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Tablet with USB - but which one?
Steve Lovelock - 2/10/11 at 07:46 AM

Hello,

Thinking of buying a tablet but not sure which one, so looking for some advice.

I know I want a USB port which I think rules the Apple devices out, the rest all seem difficult to compare.

Any views / recommendations?

Cheers
Steve

wylliezx9r - 2/10/11 at 08:27 AM

I've got a Motorola XOOM and it is excellent. They are on offer at tesco at the moment as well, I think something like 150 quid off.

scudderfish - 2/10/11 at 08:35 AM

What do you want to do with the USB port?

graememk - 2/10/11 at 08:40 AM

ebay

130582310469

craig1410 - 2/10/11 at 10:35 AM

As above, what do you need the USB port for? There may be alternative ways to achieve your goals.

A good friend of mine recently bought a non Apple tablet and was so disappointed that he bought an iPad 2 less than a week later. He was highly sceptical about the ipad but now loves it. He too used to say that a USB port was essential but now realises that wireless transfer is much more elegant and achieves the same goal.

I've had an iPad since the original was released and I guarantee there is nothing else out there which comes close. Specs may be comparable but that misses the point. What matters is what you can do with it and the iPad wins that battle handsomely. New software due out in next few weeks will only extend that lead.

Cheers,
Craig.

Steve Lovelock - 2/10/11 at 01:56 PM

We want a USB port to download photos from our camera.

We are wary of having photos / music stored on Apples system because it is hard to transfer them away from Apple based products such as our laptops.

craig1410 - 2/10/11 at 02:41 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Lovelock
We want a USB port to download photos from our camera.

We are wary of having photos / music stored on Apples system because it is hard to transfer them away from Apple based products such as our laptops.


Hi Steve,

Good news - you can do all this using the iPad. All you need is either the official "Camera Connection Kit" from Apple or one of the cheaper copies you can find on the web. The Apple kit comes with two parts, an SD card reader and a USB adapter that lets you connect any USB flash drive emulating camera (most of them these days) onto your iPad. You can tell if the camera is of the appropriate type by connecting it to a PC (or Mac) and switching it on. If a new removable drive appears then you are all set.

As regards being wary of having music / photos stored on Apple's system, don't be. Any photos you load onto the iPad will be synchronised via iTunes to your Windows "Pictures" folder (or if you have a Mac the iPhoto application). This works both ways so you can load pictures onto the iPad via the PC and onto the PC via the iPad. From the Pictures folder you can then do what you want with them (edit, print etc.). In addition, you can email directly from the iPad or upload to Dropbox or Flickr etc.

If you are in any doubt about any of this and live near an Apple Retail Store then take your camera along and as one of the staff to show you it working. I'm sure you won't have any problems. Also, if I can be of help to answer any questions then please just ask.

I hope this helps,
Craig.

Steve Lovelock - 3/10/11 at 07:25 PM

Thanks Craig,

That was helpful.

Steve

craig1410 - 3/10/11 at 07:28 PM

You're very welcome, I hope you get fixed up with something soon.