iPad

[Dominic Maricic]

Yes, those were windows machines. The only Apple tablet that has power is the ModBook at Axiotron.com. A few inspectors are using this. The rest use windows tablets and transfer to their Mac once they get home.

[Steve Henderson]

iOS 4 is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. And soon iPad owners will get to enjoy its 100+ new features and innovations — including multitasking, folders, printing, and more. Look for iOS 4.2 coming in November for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.1

ok DOM we are getting closer please start making it we have multi task and printing next month

http://www.apple.com/ipad/software-update/

[Dominic Maricic]

The problem is you still have a 1ghz processor (60% slower than the CTL2Go for the same price), 256 megs of ram and no Java support. I really don't see Home Inspector Pro working until they put OS X on the iPad. iOS 4 is already running as a reduced version of OS X but Apple doesn't want to open it up more so that developers can get in and use it without being forced through the Apple Store.

[Donald L. Richards Jr.]

Dom,
  so you don't like apples "restrictive" or "closed" software systems...?
  You're severely limiting yourself and us as customers, by keeping yourself closed to the easier way of what you're familiar with... "better the Devil you know, than the one you don't?" Apple is moving to more closed system for all of their software with the new "Mac App Store!" soon you won't be able to update a mac program without a similar vetting process as the iOS app store. If I could the sync it to my iMac and quickly add Photos to either print or email it to my client, I'd gladly buy another HIP license to be able to have a basic HIP on my iPad.

How many others of you would buy another license to be able to use your iPad in the field?

[Donald L. Richards Jr.]

Another issue to consider with the iPad (the current version at least): The device does not contain a camera, nor does it have any means of connecting devices. As Dominic mentioned, it's not a content creation device, so this (kinda) makes sense. If a version were created for the iPad, there is still the hurdle of how you would be able to load additional content like photos to your inspection without a way to connect the camera.

Dan...
Not Long after the iPad was introduced there were accessories that attach to the doc connector that allow you to connect a camera, or use a card reader... your input is appreciated, but you're mistaken.

And on top of that with multitasking now available and their iWork programs as apps... I can make documents with photos integrated into them quite easily and they are beautiful high quality professional looking documents.

If people dont like Apple products... Doesn't bother me!
But there's no reason to spread misinformation (I don't think DAN was doing that) and downright hatred.
I have been a PC user most of my life, recently switched, and we're now an iFamily!  They Just Work!

Dom,
Hypothetically speaking... IF someone were to "jailbreak" an iPad how would he/she go about installing it on the iPad?

[Dominic Maricic]

Obviously we like Macs. We're one of only 2 inspection programs out of over 20 that runs natively on a Mac. We'd love the iPad to bet a better device, but it's not there YET.

A few guys are using their iPad as a remote to control their home computer with HIP, but not many.

Even if you jailbreak the iPad there's currently no way to install Java on it (though there are many trying and I'm keeping a close eye on this). Because of this we have to write a new program from scratch which will mean about 6 months and tens of thousands of dollars of work. This means we'd need to sell a ton of programs to even come close to breaking even.

The other really big problem with the iPad is, how do you use it? Even if we developed a software program for it you can't walk around and use it since it's touch sensitive. It does not work very well at all with a stylus. This means that you have to hold the iPad in one hand and then use your other hand to type on the screen (very ineffective). It's also a very fragile device.

Add to this that the iPad/iPhone are still limited to what carriers can use it and it all adds up to financially not make a lot of sense. This means that the marker of inspectors that can even use it is limited. The home inspector market is EXTREMELY small. There's a max of 20,000 inspectors right now, spread across 3 main inspection software companies and another 20 small ones.

This doesn't mean in any way that we won't be developing for the iPad. In fact, quite the opposite. I expect Apple to come out with an iPad version that runs a full version of OS X in the near future. At this point we won't even need to build a new program, the current one will just work!!

If you really want a true Mac tablet, check out the ModBook from Axiotron and you'll be ready to go with HIP and a Mac tablet now.

[Donald L. Richards Jr.]

Dom,
firstly,Do you own an iPad?  "Extrememly fragile?" not hardly! , more fragile than my 2go? yes. but that's where cases can come in very handy.

second, Axitron doesn't do that MOD them selves, local contractors actually do the conversion, and they are very hard to find!
you are the one who said a jailbroken ipad could run the HIP software...

third,
its not actually a from scratch program build...  apple seeds the project with the basic operating structure, so... 6months? for a text based software development? my nephew made a graphics heavy game for the iOS devices in less than two... Have you looked at the apple development program?  you're obviously coming at it from a negative slant to begin with.

