Android vs. iPhone for student/residents

[xiphoid2010]

Haven't seen any head to head comparison between the 2 platforms when it comes to professionals and students. So just want to get poll the forum.

Personally, right now I'm waiting to get the HTC Incredible coming out at the end of this month, just in time the upcoming residency. 1 GHz processor, 3.7" OLED, 8GB internal storage, 8 megpixel camera + all the other usual goodies = 1 sweet piece of technology.

Lexi is on both iphone and android, but unfortunately neither has sanford guide.

So let's hear it: Any other must-have apps for professional students? What are the good and bad of picking iphone or android for professionals like us?

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[WVUPharm2007]

Hospitals nowadays have electronic references available in every nursing station on every unit and in every nook and cranny they shove health practitioners. Up-To-Date on a desktop is the best, most comprehensive reference out there. It's all you need...and more likely than not, the hospital subscribes to it.

Cloud computing is now the standard.

So, basically, having your own handheld device is kinda pointless. It'd be like carrying your own cellphone to make calls within the hospital when there is a phone every 5 feet down the hallway. Some people want it so they can look stuff up while one rounds and look smart...but spare me...everyone sees you playing with your PDA/Phone...you impress nobody...

If you need something quick...just use whatever, I guess. I have ePocrates (which sucks) and a homebrew app called Drugview (which is awesome) for my Palm Pre and it works fine...

I'm waiting until HTC buys Palm and gets that sweet OS to go with their sweet hardware...that'll be a match made in heaven...

 

[aboveliquidice]

New iPhone drops in June w/ os 4. Which is already jailbroken.

While the snapdragon is clocked at 1ghz - there isn't gpu scripted software to run on it (optimized). There is a head to head comparison between the nexusone and 3GS on either gizmodo or engadget which breaks it down...

iPhone > most android phones (at the moment). Of course, there are only rumors at the moment of what the next iPhone will have. Most people agree to having a higher def screen, iChat support (forward + rear cam), same great software, still NO WIDGETS, etc...

My vote would be for a jailbroken 3GS w/ multitasking and loaded with micromedex 2.0

not sure why everyone loves Lexi, outside of pharmacy school, almost no orgs use it.

Edit: I have a PDF of dipiro and Sanford that I keep on my phone... They are both way to clunky / slow to use as a reference though. I find using Harrisons to be a decent pharmacology complement to Lexidrugs (comes in the full suite)

and calculators... Med calcs are great to quickly push out most calcs that you won't do in your head. Like iron deficiency.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

iPhone > most android phones (at the moment).

Yeah, but buying anything Apple sells makes you a hipster douchebag. Especially that stupid ass tablet PC they released. Buying that makes you a STUPID hipster douchebag.

Hence, I vote for the Droid.

 

[joetrisman]

Yeah, but buying anything Apple sells makes you a hipster douchebag. Especially that stupid ass tablet PC they released. Buying that makes you a STUPID hipster douchebag.

Hence, I vote for the Droid.

lol

I also am behind droid as apple is repeating the mistake in the mobile market that they initially made in the home computing market, proprietary hardware for their OS. They only made a comeback in home computing when they focused on styling, but even with that, the market is predominantly windows due to the flexibility. Same will happen with android me thinks.

 

[rphello]

lol

I also am behind droid as apple is repeating the mistake in the mobile market that they initially made in the home computing market, proprietary hardware for their OS. They only made a comeback in home computing when they focused on styling, but even with that, the market is predominantly windows due to the flexibility. Same will happen with android me thinks.

Apple still has proprietary hardware, and the company is more successful now than it was in the early 80s. I don't like their approach, but it's not a mistake. You could argue Apple is successful in its niche due to inflexibility. People like appliances, including computers.

I hope Android wins. It's an uphill battle though.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Yeah, but buying anything Apple sells makes you a hipster douchebag. Especially that stupid ass tablet PC they released. Buying that makes you a STUPID hipster douchebag.

Hence, I vote for the Droid.

Aye, Apple and Steve Jobs got that "my way or the high way" attitude when it comes to platform and apps. Not to mention, "I'm apple, so you'll pay me 2X more for lesser technology" pricing policy.

Another thing is... my fiancee loves apple purely by the styling and "it's more expensive so it's better" line of thinking. Of course all that estrogen, herd mentality, and irrational thinking naturally steered me towards android. It's gonna be battle royal in the apartment soon.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Apple didn't invent the MP3 player, the smartphone, or the tablet PC.

Yet every time they introduce something, people call it "revolutionary."

I suppose Apple has its purpose. To introduce old technology that only tech dorks use as repackaged "innovations" to the ig'nant masses so that said technology can finally be used by the public in large numbers. I had an MP3 player in 1998. It was an imported Chinese cd player that read MP3s...I could burn MP3s straight on a disc...a few hundrend songs per CD...people thought I was harnessing some sort of ****ing magical hacker skills back in the day...

...

Then Apple introduced essentially the same thing like 3 years later with a hard drive rather than a disc...called it the iPod...and Apple somehow gets credit for inventing the damned thing. And while charging an exorbitant amount. And they sell out within hours.

