Last, but definitely not least, all iPads since the third generation include Siri, a voice-controlled personal assistant happy to do almost anything you ask (as long as your iPad is running iOS 6 or later).
In the following sections, we’re not just marveling about the wonderful screen and sensors. Now it’s time to take a brief look at the rest of the iPad’s features, broken down by product category.
The iPad as a media player
We agree with the late Steve Jobs on this one: The iPad is magical — and without a doubt the best iPod (that is, media player) Apple has ever produced. You can enjoy all your existing media — music, audiobooks, audio and video podcasts, iTunes U courses, music videos, television shows, and movies, all on the gorgeous Retina display.
The iPad as an Internet communications device
But wait — there’s more! Not only is the iPad a stellar media player, it’s also a full-featured Internet communications device with — we’re about to drop some industry jargon on you — an email client that’s compatible with most POP and IMAP mail services, plus it has support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. (For more on this topic, see Chapter 5.) Also onboard is Safari, a world-class web browser that makes web surfing fun and easy on the eyes. Chapter 4 explains how to surf the web using Safari.
Another cool Internet feature is Maps, a killer mapping app that’s improved in iPadOS. By using GPS or triangulation (Wi-Fi–only models), the iPad can determine your location, let you view maps and satellite imagery, and obtain driving directions and traffic information regardless of where you happen to be. You can also find businesses (such as gas stations, pizza restaurants, hospitals, and Apple Stores) with just a few taps.
We dare say that the Internet experience on an iPad is far superior to the Internet experience on any other handheld device.
The iPad as an e-book reader
Download the free Books app if you don’t already have it, or any of the excellent (and free) third-party e-book readers such as the Kindle app from Amazon, and you’ll discover a new way of finding and reading books. The Apple Book Store and News app (covered in Chapter 10) are chock-full of good reading at prices that are lower than what you’d pay for a printed copy. Better still, when you read an e-book, you’re helping the environment and saving trees. Furthermore, some (if not many) titles include audio, video, or graphical content not available in the printed editions. Plus, a great number of good books are free. And best of all, you can carry your entire library in one hand. If you’ve never read a book on your iPad, give it a try. We think you’ll like (or love) it.
The iPad as a multimedia powerhouse
The Retina display on all iPads since the third generation makes the experience even more extraordinary. You can use AirPlay to send your video out to Apple TV, too, and your iPad turns into a superb device for watching video on a TV, with support for output resolutions up to 4K.
And iPads include a pair of cameras and the FaceTime video-chatting app, taking the iPad’s multimedia acumen to new heights. Chapter 8 gets you started with FaceTime.
The iPad as a platform for third-party apps
At the time of this writing, there were more than 4 million apps in the App Store, with hundreds of billions of downloads to date in categories such as games, business, education, entertainment, healthcare and fitness, music, photography, productivity, travel, and sports. The cool thing is that most of them, even ones designed for the iPhone, also run flawlessly on the iPad. And more than a million are designed specifically for the iPad’s larger screen.
Chapter 10 helps you fill your iPad with all the cool apps your heart desires. We share our favorite free and for-pay apps in Chapters 18 and 19, respectively.
The iPad as a multitasking content production device
Apple has made the iPad more and more of a device for creating content as opposed to only consuming it. Writing, taking and editing pictures, recording and editing music or videos, and even putting together full-scale presentations — all of these tasks are even easier with iPadOS, especially on the iPad Pro. Split-screen views, support for the Files app, and the fastest processors in mobile computers have made the iPad a beast of a machine. We talk more about multitasking in Chapter 13.
What do you need to use an iPad?
To use your iPad, only a few simple things are required. Here’s a list of everything you need:
An iPad
An Apple ID (assuming that you want to acquire content such as apps, TV shows and movies, music, books, and podcasts, which you almost certainly do)
Internet access — broadband wireless Internet access is recommended
Several years ago, we said you needed a computer with iTunes to sync your iPad. That’s no longer true; these days you can activate, set up, update, back up, and restore an iPad wirelessly without ever introducing it to a computer.
If you do decide to introduce your iPad to your computer (and we think you should), you need one of the following for syncing (which we discuss at length in Chapter 3):
A Mac with a USB 2.0, 3.0, or C port, macOS version 10.8.5 or later, and iTunes 12.7 or later (for macOS Mojave and earlier) or Finder (macOS Catalina)
A PC with a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port, Windows 7 or later, and iTunes 12.7 or later
iTunes is a free download, available at www.itunes.com/download.
Touring the iPad Exterior
The iPad is a harmonious combination of hardware and software. In the following sections, we take a brief look at the hardware — what’s on the outside.
On the top
On the top of your iPad, you find the sleep/wake button, headphone jack, and microphone, as shown in Figure 1-1. iPad Pro models have no headphone jack but do have two of their four speakers on top:
Sleep/wake button: This button is used to put your iPad’s screen to