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...

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I will be using it for personal/pleasure. Our desk top was getting extremely slow and at 6 years old it was ready to be updated, I orignally wanted to get rid of the desktop and replace it with a laptop so that I could use it when we travel and so that I was not tied to a desk when I wanted to be online. That said, my hubby was against the idea of replacing the desktop with a laptop (that we would travel with too) because, even with external backup/memory, he was worried about it being lost or stolen with all our document/photos etc. I found a Pandigital Planet Ereader, I took it with us when we travelled and really liked it. So we decided to replace the desktop with a desktop and upgrade the tablet as I used the Pandigital so much.

As I mentioned earlier I am torn between the 2, I have heard good and bad on both sides.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Thanks to everyone for the info :)

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Well yes, there is that.

A lot of companies probably aren't much better, but then they also aren't sitting on $100 billion in the bank either :lol:

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

It's certainly degrees. But Apple is undoubtedly #1 for disgusting business practices.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

This.

Paying a couple hundred extra because it's an apple product just isn't justifiable unless you worship at the church of mac.

Android has become such a mature, stable, smooth operating system that I wouldn't even consider an iPad even if I had the extra money - it's still money - that could be spent on something else.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Having got used to the convenience of a laptop - browsing / editing photos / etc while sitting comfortably on the sofa - I could never go back to my desktops which sit in my mostly unused office.

You are wise to worry about the loss of a laptop. I've been forced to consider this as my company deals with medical info and we are required to encrypt everything, and this has made me cautious about my own data.

At work, we use a combo of encrypted drives (FDE - hardware encryption) and 'bitlocker', but for personal use I use the free/open source 'TrueCrypt' software to create an encrypted 'drive' on the main drive, and it's working great. I also use it to encrypt all my external USB hard drives.

All my personal data (statements, tax files, etc) are stored in the encrypted virtual drive and I notice no performance hit.

Regarding the Galaxy/iPad decision, I've had both (though iPad2, not 3) and I feel the Galaxy is more flexible/geeky, but the iPad has the bigger range of apps and if you already have an iPhone, is an easier device to get used to. And if you've already spent time setting up iTunes and your music library, the fact that the iPad just sucks all that up and works is a big plus if you like the idea of a media player on your tablet. I heard that the recharge time on the Galaxy is bad (I just do it overnight so I don't ever measure it but it's supposed to be much greater than the Apple device).

Not only does the iPad have iTunes (good or bad, depending on your tastes), and a lot more apps for it, but the Android apps are less likely to display right on your Galaxy. Because there are many flavors of Android devices (many tablets and many phones), there's a good chance the app won't correctly detect 'what it is running on', and will not handle the display as well. Many android tablet apps just simply 'scale up' the small phone screen display so you end up with a large lo-res version on the Galaxy.

Finally - if you go with the Galaxy, the default browser sucks; it failed to correctly render 3 mainstream web pages out of 10 I tested on the first day (CNN, SFGate, and some other very common sites). I downloaded the 'Dolphin HD' browser (free) and it does a much better job.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

If they had a smaller margin, same as other players, would they still be #1 for disgusting business practices? Almost all players use Chinese contract manufacturers like Foxconn, so where else does Apple differ in the shit business practices stakes? From a shareholder perspective investing in a company that has the lion's share of the market profits seems like the right way to go...

I'm genuinely curious, because I don't know too much about the business practices of any of the players... And that Asus Transformer still looks very inviting...;)

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

iPad 3 takes 9 odd hours to do a full charge from dead...no idea about the Galaxy.

Safari is shit on it too and Dolphin is a much nicer browser on the iPad as well, the gestures work really nicely with it, much better bookmarking than Safari too.

If you've got a newer Mac, I think the iPad would work pretty well, because iCloud isn't to bad, but if you've got an old Mac and stuck with the now defunct Mobile Me, that's ballsed and without paying for a OSX update, you're up creak and it doesn't play well at all with the iPad.

There's also now no working Google Music app for the iPad, so if you were using that for your music storage, you're kind of stuck, which is a shame because it's a nice way to store up to 20K songs for free....iCloud stores iTunes purchases free but charges for your own ripped material.

Anyway, while there are so many Mac guru's here. Anyone got an idea on how to make the front facing camera on the iPad work nicely with Skype?

Chatting with the in-laws and it was junk, utterly shit, slow, pixellated and terrible.

Shame as the rear facing camera is awesome, that looked amazing and worked great even in lowish light...but the folks wanted to see the kids so had to use the front facing side.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I think any company that is sitting on $100 billion in the bank, if they really gave a shit about these things could ask companies they deal with to be more socially aware and to improve things for their workers or risk getting the manufacturing moved to another company.

Any slight increase in manufacturing costs could be swallowed by Apple and they'd still roll in the cash, perhaps just a few pennies poorer per unit, but considering the iPad2 cost about $100 a unit to manufacture and the rest being a good chunk of profit...

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Are you referring to their labor practices (cheap manual labor in China), or their desire to maintain a 'closed' technology system? I would agree that the former is an ethical problem, but the latter is simply a business decision. I cannot deny that the Apple presents a more refined, smoother experience and I believe this is a direct result of their 'closed' approach. But they did that with their laptops (Macs) and have sat solidly in last place in terms of market share, so they are not benefiting much from that strategy there. Now, with the 'tablets', they are enjoying the benefits but - I suspect it won't last and they'll end up back at the bottom due to having a closed system.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I'm talking about their whole caboodle. When Jobs took over for the second time, every move was based purely on his narcissism.
-- get the cheapest slave wages in China (despite the fact that you could afford to build it in the US and still make a profit.
-- sit on a pile of cash when the economy is starved of it.
-- put competitors out of business using ridiculous patents.
-- close the system and make sure only you can profit for it -- not many rich app programmers, are there?
-- try to take over content providers not to provide a better service but to take their profits, too.
--etc, etc.
Every time there's a decision to take, it's all about me and my profits. Exclusively! They're worse than IBM or MS ever were. c.f. Google, a company of similar size, with a nice mixed bag of doing a bit for us, doing a bit for everyone else.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Agreed.

