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Google I/O 2023

Read More Google a Google home, as everything is built around the Google Home Hub application. If you don’t mind giving Google your information, you can use many of their services - for free. That’s the attractive thing, it’s mostly free. …

Here’s all the products announced at Google’s I/O 2023.

Pixel Tablet
We’ve seen similar designs from Lenovo, but hopefully the upcoming Google Pixel Tablet will be a faster and better experience. Like that other design, the Tablet is a picture frame when you dock it to the magnetic charger and speaker. If you want to use it as a tablet, you just pick it off the stand… think of it as a tablet that is always charged.

I’m not entirely sure if I will use it on a daily basis, since I already love my iPad 12.9 for the big display and fast processor… the Pixel Tablet is kind of a step down.

Pixel 7A
At $500, the “A-Series” of Google’s phones are the affordable version of their Pixel phones. I’ve been unimpressed with their previous A phones. The phones are not fast or flashy, they’re basically a budget/cheap version of their regular phones… Having said all that, I think the 7A is the phone that I’m actually interested in. That’s because, for the first time, their A phones are going to include wireless charging. I have been all-in on wireless charging, it is hard for me to go back to the old way of charging my phone.

While I’m not in the market to replace my iPhone 14, I might pick up the 7A as my backup phone… mostly because for a limited time, Google is throwing in a free Pixel Buds A-Series if you buy the new 7A phone. I have a Pixel Bud Mint Color and I think it’s one of the best earbuds I own. I love that rubber nub that locks the buds in my ear.

I guess it all depends on if I can buy the Asus ROG Ally (the better and faster Steam Deck) or not. I have already devoted my budget of $800 to buy the new handheld gaming PC.

Pixel Fold
As soon as I saw the price for this upcoming Google’s folding phone, at $1,800, that’s a hard pass for me. As cool as it looks, there’s no way I’m spending that kind of cash on sometime that is unproven. I would love for the price to be sub $1,000... that is the magic number for me.

As a fan of technology, I’m always interested in seeing new products. My complaint about Google has a bad reputation about introducing something and then not supporting it. Plus, I hate to say it, but their products look boring.

Still, I love the fact that I can find any Google products in retail stores, such as my local Target or Walmart. Knowing me, I might just end up buying their Pixel Tablet on a whim, while standing in line at a Best Buy or something.

Read more Technology

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

My Movies 4 Pro

Read More DVD I usually put on one of my DVDs (see picture) and sleep mode on my television, the noise it makes gentle puts me to sleep. ...

As many of you guys know, I’m an avid collector of DVDs since 1997. I even bought my first DVD of Reservoir Dogs before I had a DVD player! I love this format, because coming from VHS and Laserdiscs, this new DVD format was smaller and more versatile and collectible.

I had a very large collection of DVD, so it made sense, at least for me, to keep track of them using an application on my computer. And since 2000, I was using DVD Profiler. When they released their software for iOS in 2010, I was one of the first people to buy it. It was great for a while… but unfortunately, the software has not been updated since 2018. There are some bugs in the iOS software that drove me nuts. For example, you couldn’t create a brand new DVD entry - it would only add DVD that exists in their catalog.

Then recently, when I bought my Lenovo Legion Gaming PC, I tried to sync my DVD Profiler on my phone to my computer and my DVD was destroyed through bad syncing. I didn’t have a DVD Profiler backup (my only backup was on my old Fallout Gaming PC). No problem, I guess I can start over. Unfortunately, scanning in the UPC of DVDs and Blurays was not great on DVD Profiler. It took forever for the camera to focus on the UPC, it would be impossible to scan in my entire collection.

The final straw happened on Friday, when nothing worked on DVD Profiler, because their servers was offline. It was time for me to move on.

Looking online for alternatives, I came across My Movies 4 Pro for $15. There is a ‘demo’ version for you try out, if you aren’t convinced. The demo only lets you add 50 entries.

So far, it’s a massive improvement over DVD Profiler. The UPC scanner is amazingly fast, and if you have a lot of films, like I do, this will save you a lot of time.

My Movies 4 is also available for the PC, but it actually works a little differently on the PC. It’s more of a movie streaming application that uses Windows Media Server… so I recommend just using the My Movies 4 app as a standalone app.

My only complaint is that My Movies 4 may take forever to “synchronize” with their servers. It takes a long time sometimes because the app takes a moment to download the high resolution front and back cover of the DVD or Bluray. Since I set my app to the highest resolution, it takes a moment for everything to sync. When it syncs, the app won’t allow you to add anything, so you’ll just have to wait until it is all downloaded.

