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So I'm at 23,000 feet (approximately) with my iPhone 4
- Thread starter WilliamG
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I will never read books on my iPad. Ever. I'll stick to my Kindle, thanks.
So you can justify a now obsolete purchase?
lol.
Unless you have cellular data, Facetime wont work. It sends an SMS to initiate the call and cannot work simply on WiFi. The initial 'call' is over normal cellular and then once initialized it connects via WiFi.
As for Skype, as others have said, you need a constant feed of high speed data to maintain a worth while connection other wise it will break up and drop constantly. I wouldn't have thought a connection on a plane would be up to this at the moment.
No harm in you testing it out though was there
Not true. If you've already connected to a person once via facetime, a cellular connection is not required to call them again. Just go into your recent calls and find a facetime call you made, press it and it connects instantly via wifi (assuming the person is on the some wifi network you talked to them on last time). I don't think it uses any kind of SMS.
I will never read books on my iPad. Ever. I'll stick to my Kindle, thanks.
I used a kindle once. Made me shudder at how I couldnt get over its inability to do many things I wanted. Such as color, zoom in/out on the fly, audio, etc. I mean, if all you want to do is read under the lights fine. But if I'm going to spend money on technology, I'm going to buy something that has more than one use.
Granted, I didn't use it more than 15 minutes. But still. Hell, even iBooks can read PDFs in color with all kinds of neat pictures. i.e. the Playboy iBook. Great articles!
I used a kindle once. Made me shudder at how I couldnt get over its inability to do many things I wanted. Such as color, zoom in/out on the fly, audio, etc. I mean, if all you want to do is read under the lights fine. But if I'm going to spend money on technology, I'm going to buy something that has more than one use.
Granted, I didn't use it more than 15 minutes. But still. Hell, even iBooks can read PDFs in color with all kinds of neat pictures. i.e. the Playboy iBook. Great articles!
I've never understood this mentality. I bought a Kindle 1, and Kindle 2 and now ordered a Kindle 3 because I truly believe it offers the BEST READING experience. I don't want the distraction of email or interwebs etc.
As for the argument about "if all you want to do is read under the lights," well, with the iPad you actually CAN'T read under heavy light (especially the sunlight).
My biggest issues with the iPad for reading:
1.) It weighs 3x a Kindle. Not fun.
2.) The font is not smooth enough. It has that "jaggy" look that the Kindle doesn't have (heck, even the iPhone 4 is better in that regard).
3.) I cannot stand reading on a backlit computer screen. Period.
I haven't even gotten into battery life, smeary iPad screens etc...
When I'm reading on my Kindle, the device disappears. When I read on an iPad, I'm always aware I'm reading on a computer.
This is always going to be subjective, but the Kindle is the best reader in my eyes.
I will never read books on my iPad. Ever. I'll stick to my Kindle, thanks.
I love my Kindle too!
I had a flight from Seattle to Atlanta (visiting parents in Atlanta) on Delta and htey were giving GoGo for free as a promotion to introduce it.
I'm glad it was free cause it wasn't worth the price they were asking (it was super expensive, I was basing this on the laptop price). I mean, I'm a total geek, but the wifi didn't work for half the flight and would manage to be flakey for the half it didn't work (it would tease me with working for a minute maybe hten die again, very frustrating). Maybe for free or half the price it would be worth that, but for the price they were asking I'd want a non frustrating experience with it (Yes, I realize they may not be able to control how well it connects but they can control the price and for the way overprice they wanted for it once the promotion was over, it wasn't worth the experience I got).
And that's the feedback I gave them. For now I'm just happy when an airline provides me with free satellite TV (both Delta and JetBlue I know have this) and can do without the wifi (after that experience no I'm not paying for it unless it gets cheaper).
Unless you have cellular data, Facetime wont work. It sends an SMS to initiate the call and cannot work simply on WiFi. The initial 'call' is over normal cellular and then once initialized it connects via WiFi.
As for Skype, as others have said, you need a constant feed of high speed data to maintain a worth while connection other wise it will break up and drop constantly. I wouldn't have thought a connection on a plane would be up to this at the moment.
No harm in you testing it out though was there
False. All you need is wifi.
Also, I've gotten Skype to work in the air, and it wasn't too bad.
I've been able to use FaceTime on GoGo, but recently that is becoming less and less the case. They must be slowly rolling out blocks on FaceTime now. When FaceTime worked, it was just as fast as on the ground.
They block all other voice services, SIP, Skype, etc. by traffic shaping the data to very slow data rates (a good technique to use on services that are very pervasive on port usage).
The only sure fire way to completely avoid these blocks is to setup a VPN session
They block all other voice services, SIP, Skype, etc. by traffic shaping the data to very slow data rates (a good technique to use on services that are very pervasive on port usage).
The only sure fire way to completely avoid these blocks is to setup a VPN session
I failed to Skype my sister-in-law and failed to FaceTime her iPhone 4. It's like the airline is blocking the ports or something? Skype starts out fine and then gets really crackly, and FaceTime can't start...
Boo. :-(
GoGo Internet on my Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle from Minneapolis, for those interested.
I'm bored. What do I do to amuse myself for the next 3 hours?
Watch porn!
/thread
Ive used GoGo wifi and it specifically says that applications requiring constant data streaming are subject to being blocked. First thing I noticed when i signed on.
I remember trying to use GoGo to watch Netflix Instant View back in June, worked great.. for about 10 minutes. The next flight I took I decided to start up Half-Life 2 while Steam had an internet connection on the ground and then wake up my MacBook Pro after I got on the plane. I spent most of that flight avoiding being blown to bits by the same stupid Combine chopper.