Apple iPad

Published by: One Switch on 3rd Nov 2010 | View all blogs by One Switch

iPad.jpg


iPad - from Apple (reviewed by Barrie Ellis)

The Accessible GameBase has taken the plunge and got itself an Apple iPad. I've been the lucky person to test it out first, and my personal verdict is... it's winning me over slowly (but my daughter fell in love with it immediately).

Pros: Beautiful and responsive multi-touch LED screen; great-battery life; some really lovely apps, especially so, some of the cause and effect toys; mostly easy to use if someone has already set-it up for you; some very good accessibility features; iPad Google Maps is fantastic; runs most apps that an iPhone can run.

Cons: No standard USB socket; quite a basic and limited operating system and web browser with no Flash compatibility; most free apps seem to be riddled with adverts; horrible touch keyboard (although you can buy a proper Apple keyboard for it); expensive; memory can't be upgraded.

Here's some of my favourite sub £10 APPS for it so far...


Cause and Effect APPS

ArtofGlow.gif

Art of Glow (free or Pro version for £1.19 - pictured above). Simple but lovely animated neon effects that you can draw with, and highly accessible for all who can touch and see the screen.

Pocket Pond HD (free). Annoy not very realistic Koi Carp. That doesn't sell it very well, does it? A very simple, swoosh your hand around in a fish pond activity that's actually quite compelling and relaxing.

Tesla Toy (free). A visual toy, like Art of Glow, where you can interact with trippy visuals. There's lots of others like this, such as Gravitarium and Swirlcity, but Tesla Toy's my favourite so far.

Alice for the iPad (Lite version or £5.49). Lovely re-imagining of an Alice in Wonderland pop up book, but with iPad interactivity.


Art and Music APPS

Virtuoso.jpg

Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD (free - pictured above). Very simple multi-touch piano for one or more performers.

Beatwave (free). Grid based musical instrument, very much like a Tenori-on where you draw a repeating sequence of notes and beats to create music that can be quite hypnotic.

Bubble Harp (59p). Strange interactive harp. Worth a look.

I am Funk for iPad (free). Drag two large funk counters around a 3x3 grid to create different combinations of funk. There's "I am" versions for Beat Box, Jazz and Symphony too.


Games

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Air Hockey (59p - pictured above). This Acceleroto version is the most realistic vitual air hockey I've yet seen. The 1 player version has six different difficulty levels from Kiddie (which is as easy as you could expect) to "INSANE!" (very fast).

Labyrinth (free to £4.99). A simple traditional puzzle game where you tilt the entire iPad to move a ball around a maze, trying to avoid problems. Amazingly realistic, and if you've got the fine control and patience, a great old fashioned game.

Angry Birds (free to £2.99). Fire a limited number of birds to knock down various structures that some cheeky-pigs are hiding in. I've seen lots of games like this on the PC for free, but this one is the best I've yet played. 

And some others well worth a look include Bub, Foosball HD, Cooking Mama, Puzzle Bobble, the wonderfully quirky Pottery HD and the one tap games Star Trigon and Orbital HD.



Accessibility: In-built and APPS

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There is some fantastically useful looking software to be found by trawling through the Education section of the Apps store. Proloquo2go (£109.99!) is probably the best known (pictured above). Apple have just included a Special Education apps store section too that is a great place to browse. The iPad also has some excellent accessibility features, including for improving access for blind users.

In Closing...

For those who should get along with a touch-screen, and don't like overly complicated interfaces, the iPad could be ideal. It is expensive, but not unreasonably so, considering the build quality. I think the future is bright for this limited but quite lovely in some ways machine.

As a side note for (not quite forgotten) switch users, RJ Cooper has released a wireless switch interface, although it will only work on an extremely limited range of APPs. Let's hope some game developers will make their games accessible too using this device.

Comments

15 Comments

  • Katilea
    by Katilea 1 year ago
    I love my iPad! It has improved my aim since getting it from using games (sliding scrabble and lexulous tiles across the screen!). I also use simple art apps where they teach you how to draw things so have to trace with finger over line they draw first.

    I also have Proloquo2Go on it which I love its versatility as you can completely program it to suit your needs. As an adult who likes to be able to make longer sentences like other adults I'd like to see word prediction on it and abbreviation-expansion feature. I have learned loads about designing pages and core words (words we use most frequently in most of our sentences). I started with bigger icons 5 x 5 on page and now on 6 x6 on ipad.

    I'm now enjoying making a different version for my new iPhone which again I've started with larger 'buttons' on page, I can't manage as many of the apps on iPhone but can manage SMS texting via Tikinotes app and use Proloquo2go to give me a more compact communication aid for outdoors.

    Also use my Wii for physio using the balance and co-ordination exercises in Wii Fit and other games that just require simple balance/co-ordination like Marbles balance challenge.

    Great therapy and fun to do too! :O)

    Kati
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    Brilliant info, Kati. Thanks so much for sharing. Really useful. A little more info from my side after being asked by Annette Patmore if the iPad is delicate to touch. It is sensitive to quite delicate strokes and touches, but it is built of rock hard materials (with smooth edges). Perhaps mounting on something that gives a little would be a good idea for those who do not have fine control (e.g. velcro'd to a propped up Trabasack). I did find that using one of the protective films you can apply to the screen to prevent scratches, made the iPad a lot less responsive, so I'd advise against if you can do without. Oh, and one more Pro. It's very fast to start up, and switch off.
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    An excellent item here, including Apple's addition of a Special Education apps store section: http://abledbody.com/techtalk/2010/11/04/apple-launches-special-education-app-store/
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    More mighty-fine links here:

    http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2010/12/ipossibilities-slideshows-from.html

    http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2010/12/ipodipad-accessoried-to-consider-for.html
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    An inexpensive, Proloquo2Go alternative, here:

    http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/29/verbalvictor-app-gives-voice-to-disabled/

    Would be easy to set up with essential communication symbols. Could also be used to assist people in picking the games they'd most want to play.
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    Lovely blog post of Sophie Patmore using our iPad here:

    http://www.thesophiestory.co.uk/blogs/detail.aspx?bID=59
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    Great looking super-tough case for iPads here: http://www.amdi.net/store/iadapter.html

    Link with thanks to www.davebanesaccess.com
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    Bit on scan and select switch use on iPad (aka iOS) Apps: http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/blog/new-technologies/2011/02/switch-scanning-on-ipads-yes-well-sort-of/
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    Some iPad wheelchair mounting solutions here: http://rjcooper.com/ipad-mount/
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 1 year ago
    And more Apps here: http://a4cwsn.com/?page_id=1391
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 11 months ago
    "Babies with iPads" blog: http://babieswithipads.blogspot.com/
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 11 months ago
    And places to get funding for an iPad: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=110272705691457&topic=17
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 9 months ago
    iOS 5 update - hopes for greater access for alternative input devices: http://www.appsforaac.net/content/ios-5-will-change-game-again - Via Gillian Taylor via Will Wade. - Let's hope that includes a USB adapter, and access to USB joysticks and switch interfaces. That would be nice.
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 7 months ago
    Flash on iPad / iPod? Apparently so (but maybe a bit laggy):

    http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2011/09/flash-on-you-ipad.html

    And here's some on-line games to try out with it to see if it actually works...

    http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2011/09/free-online-switch-activities.html
  • One Switch
    by One Switch 7 months ago
    Pictello: Lovely looking communication device and picture album APP: http://youtu.be/-B6ld4KaDWA - looks nice and accessible for many.
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