Kids Xmas, Tablet for Kids

themull1

I have no clue as to what an ipad and a tablet are? what are the differences? at the moment, my 10 year old daughter borrows my laptop to play free games - moshi monsters etc - what will be best for that?

Tropez

themull1 wrote: »

I have no clue as to what an ipad and a tablet are? what are the differences? at the moment, my 10 year old daughter borrows my laptop to play free games - moshi monsters etc - what will be best for that?

An iPad is a tablet. In this instance, "tablet" refers to tablet computer (as opposed to something like a graphics tablet input device) and is basically a small form factor device capable of a range of computing related tasks such as internet browsing, word processing, email, multimedia playing, some gaming etc. They are very similar in functionality to a smartphone though are usually larger and lack the ability to make phone calls directly, although applications such as Skype can be downloaded to add such functionality.

iPad is a brand name for Apple's tablet computer and uses Apple's own operating system. Tablets from other manufacturers using other operating systems such as Android are also available, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Effectively, most tablets are capable of largely the same functions, although more recent tablets are likely to have more powerful components, resulting in faster processing capabilities, and there are slight variances in user interfaces and abilities such as the use of Flash video.

iPad is more popular right now, largely due to the "cool" factor and more aggressive marketing, as opposed to actually being vastly superior to anything else out there.

NewKittenHelp

Apple products are one of a kind, in the sense that the hardware, software and operating system are all designed by the same company, so there's less chance for it to go wrong.

The support is second to none - no other company offers free expert lessons to its customers, and nor can any others hold a candle to their customer service, which really is fantastic.

Their products are beautiful, but they're built to last. My friend's iBook is still going strong, eight years after she bought it. My Macbook is still in perfect working order, three years on. As is my iPhone, though I'm about to upgrade to the iPhone 5 as I've filled the hard drive on mine. They also hold their value incredibly well - my phone is over three years old, and I got it refurbished from O2, but I'm selling it for £150 in a high street store.

I've never had a phone or a PC laptop last me this long, and both were cheaper than previous equipment I'd had.

My work is automatically synced from my Macbook, my iPhone and my iPad which makes everything so much easier. I have always got at least one of these on my person, so if anything comes up, I'm able to crack straight on, and then I don't have to worry about transferring files and converting them to work on different machines. It's done for me. As I type.

I think those selling points are more important to people than this 'cool factor' that people constantly go on about in regards to Apple.

Tropez

NewKittenHelp wrote: »

Apple products are one of a kind, in the sense that the hardware, software and operating system are all designed by the same company, so there's less chance for it to go wrong.

The support is second to none - no other company offers free expert lessons to its customers, and nor can any others hold a candle to their customer service, which really is fantastic.

Their products are beautiful, but they're built to last. My friend's iBook is still going strong, eight years after she bought it. My Macbook is still in perfect working order, three years on. As is my iPhone, though I'm about to upgrade to the iPhone 5 as I've filled the hard drive on mine. They also hold their value incredibly well - my phone is over three years old, and I got it refurbished from O2, but I'm selling it for £150 in a high street store.

I've never had a phone or a PC laptop last me this long, and both were cheaper than previous equipment I'd had.

My work is automatically synced from my Macbook, my iPhone and my iPad which makes everything so much easier. I have always got at least one of these on my person, so if anything comes up, I'm able to crack straight on, and then I don't have to worry about transferring files and converting them to work on different machines. It's done for me. As I type.

I think those selling points are more important to people than this 'cool factor' that people constantly go on about in regards to Apple.

The components of Apple's products are not all designed by the same company. Certainly, in the iPhone, iPad and iPod, Apple help to design the components, but they're still manufactured by other companies, including oddly enough considering their legal wranglings, CPUs built by Samsung. The Macbook and desktop Macs are nothing but standard PCs with a different operating system, with Intel providing the processors, and not specially designed CPUs, but stock CPUs, with nVidia providing the graphics and various hard drives being used from Hitachi, to Samsung, to Seagate to Intel.

I'll have to take your word on customer service because I've never actually needed to contact the customer service for devices I've bought. They just work.

The built to last argument can be made about other manufacturers. I have a ten year old Sony Vaio that still works fine - it doesn't get used much solely because the hardware is so dated but there's no errors with it. I have a twelve year old Panasonic digital satellite receiver that still works and is used daily. I have a set of surround sound speakers made by Creative Labs that still work, almost 13 years after I bought them. My Nokia 6300 purchased in 2007 still works, although I only keep it now as a backup. I have a Sony Walkman MP3 player that still works after 8 years.

Sure, Apple products hold their value well, because they're the in-thing at the moment.

The "cloud" and "sync" stuff that Apple has is nothing new. Microsoft products have been able to sync with multiple computers for over a decade. Everything that can be done sync-wise with Apple can be done with Google & Android, or through other cloud storage mediums. I do my work on up to seven different devices and have no problem with any syncing, moving documents, backing up things or anything else in that manner.