The beautiful thing about the syncing process is that any DVD/Bluray that you add on your phone will magically appear on your iPad. This works much better than the old DVD Profiler, which requires you to manually sync to your PC (since the database is stored on your local computer).

For the most part, My Movies 4 catalog works well. Sometime I do run into a film that is not on their database. You can manually add in the UPC and photos of the cover artwork, so it works as you would expect (you couldn’t do that on DVD Profiler if you have a new iPhone).

Pro Tip: If you own a lot of discs, set the scanner to Multi-Scan and also set the Country to “All”. This is especially useful if you own a lot of movies from other countries. I wish I had known this when I started rescanning my collection!

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Humble Bundle

Read More Humble Bundle Game On: Humble Bundle I already own at least five of these games (on discs and digital), but I couldn't resist paying the average price to get these games again. When I donated, they gave me a breakdown of how ....

I’m currently a Humble Bundle subscriber since September 2022 when I got my Steam Deck. I previously joined for one year, starting April 2019 to April 2020, because it was a great way to building up your Steam library without paying too much. The only downside is that you don’t actually know what you’re going to get.

It’s a good deal, but unfortunately, because you don’t know what games you’re going to get - you may end up getting duplicate copies (if you previously own these games).

Anyway, there are some great charity Humble Bundle going on this month.

The Essential Content Creator Bundle

First, I wanted to spotlight the The Essential Content Creator Bundle, from Magix. You get six software (one of the software ProDAD mercalli v5 is only good for two years), but the clear stand-out product is the video editor VEGAS Pro 18 Edit. This is a $250 software that you can get for $25. For $25, it’s worth it just for Vegas alone.

Just a little background, but I used to use Vegas when it was own by Sony, it was one of the best video editor that rivals Adobe’s Premiere. Sometime in 2016, Sony sold it to Magix.

I own Vegas Pro 14 and I recently tried to install it on my new Lenovo Legion PC and it wouldn’t register unless I de-activate previous installations. Keep that in mind if you intend on installing the software on various computers.

When I installed it on the new computer, last month, I contemplated on actually paying $150 to upgrade to Vegas 18… but I decided against it because it’s just too expensive. I’m glad I waited, because now I can upgrade to Vegas 18 for $25.

The other amazing deal is the Black Friday Encore: Lone Wolf & Cub and More by Koike from Dark Horse. If you missed the Black Friday deal (like I did!), here’s your second chance. For $18.00 you are getting over 7,000 pages of Lone Wolf and Cub. That, by itself, is an amazing deal. You also get Kazuo Koike’s other works like Crying Freeman and Samurai Executioner. I’ve own most of Koike’s works, so was happy to see they’ve included some books I’ve never read before.

I started reading Color of Rage, and it’s a hoot. It’s about two prisoners who escaped from a slave ship. One of them is a ronin and the other is a black man. The two travel throughout Japan helping people and trying to survive. It’s about racism, it’s about a stranger in a strange land... it would make for a great television show.

I’ve been reading the manga on my iPad Pro 12.8, and although it looks fine… the battery life is terrible and reading for an extended period time on a glossy LED screen is not recommended. I’ve been giving a lot of thought on buying the new Kindle Scribe (10.2 inch) or the Boox Nova Air Color (7.8 inches) to read comic books. They’re both e-ink, but the Boox having the ability to display in e-ink color (which is what I need if I want to read digital color comics).

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Technology.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

WPS Office

WPS Office wps.com Free Includes Writer, Spreadsheet, Presentation, and PDF Editor Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS Install on any device you own Compatible with MicroSoft Office Does not need to be online Read More MicroSoft Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600. …

I used to love MicroSoft Office. Well mainly for Word and Excel, but when MicroSoft decided to go to a subscription model… I decided it was time to move away from Office. Previously, I had Office 2003, which is a little dated and won’t work on Windows 10. I tried the new Office 365 and I liked the new updates, but I still wasn’t willing to pay for a subscription.

After hearing from so many people asking to just purchase the software, instead of “renting” their software… MicroSoft caved in and gave us the Home & Student Edition, which has a one-time payment. Unfortunately, their asking price is expensive. We’re talking over $150 for one computer (although Amazon has it on sale for $100), it’s still not worth it to me.

Like I said, I have looked for alternative to Office. I’ve tried out the free Office Libre, which I do not like at all. I tried out Google Suite, which is very basic, and you constantly have to be online.

