Top Five Mistakes Rookie iPad Owners Make

Dec

2010

Tim Gray, Associate Editor
05:03 PM ET

You've unwrapped the sleek little box and slipped the iPad out into your world. It's instantly ready to go. Now what? There are so many things to be done with that fun little device it is hard to know where to begin. So we won't even begin to try. However, iPadNewsDaily does have a few tips for the rookie iPad owner you'd be wise to heed.

Below are five common mistakes rookie iPad owners often make.

Ruining an excellent battery ragged

The iPad has a fantastic battery . In fact, it has a minimum 10 hours of battery life; perfect for those long trips. However, too many users don’t follow the best practices procedures for battery life. For starters, you need to be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month -- charging the battery to 100 percent and then completely running it down. If you refuse to make this simple concession you will damage the overall health of the battery. In addition, if you leave it plugged in overnight once it is fully charged your run the risk of damaging the battery.

Also, the most important thing is to keep your iPad out of the sun or a hot car including not leaving it locked up in a hot trunk during summer. Heat will degrade your battery’s performance the most.

Remember: The battery makes the iPad go. Don’t mess it up. A new battery can cost up to $50.

Load Up on Worthless Apps

Let’s assume you have the iPad 32GB Wi-Fi . It’s a pretty solid device that can provide plenty of entertainment. It also has good deal of storage capacity, but it’s not limitless. So just because there are thousands of free apps at the Apple App store doesn’t mean you have to download them all. That is going to drown your machine. The iPad will fill up faster than you think. You need to choose wisely.

Here are five to pick and five not to choose:

Choose
Flipboard
Words with Friends
NASA APP HD
Reeder for iPad
Weather HD

Don’t Choose
Modern Clock XL
Vegetables for iPad
Articles for iPad

PS- Also, cut back on the media. The same television shows you load up on your laptop will bury your iPad.

Attempt to Jailbreak the iPad

Unless your name is Julian Assange we don’t recommend you jailbreak your iPad. We only mention him because he’s the best known hacker around these days and knows his way around technology. However, the average person might want to think twice before subverting the Apple iOS in favor of playing by your own rules. Sure, jailbreaking your device allows you to be rid of those pesky restrictions and install third-party applications not approved by Apple, but if something goes wrong you are your own. Apple won’t be there to help you bring that expensive tablet back online.

Forget to activate the Find My iPad option on MobileMe

The only thing worse than leaving your iPad at the coffee shop is leaving your iPad at the coffee shop before you signed up for the Find My iPad option on MobileMe.

That is because in addition to automatically syncing your e-mail, contacts and calendars, MobileMe has a Find My iPad feature that can lead you right to that wayward device.

For starters, navigate that browser to me.com and sign in with your Apple ID. There you can view a map that will show the approximate whereabouts of the missing iPad. If the device is close enough, activate the sound function to help find it. If that doesn’t work a display message on the Home screen can alert anyone who comes across the device to locate you- even if the screen is on lock.

However, The Find My iPad feature works only when the device is connected to the Internet. So it increases the probability of being discovered if both Wi-Fi and 3G are available, but it can also find your Wi-Fi-only iPad when it’s connected to a wireless network.

Spend hours figuring out how to set up a live chat

For the last time: The iPad doesn’t have a camera! What are you thinking? However, if you must have your FaceTime options, give Apple a couple months. It’s a slam dunk that the iPad 2 will have cameras to support your favorite hobby: carrying on a face-to-face conversation with your daughter in the Big City.