Читать книгу iPad For Dummies - LeVitus Bob - Страница 7

The iPad is a harmonious combination of hardware and software. In the following sections, we take a brief look at the hardware – what’s on the outside.

On the top

On the top of your iPad, you find the headphone jack, microphone, and the sleep/wake button, as shown in Figure 1-1:

✓ Sleep/wake button: This button is used to put your iPad’s screen to sleep or to wake it up. It’s also how you turn your iPad on or off. To put it to sleep or wake it up, just press the button. To turn it on or off, press and hold down the button for a few seconds.

Your iPad’s battery will run down faster when your iPad is awake, so we suggest that you make a habit of putting it to sleep when you’re not using it.

When your iPad is sleeping, nothing happens if you touch its screen. To wake it up, merely press the button again or press the Home button on the front of the device (as described in a moment).

If you use an Apple Smart Cover or Smart Case (or any of the third-party cases that use the Smart Cover mechanism), you can just open the cover to wake your iPad and close the cover to put it to sleep.

In Chapter 15, you can find out how to make your iPad go to sleep automatically after a period of inactivity.

✓ Headphone jack: This jack lets you plug in a headset. You can use the Apple headsets or headphones that came with your iPhone or iPod. Or you can use pretty much any headphones or headset that plugs into a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack.

Throughout this book, we use the words headphones, earphones, and headset interchangeably. Strictly speaking, a headset includes a microphone so that you can talk (or record) as well as listen; headphones or earphones are for listening only. Either type works with your iPad, as do most wireless Bluetooth headsets and new headsets with Lightning connectors (for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus).

✓ Microphone: The tiny dot in the middle of the top is actually a pretty good microphone. (Hint: You’ll sound better if you use a headset – any headset.)

FIGURE 1-1: The top of the iPad.

On the bottom

On the bottom of your iPad are the speaker and Lightning connector, as shown in Figure 1-2:

✓ Speaker: The speaker plays audio – music or video soundtracks – if no headset is plugged in.

✓

Lightning connector: This connector has three purposes:

● Recharge your iPad’s battery: Simply connect one end of the included cable to the iPad’s Lightning port and the other end to a USB port.

● Synchronize your iPad: Connect one end of the same cable to the Lightning connector and the other end to a USB port on your Mac or PC.

● Connect your iPad to cameras or televisions using adapters: Such connectors include the camera connection kit or other adapter cables. Make sure to use an adapter that works with the Lightning connector.

If you connect the USB cable to USB ports on your keyboard, USB hub, display, or other external device, or even the USB ports on an older Mac or PC, you may be able to sync, but more than likely you can’t charge the battery. For the most part, only your computer’s built-in USB ports (and only recent-vintage computers at that) have enough juice to recharge the battery. If you use an external USB port on a hub, you’ll probably see a Not Charging message next to the battery icon at the top of the screen (unless the hub has its own AC power source).

FIGURE 1-2: The bottom of the iPad.

On the right side

On the right side of your iPad are the volume up and volume down buttons and the ring/silent switch, as shown in Figure 1-3:

✓ Ring/silent switch: When the switch is set to silent mode – the down position, with an orange dot visible on the switch – your iPad doesn’t make any sound when you receive new mail or an alert pops up on the screen. Note that the ring/silent switch doesn’t silence what you think of as expected sounds, which are sounds you expect to hear in a particular app. Therefore, it doesn’t silence the iTunes or Videos apps, nor does it mute games and other apps that emit noises. About the only thing the ring/silent switch mutes are unexpected sounds, such as those associated with notifications from apps or the iPad operating system (iOS).

If the switch doesn’t mute your notification sounds when engaged (that is, you can see the little orange dot on the switch), look for a little screen orientation icon (shown in the margin) to the left of the battery icon near the top of your screen.

When you flick the ring/silent switch, if you see this icon, it means you’ve selected the Lock Rotation option in the Settings app’s General pane.

✓ Volume up and volume down buttons: These buttons are just below the ring/silent switch. Press the upper button to increase the volume; press the lower button to decreases the volume.

The Camera app uses the volume up button as an alternative shutter release button to the on-screen shutter release button. Press either one to shoot a picture or start and stop video recording.

FIGURE 1-3: The right side of the iPad.

On the front and back

On the front and back of your iPad, you find the following (labeled in Figure 1-4):

✓ Touchscreen: You find out how to use the iPad’s gorgeous high-resolution color touchscreen in Chapter 2. All we have to say at this time is: Try not to drool all over it.

✓ Home button/Touch ID sensor (iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 only): No matter what you’re doing, you can press the Home button at any time to display the Home screen, as shown in Figure 1-4. If you have an iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3, your Home button doubles as a Touch ID sensor, and you can use your fingerprint (or a passcode) to unlock your phone and authenticate purchases.

✓ Front camera: The front camera is serviceable and delivers decent-enough video for video chats and such, but it’s not particularly good for taking still photos.

✓ App icons: Each of the 20 icons shown on the screen (see Figure 1-4) launches an included iPad app. You read more about these apps later in this chapter and throughout the rest of the book.

✓ Rear camera: iPads have a better camera (than the one in front) on the backside, just below the sleep/wake button. The iPad 2's rear camera captures decent video at 720p and shoots fair-to-middling stills; all other iPads have better rear cameras that shoot nice HD video at 1080p and very nice stills.

FIGURE 1-4: The front and back of the iPad: a study in elegant simplicity.