Nothing worked for me…. that is until I discovered WPS Office. The Office includes WPS Writer (a knockoff of Word), Presentation (a knockoff of Powerpoint) and Spreadsheet (a knock off of Excel), as well as a PDF Creator (which works like Adobe Acrobat).

What I mostly needed was WPS Writer. Wow, this software is identical to MicroSoft Word. It reads and open and edit Word Documents, including the latest docx files, without any issues, it’s practically Word.

All the shortcuts and all the amenities of Word can be found in WPS. I just can’t believe it’s completely free. There are ads, but they aren’t intrusive. The ads are mostly trying to get you to upgrade to their Premium subscription, which costs $30 a year.

I’ve been using it for nearly a month now, and I can say that I am officially abandoning Word, in favor of WPS. If you want to give it a chance, or looking for a free Word alternative, check out WPS.

The $30 annual subscription for WPS Premium gets you the following.

PDF editing

File format conversion

Same account can be used up to 3 PCs and 6 mobile devices

No advertising

20 GB of Cloud storage

Cloud collaboration

I think if you want the online access (between your computer and mobile device, such as an iPad), the 20GB storage might be worth the $30/year fee… but for me, the free version works for me. I think if they offer some sort of one-time payment, I would be more eager to go that route.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

iPad Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro 12.9

Read More iPad I’ve been living with the iPad 12.9 Pro (2017 Model) since March 2018. After using the iPad daily for about two months, here are my thoughts …

I caved in and bought a used iPad Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro 12.9 (2020). You see, between my Asus Electropunk Laptop and iPad, there is no comparison in terms of portability. The laptop weighs a ton, I never want to travel with it. Instead, if I need to do some work, the iPad and Keyboard combination works best for me.

Previously, I was using the iPad and Keyboard Folio, which is fine, but I didn’t exactly love the typing experience. Plus over time, the Folio is showing some wear and tear.

The shocker of the iPad Magic Keyboard is that it costs $350 new. This is really an insane amount of money to pay for a keyboard… and I felt like it was the barrier to entry for those in the market for a keyboard for their iPad. There are many third party keyboard maker, but I decided to go with the Magic Keyboard because it uses the smart connector.

After playing around with it, like putting the keyboard light brightness to the max, I was shocked that within a few minutes, I went from 100% charged to 84%! I turned off the light on the keyboard immediately. Wow, what a battery drainer.

In the few minutes since I started typing this review, I started noticing the battery quickly dropping. It went from 84% earlier to 81% in a few minutes… Judging by the battery drain, I feel like you need to plug this in if you intend to do a lot of work on the iPad.

The best perk about this keyboard is that you can assign the four physical button at the bottom-left of the keyboard. The four keys are Globe, Control, Option, and Command. I’m a PC user, so using the CMD+C or CMD+V is annoying to me, because of the layout. I’m just used to the Ctrl key to be the furthest left of the PC keyboard. Thankfully, you can reassign the Globe key to CMD, making a better keyboard (in my opinion).

I also like the mousepad, but it doesn’t always work with all the applications. For example, it doesn’t seem to work with Google’s Keep. I am assuming it will work better with native Apple Applications, such as Safari or their iOS Mail App.

The other thing you should know about the Magic Keyboard is that it is a little heavier than the folio. Weight may be necessary so it can anchor the “floating” iPad. As for versatility - it is only a keyboard or it can only close to protect the iPad. That’s all you can do with it.

If you need to use the iPad as a tablet, like reading digital comic books, you have to remove it from the keyboard. I think it was intentionally designed this way… which I don’t like. You see with the Folio, you can just fold the keyboard all the way to the back and use it as a Tablet, if you don’t need the keyboard.

In the end, if you need a keyboard for your iPad, I would recommend either the Folio or the Magic Keyboard, it just depends on how much money you want to spend. I have to admit, typing on the Magic Keyboard is 100% better than on the Folio.

I think my biggest concern is the battery drain. It’s already at 70%, as I finish writing this.

Update: I thought perhaps it’s just a fluke that the keyboard was draining the iPad’s battery like water (even if you have the lights on the keyboard turned off)… but after using it for a week, I can confirm that you need to plug in the keyboard if you intend to type a lot. If you are not using the keyboard, obviously it won’t draw power.

The magnet is very strong and can really hold the iPad in place. You can rock it around in a moving vehicle and know that it won’t go flying off.

PS, the other cool thing about this keyboard is if you need to lock your iPad, you can use the keys: CTRL+CMD+Q and it will lock the iPad right away.

