Skyping between iPad and Windows Phone 8

One of the reasons I moved up to a smartphone with front-facing camera was so I could Skype with my dad, allowing him to see our preschooler more often.  But after many attempts trying to use my Windows Phone 8 device to "phone" his iPad, I was almost ready to give up.  On the iPad, no incoming call was being detected. 

I was going to resort to Google Hangouts and using my wife's Android phone.  Google Hangouts required a iOS upgrade, so I updated my dad's 3rd generation iPad to iOS 7.0.2 and in the process, I updated Skype as well on the Apple device. Before heading home, I decided to try Skype once more and eureka, video-conferencing finally worked! 

Now the challenge is to get my dad to learn a couple of steps and try Skyping with me when we are at two different locations and I can't directly assist him.

The one major problem with the BlackBerry PlayBook

Some rights reserved by Charles Williams

With the availability of a good alternative Web browser, OrigamiBrowser, the Playbook became a very adequate tablet.  But it still has two serious and related failings:  poor battery life/high power consumption, plus a very long boot time from cold.

Under my normal usage (connected to Wifi, not a lot of video playback), my Playbook lasts about 3-4 hours.  Even with attempts to conserve power by turning on Airplane mode and putting the device into Standby, it still drains the battery more than expected.  If I turned off the tablet until I needed to use it I'd need to wait upwards of 3 minutes for the Playbook to finish booting and be ready for use:  completely unfeasible.

So I purchased an external battery with 2A output, capable of charging an Ipad, and on paper, capable of charging the Playbook.  Playing with the connectors, which I don't have to do for either an Ipad or my Lumia 920, I am able to get the Playbook to charge about 10% of the time.  To top it off, using a wall charger, it takes 3-4 hours to completely charge, about as long as the device lasts on a single charge.  Something is not right here.

So while the Playbook lasts long enough for a couple meetings and my daily commute, it isn't a device you can take to a conference and expect to use for the entire day.  I'd like to keep using the Playbook and not buy another tablet device but it will likely be relegated to use by my preschooler in the near future.