iPad Worth the Extra Cost?

My mother-in-law would like a tablet for Christmas. She primarily will use it for church and gospel study. The iPad costs more than comparable Android tablets. However, I've read that the iOS versions of the Gospel Library are superior, but I don't have first hand experience with it. In your opinion, is the iPad worth the additional cost for an LDS user?

I have no experience with Android tablets. If you go with an iPad I will offer a little advice. The older iPad 2 is still available in a 16GB model for $100 less than the 16GB version of the new "iPad Air." But the iPad 2 is so significantly less powerful as to make that $100 savings not much of a bargain at all. A better bargain would be the new iPad mini, which is also $100 less than the iPad Air but essentially just as powerful in a smaller form factor (with the smaller screen too).

Originally, I was comparing the $299 iPad mini to the $250 Galaxy Tab 3 8 inch. However, it looks like the $299 iPad mini has antiquated hardware. The new iPad mini costs $399. I can get the Galaxy for about $250. Is the LDS software available for the iPad enough better to justify the additional $150?

I picked up a Nexus 7 from Amazon for $199 + free shipping. (They have dynamic pricing. It will shoot back up to $239 when the stock gets low. Just wait for a new shipment.) But I digress.

I'm not sure what the differences are. I don't think there's any major differences in functionality (at least for non-bishopric members), just in the details. The Android side is getting active development and they are interested in closing the gap. So any gap that may be there today may close within a few months.

It does seem like in the recent past I've seen more complaints from the iOS side of broken functionality. I'm not sure if it's because of more users, or if there's problems in development.

I will say that the Ensign app for Android is broken. I crashes on load. (If it crashes on a new Nexus, I have little hope on it working on others.) LDS Gospel Library has the text, but it's not the rich experience (read: photos) you'd get from a working Ensign app. I haven't explored to see if there's anything else on the Android side to make up for that.

For any STS thinking of buying something for themselves, WiFi Analyzer and Fing make for great tools to check on the church network.

mbs6 wrote:Originally, I was comparing the $299 iPad mini to the $250 Galaxy Tab 3 8 inch. However, it looks like the $299 iPad mini has antiquated hardware. The new iPad mini costs $399. I can get the Galaxy for about $250. Is the LDS software available for the iPad enough better to justify the additional $150?

I have a Galaxy and my wife has the Ipad mini.

I had the Galaxy for about year before my wife got her ipad. When I purchased my Galaxy I was looking at price mostly while making sure it had features I needed for work, mostly calendaring appointments and keeping track of my customers, and the church apps. It works well enough for what I need.

However, when my wife got here Ipad mini there were some noticeable differences. The most noticeable was the battery life it lasts about three times longer than the galaxy. The other big difference was the LDS Tools and gospel library apps, the ipad apps are much better than the galaxy and much easier to use.

Knowing what I know now because we have both in our household I would go with the ipad hands down.

Thanks for your input Gary. I too have a Galaxy (Tab 2 7.0) and it's ok, but for better gospel use I am tempted by the iPad.

Is it worth the cost? Without any doubt-- YES,!!

From a better user interface and interaction, vastly more secure, infinitely better application library, higher quality build/fit/finish, there is no comparison.

Just my opinion.

I would like to revive this conversation.
Now more than a year later. Can anybody add any thing to this thread?
I am looking to get a tablet and am wondering about the current state of the User experience on the two platforms. Personally I am not considering windows.

Thanks,

• iPad Mini - $249 (but I'd strongly consider paying $50 more to upgrade to the Mini 2 - just for longer support)
• Google Asus/Nexus 7 (2013) - $165 (Amazon)
• HP Stream 7 - $79 from Microsoft Store ($99 elsewhere)

The features of the LDS Apps keeps changing. Sometimes iOS is ahead, sometimes it's Android. Even if there is currently a difference, it's likely to be erased or changed in a year's time. Possibly as soon as the next update. Personally, I think it's too close to base a purchasing decision on it. Windows is behind and not to take away anything from their efforts, I think it's going to be awhile before they achieve parity. My uninformed guess is about a year.

I'm pretty happy with my Nexus. One advantage of choosing Nexus over other Android brands is that Google pushes out the updates - you don't rely on the manufacturer to create the update for you. In my experience the updates only come out to extend the sales life of the device. There seems to be little post sale update support for other brands. But if price is a concern, there's half-price brands.

I also have the Stream 7 and while it has it's nice points (like being able to run PC software), the on-screen keyboard sucks and it generally isn't as nice a user experience as the Nexus. But with Windows 10 coming out, this could change in a few months. By adding a Bluetooth keyboard, it's probably OK. Not just "OK", but I'd think it would be a pretty mean note-taking machine - at a price that's about the price of the Nexus without a keyboard. Battery life isn't the greatest but it will get you though a Sunday. But at least you get a name-brand machine for a no-name brand price. And you can run the same software you use on a desktop.

I'm probably in the minority, but the few times I've picked up a Apple device I've not had a great experience. I find they tend to have too few buttons (a single home button) and rely upon knowing some gesture to access certain functions. Android tends to offer buttons (back, home, recent apps) that make it easier to do what I want. I'm sure a lot of it is what you're used to. But given their popularity, a lot of people seem to get along with them just fine.

I think for most people it comes down to: are you willing to pay more for the Apple user experience?

Windows is behind and not to take away anything from their efforts, I think it's going to be awhile before they achieve parity. My uninformed guess is about a year.