Photo below is my Magic Keyboard with Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (from Mighty Skins) and my iPad with Death Dealer by Frank Frazetta from Skinit. I’ve previously ordered a Skinit for my Xbox Series X, and I love it. The printing looks very good and it seemed durable.

Apple Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro 12.9

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ @weheartmusic

Diablo Immortal

Read More Blizzard I got the demo from PC Gamer in 1996 and was hooked. I love the first game, and have since bought all the Diablo games, including Diablo II and Diablo III (despite my protest in 2012). Originally I refused to buy ..…

Blizzard’s “Do you guys not have phones?” game, Diablo Immortal launched on iOS and Android on June 1st. The PC version followed soon after.

I have tested the game on iPhone 13, iPad (2020), and the PC. I have to say, the best experience, at least for me, is on the PC. To think that Blizzard wasn’t going to release the game on the PC, but changed their mind because they feared that gamers were going to emulate the game on the PC anyway. The main reason why the game is superior on the PC is that my PC has the power and RAM to run the game well… plus you have physical buttons.

So far, I actually like the game. I think it’s a first class game, as only Blizzard can deliver. Personally speaking, it’s really easy to level up in the game. In about four hours of game play, I’ve leveled up to 20, not even breaking a sweat. There is a reason for this, because Blizzard wants you to beat the base game so that you’ll spend money for the post-game or fight for ranking. Of course, I’m not planning on spending money to play the game… but Blizzard makes it impossible to ignore the store.

Again, I’m one of the few people that actually like Diablo Immortal. Especially for a “free” product, I will put up with the game design and questionable advertisements whenever you go to the store.

I have heard that at some point in the game, you cannot really progress unless you spend money. I haven’t reach that point yet… but I know it’ll happen.

Now that I’m tired of playing Diablo II and Diablo III… this Diablo Immortal game will tie me over until Diablo IV, which I absolutely cannot wait for.

Yours,
Weekend Gamer

Diablo Immortal on iPhone 13 (June 2022)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Divinity: Original Sin II on the iPad

Read More Larian Studios I have been hyped about Baldur’s Gate 3 since Larian Studios announced their teaser in August 2019. I’ve already mentioned that I was a massive fan of Black Isle Studios …

You know I’m a big fan of Larian Studios, the Belgium company that is currently developing Baldur’s Gate III (which I already pre-ordered) and the successful Divinity series. While I haven’t loved the original games from 2002, I came around with 2014’s Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel Divinity: Original Sin II.

Sadly, I haven’t beaten either of the Divinity: Original Sin saga, but from all my hours of gameplay, I love it. So much that I’ve decided to spend $25 to see how Divinity: Original Sin II will work on my iPad Pro 12.9. I saw that it supported Bluetooth controller and keyboard, but I will likely just use touch to play.

In the past, I’ve played around with Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II on the iPad, but those games originally came out in 1998 and 2000 (and yes, I bought and played them back then).

With Divinity: Original Sin II, which originally came out in 2017, on the iPad, I was just eager to see a semi-recent, modern game on the iPad. We all know that Apple have never been known for video games… so I’m glad to see companies, like Larian, take a chance.

So, for some bad news, those with older iPads, they cannot run the game. The game will run on iPad Pro 2018 to 2021 (basically any iPad with the A12 Bionic chip or later). The other bad news is that the game will take up at least 18GB of storage, so if you have an 32GB iPad, it’s going to take up half your space!

Even many users might feel that $25 is expensive (especially for an iPad app), you have to understand that this is a first-class game. I’ve played the PC, I’ve paid $50 for the game originally, so $25 is really bargain, in my opinion…. But it’s true, $25 is a million times more expensive than the typical $1.99 iPad.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Site Update: Lucky 13

Read More iPhone The iconic iPhone 7 has been announced by Apple yesterday (September 7th). It is the latest and greatest from the company, and they are getting a lot of negative feedback about the lack of a headphone jack ....

As you may, or may not, know, I’m about to wind down and heading into Winter Hibernation mode. I do have one final show that I (want) and will cover, Bad Religion at the Palace Theatre in St Paul on November 16th. I am a long-time Bad Religion fan and will brave the snow, if I have to, to see the band play.

Anyway, as an early birthday gift to myself, I’ve decided to buy Apple’s latest iPhone 13. The move from Google’s Android is partly due to the way Visible Mobile works on iOS. I can connect up to five devices to my iOS Phone, verses one device on Android.

