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i-bone or DX? For a student

B

bigbadwulff

Android Expert
My kid needs a storage device for school. Needs to access info and store data and info for nursing program. Needs a portable device for this and these days lap tops are just not portable enough ;)
I'm thinking the i-phone may be a better choice mainly because of the data access "problems" with the DX?
All the USB modes may create a problem? I know I have enough problems with this myself. Or is the i-Phone just as bad with this?
Or would another storage device be better cost-wise than a recurring bill with Verizon?
 
Does he or she have a mac? If all he or she needs is a solid dependable device with info and storage capabilities, I would say go with the iPhone. I got the DX because I wanted a multimedia beast that I could customize the hell out of and tinker with. But I love Apple products and if I was using it for school or something that I just wanted the best thing available that I didn't have to learn how to use, I would get an iPhone.
 
Does it have to be a phone? Have you considered the iPad or a tablet?
 
Lap tops may not be portable enough, but perhaps a netbook would be if all he needs is internet access and storage. He'll need one anyway for typing papers. He won't want to do that on a smart phone or IPad. If he needs a phone, too, I would go with the Droid X, rather than an Iphone. It remains to be seen if all all the dropped calls that I Phone users had with ATT will be solved with Verizon. There are some betting it is a design problem with the Iphone (see last Sunday's New York Times) that won't be solved by a Verizon network.
 
depending on the school, support for Mac components might be even higher than that of Android/Winbloze

something to consider...
 
i am confused....i didn't think you could store data on an iphone without itunes. with the DX you can drag and drop anything you want to the SD card without a problem and there are apps to access that at any time. for a storage device, i would stay away from apple products as they usually need itunes to do anything with the internal memory. i guess i haven't used my ipod touch in a while so maybe things have changed.

either way, nothing is easier than dragging and dropping....everyone knows how to do that.
 
i've pulled music from my ipod several times, so I don't see why you couldn't put files back on it

you wouldn't be able to access them via the ipod if you put them on there, so then it becomes a useless file unless you can put it back on a computer.
 
Ahh. I see.

Dumb question. For the DX or i-Phone: If it isn't an app, can you access the info so it's readable on the fly(without a computer)? Or does it have to be an app to do this? If it is readable how do you do that? Assuming from above reply this might only be doable with the DX? Or is it?
 
you usually need an app no matter what to view the file on the phone on the fly. wether it be a file browser, the gallery (for pics and video) or documents to go (xls, word ect documents)
 
The DX has Quick Office pre installed which will read Office documents and pdf's. There is also a pre installed file manager called files.
 
bigbadwulff said:
Ahh. I see.

Dumb question. For the DX or i-Phone: If it isn't an app, can you access the info so it's readable on the fly(without a computer)? Or does it have to be an app to do this? If it is readable how do you do that? Assuming from above reply this might only be doable with the DX? Or is it?
Click to expand...

I can put any file on my DX via a USB connection from my PC (using mass storage mode) -- or maybe I downloaded the file from the internet right on the phone. I can get to this file using just the phone using a file explorer. The DX came with an app called "Files" (ugly brown square icon with picture of an opened folder). I installed something called Astro File Explorer that has more features.
What you can do with this file on the phone depends on what apps are installed. It is exactly like a PC in this way. If I don't have an application that can open the file, it's just data - pretty much useless. I can copy it around, delete it - but w/o an app there's nothing to do with the file, nothing to see or "access".
If you plug the phone back into a PC you could open the file using software on the computer - it'll act just like stuff stored on a USB flash drive.

What kind of data are we talking about?
 
It's a book. Drug information. It's called Skyscape.

Got the info from the school. The software provider has it set up to work on a myriad of platforms including Android. Accessible thru the phone as a stand-alone unit or thru computer.
Supposedly it puts an icon on the phone for access. Don't ask my how.
Includes I-phone, I-pod touch, BB, Palm.

Heres' a link to how to load it on the phone if anyone is interested in how this works. Basically an apk.

http://www.skyscape.com/support/guides/Android_Installation.pdf
 
I have a friend who is a doc. He carries his iPod touch everywhere in the hospital and uses it to look up all kinds of medical info. He made it seem like Apple was really courting the medical profession...and trust me, he is no Apple fanboy. If I remember correctly he could even pull up patient x-rays on it.
 
wpierce98 said:
I have a friend who is a doc. He carries his iPod touch everywhere in the hospital and uses it to look up all kinds of medical info. He made it seem like Apple was really courting the medical profession...and trust me, he is no Apple fanboy. If I remember correctly he could even pull up patient x-rays on it.
Click to expand...

Medical records on an iPod touch? I hope your friend has some security on that iPod touch.

To the OP, have you considered a netbook or tablet?
 
In2uitiv said:
Medical records on an iPod touch? I hope your friend has some security on that iPod touch.

To the OP, have you considered a netbook or tablet?
Click to expand...

No, it has to be something you can carry(easily) while doing rounds in a hospital. I guess a small tablet would do, but I'm getting her a smart phone so she doesn't have to carry two things around with her. A smart phone will do it all.

UPDATE: There is a free app on the market for Skyscape. Pretty good stuff in there.
 
Stupid question here. Can you hook up an iPhone on a PC? Assuming iTunes does that thru a PC. But just making sure here.

EDIT: Yes you can, you dummy....

Why thanks!
 
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