For many Gospel Library users, the key features are already in place--and for most others, I expect the remaining feature disparity issues to be gone within about 3 months--we're in the process of working on Notebooks features right now (which will most likely take Tags and Links along with it--and tabs will follow shortly after), which basically closes the gap for normal users.

Additionally, Windows already offers features that iOS and Android simply don't. Dedicated active pen support (for a more paper-scripture like experience when highlighting/underlining), support for users with dyslexia and visual impairments like Irlen Syndrome (OpenDyslexic and the sepia theme, respectively), inline notes, reference previews, a far easier to use Collections feature, the Inspirational Messages feature, and, of course, a dedicated tablet UI, instead of a blown-up phone UI for a tablet.

I also have the Stream 7 and while it has it's nice points (like being able to run PC software), the on-screen keyboard sucks and it generally isn't as nice a user experience as the Nexus. But with Windows 10 coming out, this could change in a few months.

Not sure that'll really ever be the case. You definitely get what you pay for. $79 is peanuts in the tech world, and, though $79 gets you more than it used to, it's still not a great device. For those looking at getting a Windows device, I'd look at stuff like Asus Vivotab 8 ($180) at the low end, but recommend Microsoft's own Surface 3 ($499+) or Surface Pro 3 ($799+) at the mid- and high-end tiers, respectively.

I am looking to get a tablet and am wondering about the current state of the User experience on the two platforms. Personally I am not considering windows.

Personally, I'd like you to at least give Windows a shot, as there's some great stuff available with it, but I have quite a lot of experience with both iOS and Android. My two cents is this: go with iOS. Android is a mess, though it has made some baby steps in the right direction with its Material Design overhaul in Lollipop. Battery life is abysmal across the board, apps crash more often on Android, and are generally better designed on iOS. While iOS has fewer buttons, it makes better use of intuitive, easily-learned gestures, and is generally easier to use than Android. Yes, you can customize Android into oblivion, but unless you're a serial tweaker, you're probably better off just getting a better experience out of the box.

I'm an iOS user, but I would recommend looking at the most recent LDSTech broadcast (about a week ago) to see some of the cool features in Gospel Library for Windows. It's very impressive, thanks to the committed volunteer team.

ToManyLetters wrote:

I also have the Stream 7 and while it has it's nice points (like being able to run PC software), the on-screen keyboard sucks and it generally isn't as nice a user experience as the Nexus. But with Windows 10 coming out, this could change in a few months.

Not sure that'll really ever be the case. You definitely get what you pay for. $79 is peanuts in the tech world, and, though $79 gets you more than it used to, it's still not a great device. For those looking at getting a Windows device, I'd look at stuff like Asus Vivotab 8 ($180) at the low end, but recommend Microsoft's own Surface 3 ($499+) or Surface Pro 3 ($799+) at the mid- and high-end tiers, respectively.

Just to be clear, what I disliked about the Stream 7 was that I had to manually call up the keyboard and manually dismiss it. It also had the tendency to cover what I was trying to work with. On top of that, it didn't have Swype. Android had all of those features. I could be wrong, but given that's my one and only Win8 machine, I believe that's more the fault of the OS than of the cheap hardware. Yes, the hardware has a few issues. It looks a bit bulky at the edges and won't be confused with a iPad, and it's not real speedy, but I've had no complaints about the hardware vs the value in actual use.

I'm glad to hear of an optimistic Windows GL parity date. But what about Tools?

Just to be clear, what I disliked about the Stream 7 was that I had to manually call up the keyboard and manually dismiss it.

This is only true if you're not using the apps designed for the device. If you're using traditional, full Windows-programs, with only a few exceptions (IE & Office), the programs don't really know you're trying to use the on-screen keyboard--that's why the manually-summoned keyboard is a thing. If you're using the Modern side of things, the keyboard will appear automatically as you'd expect it to on Android or iOS. Don't expect poorly-optimized programs like Chrome to behave well, however. (Though, for the sake of your battery, you probably should just forego Chrome altogether anyway--Chrome is a notoriously bad battery muncher on basically any operating system, but especially so on Windows and OS X.)

It also had the tendency to cover what I was trying to work with.

If you're on the non-Modern side of things, where the content doesn't shift for you (for obvious reasons), you can unsnap the whole keyboard and just drag it around.

On top of that, it didn't have Swype. Android had all of those features.

I suspect you mean a gesture typing keyboard, as most Android devices don't come with Swype by default, though Android's keyboard does have gesture capabilities on newer devices (Since Jellybean, I believe?) Windows Phone devices do have the "shape writing" gesture keyboard, and while the gesture typing is not yet available to Windows tablets (I suspect it will probably come in Windows 10)--or, for that matter, available by default on iOS, text prediction on Windows' keyboard is leaps and bounds ahead of Android's. Also, Windows' built-in handwriting keyboard is second to none.

But what about Tools?

As I understand it, the LDS Tools team for Windows is much more trapped in the bureaucracy of the mobile apps than Gospel Library for Windows is. That said, I believe they should be getting approval (or, at the very least, requesting it) for full feature parity very, very soon now. The biggest thing they need is more developers dedicating time to the project. They recently finished rewriting the backend for the application so that the next version of the app will use the new LDS Tools APIs and sync substantially faster.

I agree with ToManyLetters (above). The Church has put a lot of effort into the development of the iOS apps and the other platforms have been more of a after thought. Windows is the best platform for the Church's needs with the best security, most features, and best usability. I'm hoping the Church will begin to focus on the Windows platform more, especially in since Apple is the least charitable of the tech companies and is in greatest advocacy of views contrary to the Church.