Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Lets pretend that you were being given a free gift and you had to choose between an Ipad (Iapd 3) or a Samsung Galaxy Android tablet. What would you choose?

I am looking to buy a tablet and I am having a tough time deciding between the two.

I have friends that have both and both of them fav about them. I talked to the guy at Best Buy and he was pushing the Ipad because of the apps and the availiblity of stores and accessories. I have read reviews on the Ipad 3 saying they over heat and take too long to charge.

What would you choose?

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I actually just made my first tablet purchase (an Asus Transformer Prime - Android 4) and have not regretted the choice of an Android device over an Apple iPad (which I use at work).

The Android OS allows for embedded "widgets" - functional mini-apps on the home screen. It makes for much more of a desktop-like customisable experience than just a bunch of icons on a screen.

For example, my home screen (there are four more "screens" as well I have customised)....

Attachment 105983

The email, calendar, news, weather and Shazam widgets all update without any app being opened.

I'll take the Android option, every time.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Galaxy.

I would have to shoot myself in the face if I have to play with a iPad 3 again, after having to set up the in-laws one.

Okay, that is possibly slightly unfair as they want to use it as a replacement rather than as an addition to a laptop.

:Edit: I don't know how it compares to iPad 2, but 3 does get warm, as you expect with watching movies, but it got warm enough to not want to hold it on your lap while playing Angry Birds.

There's also an extra hour of charging after it says it is 100% charged, to fully charge it...but I couldn't say that the battery was especially bad apart from that little quirk.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Hi Ash

What is it you want to achieve with your tablet device?

The reviews about the iPads getting too hot and taking too long to charge are essentially overblown - headlines that counter the leading tablet producer's reputation during the launch of it's latest product are designed to get more revenue, not inform...

Yes, your iPad will get warm if you play a top end game on it non stop for 45 minutes. Yes, Apple have even strongly suggested their mobile devices are great for gaming.

Yes, the battery meter function on iPad 3 appears inaccurate.

But if you use the iPad the way many millions do, to surf the net, listen to music, watch videos, do email, light office work when on the go, etc, these are not issues that are relevant.

The big argument between Apple fanboys and other fanboys seems to centre on the open vs closed ecosystem philosophy... That all apps must be approved by Apple, and must 'conform', and that with Android being more open, there is more opportunity for creativity.

Apple's closed system suffers very little from crashing apps and OS and so the user experience is essentially trouble free. The openness of Android means that manufacturers are free to fritz about with Android itself, and the same at the apps level.

I'm a geek of sorts. For real fritzing about I can't and don't use an iPad. Neither do I 'geek' on the move. In my day job I manage a global team of sales trainers and take care of sales training/enablement strategy for a very successful semiconductor company. When travelling I want music & video facilities, seamless experience, no need for IT help desk support etc. hence I have iPad.

iPad 3 battery life is same as iPad 2, near enough, which means you get more than 1 day of use, unless gaming!! Yes, even with video... And it recharges over night. So the issue of battery taking too long to recharge is a non issue for me & most others.

Android is getting better and better as a user experience. You are thinking of spending a sizeable sum, so wait to get a good set of responses here to your question, and while waiting for these responses to come, go to Best Buy and Apple stores and have a really good play!!

A previous poster said they go Android every time. I go Apple. I even used my own Apple laptop for work rather than their supplied windws laptop because I was fed up with the amount of time I lost with virus/driver/network issues. I just need the damn thing to work. Our head of Applications Engineering had an Android tablet - a $700+ device, he is very happy with it, no issues at all. So you don't have to follow the herd at all!!

To Bob's post - the technology in iPad 3 is a step forward, and very few tablets have this. Find an Android tablet with the same tech in it and you will find heating... Setting up can be a pain, but is dependent on what you are setting up, and what setting up means, and is always made worse when in-laws are involved (fundamental rule of the universe!!). But once set up, it is set up. Besides, in my direct experience, the Apple store guys will do that for you for free when you buy it... Can't say that necessarily about Best Buy and others...

Putting iPad 2& 3 side by side, as I have, the screen on the new one is utterly fab... No contest. Great for true high def video etc...

And for almost everything I do, it's not necessary, only nice.

You can still get the iPad 2, just $100 cheaper - consider that too!!

Good luck!!

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I admit that it's a harder choice since they would both be a gift. Normally the price difference between mac and android tablets makes it an easy decision for all but the sternest of mac fanboys (or folks with so much cash that buying a tablet barely impacts their beer money).

But I'd still go for the android device. Personally, I don't want Steve Jobs telling me from the grave what I can and can't do with my tablet.

Plus I HATE iTunes with a passion, so couldn't stomach having it installed on a computer in order to take full advantage of my iDevice.

Personally, since the price is similar, I'd ask if you could have a Transformer Prime instead of the Galaxy. The Transformer Prime has an excellent spec and is the best tablet on the market today, IMHO.

