When the iOS 4.2 update was released earlier this week, I was expecting some nice new features for my iPad, although few were really surprises given what had been promised by Apple and revealed by developers.
However, one particular element I’ve been looking for from day 1 is the ability to show material from the device on a TV or projector.
Not just slide shows but web sites, videos, documents, and… well who knows what a group larger than three might want to view on the big screen?
Unfortunately, there aren’t many apps that will display their stuff through Apple’s VGA adapter and I’ve found few changes arriving with the new OS.
Still can’t show any part of the main screens or the iPad interface, nothing from Safari, and little or nothing from other apps, built-in or not.
In case anyone’s interested, here is some of what I’ve found while playing with my iPad connected to a pretty standard data projector, in no particular order.
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App (cost) | Notes |
Photos (built-in) | Shows pictures only when playing a slide show |
FlickStackr ($1.99) | Shows any pictures from a Flickr account including those of contacts and others |
Art Studio ($2.99) | Displays drawing window but not tools or other parts of the interface |
Keynote ($9.99) | Finally shows slides and notes on iPad while showing slides on display! |
Video (built-in) | Plays video on external device but not on iPad screen |
Expedition Browser ($.99) | Safari can’t show a web page but this one can! Including tool bar if turned on in Settings. |
YouTube (built-in) | Shows video (on external screen only) but not the search page or other screens |
Good Reader ($1.99) | The iPad’s Swiss army knife (and a great bargain), this app will show any PDF or Word file |
A few disappointments include apps from ABC (probably don’t want me watching their stuff on the big TV without a flood of ads), Colbert’s The Word (which, admittedly, is an iPhone app), TED (why not? isn’t this coming from YouTube?), PBS (only a few videos play), FlipBoard (so much for hype), TWIT Pad (considering what a pioneer Laporte is in all this stuff, you’d think he could make it work).
And many apps that could be considered instructional.
If you have any suggestions for this list or any other insights about displaying and presenting from an iPad, I’d love to hear them and include them here.