Doctors with iPhones

[mysticmead]

Have you tried giving a locked android phone to a newbie user and note the amount of time it will take him to figure out how to unlock the screen and actually dial a number for the first time.
Now do the same for iPhone.

with no pattern lock set, I handed my Hero to my neighbor who is...well... lets say doesn't have an abundance in the smarts dept and is very computer illiterate... he does know how to push buttons though... he pressed the green button... then the red...screen came on.. he touched the screen.. it said slide down or press menu to unlock.. he did that.. presto.. he was at the home screen.. then he pressed that big button that says phone.. and dialed his house... took him all of 2 minutes...


now. use a pattern lock and you'll sit there for hours figuring it out...

 

[vladgur]

LOL!! Isn't that the truth!!!

In my entirely unscientific guesstimate, cost differential is what bring most(read, not kernel compiling kind) people to android, not some weird functionality that iPhone lacks yet android has.

P.S. last thing i need is to install latitude on my phone and set it and forget it. What if my wife learns how to use it...

 

[zombdroid]

What is Latitude??

Google Latitude

 

[chfields]

looks kinda cool..........

 

[bill t]

Two big problems for doctors using the Hero:

Non-specific one: way-ay too much keypad lag when using the phone. However many gew-gaws added on to it, it should be a phone first and foremost. As a phone, it is the worst i have ever encountered.

Specific fault: Epocrates. Most docs (not orthopods) will say that this is the most important medical application on their smart-phone. Epocartes just came out with an Android app, but it only works on 1.6 and higher. Since Hero likely won't see an Android update for another 2 months or so, it means docs who bought the Hero in October will have gone 6 months without Epocartes.

 

[TheAndroidWorks]

A lot of people have been eagerly awaiting Epocrates for Android. I got the announcement this week. I am curious to see how it compares to the Palm and Iphone versions.

Let's face it, it is the age old trade off of power/features vs. learning curve.

 

[bill t]

A lot of people have been eagerly awaiting Epocrates for Android. I got the announcement this week. I am curious to see how it compares to the Palm and Iphone versions.

Let's face it, it is the age old trade off of power/features vs. learning curve.

??? What are you talking about? My point was that Epocrates will not work on Hero's Android 1.5

 

[TheAndroidWorks]

My point is that if you want a phone that is more powerful than an Iphone you are going to have a spend a little more time learning how to use it. A car takes a little bit more time to learn how to drive than a gokart.

Epocrates just got announced on the 25th... give Sprint/HTC a few more weeks before being so negative.

You have a lot of choices if you want to run Epocrates on an Android, though...

Root and install one of the available 1.6 ROMs on your hero, wait a few more weeks for the OTA update to 2.1, get a verizon droid, or get a tmobile nexus. Both the new ROMs and the 2.1 update will all but cut out any lag on the hero.

 

[BOO5TED]

What can our phones do that the iphone can't?

Open this site:

Instant No Button! Star Wars funnies FTW!

 

[Dade County]

Okay, so I am a surgical tech (OR Tech) to be quite honest, I came from the iPhone 3g to the Hero. Love it. Our docs, especially the Ortho docs (the whole group) got em. They can use them for a lot more than scheduling and syncing calendars, surgeries, info, etc. There are apps so they can view, compare, measure xrays. Use it for many resources than just your practical things you would expect. It's actually funny to see some of the docs that are kind of low key personalities anyway, walking around with this big Otter Box wrapped iPhone. The office managers must have purchased cases to go with them so they wouldn't break them. I would imagine being able to do basically about the same things. Maybe even a couple things better as some posters have said.

 

[g0tr00t]

I just wish I could surf and talk on the phone

 

[i VTAK]

I just wish I could surf and talk on the phone

I don't get it, I can't think of many instances where this would be useful for me. I do however, love streaming Pandora while surfing the web. And if someone calls, it all pauses for a sec till I'm done with the call. I hate talking on the phone anyways.

 

[TheAndroidWorks]

I just wish I could surf and talk on the phone

Haha, I love showing Iphone people that Android can do that too if you have a wifi signal (which I do about 80% of the time.)

 

[RhinoDoc]

As a physician (ENT) I love my Hero. The lack of Epocrates is a minor hassle, but in the office or at home I can easily access it on the computer. Every one of my partners has an iPhone, but they are not the most computer savvy group. For pure simplicity and an OS that works well, the iPhone is perfect for them. They have no interest in rooting (or jailbreaking) or customizing their phone the way I want to. The biggest advantage to the iPhone for us is that virtually EVERY useful medical app developed is made for the iPhone. Want to access xrays on your phone? There is an app for that. Want to access our electronic medical record on a patient? There is an app for that. However, those aren't developed yet for Android, and I don't know that they ever will be. Again, these aren't huge issues, it's rare that I want access to an xray or patient record and my phone is the only way to do it, but any new application or anything is developed first for the iPhone. The funny thing is, none of my partners use their iPhone to do any of those things - they just sit around comparing fart sounds and goofy ringtones.

 

[scottmbolt]

I just wish I could surf and talk on the phone

LoL ... Luke Wilson is such a douchebag!

 

[gh0atd]

Everyone keeps talking about Epocrates, but how does it compare to SkyMedical?

 

[Dade County]

Not sure, but I keep hearing people at work talking about Skyscape??? Not sure if its medical, but I know they had been mentioning an app to help with nursing.

 

[gh0atd]

Yep, I just goofed up.
Skyscrape was what I was referring to. I thought it was pretty good, except for the fact that it downloads pictures to your SD Card.

 

[bill t]

Skyscape is a portal to various medical/nursing texts, most of which are paid services. Epocrates provides succinct prescribing info - doses, top indications/contraindications, mode of action. For a practicing doc, Epocrates is vastly superior.

Someone said that he can always access Epocrates on a computer instead, which misses the whole point of having a smartphone.

Someone else said that since Epocrates just came out with its Android version, I should be patient for Sprint/HTC to port it, and also learn how to use all the powerful features of the Hero. That reply made no sense. To repeat, I can't use Epocrates on my Hero because of the Android version - there is no porting or learning curve involved at all.

 

[Oshi74]

Free medical PDA software: Epocrates Rx for Android

 

[mysticmead]

Skyscape is a portal to various medical/nursing texts, most of which are paid services. Epocrates provides succinct prescribing info - doses, top indications/contraindications, mode of action. For a practicing doc, Epocrates is vastly superior.

Someone said that he can always access Epocrates on a computer instead, which misses the whole point of having a smartphone.

Someone else said that since Epocrates just came out with its Android version, I should be patient for Sprint/HTC to port it, and also learn how to use all the powerful features of the Hero. That reply made no sense. To repeat, I can't use Epocrates on my Hero because of the Android version - there is no porting or learning curve involved at all.

I think the main point was.. Sprint/HTC will have our Android version upgrade soon.. it's a well known fact that they are going to upgrade us. last mention from both Sprint and HTC was early 2Q2010..