I am absolutely loving my original Transformer, even more so since the android 4.0 (ICS) upgrade.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

You see, I'd agree, playing movies or doing anything intense and you would expect it to get hot. Playing Angry Birds, the well known hard core game of choice the world over, after 20 minutes, I wouldn't really, but it did.

Also, the whole selling point of Apple is the simplicity and the beauty of the UI, but it's not, it's no better than any other device. It does the job, but it's no better, something that should be completely simple was a major hassle to figure out, out bound server email authentication, just a few levels hidden in under some obscure label.

It's also no more stable than anything else. So far, over the weekend when I set it up and during this week, the email program has crashed at least 3 times, Safari just as often. Evernote, Facebook, Pinterest, Angry Birds, Skype, Dropbox and a couple of others have all crashed repeatedly and in some cases needed to be un-installed and re-installed to get working again.

These aren't exactly obscure, randomly made apps by weird little unknowns either.

No multi-tasking, for the moment, is also a chore, as is no default ability to turn it into a usb drive to plonk media/work files onto. No built in USB either or SD, so having to get those adapters, sure after markets are cheaper, but the unwashed just end up spending the fortune of Apple tax on something that just isn't required.

The new iPad is lovely, the new screen is amazing, there's no denying it and the shear content available on the iStore can't be beaten.

It's still massively over priced for what it offers...there's only so much shit that can take advantage of the higher resolution that it really doesn't matter and the fact that Apple insist on not using that gorilla glass stuff is a major chore, though I know they make a fair bit from screen replacements, even if all they do is send you a complete new device for the cost.

Oh, as to the point of using a Apple Store to set it up, well they closed the store in Maine down a couple of years ago, so a special trip to Boston 4 hours away isn't really practical...our local one in the burbs is a good distance way as it is.

The Apple after care though, if you have access to a store is amazing, you really can't beat that...don't have access to a store and then they're only marginally better than the rest.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Am I also correct in saying that the iPad3 still cannot play flash video? Something that android devices have been able to do for ages ....

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Not without jailbreaking it.

It's less needed I suppose these days as you have Youtube apps etc, but then you are tied to the Appstore for games rather than being able to play random things you stumble across.

Not to keen on wading through pages and pages of icons either, so glad to have figured out how you can group them together into "folders", but not very elegant.

How does Android sort them out?

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Yep, no flash on ipad3 either. But adobe has stopped development of flash for mobile devices anyway so honestly not sure how long it will be on android either.
You can buy things on the app store for flash, but don't know if they are worth it. Things like bbc news, that used to not play and give the flash error message now play anyway.
Can't comment on playability of ipad3 as not tried I'm afraid. I love my ipad2, but we established long ago that I am an apple whore :o

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Zap-Robo made the intelligent purchase with an Asus Transformer.

Buying anything Apple these days is like shopping at Walmart -- shameful.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I'm a bit of an Apple fanboy, as previously admitted, so fatbrit's guidance for the moment falls on deaf ears BUT...

... I really want somebody, preferably several, manufacturers to come up with a decent answer to Apple's domination.

That needs people insufficient numbers to buy non Apple tablets. From what I can see, you will need to be spending similar amounts of money at the quality end of things... Fair enough.

I actually agree with the sentiment that Apple seams to be going backwards a little... OS X Lion and iOS 5 for me are a step backwards... A little less stable and a little less polished...

And Bob, I agree with your observation about Angry Birds runs things warmer - that shouldn't happen IMHO. My iPad 2 was easy enough to set up for GMAIL and corporate email, though I knew what to loom for, and yes, bits of it were buried 1-2 layers further down than I expected, or they needed to be. Apple is by no means perfect...

I'm not familiar with the Transformer, so thanks for the nod, I'll check it out.

Cheers

HTS

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Ooh!!!

I have to say that Asus Transformer looks very nice!!

Very nice indeed...

I feel a tug on my wallet that I really have to resist for the moment...

But that looks like a better fit for what I do with my tablet than my beloved iPad!!

Lesson for the day: lift your head up from time to time and see what else is out there!!!

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I think the big problem is the Apple Premium.

The spec, okay apart from the higher res display, but everything else, compared to similar tablets is just a lot more expensive for what it is.

They charge a massive premium on getting anything over 16GB and then charging you etc to get SD or USB access and when you add in that the user experience is just as flawed as other devices, I just don't think it is worth it.

If the cost was more in line with other tablets, having access to all the extra crap on the app store and the quality of customer service, it would be brilliant and well worth the money, but as it is, I just don't see it worth the extra money.

Saying that, the Galaxy does cost the same sort of money for the high end range they both offer, so not the best example, but the Transformer wins a fair bit on the low end of the spec budget.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

The big problem is Apple's ethics. The premium folks pay is just amusing.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Please don't describe yourself as a whore dear...