They never learned anything from the Mac vs Microsoft battle in the 80s/90s. Push out a closed system the way that you want people to use it and people can either take it or leave it. They left it. Windows is now on 95% of computers, MacOS less than 5%.

Now it's the same all over again with Android, iDevices will be fighting for any significant market share soon enough, now that cheaper, high quality android devices are flooding the market.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Over and above all the wonderful technical advice you've been given. Here's my experience with my ipad.

I bought it a few months ago intending for the ipad NOT to replace my macbookpro, but to use the ipad only for travelling to keep in touch with family etc.

I dont know if you have used a tablet before, but I found the keyboard on the screen and having to change from the alphabet keyboard to the numeric one a bloody pain. The keyboard takes up at least 1/4 of the screen at the bottom. I finally found a keyboard that also works as a cover for somewhat protection of the ipad but it was difficult to use. I finally bought an wireless keyboard which had issues with the ipad. As well, I had to buy a stand for it to keep it secure. I must have gone through three or four different stand and couldnt find one that I was satisified with. I took the ipad in the car, ferry and train to see if it would be stable without a firm support and found it annoying and unsuccessful.

Bottom line - Im giving my ipad to my sister and bought a macbookair. Granted it is a little heavier than the ipad, but is much easier to use and I love having a proper keyboard.

This is just my experience with the ipad. I hope you will be very happy with whatever your choose.

Cheers.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_...sformer_TF101/

:rofl:

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I was playing around with one of those over the weekend and do want!

Was really nice and responsive...felt much nicer than the ipad, especially with the dock, but as it was tethered to the shelf, couldn't really see how light it really was, or how well using the front facing cam could be on Skype v the iPads front facing camera.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Do they care when they have the lion's share of the profit available in the laptop, tablet and smart phone markets? Granted it'll be a tough thing to maintain going forward... but given the opportunity to lead in market share or profit share, as a business I'm going to go for profit share...

Apparently when 'many people' by an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad they later add a MacBook or Mini/iMac to their 'collection', and vice versa...

There may be little for the OP to gain from the 'apple fan vs apple hater' argument that could develop here, so...

* Get very clear about what you want to do with what ever you buy...
* Get clear about what your budget is - not just on the device, but any apps you may need to buy on top...
* Go and have a play.
* THEN buy what YOU want. Apple or 'Not Apple' makes no odds to anybody on this thread except you, in the end.

Good luck and I hope you find what you are looking for.

To the other contributors, I've found this thread useful in lifting my head out from the Apple fog to consider other alternatives... 'She who must be obeyed' is likely to go down the non-Apple route, and for good reasons. My next toy (v low cost) is a linux 'box'. Thank you all.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

We have a Motorola Zoom tablet. It's really great!

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I had a Xoom, took it back and changed it for the Transformer. The case for the Xoom covers up the MicroSD card slot and the slot itself is covered by a plastic piece that you have to take out every time. This means that you have to take the Xoom out of it's case then open the cover to put the card in - a ludicrous design oversight.

I guess if you don't need to use SD cards then it doesn't matter. But that was a dealbreaker for me. The Transformer's slot is easily accessible, even in the case I bought for it.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I would never buy a tablet without an SD card slot. Memory is a big deal for something that plays videos, being able to upgrade so easily is very nice. My phone came with 2GB of memory which I used I quickly so I went to 4GB, which ran out, now I have 32GB and I am comfortable. Plenty of space for my music, videos, and even mapping apps. iPads do not come with card slots, although you can buy an outrageously priced adapter for SD cards, but that is pretty awkward to use all the time.

Unusually for Apple, iPads are priced pretty aggressively compared to other tablets, while everything else isn't.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Haven't seen Skype on an iPad. I have used it on the Transformer a few times, the quality is as good as it gets with Skype on a wireless device, I have no complaints.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

You'll never get enough memory in a tablet to take all your media -- 32GB is a tiny fraction of what I have on my media server. The secret is to make your media server accessible by the tablet, not to try and store your media on the tablet.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

True. My husband has loads of stuff stored on his Amazon Cloud which he can access from the tablet

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I have a Thrive, wife has an Ipad.

Currently going to college as well as working full time, several college related activities do not work on the ipad.

I bought the Thrive for several reasons, I have an additional 32 GB of storage thanks to the SD slot. I can use a flash drive with no problems.

I can even connect it to a network, when travelling some hotels still do not offer wi-fi.

Also all the websites I go to work, none of this flash issue.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

I use Skype several times a week on my iPad when talking with home in UK - works very well - surprisingly so, no matter what orientation I put the iPad in.

Re: Need your help... Lets pretend.
 

Gets pretty tough to do that for aeroplane journeys and camping in the woods though! I obviously don't store all of my media on 32GB, the music alone on my media centre is 60GB, but it gets me by so I don't have to swap stuff out very often. Plus I could always carry a few more cards tailored to specific uses such as geocaching (hi-res topography maps take up quite a bit of space, although obviously you should carry a paper copy too).