iPad Wifi: News from The Daily, WSJ, NY Times, etc.

[Pak^Man]

Hello friends,

I am considering getting an iPad (current generation..... iPad 2 will have to wait, as I have some international travel coming up soon). I was going to get the Wifi version as the benefit for 3G to me is not worth the extra $130.

But here's my main question; where you current owners may be able to help me:

Will I still be able to use the iPad to read news in the absence of WiFi? I know the Bloomberg app on my iPhone allows me to download all news over WiFi when I log in in the morning.

Do the iPad apps for the Daily, Wall Street Journal, and NY Times, etc allow this? My thought is that I can fire up the apps, and update them when I'm in Wifi, and then read at my leasure when I'm on a train or waiting for a flight, even without a data stream.

Can you help me figure this out before I take the plunge?

Thanks!

 

[vrDrew]

Yes: Both the New York Times and The Daily allow you to download news stories for reading at a time when wifi or 3G are not available. And provided you have the App, you can access US content, regardless of where your wifi zone is located. Something thats definitely not true for video apps like Netflix and ABC player.

This - by the way - is the reason these Apps are preferable for newsreading to things like Flipboard. (Yeah, I know all about Instapaper. Its a hassle.)

Reading the Times and The Daily while offline does have some caveats. On the NYT App, if you haven't (recently) opened a story with photos, then those photos are likely to be missing. The Daily also has quite a lot of videos which are also missing while offline. All of The Daily's photo content will be available - offline or not.

The NYT app has an "Update All" button, which updates stories in all sections at once. It takes about 30 seconds with a good wifi connection. Do this before leaving a wifi zone. Also, be aware that the NYT generally releases the days news at around 6.00 EST. Keep this in mind when travelling in Europe. 9 am in London is 4 am in New york - so you are probably going to get yesterdays news. The Daily downloads a new paper every morning automatically - if there is wifi available. I suspect their new issue comes out at around the same time.

Lastly, I'm not sure how long you are going to be away. But I suspect strongly that the NYTimes app will end its period of free access to news sometime within the next couple of weeks. The Daily's free run ends in just 8 days. I don't mind, personally, paying for quality news - but some folks seem to have an issue with it.

 

[poloponies]

Hello friends,

I am considering getting an iPad (current generation..... iPad 2 will have to wait, as I have some international travel coming up soon). I was going to get the Wifi version as the benefit for 3G to me is not worth the extra $130.

But here's my main question; where you current owners may be able to help me:

Will I still be able to use the iPad to read news in the absence of WiFi? I know the Bloomberg app on my iPhone allows me to download all news over WiFi when I log in in the morning.

Do the iPad apps for the Daily, Wall Street Journal, and NY Times, etc allow this? My thought is that I can fire up the apps, and update them when I'm in Wifi, and then read at my leasure when I'm on a train or waiting for a flight, even without a data stream.

Can you help me figure this out before I take the plunge?

Thanks!

I'm not trying to talk you into spending more money but I got the 3G with the idea of using it for international travel. Not sure where you're headed but the relatively widespread availability of 3G MicroSIMs abroad makes it an attractive option (I've seen them at Orange and T-Mobile and am pretty sure they're popping up elsewhere).

 

[filmbuff]

The 3G has two other benefits for travellers - GPS and the ability to connect to AT&T wifi hotspots. When I go to the airport it lets me on the wifi (normally $8 a day) for free, without even asking for a password. Also, you do have to buy the 3G model even if you don't want the service to get GPS and be able to use it for navigation.

 

[KevinC867]

I'm not trying to talk you into spending more money but I got the 3G with the idea of using it for international travel. Not sure where you're headed but the relatively widespread availability of 3G MicroSIMs abroad makes it an attractive option (I've seen them at Orange and T-Mobile and am pretty sure they're popping up elsewhere).

+1

So far, I have used my ipad with local SIMs in Norway, Turkey and Mexico. Mexico was pretty cool since Telcel offered the first month of 3g data service for free. (So I paid nothing for my 2-week stay.) They even had a promotion going which doubled the standard 3GB limit to 6GB.

If you're willing to jailbreak your iPad, it can become a fantastic MiFi device for the price of the $20 MyWi app. That allows you to share the inernet connection over WiFi with your laptop, iPhone or with your friends and family. $130 is a lot cheaper than a dedicated MiFi device and the iPad's battery lasts much longer.

 

[Outrigger]

The 3G has two other benefits for travellers - GPS and the ability to connect to AT&T wifi hotspots. When I go to the airport it lets me on the wifi (normally $8 a day) for free, without even asking for a password.

ANY ipad regardless if it has 3G or not can access ATT hotspots for free.

 

[poloponies]

ANY ipad regardless if it has 3G or not can access ATT hotspots for free.

Really? How do you log in without an AT&T account?