Help Me Choose a Tablet

Luke B. Wolford · September 2011

I can see the benefit of having a tablet for mobile study. The problem is that most places I would be studying away from my office do not have wi-fi available. I know that the iPad app has some functionality offline but will it do the passage guide and word study tools? Or would the android app be better. The Kindle Fire looks interesting for the price. Would the Android allow more functionality offline?

Thanks,

Luke

BillS · September 2011

Long term, network costs could more expensive even than the price of the tablet. IMO, it'd make GREAT sense to choose a tablet with cabability of both WIFI & 3G+ (#G, 4G, 5G, ....). My understanding is that the cost difference to have both is around $100, well worth it...

My cell phone has that capability (mine is android, but you can get ipad / iphone with both, too). When it comes to Logos book downloads, they'd easily consume my phone's monthly 2Gb data contract. Instead, I'm offloading all download activity to wifi, where I don't have a bandwidth cap (thank goodness, with the size of some Logos downloads!).

Blessings on your decision....

BillS · September 2011

Luke B. Wolford said:
iPad app has some functionality offline but will it do the passage guide and word study tools

I only have the android version (on phone)... but I understand the ios version to be a bit more mature. So far, the android version is missing some pretty basic (& key) funcitonality. Yes, it does BWS & PG, and what's there looks really good so far. But so far it doesn't have even a rudimentary bible search, no pinch zoom in/out (books or maps), & a buggy word selection for BWS (I'm sure this will be fixed; the only reason I mention it is to give you an idea of where it's at).

For serious study (over against just reading), I'd say it's ALMOST ready... YMMV.

Luke B. Wolford · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290099#Comment_290099

Thank you for your replies.

Maybe I should clarify. I am looking at wi-fi only and was wondering about the functionality of the app without internet access. Will it do the BWS and PG when not connected? I understand that I must download any books which I would want to read offline.

Thanks again,

Luke

BillS · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290108#Comment_290108

Luke B. Wolford said:

Thank you for your replies.

Maybe I should clarify. I am looking at wi-fi only and was wondering about the functionality of the app without internet access. Will it do the BWS and PG when not connected? I understand that I must download any books which I would want to read offline.

Thanks again,

Luke

Sorry--I just put phone in airplane mode & tried BWS & PG. Neither will run without internet (whether 3G or WIFI).

Luke B. Wolford · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290109#Comment_290109

Thanks for testing that for me. Unless they change that, I'm not as interested.

BillS · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290111#Comment_290111

Luke B. Wolford said:

Thanks for testing that for me. Unless they change that, I'm not as interested.

I'm disappointed, too. Devalues downloading the library unless there's internet. Too often, there isn't.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :) · September 2011

Luke B. Wolford said:
I can see the benefit of having a tablet for mobile study. The problem is that most places I would be studying away from my office do not have wi-fi available. I know that the iPad app has some functionality offline but will it do the passage guide and word study tools?

Currently iOS app has more capability than Android app. Mobile apps currently have significantly fewer features compared to Logos 4.

Bit more expensive option is new MacBook Air laptop. Noticed couple new ultrabooks shipping soon with similar price as MacBook Air models => http://www.lovefortech.com/2011/09/02/macbook-air-competitors-the-ultrabooks-are-coming-toshiba-and-acer/

Since RAM is not upgradeable in MacBook Air (surface mounted to motherboard), recommend a model with 4 GB RAM.

Ultrabook feels similar to iPad for carrying, yet can use Logos 4 library offline.

Keep Smiling [:)]

JT (alabama24) · September 2011

Luke B. Wolford said:
I know that the iPad app has some functionality offline but will it do the passage guide and word study tools? Or would the android app be better. The Kindle Fire looks interesting for the price. Would the Android allow more functionality offline?

The iPad app is a little further developed than the Android version. Both will be getting a revision when sync v2 comes out (bringing notes & highlighting, for example). You need to understand this: Logos 4 is a massive program which requires a great deal of resources (ram, processor, hard drive). The mobile app is a simple program. The passage guide and word study tools are done in the cloud. The mobile app is NOT "Logos 4." In my opinion, the mobile app will become much more useful when notes & highlighting get added.

JT (alabama24) · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290113#Comment_290113

BillS said:

Luke B. Wolford said:

Thanks for testing that for me. Unless they change that, I'm not as interested.

I'm disappointed, too. Devalues downloading the library unless there's internet. Too often, there isn't.

Logos mobile app is designed to be run "in the cloud." The purpose of downloading resources is to read them when you don't have internet access. How is the lack of word studies or passage guide devaluing the purpose of the downloaded resource?

Luke B. Wolford · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290132#Comment_290132

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I didn't realize that the tablets were not near as powerful as a regular computer. It makes sense that they would do this in the cloud then. For a work-around in the word study, can you do any type of searching in original languages if the original language resource is downloaded to the device? That way you could still find every occurrence and its context. I guess you could also download a few lexicons for what its semantic range would be.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :) · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290141#Comment_290141

Thankful for "The NET Bible" translation footnotes, which are usable (tapable) in offline mode. Likewise Thankful can open "The NET Bible" side by side with UBS Handbook.

Offline mobile app search has opportunities for improvement; looking forward to iPad 3 (hoping for higher resolution screen with faster processor).

Keep Smiling [:)]

BillS · September 2011

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/290132#Comment_290132

alabama24 said:

Logos mobile app is designed to be run "in the cloud." The purpose of downloading resources is to read them when you don't have internet access. How is the lack of word studies or passage guide devaluing the purpose of the downloaded resource?

Thanks for clarifying. I don't use e-resources to read. Only for research of some kind. For the last 7 years, I've had a PDA (or phone) with bible software on it that gave me simple search (on word or, access to morph data & original language behind the text (even if it was KJV only with strong's numbers embedded). That limited capability was incredibly useful for the kinds of questions that come up in Bible studies or conversations when I don't have L4 available.

BWS & PG are nice-to-have. But if I HAVE to have the cloud to do use them even on my downloaded resources (I've downloaded BADG, BHS, NASB95, my favorite one-volume commentary, NA27, & BHS, then what's the point of downloading them since those functions don't use them? I do use NASB95 a bit for reference, but not for reading.

Make more sense?

I'm more than happy with L4 on my laptop, which I carry back & forth between work, home & remote office locations. Its screen is much more conducive to my old eyes if I want to read... (I don't, except for research.)

So, I'm basically at odds with a cloud dependency. Internet in Idaho is just too unreliable. :-)