From my point of view, Apple does not have any technological advantage over its competitors. Everything that an Apple product can do, an equivalent product produced by a competitor can do the same thing, and usually for less.

daska

Tropez wrote: »

From my point of view, Apple does not have any technological advantage over its competitors. Everything that an Apple product can do, an equivalent product produced by a competitor can do the same thing, and usually for less.

I'm sure that's largely true but I can think of one exception off the top of my head. The special needs apps are mainly clustered on the iPad with very few also available on Android, so for me the iPad wins hands down as the equivalent products can't do the job as the apps aren't being developed for them.

I wouldn't buy another Mac though as I appreciate the flexibility of a PC

Tropez

daska wrote: »

I'm sure that's largely true but I can think of one exception off the top of my head. The special needs apps are mainly clustered on the iPad with very few also available on Android, so for me the iPad wins hands down as the equivalent products can't do the job as the apps aren't being developed for them.

I wouldn't buy another Mac though as I appreciate the flexibility of a PC

I suppose it depends on the type of special needs. My employer uses Android so we all have to be able to use Android devices for work and there's a few people with some form of disability who work for us who haven't reported any problems once the tech guys set the devices up for them. There's definitely apps out there to improve things for people who have autism or are physically handicapped in some way. One of our number was unable to speak for some time due to an accident and used their phone as a voicebox through an AAC app.

I'll concede it did require the tech department to configure the device for them, so quite possibly the fix for whatever difficulties they needed to overcome were not obviously available, and of course none of these people have severe disabilities that prevent them from working.

But, not having much experience with people with special needs, nor any applications designed to assist them and improve their quality of life, I couldn't really compare Apple, Android, Windows etc. as far as the availability of apps goes, although I imagine the technology is still there, it just isn't being used.

NewKittenHelp

Tropez wrote: »

The components of Apple's products are not all designed by the same company. Certainly, in the iPhone, iPad and iPod, Apple help to design the components, but they're still manufactured by other companies, including oddly enough considering their legal wranglings, CPUs built by Samsung. The Macbook and desktop Macs are nothing but standard PCs with a different operating system, with Intel providing the processors, and not specially designed CPUs, but stock CPUs, with nVidia providing the graphics and various hard drives being used from Hitachi, to Samsung, to Seagate to Intel.

If that were the case, how would you account for Macs having far fewer problems than PCs? I've heard a lot of Apple haters tell me that my equipment is substandard, that I can get better for half the price but I've yet to meet a PC user with an eight-year-old laptop that still just works.

Tropez wrote: »

I'll have to take your word on customer service because I've never actually needed to contact the customer service for devices I've bought. They just work.

Nothing to say about Apple's classes? Or their Genius Bar? No other company has an equivalent.

Tropez wrote: »

The built to last argument can be made about other manufacturers. I have a ten year old Sony Vaio that still works fine - it doesn't get used much solely because the hardware is so dated but there's no errors with it. I have a twelve year old Panasonic digital satellite receiver that still works and is used daily. I have a set of surround sound speakers made by Creative Labs that still work, almost 13 years after I bought them. My Nokia 6300 purchased in 2007 still works, although I only keep it now as a backup. I have a Sony Walkman MP3 player that still works after 8 years.

I think you're missing the point - it's not about something just working, it's about them being able to stand up to the rigours of the day. I had a Sony Vaio, still have it. It's riddled with errors and the hinges snapped, but just 18 months after purchase, Sony couldn't help me.

Tropez wrote: »

Sure, Apple products hold their value well, because they're the in-thing at the moment.

Nothing to do with quality then?

Tropez wrote: »

The "cloud" and "sync" stuff that Apple has is nothing new. Microsoft products have been able to sync with multiple computers for over a decade. Everything that can be done sync-wise with Apple can be done with Google & Android, or through other cloud storage mediums. I do my work on up to seven different devices and have no problem with any syncing, moving documents, backing up things or anything else in that manner.

You miss the point - I don't have to 'do' anything. It just happens. My back-ups happen automatically with the Time Capsule.

Tropez wrote: »

From my point of view, Apple does not have any technological advantage over its competitors. Everything that an Apple product can do, an equivalent product produced by a competitor can do the same thing, and usually for less.

We must use some very different software. There's a reason Macs are the standard in my line of work (and many others) - they are just better at the job.

I had your opinions when I was younger, but I saw the light.:D

Tropez

NewKittenHelp wrote: »

If that were the case, how would you account for Macs having far fewer problems than PCs? I've heard a lot of Apple haters tell me that my equipment is substandard, that I can get better for half the price but I've yet to meet a PC user with an eight-year-old laptop that still just works.

