iPhone iPad app - my sandman

[1BadVan]

Sorry for hijackingthis thread but didn't thinkit was worth a thread of it's own. But all this talk of I Pad androids etc Im thinking of getting one whats the benefit. Was thinking of a PDA but think I will regret it. My use will be in the classroom as a teacher and more importantly viewing this forum.

Cheers Dave

[RodneyHZ253]

Sorry for hijackingthis thread but didn't thinkit was worth a thread of it's own. But all this talk of I Pad androids etc Im thinking of getting one whats the benefit. Was thinking of a PDA but think I will regret it. My use will be in the classroom as a teacher and more importantly viewing this forum.

Cheers Dave

Bad van I am not really great with computers, but I find the iPad touch screen very friendly and since Jennie has bought it for me I have been on the forum I use an iPhone and find it similar.

Cheers Rodney

[Blocker]

Sorry for hijackingthis thread but didn't thinkit was worth a thread of it's own. But all this talk of I Pad androids etc Im thinking of getting one whats the benefit. Was thinking of a PDA but think I will regret it. My use will be in the classroom as a teacher and more importantly viewing this forum.

Cheers Dave

Number one is to do your research.
You have 3 players at the moment: Apple, Android & Windows. Windows is pretty much out of the game now, with very slow and clunky tablets that do not perform.
Apple by far has the most experience in the product in terms of generation development and support.
Android (e.g. Google Tablets) is the newer kid on the block and some would say have the benefit of seeing what is/was on the market and developing it further.

I have owned an iPad and used that for a while, and also bought a couple Android tablets (Motorola Xoom & Asus Transformer). So I think I am qualified enough to give you my personal opinion on how they worked for me.
The first thing I did was establish what I wanted to do with my tablet and investigated the pros and cons of the brands and models.

For me... The tablet is a portable web browser, messaging tool (email, facebook, google+ etc), portable media box (music & movies), document tool and calendar.
From there I looked into how the iPad and Android tablets did these things and settled on what suited me.

Instead of listing my pros and cons I'll just give you my opinion FWIW.

Apple is slim, fast and pretty. It does require you to use iTunes for pretty much all your content e.g Media, music, photos etc. If you have a cd collection, it needs to go through your iTunes catalogue on your PC and get sync'd with your iPad. Buy a book on an iPad it's through iTunes... I couldn't even watch TV shows from my PC without iTunes telling me it had to get converted!
If you buy an Apple product, you must do things the way Apple tells you to do it - No customising or thinking for yourself. The iPad is primarily aimed at people who want a tablet but don't want to have too many options available to them.

Android is thicker, fast and cool. Android tablets pretty much hook into the Google cloud if you want it to. You do have various options like Open Office, QuickOffice or msOffice Lite. for your document management, music and videos can be watched in any format (avi, vlc, mp4, mp3, wav etc) they do not need to be converted! Sharing files is a snap with a google account or just copy and paste from device to PC. Also the Android Tablet is customisable!

I guess you know what I have become a fan of


(This was sent from my Motorola Xoom)

[1BadVan]

Thanks for the info guys. I talked to the it guy at work to get his opinion as well. I have always used windows and some MAC but prefer the windows working environment I like to think, customise and not let the computer limit me or tell me how I have to do it (frustrating). I also want to be able to use office apps. My main use will be class rolls, marks (spreadsheets) presentations via a data projector, course outlines, diary, appointments/meeting notes, budy rosters, surfing the net etc so also important for it to be mobile as I travel from class to class. I think but am not sure a tablet is the way to go. Next step is to start going to the shops and having a play with some tablets but im thinking Android. Any other thoughts welcomed

Thanks again for the input

Cheers Dave

[Blocker]

Try a Toshiba netbook if the tablet is not going to cut it.

My wife's Asus Transformer Tablet has a fold out keyboard but also runs touchscreen. Great thing about Android Tabs is you can plug in a portable usb hard drive and access that data as a 2nd drive.

[jennie285]

I wish Rodney's Ipad had a usb port, and could load programs onto it so it can be used as a pc for me to type a letter in a save...Ipad 3 or 4 probably will have...

[wbute]

My wife has an ipad. I cant see the point of it at all. I use a macbook air which is the sams size and is a proper computer with usb ports and a keyboard. Just my take on it.

[jennie285]

My wife has an ipad. I cant see the point of it at all. I use a macbook air which is the sams size and is a proper computer with usb ports and a keyboard. Just my take on it.

I agree with that, I will probably get a mac laptop next time I need one, now I have an idea about the different application, as I am so used to windows, but it is good for those who are not so good with computers, but have a good handle on Iphones....btw did you get much rain we ended up with 20mm over 3 days...

[Rolla]

Heck a Mac laptop/desktop is worth its weight in gold simply for final cut pro! I am hoping however to buy a mac ipad soon. rcknrlla will be one of the cool kids

[holdenon]

Android app would be great.

The ebay Android app is awesome, I think even nicer than the web. Couple that with the blackberry ebay app and you should never miss an action!!!