4.29.2011

PDAs. Are They All the Same?


 I love my iPhone. I used to work at Verizon so I’m a bit of a cell phone nut. I’ve tried most every brand… Blackberry, Windows, Droid, and now the iPhone. If you are looking to get a PDA for school or work, I will give you my 2 cents.
Blackberry (BB): Been around the longest, most secure, BB has its own enterprise server (among other less expensive server options), a good “work horse” phone, not so good for fun games and applications. Because BB’s primary market was business/gov’t, security was of the utmost concern so they do not open their platform for people to freely make apps like Apple and Google did. Hence, less apps.
Windows: I must admit that my last Window’s phone was about 3 years ago and they have gotten much better since then. HTC has put out some great phones, but when it comes to apps Droid and Apple have the market locked.
Droid: I really, really liked my Droid. There are tons of apps (and more everyday). Whenever I searched for an app I was able to find it without a major problem in the Android market… with the exception of one major category, medical apps. There are medical apps for the Droid, but definitely not as many as for the iPhone and since I’m headed into the medical field and I am an avid Mac user… the iPhone was the best fit for me.

APPS, APPS, APPS
**Some of these are available on the Android. If you search the app title and android on Google you should be able to find them if they exist.
My Free or Nearly Free Favorites:
Dictation program that allows you to send texts, emails, notes to yourself. Very accurate

Used to be free, I think its .99 now (but worth it)

Free

Helpful to check grades and assignments on the go

I use it to scan the bar codes of books. It finds the cheapest price online and if you sign up for Amazon Prime for Students (free for 1 year with student email address) you can get the book in a day with FREE shipping.

Free. This is the Monthly Prescribing Reference. I honestly use this 10 times a day while in the hospital to look up medications that I haven’t heard of before.

One of the few apps that I’ve found that allows you to work backwards from signs and symptoms to diagnosis instead of needing the diagnosis before you can look up the signs and symptoms.

Free. A learning tool designed to help improve the auscultation skills. There are 14 unique lessons - based upon key heart sounds - that combine text, a virtual mannequin, 3D cardiac animation and dynamic waveforms.

Free. Great videos and case studies.

Interested in Ortho or Plastic surgery? This app is great to pass the time learning about cool things in these 2 fields. Each has its own app.
AO Surgery:

Lite version is free. This is a recording program. Many of my classmates just used the built-in voice recorder on the iPhone (and it worked well), but I liked this app because it allowed you to name the file on the phone. The built-in one marks it as a date until you get it to iTunes, then you can change the name. This program also requires that you down load something to your computer so that you can wirelessly upload the recording to your computer. May be a bit too much for people but thought I’d throw it out there.

Some others:
Annals of Internal Medicine App

Doctor's Dilemma Mobile App

Clinical Reference/Preventive Medicine App

I am constantly looking for and test-driving new apps. As I find more I’ll post them. Feel free to post some of your own.

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