iPad Views
With all the excitement over the past week about the launch of the Apple iPad we have been getting people asking us – “does simPRO work on the iPad?”
First of all, if you have been asleep for the past week, the iPad is the new tablet computer release from Apple. It has sparked a lot of renewed interest in the tablet computer that has been available in various guises for many many years.
The tablet never really took off except for a few specialised industrial uses (simPRO has been available on most of the devices often called Ultra Mobile PCs for a few years).
The iPad has sparked this renewed interest in this computer format for a number of reason:
1) It is Apple and they put their brand reputation into it and let the Apple FanBoys whip up uber excitement across the web.
2) Since it is Apple you are pretty sure that it will look good and it will work.
3) It is actually a fraction of the cost of standard Windows based UMPCs & tablets.
4) Netbooks have been around for awhile and people are open to the smaller form factor that is mostly designed to be a web browsing (thin client) style product, not an all singing all dancing power computer.
5) As it is built on the iPhone OS, it will be supporting all the existing (squillions) of apps for the iPhone.
So – where does it fit in with simPRO systems. It fits in very well actually. Considering that it is effectively a stylish touch screen portable web browser, the iPad is a perfect fit for the simPRO user.
Being a web based application, simPRO will run comfortably on the iPad, in fact the screen size 1024 x 768 is the format that simPRO was built for.
What simPRO systems can run on the iPad?
All simPRO systems can run on the iPad:
- simPRO Lite works on the iPad as it is fully web based
- simPRO Enterprise will work on the iPad for all fully hosted clients and for self hosted clients who have allowed external browser access to their system
- simPRO Ultra Mobile logins will work on the iPad
- simPRO Mobile digital pens will be able to viewed and edited using the iPad.
The only limitation will be those that want to use the signature capture component that is featured in the simPRO Mobile Smart Phone/PDA application. The signature capture won’t be available for simPRO on the iPad because Apple won’t support Flash on its devices, which is disappointing as a huge number of systems rely on Flash.
Another limitation is the fact that you can’t multi task on the iPad, IE. you can’t run more than one application at a time. This should not be an issue for simPRO users as everything happens in the web browser, and all browsers support multiple tabs.
The initial release of the iPad really won’t lend itself to use by simPRO users out in the field – it only supports Wi-fi. So it will be a nice toy for the office or at home.
But the second release version (maybe April/May) will support 3G – making it as mobile for web access as your mobile phone & PDA.
We will be waiting for the 3G release before we get one internally for use and will suggest that simPRO users wait until then as well.
Some iPad specs:
The iPad is slightly smaller than a sheet of A4, just 1.3cm thick, and weighs just 680 grams (726 grams with the optional 3G modem built-in). The 24.6 cm LED backlit glossy multi-touch screen has 1024×768 pixel resolution (50 pixels per cm).
There are claims of 10 hours battery life in use – this will be a big benefit to simPRO users compared to even the best laptops for engineers and technicians out on site. But real life is always different to the factory tests – but even if it delivered just 5 hours of actual use, it will be more than adequate to use as a job data entry tool.
Pricing hasn’t been announced for the UK yet.
Looking for other mobility solutions?
Look at these other systems available for your field service staff:
simPRO Mobile PDA & Smart Phones (yes – the iPhone is supported too)
Tags: Apple, digital pen, iPad, simPRO
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