My good old iPad 3 retina - the 2012 tablet that made me go #iPadOnly - is now on my wall and it works great!
📱iPadOnly
Recently I’ve been remodeling my home office and one of the design ideas was to make use of my old hardware - and I found a special place for my good old trusty iPad 3 retina which started my iPadOnly journey (back in April of 2012 - so almost 8 years ago!) and it not only hangs there - it still works amazingly - here’s how:
iPad 3 mounted on the wall with a Bluetooth speaker above it
One of the key changes in my home office for 2020 is the introduction of OSB board. I’ll share the overall design later once it’s finished, but as you can see on the photo, I’ve bought a special iPad mount on Amazon and installed the iPad in such a way, that the cables are hidden behind it.
Right above it there is a cool picture frame which I bought from Energy Sistem which actually is a big Bluetooth speaker that just looks nice. Both the iPad and the speaker are connected wirelessly and the system just works - the sound goes to the speakers right from the iPad.
What can I do on the iPad 3 still? Turns out quite a lot!
The iPad 3 is an old device - it’s latest supported iOS is 9.3.6, but turns out that there are still apps that run on it very well, here’s my list:
- Overcast - an old version of Overcast (thank you Marco!) still works on this device and flawlessly syncs with my account - so I can listen to podcasts from this iPad - and that’s actually my primary use-case for this device. The speaker above it is perfect for listening to podcasts.
- iTunes Video - I can watch videos I purchased on iTunes there and it just works
- Prime Video - You won’t believe it but the current latest version (as of writing this post) of the excellent Prime Video app supports iOS9 so I can watch the latest show here if I want to.
- Logitech Circle - I have 4 Circle cameras around my house and I can see their footage right there on the iPad screen. Very handy.
- YouTube - yes, the YouTube app also works.
- VLC app - also works - I can upload videos to this iPad and watch them as well.
- Zoom - video conferencing is a thing - we do it here at Nozbe a lot and I can still use this iPad as my video conferencing tool if I want to. I have a Jabra speaker I can connect via Bluetooth to it and a permanent video conferencing set up is done!
- Still images - yes, in the last use-case scenario I can just put a Nozbe logo or some other image there so that I have a nice background. Or a slideshow of family photos.
Yes, the iPad 3 is not the fastest machine in my home office. Actually it’s painfully slow to use the above apps… until the playback starts. When it’s about playing the videos, the audio, the whatever content - it’s perfectly fine. Wow.
And there’s the emotional value of having this iPad on my wall…
Not only is this iPad still very useful. It’s been used a lot over the last 8 years. It was my first #iPadOnly iPad prompted a vacation with my wife, later I gave it to my mum and she was using it for years and now it’s back in my home office, working and reminding me of my roots as the #iPadOnly guy, the co-author of the #iPadOnly book.
Long live iPad 3!
It’s also a statement that some tech gadgets can last a long long time and be useful for years without a hitch. I love having it on my wall!