I feel as though I should preface this article with a few points:
- My technical savvy-ness is off the charts…in the negative.
- I don’t read manuals.
- My number one use of our family’s iPad is to play Angry Birds.
- I totally rule at Angry Birds.
Okay, so the fourth point might be irrelevant. What I’m trying to say is the following five features of the iPad aren’t secret to just the Apple Geniuses; however, they were new to me. I’ll consider it a success if even just one of the five is new to you.
1. You Can Create Folders
Our iPad’s home screen reminds me of my Tupperware cabinet: Everything is thrown everywhere, no order, just pure unorganized chaos. The icons on our iPad screen are essentially a mishmash of small lids, large lids, small containers, large containers, divided containers, and the skillet that obviously doesn’t belong there, but the hubby insists that after a year of living in this house he still doesn’t know where it goes. Obviously a different article. Anyways, folders, yes! Touch an icon, any icon, and hold your finger there until they all start to shake and present with an x in the left corner. To create a folder, drag an app over another icon and let go. You will be presented with a screen showing those two icons together along with a folder name automatically generated. If you would like to rename the folder, click on the name line, a keyboard will appear, and type in a new one. Ahhhhh, organization!
2. Take a Screenshot
Don’t believe I totally rule at Angry Birds? Well, I could totally prove it to you by taking a screenshot of my awesome scores. All I would have to do is simultaneously press the home and power buttons. The screen would flash and click, and the shot would be automatically saved in my Photo Gallery. That would just be rubbing it in, though, so I’ll resist the urge.
3. Turn CAPS LOCK on
Sometimes lowercase letters just don’t cut it, but neither does pressing the shift key for every letter you want capitalized. Next time you write your shouty email or comment, save yourself some time and simply press the shift key twice to enable CAPS LOCK. When finished, press the shift key again to return to lowercase.
4. Use Hidden Keys on the Keyboard
Before reading this article, you would tap on the “.?123” key to get to the apostrophe, right? Never again, my friend! Now you know about the hidden keys. When you want an apostrophe, just touch the ! key until the hidden apostrophe key pops up for you to tap. You never have to leave the letter keyboard! The ! key is just one of many, but I’ll leave the rest for you to discover.
5. Pinch to Home
I don’t know about your fingers, but mine have a hard time fitting into our iPad’s Home button hole. Well, no problem because there is a way to get to the Home screen without having to jam my finger into the little hole. All I have to do is simply pinch the screen with all five fingers, and I’m transported Home with no injury to my apparently too-big fingers.
So, there you go. I hope I was able to open your eyes to at least one new capability of your iPad. If not, at least now you know who the most awesome Angry Bird player in the Northern Hemisphere is!
