If you're like me, you've heard all the hoopla about the iPad I/II, and how great they make peoples lives. As an engineer, I understood the limitations that came with a tablet device, including lack of major computing power, as well as the missing mouse and real keyboard. But when I got the opportunity to use an Android-based device, in the form of my HTC smartphone, I was astounded by how well the Google gadget OS actually addressed so many of the common gripes held by tech-freaks like myself. Now that Android 2.2 Froyo has crossed the beach-heads of the cellphone market, it is now making its way into cheap me-too tablets in a big way. These tablets have long since abandoned the useless, AWOL Windows tablet OS, and have latched onto Android as their savior. The pad war is starting to pique the interest of once discriminating device converts, ready to test the tablet waters. Brace yourself for the wave of Android tablets, because they're here, and they're taking names.
One day, on a whim, I decided to surf the net for Android-based tablets. While I wasn't very surprised that most of the tablets I found were China-based devices, I was taken aback by the actual specs offered by these devices. They now offer Capacitive touch screens, 7"-10" screen sizes, 3G, cameras, HDMI, Bluetooth, wi-fi, great battery life, and of course an Android OS. What I saw was a plethora of devices which could be had for as little as $120. Though no-name tablet PCs have come and gone, they have finally found traction with the addition of Android.
But with anything "made in China, these devices come with an air of skepticism, and so I updated my search to look for reviews and news about these devices. As an example, I selected a device called a "Dropad A8" which employs a Samsung S5PV210, 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor -- a big name plus in my book. The reviews I found amazed me. This device could be had for as little as $200, yet the specs it offered were phenomenal. Not three years ago, you would have had to spend well over $500 for the same device, if such a device even existed that is.
Now the Dropad is known by many other names; Haipad, Heropad, and Vpad, to name a few. This seems to be common with Chinese devices; they are known for manufacturing methods which leverage multiple vendors, in an effort to distribute projects and lower costs. This works well price-wise, but has the side effect of creating multiple sources for the same product, with each source wanting to market their own version and get a piece of the action. But with the manufacturing prowess that China possesses, they could never really find a real market in the US. They could make devices, but didn't have the user interface that would make such devices interesting to consumers.
And then came Android.
The evolution of Android, from an easy-to-use smartphone OS into a premier tablet operating foundation, would be the ticket for Asian device makers to find their way into the US market. In effect, Android is creating the non-iPad tablet market, in the same way that Android created the non-iPhone smartphone market. Believe it or not, Chinese made gadgets are slowly becoming a real threat to Apple, as well as their Japanese manufacturing neighbors.
So, if you're like me, you're steadily becoming more interested in these new-fangled tablet devices, especially the ones which employ an OS that's familiar to many smartphone users. With prices coming down and specs coming up, the coming of Android for tablets was a perfect storm in the making. The tablet field is ripe with cheaper-yet-better gadgets, and it's got my mouth watering.
In the ever-growing pad war, this is one invasion where people on both sides of the front line will benefit.
With Android's sales numbers and massive installed base, developers are not going to be able to ignore Android even if they wanted to. There is just too much money to be made.
- No Desktop...you basically have an icon jukebox with the iPad
- No Widgets, only icons. Widgets allow you to access content without having to open an actual app...you can see stuff at a glance.
- No Multitasking for all apps (It only suspends processes, doesnt multitask them). Apple is supposedly working on a fix in iOS5, but Android has had good multitasking for a long time now.
- No expandable Memory...if you buy the cheap model you better make sure you can live with 16 gigs of memory, because the only way to expand it is to buy a new iPad.
- No Flash Support. Ever. The iPad is perfectly capable of Flash, but Steve Jobs is on an HTML5 crusade, and if you want the privilege of using his product, you need to join the crusade too. Android supports both Flash and HTML5.
- No unrestricted media. No drag and drop for you on iPad...you will need to "sync" everything. - Android allows you to transfer files just like a USB drive if you want to.
- Apple censorship. If you live in Apple's world you will need to live with Apple's Veto power over content you are allowed to access.
Dont get me wrong, Apple does make great products (they are way better than Palm or RIM or anyone else right now). But Android offers comparable products without the restrictions and limitations posed by Apple.