[Dominic Maricic]

Hi Donald,

Yes, I've been a member of the Apple Development system for about 7 years and have looked into iPad development heavily. It is definitely a complete rebuild of the program. Apple doesn't seed the project with anything. They supply basic packages just like every programming system (and I write over 15 languages!). We'd be starting off writing line 1 of the program. Writing a heavy graphics program is actually no harder than writing a program like ours as there's many packages to assist you with writing your graphics, especially with all the writing the program does direct in the PDF language and special formatting we do. The first release of Home Inspector Pro took over a year and was initially 50,000 lines of code and it was no where near as powerful as our current release.

A few people have commented on the program being jailbroken but I couldn't find anything from me (but it could be on another post). There are a few jailbreak solutions that would partially work but the program would not run properly at this point. If you REALLY want to make it work get a 3G/4G card and then

You're definitely missing the point if you think we're coming at this with a negative slant. We are the ONLY inspection software to run on Windows, Mac & Linux. We pride ourselves on being the most flexible program on the market and would love to work on every device. But right now you're asking the equivalent of you driving 2000 miles to do a $500 home inspection and in the meantime abandon all your other customers while you drive cross country. Would you do that?

We have inspectors asking us to make the program work on Blackberrys, Androids, iPads, iPhones, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows 98-7, Mac OS X, and more!! When/if enough people ask for a particular platform and it becomes cost efficient, we'll get it done.

[Michael Merino]

Dom,
firstly,Do you own an iPad?  "Extrememly fragile?" not hardly! , more fragile than my 2go? yes. but that's where cases can come in very handy.

second, Axitron doesn't do that MOD them selves, local contractors actually do the conversion, and they are very hard to find!
you are the one who said a jailbroken ipad could run the HIP software...

third,
its not actually a from scratch program build...  apple seeds the project with the basic operating structure, so... 6months? for a text based software development? my nephew made a graphics heavy game for the iOS devices in less than two... Have you looked at the apple development program?  you're obviously coming at it from a negative slant to begin with.

Don, you sound like you work for Apple. Are you a home inspector? I would not want to use the Ipad, for the reasons already stated. I have a camera that is a touch screen and I have to turn it off after every pic so that I do not get accidental pictures. I would also want to be able to do more than one thing at a time, like do a search for info when an agent tells my client I am wrong. I also want something that is not so fragile, I have dropped a few cameras in my time and I am sure I will drop more, not to mention I would drop the Ipad. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a tablet that I can carry at my inspections and most likely will have one in the future, but it won't be an Ipad unless and until they improve it.

[Dominic Maricic]

We have a few guys using the iPad with the logmein and other remote programs and it's rumored they're working on a much more powerful iPad.

[Dana Bostick]

The iPad is a content viewing device, not a content creation device.  I have found a couple of Motion Computing slate tablets for $200 each from another inspector. (he has several, these were backup machines) They should show up today now that UPS has dug out in IL.  I did thousands of inspection on my Motion LE-1600 over three years until it finally died.  I consistently beat other inspectors on gang inspections by a half hour or more while using it. One is an LS-800 (8 inch) and the other is an old LE-1400.(10 inch)  should be sweet if the 8 incher will be workable.

[Dominic Maricic]

The iPad is a content viewing device, not a content creation device. 

Agreed. That's why it's so limited in ram. Hopefully they'll come out with a more powerful one in the future.

[Julian Benton]

The new iPad2 looks good. Personally, I would like to be able to use the iPad2 in place of the CT2Go. Currently I use the CT2Go onsite to fill in the report information and then move the report to my iMac or MacBook, add the pictures and then finalize the report. Sure, others would like to do EVERYTHING onsite but like an earlier post, I would pay for a "lite" version just to do what I need.

[Dominic Maricic]

You might get your wish We'll see....

[Gabriel Zitz]

Is the iPad fast enough now?
The "dramatically faster" iPad 2 boasts a dual-core A5 "system on a chip" processor under the hood, said Jobs, good for twice the CPU power and nine times the graphics performance of the original while maintaining the same 10-hour battery life.
Thanks!

[Dominic Maricic]

We'll find out what the capabilities are when it comes out. They lack of handwriting recognition is still going to be a factor as it's hard to hold with one hand and type with the other. The capacitive pens are out but I haven't tried them yet.

[Dana Bostick]

One finger typing might be an improvement for some guys. ;-0

Having been a tablet user for years, handwriting is the way to go if you don't have a regular keyboard.

[Julian Benton]

I find the handwriting recognition on the CT2go to be hit-or-miss, so I just use the stylus and the virtual keyboard. I have gotten pretty fast so using one finger on the iPad will not be that big of a deal.

[Dominic Maricic]

Julian, are you using CTL's handwriting software or the built in Windows software?

[Donald L. Richards Jr.]

I'd have to agree with Julian... I'm using the ctl built in handwriting program... Very hard to work with!
My CTL2Go NL2 isn't what I was hoping for I end up using it like a netbook that I could have bought for half of what I spent!
Just my 2cents