barrysuperhawk Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Okay my problem is my indoor range uspsa club has three old iPads that are so old that we can't upgrade the ios and load the newest practiscore. So my club voted to buy 3 new ipads, and I got voluntold to make this happen. So I looked up ipads, and then we (almost) lost 2 club officers to strokes when i told them the prices. So, yeah, now my task is to come up with 3 cheaper options. Right now my Front Runners are a couple of Kindle Fire 7's for scoring and a 10" for sign up, since they are both currently on special and just dirt cheap. We only operate matches at our Indoor Range so we don't need a water resistant option, but any drop will be directly onto concrete so some type of impact resistant option. So with that background, am I on the right track here? Are the "previous version" Kindles new enough to be able to load practiscore without any problems? Is there any meaningful difference between the way practiscore is loaded or operates on a Kindle compared to an iPad? Am I going to have to do any retraining for my ROs and scorekeepers? And was possibly my most important question, are there any gotchas involved in this that I haven't thought of? I mean it seems like this should be a pretty straightforward thing, but I figure I'm going to get enough push back switching from iPad to Kindle I would just as soon not have any technical problems also. Edited January 18, 2021 by barrysuperhawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnStewart Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 This is a common challenge. I've had a lot of success with the 32GB Amazon Fire 8" tablet. They are relatively cheap, and you can pick up a childproof case that is extra drop resistant to go along with them, which is really helpful for use on the range. Typically, around the holidays, you can find the tablets with cases and everything you need for around $50 each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 If you can get them and have some money - get Fire 8 instead of Fire 7. A bit bigger and a bit better screen and bit better battery. The last revision of Fire 8 also has USB-C connector instead of Micro-USB. As of the differences... A few things look somewhat different. Though mostly not for the score keepers. Get one Android tablet and try your MD routine on it to get a feel for it. You can actually run PractiScore app for Android on your PC or Mac in the Bluestacks app runner. https://www.bluestacks.com/ Maybe even run Android and your old ipads side by side at your club match or alternate them between squads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathanb Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 The fire 8 and 10 are the best bang for the bucks easily. I love an update for a master but it’s way more expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 14 hours ago, Nathanb said: The fire 8 and 10 are the best bang for the bucks easily. I love an update for a master but it’s way more expensive You mean you like ipad for a master? Could you elaborate why you prefer ipad over Android? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathanb Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 9 hours ago, euxx said: You mean you like ipad for a master? Could you elaborate why you prefer ipad over Android? It’s just interface familiarity for me. I’ve been using it for so long that I know where everything is and what not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 27 minutes ago, Nathanb said: It’s just interface familiarity for me. I’ve been using it for so long that I know where everything is and what not. I see. Were you not been able to find something in the Android app? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathanb Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 55 minutes ago, euxx said: I see. Were you not been able to find something in the Android app? No issues. It just takes longer for me to do similar things. I’m sure if I put the iPad down and went all android then it would be ok. I do have a fire 10 for a master for this season and that’s my plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Nathanb said: It just takes longer for me to do similar things. Could you give me an example what might be taking longer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrysuperhawk Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 Well I brought my own personal Kindle Fire 7 out to the range yesterday and we performed every single function that we normally do on the iPads in parallel on the Fire and it seemed to work perfectly. Actually two of our scorekeepers mentioned that somehow scoring on the iPad was easier or nicer. I'm not sure what they were looking at but I'm willing to take yes for an answer. Thanks for the advice about the generations also, I didn't realize they had transitioned over to USB C but that is a good point of retaining a power plug that will go in either way. So I think I'm going to try to bring up to the club officers this weekend and get approval to by the Kindles. Thank you everybody. So does anybody have any advice on how to set these up, like whether to make a separate Amazon account for the club or just use mine, what software I may need to take off, excetera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George16 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 I used the club’s account in setting up the new Kindle Fire we bought a couple of years ago. This way, the account doesn’t have to be changed again when new club officers take over. As for software, just leave everything on there for the meantime until you have determined which software or app you really need. They don’t slow down the operation of the Kindle if they’re not removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 1/22/2021 at 11:10 AM, barrysuperhawk said: Well I brought my own personal Kindle Fire 7 out to the range yesterday and we performed every single function that we normally do on the iPads in parallel on the Fire and it seemed to work perfectly. Okay. Glad to hear that. If you will come up with something. Let me know. Can also email that at support@practiscore.com On 1/22/2021 at 11:10 AM, barrysuperhawk said: Actually two of our scorekeepers mentioned that somehow scoring on the iPad was easier or nicer. I'm not sure what they were looking at but I'm willing to take yes for an answer. I'd like if you you could get them to elaborate on that. What was easier on ipad and what could be better on Android? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 1/22/2021 at 11:40 AM, George16 said: As for software, just leave everything on there for the meantime until you have determined which software or app you really need. They don’t slow down the operation of the Kindle if they’re not removed. There are few things you should do on Kindles right away. https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/06/28/fire-tablet-slow-performance-speed-guide/ And if you are somewhat tech-savvy and not afraid to experiment with things, there is more could be done about Fire tablet annoyances. Take a look at the "Fire Toolbox" tool: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/windows-tool-fire-toolbox-v11-0.3889604/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrysuperhawk Posted March 27, 2021 Author Share Posted March 27, 2021 Okay after quite a bit of a delay there are three Fire HD 8 on the way. When I ordered them apparently I neglected to uncheck the Box about "associate with my account", so I have questions about the order of operations when I set these up. I intend to take the device advice from a few posts up, but the simpler I can make these the easier I think acceptance is going to be from my more recalcitrant fellow shooters. Obviously I'm not going to leave them registered to my personal Amazon account, but I seem to remember from setting up my personal one that I have to have some kind of an account on there to be able to download practiscore. That is unless I can find or get a link to just the raw APK so I can sideload it. I think it would rather not have any internet-connected account of any type on here once I put them out, to forestall any Mischief, intentional or accidental. We have an internal only range Wi-Fi setup, and then to upload to practiscore after the match we connect to one of our phones hot spots, do the upload and then shut off. So any other advice that anybody wants to give me on exactly how to set these up from scratch that would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George16 Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 I used our club’s account in setting up our Fire HD tablets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 36 minutes ago, barrysuperhawk said: I think it would rather not have any internet-connected account of any type on here once I put them out, to forestall any Mischief, intentional or accidental. We have an internal only range Wi-Fi setup, and then to upload to practiscore after the match we connect to one of our phones hot spots, do the upload and then shut off. So any other advice that anybody wants to give me on exactly how to set these up from scratch that would be awesome. You do need some Amazon account to be on top of the app updates. Just create one on a separate email. Gmail emails are free to make. Just register one for your club. In the tablets system settings, change them to not automatically update apps. So, they won't eat up your phone hotspot data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racegun9 Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 Any problem using a fire hd8 kids or the newest hd8 kids pro on practiscore. They come with the heavy duty case and all fire models are on sale right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euxx Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 As far as I know the kids version has a kid-friendly app launcher (bigger icons and all) but other than that it is same hardware and same amazon app store under. The launcher could be replaced and other junk removed with a help of Fire Toolbox util https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/windows-tool-fire-toolbox-v23-0.3889604/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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