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iPad or iPod Touch, as a learning aid

D

dh2005

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2010
907
0
Hello everyone,

I got onboard the good ship Apple a couple of months ago, when I bought a Mac Mini. Really like it.

I've kept away from iPods for all these years, largely because I've never had a pressing need for music on-the-move. But I saw one of my friends using an iPod Touch today, and it made me rethink.

She was using an application that allowed her to browse medical articles offline, all stored in RAM (both she and I are medical students); it gave her access to a brief summary of the key features of a series of diseases, which I thought might be extremely useful as a portable reference in the absence of a clinical medicine handbook. I thought to myself; "hm. Maybe I could get me one o'those...?".

Then I had another thought. With the release of the iPad so imminent, would it not make sense for me to buy one for its larger screen? I'd be looking at the 64GB iPod Touch, and that's pretty expensive anyway, so the leap to the 64GB iPad (WiFi) would probably be manageable.

Does anyone have a view on this?

Thanks in advance,



DH.
 
I'm actually getting one to aid me in college. Imagine having all your college text-books stored in 1.5 pounds of 'awesome'. Plus the books would be cheaper (I'm guessing) since there is no need to print on paper and bind them.
 
Akash.B said:
I'm actually getting one to aid me in college. Imagine having all your college text-books stored in 1.5 pounds of 'awesome'. Plus the books would be cheaper (I'm guessing) since there is no need to print on paper and bind them.
Click to expand...
I'm excited to be able to get textbooks on my iPad. My only concern is not EVERY publisher is going to have them available, so I'm still going to have to carry some around. Also, I do keep some of my books, but I sell some back as well. So that will be an issue.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm gonna be frank about this - 3G is of absolutely zero interest, to me. I will not buy another device that costs a subscription to operate it - I already have a mobile phone. Besides; most apps won't really concern me.

What does concern me is opinion on whether or not I should get an iPod Touch, or hang on for an iPad. Is there much/any difference between the two, other than the size of them...?
 
dh2005 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I'm gonna be frank about this - 3G is of absolutely zero interest, to me. I will not buy another device that costs a subscription to operate it - I already have a mobile phone. Besides; most apps won't really concern me.

What does concern me is opinion on whether or not I should get an iPod Touch, or hang on for an iPad. Is there much/any difference between the two, other than the size of them...?
Click to expand...

iwork. youtube hd. other unreleased info on iPad..
 
wingnut8 said:
I'm excited to be able to get textbooks on my iPad. My only concern is not EVERY publisher is going to have them available, so I'm still going to have to carry some around. Also, I do keep some of my books, but I sell some back as well. So that will be an issue.
Click to expand...

You can always scan them for personal use. Takes an hour to do with a ~200 page book.
 
puppyflightclub;

Well, okay... but the absence of YouTube HD on the Touch is pretty academic, given the size of the screen.

I guess what I'm asking is... is the iPad (WiFi) anything/much more than a big iPod Touch?
 
dh2005 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I'm gonna be frank about this - 3G is of absolutely zero interest, to me. I will not buy another device that costs a subscription to operate it - I already have a mobile phone. Besides; most apps won't really concern me.

What does concern me is opinion on whether or not I should get an iPod Touch, or hang on for an iPad. Is there much/any difference between the two, other than the size of them...?
Click to expand...

It doesn't require a subscription or a contract. You use it whenever you want it and cancel it whenever you want it.

Secondly, iPad's large screen would help for reading documents. It fits more of the data on one screen. Considering the fact that you might get most of your medical textbooks in PDF format, iPad would show them in full view at once, not a lot of scrolling required.

Other than that, it really is just a giant iPod touch. A lot of people, that's what they want.

I suggest you visit the Apple store if you live near one and try the demo units.
 
puppyflightclub;

Okay. Good to know. Thanks.


Anyone else, please feel free to add to this.
 
