Android tablets vs iPads vs Windows in schools

[Dos_Box]

I have just ordered one of these:

 

http://img.kijiji.it/19/07/190715f013165765a8d49edaabfeb18a_big.jpg

 

Yes, it's a blatant iPad clone, but it runs Android 2.1 and is due a 2.2 release soon, so Flash and Java support are all onboard, has a 1Ghz processor and plenty of expansion\storage potential. But the most intersting thing about Android based kit is that you can store and install apps yourself without the need for an app store\market place involving multiple accounts and logins, unlike the iPad and all of the problems that were talked about on here so recently when a school in Scotland took the plunge. Now with Windows 7 based tablets just around the corner (and the price hike that they will command) will it be worth considering Android tablets costing below £200, like the one above, or paying the premium for Windows based devices and the centralised control you can have over them?

In fact,what would you use them for in a school? or more to the point, what would teachers think they would be using them for in the classroom?

As far as I can see it so far we have:

 

Android:- Cheap devices involving a bit of effort to manage.

 

iPads:- Expensive and no management whatsoever.

 

Windows:- Prices TBC, but proberbly on par with the iPad or a bit cheaper. Excellent management potential depending on OS version.

 

Ric and I had a chat about the stand for next years BETT, and we think that we should go with mobile computing as a theme and show off tablets of all sizes and OS's for you guys to play with, which is whay I've just purchased that one and another cheaper device to demo on the stand. We shall also be contacting some sponsors and suppliers to see if they can help out with the kit we require.

 

P.S. Is there a way you can link an Android device to a network share, or would it be easier to install apps from a local web based 'app store'? Or, TBH, just copy-n-paste the apps to SD cards and install\run them locally.

[Dos_Box]

Oh! An interesting site BTW: Cloned In China

[featured_spectre]

copy and paste the apps to an SD card and install and run locally, much easier than faffing around,

[webman]

You can access SMB shares with the ASTRO file manager app and it's SMB plugin. Works great.

[GrumbleDook]

I'm still waiting to hear if the iPhone Configuration Utility deals with the iPad happily. If so there will be *some* management tools ... but I'm still not sure how easy it will be to do stuff or the restrictions you will have on what you can do.

[GrumbleDook]

The other option is not to bother investing a lot of time and money in locking down / controlling these devices, but to invest in your infrastructure and have a wireless system they can just drop onto and access resources.

[danbuntu]

This looks cool. There have been various versions of these floating around but this is the first I've seen running android 2.

 

Do you have the link to where you got it from? also do you have a link to any device support site- ie where do you intend to get a firmware to upgrade it to Froyo?

 

I agree totally with Grumbledooks comment - buy cheap devices and let the network manage them rather then trying to lock down and control the actually device it's self.

[flyinghaggis]

Looks really good. The price is much more in line with what I'd expect to pay for a tablet for web surfing/etc. In fact at less than £200 it's not much more than an ebook reader (which I've also been considering)!

[localzuk]

These devices really interest me. The only issue for me at the moment is the lack of proxy support in Android, but if/when that appears, they'll be ideal.

[Dos_Box]

This looks cool. There have been various versions of these floating around but this is the first I've seen running android 2.

 

Do you have the link to where you got it from? also do you have a link to any device support site- ie where do you intend to get a firmware to upgrade it to Froyo?

 

I agree totally with Grumbledooks comment - buy cheap devices and let the network manage them rather then trying to lock down and control the actually device it's self.

 

I got it from flea bay for a UK supplier here: 10.2" Android 2.1 ZT-180a 1GHZ CPU 256RAM Apad / ePad on eBay (end time 04-Oct-10 02:24:04 BST) who didn't try and disguise the processor type.

 

Baware though as Shaun warned me off last night you will need to read this page here as the link I was looking at via Shaun last night is on my laptop at home: http://www.shanzai.com/index.php/market-mayhem/news/1546-zenithink-fake-processor-markings-make-it-doubly-shanzhai

 

You can flash the device and XDA Developers have many handy ROMS and tips here: Zenithink ZT-180 ipad device ROM development - xda-developers

 

It has (AFAIK) a built in ebook reader and you can see some reviews and footage of the device on YouTube here:

 

 

YouTube - Epad android 2.1 10.2" 1 Ghz 2Gb nand

 

 

Yes, it's NOT an iPad, but the question is, is it good enough? Don't worry, I'll stick up a review as soon as I've played with it.

[CyberNerd]

I am a big fan of android - but I can promise that the current version will be next to useless in a school - there is nowhere to set system wide proxy settings for WiFI. It will only work without proxies!

 

listen up google! A two year thread starred by 2000 users:

Issue 1273 - android - IP Proxy Settings for Wifi Network - Project Hosting on Google Code

[localzuk]

I am a big fan of android - but I can promise that the current version will be next to useless in a school - there is nowhere to set system wide proxy settings for WiFI. It will only work without proxies!

 

listen up google! A two year thread starred by 2000 users:

Issue 1273 - android - IP Proxy Settings for Wifi Network - Project Hosting on Google Code

 

I've had this discussion before. Their argument is that the networks should be using transparent proxying.

[CyberNerd]

I've had this discussion before. Their argument is that the networks should be using transparent proxying.

 

They had better invent a way to transparently authenticate users then....

Authenticating proxies are not exactly an uncommon setup in corporate or educational networks!

[tom_newton]

Well.. there are a handful of ways to authenticate transparently, including one i'm trialling at the minute. All those I have seen use some form of trickery where you are periodically auth'd and then your IP/user pair gets cached - so potential problems if your dhcp lease is too short?

 

I'm trialling a "captive portal" style auth which puts a page up for the user, for username/password, but unlike our regular SSL login page, need not be left open.

 

Still, this means that a user has to web browse before they get proxied - which could be an issue for apps.

 

Another possibility is having the wireless controller pull the auth hard yards and then poke an ip/user pair into our auth system - not really tried this yet, would be interested to talk to anyone who has any experience with this sort of thing.

 

The top answer of course is for google to support traditional proxies AND auth.