Plus, since I started using an iPhone X in the last few months, I’ve learned to really admire how easy it was to use the iPhone. Everything just seems to work better and easier on the iPhone. For example, the Bluetooth connects with my car without any issues. My old Android phone would sometime randomly disconnect. It’s super annoying, especially when you’re driving and you absolutely need my phone to connect to the car.

Since I’m already a big iPad fan, moving to the iPhone is effortless.

Now, for the bad news, if you’re also on the fence about switching to the iPhone… it’s actually hard to switch over (at least for me).

For starters, you cannot just buy an unlocked brand new iPhone at any retailers, such as Target or Best Buy or Amazon. Basically, the only way to get an unlock phone is through Apple. You can buy it online, or you can visit one of their retail stores. Unfortunately, their physical store can be quite popular … meaning you have to wait in line to get an appointment to buy a phone (which can take over an hour).

The other bad thing is that generally when you buy into the Apple ecosystem, you’re going to be locked in their system. Again, having own an iPad and an Apple TV, and thinking about getting an iWatch… I’m basically already locked in. Just be aware that Apple always charges more for their products… but if it means quality and that the money goes to an American company, I’m okay with paying more.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

Microsoft® Surface Pro 7 Microsoft Surface Pro 7 - 12.3" Touch-Screen Release Date: October 2, 2019 Windows 10 Pro Laptop Mode / Studio Mode / Tablet Mode Instant On Dual far-field Studio Mics Front-facing 5.0 megapixel camera USB-C™ and USB-A ports Built-in Kickstand 10.5 hours Battery 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor 12.3” PixelSense™ Display 1.7 lb Ultra-light and Thin Read More Black Friday It's that time of the year again, Black Friday. Like last year, it's more like Black Thursday, as Kmart, Walmart and are opening their doors at 12am, 6pm, and 8pm, respectively. … …

With Black Friday looming over America, some stores, such as Best Buy, are already doing “Black Friday Prices Now” (since November 1st). This is a great promotional thing for these stores, as consumers (such as myself), are already spending their money at their stores, rather than waiting to spend it elsewhere. I think it’s smart, especially against online retailers like Amazon, who traditionally might have similar prices when Black Friday comes around.

For those outside of America, Black Friday is the name of the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of November, and for most Americans, they have Thursday and Friday off from work. That Friday, historically, most Americans would go shopping.

Of course, there’s always Cyber Monday (the Monday after Black Friday), and the recent Singles Day (November 11 - which is mainly a Chinese celebration) …

Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600.

Sure, it’s the entry model version, i3 with 8GB ram, but I can’t really complain because of the price. I would’ve liked to pay a little more to upgrade the chip, but those i5 models weren’t on sale.

I already have an iPad Pro 12.9, but despite buying a Logitech keyboard, it is definitely not a computer replacement. There are some things that the iPad does really well, which is reading and watching movies, but if you want to do video editing or PhotoShop editing… it’s severely limited.

The major thing that sets the The Surface Pro apart from Chromebooks or iPads, is that the Surface runs the full Windows 10 operating system. All the Windows software you own and use will run on this laptop/tablet! Of course, that doesn’t mean that some software, like the latest games, will run very well on the Surface Pro…. But it will run.

It’s so good to finally able to run Steam or GOG on the new Surface Pro without any issues. The only downside is that software made especially for iOS and Android won’t exactly work on Windows (that is the fault of the developer).

For example, popular comic book reading application ComiXology (an Amazon company), refuses to develop for the Windows’ platform. You can view your comics on their website, but it doesn’t offer offline viewing.

There is a workaround for this, software such as BlueStack is an Android emulator and you can run Android apps on Windows. Unfortunately, it’s not a great solution, and it’s a little slower (with lower resolution) on my Surface Pro than I would like.

If you have a Surface Pro 6, don’t bother to upgrade to the 7, as the only changes are the 10th generation Intel chip and new USB-C connection. Not a major upgrade, but the USB-C is pretty nice, as it will also charge your Surface if you don’t want to use the magnet Surface charger.

