The Best Gadget for your Education?

With the growing use of IT in Education the question faced by many students and business users alike is, which tablet is right for me? The decision to buy an Ipad, an Android or the Microsoft tablet can be a tough and sometimes scary decision for many users.  Questions arise and the answers are not always clear. What’s the difference? Which is better? Does it syn with my TV or phone?  In this blog we will try to answer a few of those questions and hopefully help you decide on the right tablet for educational use.

The most famous of all the tablets is probably the Ipad from apple.  The Ipad is available to users in the 16GB, 32GB and the 64GB versions.  Each model increases one hundred dollars in price each time the capacity is doubled.  This is an important factor when deciding what version of the Ipad to buy.  The memory on the Ipad can’t be upgraded so a user is stuck with whatever size purchased.  To put that in perspective, a high definition movie will take up about 4-5GB of space on the device. Users then have to consider Wi-Fi only models versus more expensive models that allow embedded internet service through a provider like Verizon or Sprint.  For productivity, the Ipad and its App Store has several apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, OneNote, GoodReader and Evernote to name a few that allows users to take notes, create power point presentations and do some basic excel functions. Among the tablets, the Ipad does have one significant advantage, accessories.  Keyboards, cases, stylus, a mouse pad designed for the Ipad, as well as the famous Apple TV which allows Ipad users to project what’s being displayed on the Ipad’s screen to any TV sometimes makes the Ipad an easy choice for users. This allows easy presentations for projects, movies, pictures and other content on the Ipad.  For those users trying to save money Android tablets do provide a good alternative to the more expensive Ipad.

Android tablets give consumers the ability to choose among several brands. Samsung, Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba and even Google all have tablets that run on the Android OS and each offer users a different experience. Samsung tablets running Android with lower memory can be easily expanded up to 64GB with a micro SD card that is used in most cameras and smartphones.  Users have the ability to seamlessly transfer pictures and videos between devices without worry about going through software such as iTunes which the Ipad requires.  Asus and Toshiba also have models that allow users to connect a USB flash drive to their tablet to save and transfer data.  Unlike the Ipad that requires users to purchase extra accessories to project the content on its screen to a TV, Android users can download free apps which allow them to wirelessly stream to a smart TV or device.  Polaris Office, which is a tablet version of Microsoft Office, comes free on Android tablets and gives users access Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Though this is not the full version of the software, it’s excellent for note taking and doing some basic office work.

The Surface from Microsoft is an excellent alternative to the Ipad or Android tablet.  This tablet runs the new Windows 8 operating system.  And users who think that this is just a “small computer” you would be half right.  The Surface has a front and back camera for pictures and videos like the Ipad and Android tablets and unlike the other tablets it can run full versions of any computer software on the PRO version of the Surface. The Suface also has the RT model which come free with the complete Microsoft Office software. The surface however is more like a tablet and only allows users to download apps like other tablets. It also has a Store that gives users access to many of the Apps available to the other devices.  For Students and especially business users who plan to do some serious word editing or who desire powerful decision support tools like Excel the surface is the best option since is can run the full version of the software. And finally in terms of speed, the Surface come with the powerful Intel i5 quad core processor which makes running powerful programs an easy task.

With all the options available we would love to hear which, if any, of these devices you personally use and how.  And for those who don’t already own one of these new technologies, how can you see them fitting your educational needs? 

Resources

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Surface-RT/productID.275275300

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olstemplatemapper.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0500000%23%230%23%2374f~~cpcmcat209000050006%23%230%23%23tg~~nf865%7C%7C416e64726f6964&list=y&nrp=15&sc=abComputerSP&sp=-bestsellingsort+skuid&usc=abcat0500000