? Are these actually usable as functional
editing devices? Does the iPad have something like TextEdit? (iPod
touch would be too small, even if it did). Is there anything like a
graphics editor / sketch program available (3rd party)? Can they be
"mounted" like a hard drive if plugged into the USB port of a normal
macintosh? How easy is it to move files back and forth? Is "iTunes"
the only thing that can talk to them? Someone mentioned that there was
a "voice to text" app from Dragon for these, based on sending your
voice recording to an internet server, and getting text back -- how
compatible is it with other apps? Does Google Docs work on either? (I
think so -- I thought it was "pure javascript" -- but I want to make
sure.). Does it work with that voice to text?
I know that the iPad 2 has an "On-screen keyboard", and it matches the
layout of normal keyboards -- in particular, the left hand keys slant
the wrong way (V, F, and R are struck by the same finger, but the
slant goes up and to the left while the finger wants to go up and to
the right). Is there a 3rd party keyboard that lets the slant go in
the proper direction? (My left wrist really hates typing). (Yes, I
know that the iPod Touch has a keyboard for entering stuff into
Safari. It's too small for serious text entry, but is OK for website
addresses or short form comment entries.)
Other than pictures and movies, and downloaded apps, what can I store
in the 8/32 GB? What do I want the extra 24 GB for?
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