Pros and cons of using iPad 2 as a mobile journalism tool

On Wednesday, I tested Apple’s tablet PC as a media production gadget. Today, I’m enumerating the pros and cons of using the iPad 2 as a mobile journalism tool based on that test.

Pros

1. The iPad 2 is portable. It’s thin and light, making it easy for anyone to carry it around.
2. Taking pictures with an almost ten-inch device was a new experience for me. It was indeed cumbersome at first, but you’d get used to it.
3. Shooting videos – please refer to my description of taking pictures.
4. The iPad 2 is an all-in-one media production tool. You can edit photos and videos, create animation and publish texts in the field using just one device.
5. Battery life is good. The battery charge was still above 60 percent after about three hours of heavy usage (3G, photo and video editing, writing).

Cons

1. The WordPress app wasn’t as easy to use as the WordPress website. I couldn’t see any button or feature allowing hyperlinking and writing picture captions.
2. I wasn’t able to include audio because the SoundCloud player couldn’t be seen on the iPad 2. There was also no slideshow in the article, because just like the SoundCloud player, the Slide.com player couldn’t be seen.
3. Using 3G is expensive.

These are my initial thoughts on the pros and cons of using the iPad 2 as a mobile journalism tool. I said “initial” because my perceived pros and cons could still change. For example, the battery of a new iPad is, of course, in good condition. What about a one-year-old iPad?

Testing iPad 2 as a media production gadget

This is my first ever attempt to write an entire blog post using only the iPad 2, and outside the comforts of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

I’m using 3G right now and it’s draining the battery quickly.

In the blog post “iPad 2 as a media production device for mobile journalists,” I said “I will attempt to come up with an entire blog post, with text, audio, video, photo, illustration and animation, using only the iPad 2, to see for myself if this Apple product can be a good media production device.”

I can include an illustration and animation in this article, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to do so. In a breaking news environment, photos, videos and the story itself are the things that matter. Illustrations and animation can come later.

My subject in this post is the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. I chose UP because the scenery is beautiful, and it’s relatively safer to use an iPad here compared with other parts of the metropolis.

Below is a video of some UP scenes, which I edited using the free app Video Editor. It doesn’t do too many things, but at least I was able to combine two videos into one video and upload it to YouTube.

Below, and the two pictures above, are photos taken using the camera of the iPad 2. I did some minor edits using the app Adobe Photoshop Express.