There are now Android apps available that add real value to any English Language Teaching classroom, from pronunciation apps, to dictionaries, game-based vocabulary apps, Graded Readers, and now even complete coursebooks and Readers as e-books. Android is the single most popular Operating System for smartphones and tablets. The reason for this is twofold: firstly, Android has the backing of almost every hardware manufacturer in the world other than Apple, most notably Samsung; and secondly, it’s owned by Google.
In that sense the Android tablet market is like cable TV: lots of choice but also lots of things to avoid.
While Android is owned by Google, it is still open source, so the code is constantly added to by developers not necessarily in Google’s employ. The upshot of this is that any given piece of hardware can run its own version of Android, and its own set of software applications. This means that there is a lot of variety available – some better than others.
How do schools decide on which Android tablet to buy or recommend to their students? The Android tablet infographic is a quick visual checklist of things to think about when thinking about buying an Android device to use in education.
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