A few things have become apparent recently:
1) There almost certainly will be a JB for the iPad.
2) The iPad – even with OS4 – will be a challenge to use as a primary computer as long as it lacks the ability to pass documents from app to app – including the various storage/organization solutions (iDisk, dropbox, goodreader, etc.) and back again – rather than creating multiple instances of the document.
So does 1 + 2 = Jailbreak for me? We’ll see. I’d rather do this ‘cleanly’ but at the end of the day I am so drawn to the form factor, light weight, touch interface, etc. that I’d rather make it really work via jailbreak than face to super-kludgy workarounds every time I want to do something fairly basic wrt document files.
I’m glad that devs have additional time before the 3G ships – maybe better workarounds can be found between now and then. Either way, I will try what’s available when the 3G ships before making the Jailbreak decision.
But I won’t be afraid to pull that trigger if it’s truly the best option.
The iPad Alone 
Don’t be afraid my friend. Jailbreaking the Iphone is the way to go. It will be the repository of my files and documents. Served via MyWi. I am actually using mywif to transfer videos, documents, PDF etc to ipad’s goodreader.
I am creating a process on transfering docs to Pages from the iPhone to the ipad. I’ll keep you posted in that, trying to make it wireless transfer, no cables, ni stupid iTunes. Just straight up iPhone (nas) to the ipad (work horse).
By the way ipad doesn’t work well in the bathroom, it’s too unwieldy.
THanks for posting Crazy! And very cool about the process you’re outlining. Wow – that’d be pretty cool though somehow I’d still prefer if it could all happen on the iPad itself 🙂 Thanks for keeping me posted…
BTW LOL about the bathroom 😀
Take a look at docs to go. It’s still just an iPhone app but it offers decent file handling, including the ability to work with google docs. So you have to look at an ugly 2x app, it does promise to turn your iPad into a real computer. I have a copy of the premium version and I’m impressed. I’m not trying to make my iPad fly solo but I’d like to sell my net book. The way this is going, I can’t even do that yet.
I’m not eager to jailbreak but if you decide to jb, I’ll be watching closely to see how you make out.
Thanks for posting, and thanks for the recommendation – I’ll definitely check it out. I’m compiling a list of apps like this to try when the 3G is delivered. This one definitely sounds promising. Hopefully they’ll release a juicy iPad-specific version…
It is only a rumor (so huge grains of salt are appropriate!) but there looks to be some discussion around allowing apps to explicitly move/flag certain particular files to go in a ‘public’ area which iTunes and all other applications can have read/write access to in OS 4. I hope this comes to fruition because it would solve many frustrations we all have. Being able to set a few pdf/doc files up that way for all apps to see/edit would be …helpful.
I’m guessing Apple doesn’t want to give up their sandbox approach in most cases- which admittedly has saved them from a lot of problems other platforms have had. But I hope they’re starting to see the demand to pass a file from app to app without creating 9 useless copies in the process.
Interesting! Can you tell me more about the rumors? i.e. where you’re hearing them…devs, forums, etc? Many thanks…
That’s the frustrating thing here. I haven’t seen an SDK doc or online published report (which I googled/looked on the usual sites/forums for) that backs this up. I heard it from a mid-tier iPhone developer friend, who has given me good info in the past- but usually I’ve seen stuff appear in the SDK or online reports shortly after hearing it from him. I doubt he’s intentionally trying to mislead me, since I know the lack of this functionality hurts their document applications as well- so maybe enough devs are pushing on Apple to make limited sandbox exceptions for certain documents, and maybe they are starting to listen.
I’m keeping my eyes peeled on what we hear about the 4.0 Beta 2 SDK whenever that is released to devs- I think they’d pretty much have to add it by then or Beta 3 at the latest if Apple decides to make it in the initial 4.0 release.
Very interesting, thank you! And agreed about Beta’s 2 – X. I love when people go dumpster diving into the code and turn up the fun stuff (iChat, video calls, etc.) Hopefully we’ll get good word wrt some type of file system functionality…
I think we will see OS 4.0 released on or very soon after WWDC. Then, iPad’s OS 4.1 released in September/October. I wonder if they are holding out on the new OS4.0 iPad features to get people to buy an iPad now instead of waiting and will show what the new features are at WWDC to get developers ready.
I have jailbroken my iPhone twice and within a few days gone back, since I found absolutely no use for jailbreaking. I have never been a fan of theming (I think I will stick with the black background on the iPhone even when 4.0 comes out), and multitasking is useless to me on such a small device. (Especially since I have a iPhone 3G; its slow to begin with right now!)
I will use the iPad for a few days and then decide whether I will jailbreak. Accessing the file system may be beneficial and multitasking with ProSwitcher and Backgrounder may help alleviate some of the issues until IPad OS 4 comes out but I just hate incompatibility, waiting for people to fix the jailbreak, and potentially loosing software that I have purchased because a new update breaks it.
I will jailbreak for sure to gain the flexibility that we are missing when not jail broken.
+1 depending on what that flexibility consists of. Without a functional file system of sorts, I’m afraid I’ll have no choice…
Slightly offtopic, but yoyoyankees, did you notice this?
http://www.jokeandbiagio.com/how-to-write-a-screenplay-on-the-ipad
Josh
I did see that, thanks! It’s definitely an interesting short-term solution. And if Final Draft drags its feet for too long, I can see them continuing to refine the template over time. Could be cool…
Thanks to Jailbreak, my iPhone has been my primary computer for over a year.
A jail broken iPad should be all you’d ever need!
Thanks for posting. From your lips…
Ty how the heck did you manage on using the iPhone as your primary computer? What is your use case? I’m just wondering.
Not to put words in his mouth, but one thing I can attest to – in fact something that contributed greatly to my plan to use my iPad as my primary computer – is the way the iPhone made me leave my MBP (and hackintosh Dell Mini9) home more and more. It really does so much so well…
When I can create a folder and put any file I want in it, then command any program to open from said folder, then I could use the iPad the way I need, then it will be librating. Until then it is a very interesting combination of hardware and viewing software.
Well good reader sorta kinda does what you’re asking, as does air sharing. But I hear you. Believe me!