It amazes me.

God, I hate Apple...

 

[GreyFox2002]

Hospitals nowadays have electronic references available in every nursing station on every unit and in every nook and cranny they shove health practitioners. Up-To-Date on a desktop is the best, most comprehensive reference out there. It's all you need...and more likely than not, the hospital subscribes to it.

Cloud computing is now the standard.

So, basically, having your own handheld device is kinda pointless. It'd be like carrying your own cellphone to make calls within the hospital when there is a phone every 5 feet down the hallway. Some people want it so they can look stuff up while one rounds and look smart...but spare me...everyone sees you playing with your PDA/Phone...you impress nobody...

If you need something quick...just use whatever, I guess. I have ePocrates (which sucks) and a homebrew app called Drugview (which is awesome) for my Palm Pre and it works fine...

I'm waiting until HTC buys Palm and gets that sweet OS to go with their sweet hardware...that'll be a match made in heaven...

I don't really get this post. You say that people with PDA/phones loaded with clinical software aren't "impressing" anybody, then you mention how you have a PalmPre with software on it. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

If people want a PDA or phone with clinical software, let them. I doubt their trying to impress anyone. Maybe they just find it a very good resource and very convenient? I just got an iPod touch, and yes I took advantage of the student discount for LexiComp. Yes, they have computers at my hospital site. Yes, I could jump on them and use Micromedex or UpToDate. That being said, my iPod touch gives me flexibility being a multifunctional device. Its my own, I can do with it as I please. I can look up information fast with it (and accurate, LexiComp is trustworthy), and I won't have to wait for anyone to finish using a computer. I can also add useful kinetics equations, journal articles as PDFs, etc. all on it, and pull up the latest news. It fits my needs perfectly, as well as performing as an MP3 device.

I don't know enough about the Droid to make a good case for or against it. All I can say is I love my iPoud touch and would recommend this platform to anyone.

 

[Sparda29]

I don't really get this post. You say that people with PDA/phones loaded with clinical software aren't "impressing" anybody, then you mention how you have a PalmPre with software on it. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

If people want a PDA or phone with clinical software, let them. I doubt their trying to impress anyone. Maybe they just find it a very good resource and very convenient? I just got an iPod touch, and yes I took advantage of the student discount for LexiComp. Yes, they have computers at my hospital site. Yes, I could jump on them and use Micromedex or UpToDate. That being said, my iPod touch gives me flexibility being a multifunctional device. Its my own, I can do with it as I please. I can look up information fast with it (and accurate, LexiComp is trustworthy), and I won't have to wait for anyone to finish using a computer. I can also add useful kinetics equations, journal articles as PDFs, etc. all on it, and pull up the latest news. It fits my needs perfectly, as well as performing as an MP3 device.

I don't know enough about the Droid to make a good case for or against it. All I can say is I love my iPoud touch and would recommend this platform to anyone.

It's different when you're using it to do some research or look up on your own. But if you're gonna pull it out in front of everyone while on rounds, you're gonna look like a *******.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I don't really get this post. You say that people with PDA/phones loaded with clinical software aren't "impressing" anybody, then you mention how you have a PalmPre with software on it. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

Meh...it was free...honestly, I never use it because anywhere you work will have better electronic references...I just use those...

If people want a PDA or phone with clinical software, let them. I doubt their trying to impress anyone.

Maybe you haven't experienced the type of people that I have...lol...an attending will ask a teaching question and the dummy next to you will log onto the hospital wifi and look it up on wikipedia...and proceed to act like they knew it off of the top of their head...I dunno, it always cracked me up...

 

[GreyFox2002]

Meh...it was free...honestly, I never use it because anywhere you work will have better electronic references...I just use those...




Maybe you haven't experienced the type of people that I have...lol...an attending will ask a teaching question and the dummy next to you will log onto the hospital wifi and look it up on wikipedia...and proceed to act like they knew it off of the top of their head...I dunno, it always cracked me up...

It can go both ways. For example, if on rounds the attending asks me an appropriate drug therapy for serotonin syndrome, I would look ******ed pulling out my iPod to answer the question. Its better to say I don't know, I'll find out for you.

On the flip side, for really specific mundane details, like the onset of action of such and such a drug, or its DOA, its half life, what dose would you use in this weird situation, it pays to have a device. Nobody is a walking encyclopedia in pharmacy or medicine, I'm sure people would understand if you said "I'm not sure, but I can consult that right now if you'd like."

Half the battle in pharmacy and medicine is being to interpret clinical information that is presented to you, not being able to regurgitate everything out there from memory.

 

[rebith75]

I have the droid and it is amazing (google maps on it cannot be beat, voice recognition for texting/searching/navigating cannot be beat, widgets, general functionality as a phone, better screen res than iphone, hardware keyboard) in my opinion better than iphone, though I can appreciate what the iphone has to offer. Anyway I find that using the phone for a pda type reference to be annoying, I prefer just having a dedicated ipod touch or palm tx and the sanford guide