But that is the case. As for the "error" argument there are various reasons. Mac's OS is deliberately restricted, whereas Linux and Windows are deliberately more open. Anyone can write programs for these operating systems, whereas Apple are much more stringent about who can write programs for them, favouring the internal monopoly business model. As a result, due to the open nature of Windows, it suffers more errors at a programming level from third party developers.

Malware and virus attacks are less common on the Mac for the simple reason that they have an operating system market share of less than 5% compared to the +90% market share of Windows. Further to that, as far as safety goes, Windows Vista is actually less prone to malware than both XP and 7, because Vista was unpopular and obtained a relatively low market share. When Apple recently was directly attacked, they took more than two weeks to respond to a threat that infected 200,000 Mac computers.

In 2009, Apple laptops were recorded to have the fourth lowest failure rate of the major manufacturers, beaten by Sony in 3rd, Toshiba in 2nd and Asus in 1st. Hewlett Packard had the highest failure rate.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a near decade old Sony Vaio that still "just works".

And the simple fact is that Apple Macs use the exact same components that you find in laptops and desktops manufactured by their competitors. They even state on their website that they're using Intel CPUs and nVidia GPUs etc.

Nothing to say about Apple's classes? Or their Genius Bar? No other company has an equivalent.

No, I don't because I don't need such a service. I know how to use a computer.

But having just checked, the local Sony Store does actually have an equivalent of the "Genius Bar". I'd wager one of the reasons you don't see that many of them is because most manufacturers don't have their own stores, or very few of them. I've never seen a "Samsung" or "Toshiba" store, for example.

I think you're missing the point - it's not about something just working, it's about them being able to stand up to the rigours of the day. I had a Sony Vaio, still have it. It's riddled with errors and the hinges snapped, but just 18 months after purchase, Sony couldn't help me.

And yet I've got a Sony Vaio with no such problems, just as I have other laptops that have no such problems and between the age of 14 and 23 I used the same desktop computer that I built myself without any problems, until I decided it was just too slow.

And as far as anecdotal evidence goes, I know someone who suffered through three successive faulty iPod's and someone whose Mac overheated and fried the CPU only four weeks after they purchased it but I won't use that as a yard stick to measure superiority or inferiority, merely that they suffer through the same problems that other manufacturers do from time to time.

Nothing to do with quality then?

Not a lot, no. When the basic components are the same as those found in other devices the desirability of the component comes into play. Volkswagen is a more desirable name than Skoda, despite the fact that VW own Skoda and they now use largely the same technology but a second hand VW sells for more than an equivalent model second hand Skoda.

You miss the point - I don't have to 'do' anything. It just happens. My back-ups happen automatically with the Time Capsule.

But nor do I, and that was my point. Google's platform is so heavily integrated it has the exact same functionality. I can even make a change on my Microsoft Outlook calendar and have it immediately represented on my Android phone and my Google calendar.

We must use some very different software. There's a reason Macs are the standard in my line of work (and many others) - they are just better at the job.

I know that they are. I also know that for our company, Apple's restrictive operating system would severely gimp our operations. We use a combination of Windows and Linux, and in the technological tinkling contest, Linux is more stable and reliable than either Apple or Microsoft's OSs.

FBaby

Ha ha, this thread is making me laugh.... I think all 6 year olds planning to put their Christmas requests on paper should read it and take particular notice to the Genuis bar and note the importance of being able to sync with their Macbook and iphone thanks to time capsule!!!! They should then make a point to their parents that it is right they should spend an extra £200 just so they can benefit from the above!!

daska

Tropez wrote: »

I suppose it depends on the type of special needs. My employer uses Android so we all have to be able to use Android devices for work and there's a few people with some form of disability who work for us who haven't reported any problems once the tech guys set the devices up for them. There's definitely apps out there to improve things for people who have autism or are physically handicapped in some way. One of our number was unable to speak for some time due to an accident and used their phone as a voicebox through an AAC app.

I'll concede it did require the tech department to configure the device for them, so quite possibly the fix for whatever difficulties they needed to overcome were not obviously available, and of course none of these people have severe disabilities that prevent them from working.

But, not having much experience with people with special needs, nor any applications designed to assist them and improve their quality of life, I couldn't really compare Apple, Android, Windows etc. as far as the availability of apps goes, although I imagine the technology is still there, it just isn't being used.

Not as far as I can tell. We're not talking about large font settings and the like but communication (AAT) and educational apps that are targeted at children with special needs. Because so many disabilities tend to co-exist e.g. autism often appears in conjunction with sensory problems, dyspraxia, language delay etc the apps are clustering on the iPad and because the iPad is now viewed as 'the' platform for special needs apps there's little incentive for them to write android friendly ones. It would be lovely if they did but it simply isn't happening. So the iPad wins hands down.