APPLE and iPad are fairly easy to use and I love the fast 'snappy' applications, Hardware is great and of course the app store is a monster. HOWEVER, the multi-tasking is horrible. That one button double-tap thing with little thumbnails on the bottom does not cut it! Jumping from app to app you will need to do several actions and need to pin-point the little tiny 'x' to close the application. Furthermore, sometimes you forget how many applications you left open and the system slows down.
ANDROID - I believe the biggest advantage is the option to choose from many devices. I specifically wanted a 7" tablet to take with me on the workout floor. Apple have one? NO! As far as the operating system 2.2, it's not that great especially if you've adopted to the iPad or webOs. I get lost quite often on their OS. We'll see with Honeycomb.
WEBOS is FAR the most dynamic, easy and fast operating system with multi-tasking at it's best. BUT it lacks the 'snappy' opening of applications and the app store is still under 10,000. The 3rd generation devices that are due this summer may have improved on this.
But don't worry, it won't be intrusive. ;)
first of all, most people are not like him, a spec-obsessed tech geek.
second of all, he misses the point. apple has started yet another trend by popularizing tablets for everyday users (ok, everyday users who can afford a $500-$1000 device). the average user doesn't care about "major computing power". most smartphones have more power than computers 15 years ago and everyone did just fine.
third, the ipad or iphone is a device that's a portal into the apple "world". just because other manufacturers are making similar "devices" doesn't constitute a threat to apple. apple makes a lot of other products, and the ipad is still an experiment. tablets are part of the evolution of mobile computing that nobody really knows how it will look in 10 years. apple just took the lead with the ipad, now everyone is following.
fourth. the phrase "pad" is used 9 times in his post. evidence that apple is already winning.
Apple is winning because the other team hasn't shown up on the field yet. It's easy to win a game when you're the only one playing....
But Apple set the bar so high it's taking a very long time for competitors to gear up.
Poor Microsoft won't have a dog in this fight until Next year!
everyone else was too chicken to be the first to put out a real tablet (as we know them now). all the tech geek engineers and pure hardware manufacturers can assemble devices, but they have no vision. that's why the ipad needed to come out first, so they'd have something to copy. otherwise, they're lost.
First, no mouse? What the heck do you need a mouse for on a touch-oriented tablet?
Second, a threat to Apple? Hardly. What do you think the margin is on these no-name tablets? Apple's making billions of dollars on their iOS devices. Even Acer announced today that they have to give up on the market share search, and start driving towards higher margins.
Third, while I'm not going to criticize the Android tablet market as a whole, there's a serious lack of a vertical market integration there. As of yesterday, there were a total of 20 -- yes, two - zero -- apps which were dedicated for a Honeycomb-based tablet. To put that in perspective, there are 65,000 apps which are iPad-specific. 20 vs. 65,000.
Finally, more of the vertical integration: I'm able to d/l a video to my iPad and use AirPlay to play that video on my Samsung HDTV. I can type up a note on my iPad and use AirPrint to print it out to any printer in the house.
Android might be really cool, and I'm glad they based it on Linux (long time Linux user here), but it's not ready for prime-time in the tablet market right now. It just isn't.
Secondly, I don't see the Xoom or any other other competitor catching up with the iPad. In 2010, the iPad had revenues of just short of $10,000,000,000 while all other tablets combined pulled in about $34,000,000. $10b compared to $34m. And the iPad, according to pretty much every analyst on the planet will break the 30m mark in sales this year. Do you see the Xoom selling even 3m?
As to the apps, I've used everything from iMovie to Garage Band to various games to iBooks (I'm reading "Jane Eyre" in preparation for seeing the film) to numerous others, each and every day pretty much.
you know, just touching an object on a screen is so pedestrian, and a lot of us would rather have a more abstract experience and move a mouse on a nearby flat surface, which is always available when people are moving around using the devices...
Right, when people talk about a mouse to work on a tablet, you know they have their heads up their @ss!
This is why I cannot understand MS' determination to put a desktop OS (Win7) on a tablet. Touch-based controls and mouse-based controls are totally different. Sure, it's easy to click on the tiny minimize button with a mouse pointer. But that doesn't work so well with your index finger.
I really don't know what this guy was trying to get at. It makes no sense whatsoever.