Status bar

The status bar, which is at the top of the screen, displays tiny icons that provide a variety of information about the current state of your iPad:

✓ Airplane mode: Airplane mode should be enabled when you fly. It turns off all wireless features of your iPad – the cellular, 4G, 3G, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), and EDGE (Enhanced Datarate for GSM Evolution) networks; Wi-Fi; and Bluetooth – so you can enjoy music, video, games, photos, or any app that doesn’t require an Internet connection while you’re in the air.

Tap the Settings app and then tap the Airplane Mode switch on (so green is displayed). The icon shown in the margin appears on the left side of your status bar whenever airplane mode is enabled.

Disable airplane mode when the plane is at the gate before takeoff or after landing so you can send or receive email and iMessages.

There’s no need to enable airplane mode on flights that offer onboard Wi-Fi unless you have a cellular-equipped iPad. On such flights it’s perfectly safe to use your iPad’s Wi-Fi while you’re in the air (but not until the captain says so).

To use Wi-Fi in flight with a cellular iPad, first enable airplane mode and then reenable Wi-Fi.

✓ LTE (Wi-Fi + 4G models only): This icon lets you know that your carrier’s 4G LTE network is available and your iPad can use it to connect to the Internet.

✓ 3G (Wi-Fi + 3G models only): This icon informs you that the high-speed 3G data network from your wireless carrier (that’s AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the United States) is available and that your iPad can connect to the Internet via 3G. (Wondering what 3G, 4G, and these other data networks are? Check out the nearby sidebar, “Comparing Wi-Fi, 4G, LTE, 3G, GPRS, and EDGE.”)

✓ GPRS (Wi-Fi + 3G and 4G models only): This icon says that your wireless carrier’s GPRS data network is available and that your iPad can use it to connect to the Internet.

✓ EDGE (Wi-Fi + 3G and 4G models only): This icon tells you that your wireless carrier’s EDGE network is available and you can use it to connect to the Internet.

✓ Wi-Fi: If you see the Wi-Fi icon, your iPad is connected to the Internet over a Wi-Fi network. The more semicircular lines you see (up to three), the stronger the Wi-Fi signal. If your iPad has only one or two semicircles of Wi-Fi strength, try moving around a bit. If you don’t see the Wi-Fi icon on the status bar, Internet access with Wi-Fi is not currently available.

✓ Personal hotspot: You see this icon when you’re sharing your Internet connection with computers or other devices over Wi-Fi. Personal hotspot is available for every iPad except the iPad 2 and may not be available in all areas or from all carriers. Additional fees may apply. Contact your wireless carrier for more information.

✓ Syncing: This icon appears on the status bar when your iPad is syncing with iTunes on your Mac or PC.

✓ Activity: This icon tells you that some network or other activity is occurring, such as over-the-air synchronization, the sending or receiving of email, or the loading of a web page. Some third-party apps use this icon to indicate network or other activity.

✓ VPN: This icon shows that you’re currently connected to a virtual private network (VPN).

✓ Lock: This icon tells you when your iPad is locked. See Chapter 2 for information on locking and unlocking your iPad.

✓ Screen orientation lock: This icon appears when the screen orientation lock is engaged.

✓ Location Services: This icon appears when an app (such as Maps; see Chapter 6 for more about the Maps app) is using Location Services (GPS) to establish your physical location (or at least to establish the physical location of your iPad).

✓ Do Not Disturb: This icon appears whenever Do Not Disturb is enabled, silencing incoming FaceTime calls and alerts. See Chapter 15 for details on Do Not Disturb.

✓ Play: This icon informs you that a song is currently playing. You find out more about playing songs in Chapter 7.

✓ Bluetooth: This icon indicates the current state of your iPad’s Bluetooth connection. If you see this icon on the status bar, Bluetooth is on, and a device (such as a wireless headset or keyboard) is connected. If the icon is gray, Bluetooth is turned on, but no device is connected. If the icon is white, Bluetooth is on, and one (or more) devices are connected. If you don’t see a Bluetooth icon, Bluetooth is turned off. Chapter 15 goes into more detail about Bluetooth.

✓ Bluetooth Battery: Displays the battery level of supported Bluetooth devices (while paired). Only certain devices – mostly headsets and speakers – support this feature. If you see this icon in your status bar, it’s telling you the approximate battery level of whichever supported device is currently paired with your iPad.

✓ Battery: This icon shows the level of your battery’s charge, and also indicates when you’re connected to a power source. It’s completely filled when you aren’t connected to a power source and your battery is fully charged. It then empties as your battery becomes depleted. You see an on-screen message when the charge drops to 20 percent or below, and another when it reaches 10 percent.

COMPARING WI-FI, 4G, LTE, 3G, GPRS, AND EDGE

Wireless (that is, cellular) carriers may offer one of three data networks relevant to the iPad as of this writing. For now anyway, only the third-generation and later iPads can take advantage of the speediest 4G or LTE networks, which carriers are rolling out as fast as they can. The second-fastest network is called 3G, and there are older, even slower data networks called EDGE and GPRS. Your iPad starts by trying to connect to the fastest network it supports. If it makes a connection, you see the 4G or 3G icon on the status bar. If it can’t connect to a 4G or 3G network, it tries to connect to a slower EDGE or GPRS network, and you see EDGE or GPRS icons on the status bar.

Most Wi-Fi networks, however, are faster than even the fastest 4G cellular data network – and much faster than 3G, EDGE, or GPRS. So, because all iPads can connect to a Wi-Fi network if one is available, they do so, even when a 4G, 3G, GPRS, or EDGE network is also available.

Last but not least, if you don’t see one of these icons – 4G, 3G, GPRS, EDGE, or Wi-Fi – you don’t currently have Internet access. Chapter 4 offers more details about these different networks.