best devices for pleco

andria

秀才
I am planning to buy a new mobile device. It doesn't matter to me if it is a phone or not. I carry a purse, so it doesn't need to be pocket sized. What size screen / form factor do you think is ideal? What devices do you think are best for using Pleco? Why? Any device worth waiting for?
 

gato

状元
What about the new iPad? Is that too big for a purse? The iPhone's a good choice, too. You can either go with the newer iPhone 4S, or the cheaper but slightly older iPhone 4.
 

andria

秀才
I really just want to know what people find the most usable. Hoped to get a variety of responses before throwing in my bias... Oh well. Ipad is an option. For the money, I'd rather get an Android tablet. I think Ipad is overpriced and hyped, but if it is really more usable for pleco then it is worth it.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
andria said:
I really just want to know what people find the most usable. Hoped to get a variety of responses before throwing in my bias... Oh well. Ipad is an option. For the money, I'd rather get an Android tablet. I think Ipad is overpriced and hyped, but if it is really more usable for pleco then it is worth it.

Actually price-wise iPad is quite competitive - Apple achieves fantastic economies of scale because they're so popular, so it's rare to see a similarly-specced Android tablet sell for less. For Pleco purposes, the iPad and Android tablets are actually pretty similar, but just in general there are a lot more tablet-optimized apps on iPad - Android tablets really haven't caught on and not that many developers take the time to support them properly. So you're likely to see much better tablet apps for other things you might be interested in on the iPad than on Android.

If you do want an Android tablet, I'd go for a smaller 7-inch one like the Kindle Fire - that's by far the most popular Android tablet now, and because of that it's generally drawing a lot more developer interest than other Android tablets. The Kindle Fire's success also means that when developers optimize around Android tablets they tend to prioritize vertical 7-inch screens like the Kindle's over horizontal 10-inch screens like those of the Xoom et al.

So if you want something with an iPad-sized form factor, I'd go with the iPad, but if you just want a tablet of some sort and would prefer that it not be from Apple then take a look at the Kindle Fire or at similarly-sized tablets from other manufacturers (like the smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab models).
 
Isn't a rear facing auto-focus camera helpful/desirable on a tablet to do OCR? Many tablets don't have rear facing cameras including the Kindle Fire.
 

denmitch

探花
Be sure to test Pleco before picking an Android phone. Some are better than others.
I prefer the iPad. There is enough screen to read on and work with Pleco. A phone screen feels tight by comparison. If I could do over, I would go for cheap phone and carry the iPad.
 
Top