MikhailT said:
It doesn't require a subscription or a contract. You use it whenever you want it and cancel it whenever you want it.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? Is it a pay-as-you-use arrangement? As in, when it's offline it costs nothing, but when it's online it costs?


Thanks for your comments on scrolling.
 
dh2005 said:
What do you mean? Is it a pay-as-you-use arrangement? As in, when it's offline it costs nothing, but when it's online it costs?


Thanks for your comments on scrolling.
Click to expand...

Read this page at Apple, it'll explain more in details.
 
Thanks for that.


Nah, I don't like the sound of that. As I understand it, I volunteer to get banged for an extra twenty percent on the purchase price, then allow myself to be coerced into spending yet more money to use the feature that I already had to pay extra for. And, man, how hard does that 250MB plan suck...?!

WiFi for me. No thanks, 3G.
 
puppyflightclub said:
HA! im def getting wifi myself!

if youre in NYC whats-there-names is gonna be doing CITYWIDE WIFI.

only a matter of time before that erupts nationwide.
Click to expand...

Problem with those wifi hot spots are security and privacy issues. I rather have a single 3G connection that's hard to decrypt than WEP or non-secure WIFI.

I'm getting the cheapest WiFi model, no need for 3g. I rather get 3G later when my current contract expires. I might go back to simple phone and just use 3G on the iPad for the data stuff that I do on the phone daily.
 
Nearly everywhere I go has a WiFi access point - my home, my friends' homes, hospitals and GP surgeries, coffee shops, bars, trains... it's really no big deal. And I'll principally be looking to view content offline, anyway; so, provided I think ahead and download things when I'm somewhere with a WiFi point, I can view them nonetheless when I go somewhere else.

That 3G add-on feels flimsy, to me. Too much money for "who gives a sh*t?!". If the difference in price between the two was only twenty or thirty dollars extra, I might be convinced to go for it; as insurance to cover the odd occasion when I'm caught without WiFi. But it's just too expensive for something that's going to cost extra even after you've paid for it.

I'm sure they've done their market research; but, personally, I think they might've subsidised the hardware upgrade by charging extra on the subscriptions - much more likely to trap someone into buying the upgrade that way; then, you can screw them for subs when they decide to use it, which they inevitably will do occasionally.
 
dh2005 said:
I'm sure they've done their market research; but, personally, I think they might've subsidised the hardware upgrade by charging extra on the subscriptions - much more likely to trap someone into buying the upgrade that way; then, you can screw them for subs when they decide to use it, which they inevitably will do occasionally.
Click to expand...

The extra cost probably goes to ATT to help offset the cheap plans. The hardware itself does not cost that much.

I'm betting in the near future (3rd-4th gen iPad), they'll get rid of the separate models and just offer a single model with different space, around the time AT&T is ready with LTE.
 
dh2005 said:
What does concern me is opinion on whether or not I should get an iPod Touch, or hang on for an iPad. Is there much/any difference between the two, other than the size of them...?
Click to expand...

We have been using the Touches here for school and I have a decent amount of medical records scanned and on them. I have a TON of PDFs that i need to read on it and carry with me.

Frankly, the extra screen space of the iPad will be perfect for this. Actual eBooks are great on the Touch - the text adapts to the screen size and is a decent size to read.

PDFs, you have to zoom - it can be a pain to scroll across while zoomed, and it works, it's just not "perfect".

My Touch is PERFECT in being a portable brain. The PDA stuff, but for my READING consumption and being able to easily reference medical reports, the iPad is going to be the best.

Although, the Endocrinologist did like being able to look at DD's scoliosis xrays at her last appointment since the Ortho didn't send him a copy of the report (she has a growth disorder).

But i'd vote iPad.

Have you seen the PadNotes demo on YouTube? That is what i'm after - and I know there will just be MORE like that coming this year!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6nDbE1CK3o
 
MikhailT;

Hah!

No, mate. I'm already onto my second career. If I don't stick with this one, my parents will disown me.
 
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