There are cheaper Windows alternative out in the world, but if you’re looking for the nice form factor of a tablet / laptop, and if you can afford it, the Surface Pro 7 is the latest and best of its class.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Living with the Apple's iPad Pro12.9 and Pencil

iPad Pro 12.9 Specs Model: A1670 (Wi-Fi) CPU: Apple A10X Fusion with Apple M10 2.36 GHz hexa-core Apple Fusion (3× Hurricane + 3× Zephyr) Graphic: 12-core PowerVR Series 7XT Display: 12.9 inches (330 mm) [diagonal] multi-touch display with LED backlighting and an oleophobic and scratch-resistant coating, Wide color display, True Tone display, Fully laminated display, Antireflective coating, ProMotion display (120 Hertz refresh rate) 2732-by-2048 pixel resolution at 264 ppi (Retina Display) Read More Apple It's hard to believe that it's only been three years since the iPad was introduced. Despite me thinking what a crap name "ipad" was, I think the name is probably well-accepted with people now. …

I’ve been living with the iPad 12.9 Pro (2017 Model) since March 2018. After using the iPad daily for about two months, here are my thoughts:

COMICS
Since I mainly wanted to read comics on a bigger screen (coming from the smaller 9.7 size), the iPad’s nearly 13 inches is just perfect for comics. The size is nearly one to one, if not slightly larger than the print version.

For comics bought on ComiXology, they upgraded their comics to nearly 4k resolution, so a typical “Epic” collection is about a gigabyte in size! While they look gorgeous on the higher resolution, you really need to make sure you have the disk space for it.

Magazine View

On the other hand, the magazine experience is only okay. I bought a subscription to PC Gamer on Zinio, and was not impressed. While the text is super crisp and readable, the art/images did not look so good on a higher resolution. I suspect on a smaller sized iPad, you wouldn’t notice... but you can clearly see the pixelation on the iPad Pro. See screen print as an example.

Until the magazine industry catches up or offers high quality resolution, I don’t think I’ll be buying it on digital (unless is free as part of a print subscription).

If you want to load your own content, the two iOS apps I’ve used and endorsed are: Chunky and Foxit PDF Reader (or the built in Books reader). Although I’m not a fan of the name “Chunky”, it’s probably the best CBR reader. I’ve even upgraded to the Pro version, even though I didn’t need or want the Pro features - I just wanted to support the Chunky creator.

SMART CONNECTOR
I have several Bluetooth keyboards, but I have never really liked pairing the keyboards. Sometime, particularly with the original Apple bluetooth keyboard because it doesn’t have a reset button, the iPad does not see the keyboard because it was previously paired with another iPad. It’s very frustrating.

With the Smart Connector, the keyboard is instant-on when you connect. You don’t need to charge the keyboard (since it’s powered through the connector).

I’ve read some reviews on Smart Connector keyboards, and they mentioned the magnets, but let me empathize on the magnets: the iPad will automatically align and stick to the keyboard. It’s powerful enough that you can lift it up and the iPad without any worry that the keyboard will drop off.

Although only Apple and Logitech makes Smart Connector keyboards, I think it’s worth it to buy one. I have the first generation Logitech iPad Pro keyboard, which is technically not meant for the iPad Pro second version, but it fits and the price was discounted to $75 (originally $149).

DRAWING
Before the new 2018 “New” iPad was announced last month, only the iPad Pro supported the Apple Pencil. I’ve wanted to draw on digital for a long time and have, in the past, used various instruments and softwares. None of them really worked for me, that is until the iPad and Apple Pencil combination.

Using ProCreate ($10), drawing was is pretty amazing. Trust me, drawing was nearly real time one to one, just like drawing in “real life”. Since it’s digital, there’s no paint mess or cleanup. Plus, producing artwork, from idea to finalized art, can be pretty fast and efficient.

Don’t take my words for it, professional artist Mark Ulriksen went from traditional to digital for The New Yorker with the same setup I have (iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and ProCreate). Read his interview and profile at businessinsider.com

CONCLUSION
Let me get to the point: the iPad is not a laptop replacement. There are many limitations with the iOS system, for example true multitasking and file transfers. If you’re a traditional laptop user, you’re not going to be happy with the iPad, so stay with the tried-and-true laptop experience.

What the iPad is meant for, and excel at, is media consumption and portability. Watching movies and television is a joy (especially on a larger 12.9 screen) and reading is wonderful (at the higher resolution). Apple is known for their gold-standard battery life, and the iPad’s weight is a feather compared to traditional laptops.

If you like what you read, but don’t want to shell out the premium price usually associated with Apple products, the new 2018 9.7 iPad, at $329 (with Apple Pencil support), is the iPad I would recommend for you. Sure, you’re not getting the larger 12.9 screen or Smart Connector, but for most people, they’re not going to care to spend the extra cash to upgrade.

P.S. This article was written on the iPad using the Logitech Smart Connector Keyboard and Google Keep. If this was a collaborative article (requiring other people’s input), then I would use Google Docs with its sharing functionality.

Vuart examples:

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic