Android apps that you purchase will work on products from Google (Nexus), Samsung, HTC, LG, and other companies. iOS apps that you purchase will only work on products from Apple.
I think this only tells part of the story - You are still being locked in to google ecosystem, (to access Google Play) and manufacturers of those phones need to pay Google for certification eg ( http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/23/how-google-controls-androi... ) I agree that lock in is bad, I just don't think it is any less on any particular platform. It's a reality of any technology at the present time. On 18 December 2014 at 18:00, Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au> wrote:
Choose a category and if there is a wide range of devices to choose from (such as the range of Android devices) then one of them will win.
My apologies, it seems like we are both saying the same thing - Apple has a limited range of devices. I was engaging with you point as if you had said Android wins "handily" in each category that apple serves, but I think you were just saying there is a much greater range of choice? To give my opinion on some earlier points, Apple devices are significantly more expensive. Has the new lock technology
to prevent theft been added to all the iPads? If not then it seems like a bad idea to have young kids carrying around expensive items that can be re-sold.
RE: Activation lock - yes, by default, it's effectively opt-out and pushed on you every time you do a software update / set up a new device. RE: Expensive, I'm not sure I agree. In the sense that they have a higher starting price, I certainly agree, but value for money at the specifications they offer is another thing altogether. You really need to compare two similar devices not compare across device categories, Eg compare 2 9.7inch tablets, (16GB iPad around ~$480) and make sure you look at the overall cost in the context of a school environment. You need to look at the software update lifecycle of each device, for example the iPad 2 (and all since) is still supported on the latest version of iOS, nearly 4 years from it's release date. There are a lot of android tablets released last year that won't get even this years Android Lollipop, and compatibility then becomes a problem with apps, as well as security updates, etc. When comparing specs you need be aware of: Battery reliability (eg life after 2 years. On iPad it rated to 1000 cycles / 85%, which is well more than 3 years of normal usage) / runtime (as discussed before) Cpu efficiency eg native code vs Java. You need less CPU for native code. RAM efficiency see above - The contradiction of "There are and should be multiple devices for
learning" and "we nominate iPad as the core device" appearing in the same sentence.
I totally agree it's madness to deploy iPads in place of laptops. They are a companion device that are useful for reading (textbook / ebooks) collaborative learning, videos / video editing, research etc but they are no replacement for laptops which are used for writing / typing / programming etc. If you can only afford one device, don't make it an iPad, make it a laptop, because you can still do some of the functionality of the iPad it is just less engaging.