S/O Tell me about the Ipad

[hbridge]

Thank you all for replying to me previous thread about tablets. It sounds like Google or the Surface is the non-ipad way to go.

However, I'm wondering if I should simply go with an IPAD. I've never had one or even used one, but the schools use apple products and I'm constantly getting IPAD app recommendations from teachers, ect.

Tell me about the IPAD.... Pros, cons, ect.

Thank you.

[roseyloxs]

Pros: iPad is easy to use, the speakers are nice and loud, some apps work both on the iPad and the iPhone so you can buy the app once and use it on two devices.

Cons: iPad does not support flash. This has to do with internet surfing. If a website uses flash you won't be able to use it on the iPad. You can't lock folders or apps. I don't know if the competition provide this but I have always wished I could lock apps or app folders that I didn't want the kids getting into.

[krobbin]

Pros: iPad is easy to use, the speakers are nice and loud, some apps work both on the iPad and the iPhone so you can buy the app once and use it on two devices.

Cons: iPad does not support flash. This has to do with internet surfing. If a website uses flash you won't be able to use it on the iPad. You can't lock folders or apps. I don't know if the competition provide this but I have always wished I could lock apps or app folders that I didn't want the kids getting into.

I don't have iOS 6, but I found this on a thread recently about locking apps for kids - supposedly the developers "fixed" this issue. Again, I have not tried this myself, but I might update just to see if it works.


Use iOS6's new feature called "Guided Access"

Go to Settings

Then to General

Scroll down to Accessibility

Click Learning On for Guided Accesss

Go to whichever video or App that you want to control

Triple Click the Home button in that video or App

Voila!

You can designate an area of the screen that you do not want to be touched

The Home bottom and Sleep buttons will be disabled by default

Just triple click the Home button again to go back to normal

Just to weigh in on the ipad vs other tablets. I own a Fire and an iPad Gen3. The iPad is superior I believe, but then again, I own mostly Apple products and have used them since 1985.

The App store has so many apps for children (although Andriod is catching up) that it makes the iPad really great for kids.

That being said, I've recently used a Galaxy SIII phone and it's awesome, so I'm sure an android tablet would be pretty sweet as well. I would just consider your budget and see if the apps/features you want are available for that device.

You can "jailbreak" your iPad to customize it (that would void the warranty obviously) and you can find cheaper ones (especially refurbished) now that a new version has come out.

[pastrygirl]

Just a note -- Android no longer supports flash, either. I think there are ways to get it, but my husband doesn't have flash on his Nexus 7 tablet. I do have it on my phone, but it was from a while ago, and sites with flash don't always work. At some point, sites will start to remove flash (hopefully!) and rewrite using HTML5.

[kristac]

iPads have more apps available then android. Many app developers are reluctant to develop android apps because they aren't standardized. If you have a special needs child iPad is definitely the way to go. Some people feel iPads will last longer before being obsolete because of the constant IOS updates from apple.

ETA- IOS6's guided access locks a child INTO an app, vs pp asking about locking children OUT of apps. Not sure if any tablet offers a good lock out option.