When the iPad first came out I resisted for what seemed like a lifetime, intent on holding off until the 2nd Generation was released. Well, needless to say with ‘encouragement‘ from friends and colleagues, resistance was futile and I eventually caved in and purchased an iPad 32Gb with WiFi and 3G.

If I’m honest, at first I was a little disappointed because you see I was expecting a WOW moment but didn’t really get it. Sure, the screen was amazing for viewing photographs on but everything else seemed pretty much like, well…using a big iPhone really, however…

Alan Hess’ first book on the iPad, “iPad: Fully Loaded” was a complete eye opener on what the iPad was capable of and how it could be used to it’s fullest. The first book I’ve read from cover to cover in one sitting, in no time at all I was installing Apps (most of them FREE) that Alan recommended, converting my DVD’s to watch on the iPad and so much more; now I was getting the WOW moment I’d expected!

So as you can imagine, when I heard that Alan had written a follow up book coinciding with the release of the iPad 2, it was a no brainer that a copy would be taking it’s place on my bookshelf…well, my iBook Library anyway 🙂

The “iPad 2: Fully Loaded” is a book that kind of carries on from where the first book finished off. As you’d expect, the first couple of chapters or so cover the basics such as setting up your iPad, email, surfing the web and so on but then after that there’s so much more to discover…

PART 1: CONTENT BASICS

• Chapter 1: Operating System and File Types
• Chapter 2: iTunes
• Chapter 3: Photography
• Chapter 4: Video

PART 2: ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT

• Chapter 5: Electronic Reader
• Chapter 6: Movies, Television and Music
• Chapter 7: Magazines and News

• Chapter 12: Office Apps
• Chapter 13: Notes and Lists
• Chapter 14: Remote Desktop

Like I said in my first review [Link], in the previous book there was one section in particular that had it only contained that information I would have brought the book anyway, and that section was Movies. Well in this new book Alan’s done it again by covering Remote Desktop; let me explain…

Imagine being able to view your computer screen as it is on your iPad, and not only that being able to open programs, access your hard drive/s and so on…basically remotely control your computer…pretty cool huh? Well, that’s exactly what you can do and Alan covers this in great detail but more to the point shows how incredibly easy it is to do. I use this function alot for all kinds of things such as accessing files when I’m not in front of my computer to on occasion sorting something out for my wife on her computer, again when I’m not actually there!

PART 5: LIFESTYLE CONTENT

• Chapter 15: Travel
• Chapter 16: Hobbies
• Chapter 17: Sports
• Chapter 18: Education

Summary:
To put it bluntly…”If you have an iPad and you seriously want to get the most out of it and see exactly how useful and how much fun they can be, then get this book!” In fact, I’ll go one further and say “Get both books!”… iPad: Fully Loaded [Link] and iPad 2: Fully Loaded [Link] because both have sections you’re just not going to want to miss out on!

Highly Recommended!

•     •     •

!!! WIN A FREE COPY OF iPAD 2: FULLY LOADED !!!

For your chance to win a free copy of this ‘must have’ book for iPad owners all you have to do is paste all the following line in red as a status update on Twitter:

 Get the most out of your iPad  with “iPad 2: Fully Loaded” by Alan Hess (@shotlivephoto) http://bit.ly/pVtvbT #ipadbookcompetition

(Closing date is Saturday 23rd July 2011, and the winner will be randomly picked from all the ‘Tweets’ on Sunday 24th July … Good luck!)

•     •     •

iPad 2: Fully Loaded (Alan Hess)
ISBN-10: 1118093194
ISBN-13: 978-1118093191
Currently priced at £14.44 with Amazon UK