iPad or Xperia Z Tablet?

Richeh

Richeh

Richeh

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Hello,
My mum decided she wanted to get a tablet after seeing my mates Nexus 7 and frequently bothering me to look up properties and furniture on the net :p

Initially I had planned to get a Nexus 7 or something cheaper as this will be her first ever computer like device, she has no knowledge of computers, smartphones, laptops etc so will be 'almost' completely new to it (I say almost as she has used my Galaxy S2 a few times and navigated it well enough after a bit of explanation).

However, she saw my uncles iPad and was very impressed, namely because of the 10" screen which was much easier for her to read. We have now ended up at a budget of £400! Which will cover the basic 16GB Retina Display iPad, I can actually get it for £360 as my friend works at Tesco so can use his discount. The Xperia Z is £400 so similar price wise.

I've done a fair bit of research over the last few days as I don't own a tablet myself and have settled on either the iPad or the Xperia Z Tablet. I had initially included the Nexus 10 due to the price but as its over 12 months old, a noticeably 'duller' screen then the iPad or Z even if slightly sharper and can also only be bought direct from Google as it is not stocked anywhere locally and would ideally like to look at them in more detail so its out of the running.

I would say iPad simply because they are the first and most refined except as I understand it a fair few of the benefits come from the ease of connecting other apple devices of which we have none. Also as I will be teaching her how to use it I am far more familiar with Android than iOS which could cause some issues.

She will mainly be using it for browsing, Youtube, BBC Iplayer, viewing photos and the odd film/TV show and music very rarely. Games are not important at all. I have a Windows PC and any music/movies would be transferred from there and I am very reluctant in having to install iTunes on there just to transfer files.

I've read there are a few software bugs around the Xperia Z but am hoping these should be ironed out quite quickly as it is the newest. Although I have a fair few negatives towards the iPad I am very aware that even my bosses step mum has one and is on it all the time so the ease of use is there but should I venture teaching her a brand new system or does the Xperia Z measure up in this category?

Any help appreciated.
 
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Seeing as she already has some experience with Android, I would say the Xperia Z. Since she plans to watch quite a few things on it, it will be much better than the iPad's 4:3 as that will give black bars, so the Xperia Z's 16:9 will look much better.

I wouldn't count out the Nexus 10 out to be honest, granted the colours are not as rich and accurate as others but with it's 300 ppi and dual front facing speakers (and these make a damn good difference), I love watching films on it. For a media tablet, it's brilliant for the price.
 
I do like my Z a lot the only bug I've run into at all is a small annoyance with the default keyboard behavior where sometimes it thinks it knows better than you :S most of the software bugs were ironed out with an update that was applied just before release although wasn't present on some review units and some shops (I believe John Lewis being one) got stock of them before the update was applied but you can just update it straight out the box.

I've no idea what BBC iplayer is like on the ipad but it is one area I feel lets the Z down a bit - your left with either using the stock iplayer for tablets app which has pretty average video quality or some extensive hacking to get proper flash support to stream in HD (this sadly isn't an uncommon issue with tablets) - and I mean extensive hacking just downloading the old flash apk and using advanced settings in a browser to force support won't give you smooth playback.
 
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Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately, the main thing that ruled the Nexus out was that can only order online and with a £320 item she's not happy with that, which fair enough, mums!

I don't think the iplayer problems would cause too much of a issue as it will only be used sparingly on the few things she has missed on TV. I am leaning towards the Xperia simply because of Android and the tablet is high enough quality to actually be on the same level as the iPad. Will try and have a play on both in town, never used an ipad before so it could win me over.
 
The iPad is still the only tablet worth owning if you can afford it. Great screen, great battery life, great apps.
 
Rroff said:
I guess you've never had much time with the Xperia Z tablet :P
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The screen on the Xperia Z tablet is high resolution but doesn't look as good as the iPad's. The battery life is better than most Android tablets I've used but, again, not as good as the iPad's.

And obviously there's a gulf in terms of quality and quantity of tablet-optimised software between the two.
 
iPad. It's got the support where it really counts - apps. Combine that with great battery life and an nice IPS panel I'd never look elsewhere for a while yet.
 
Bought the ipad today. All ok so far and have left my mum on it watching iplayer. Only thing, both iplayer and youtube seem to have audio sync issues. Has anyone else experienced this using the apps for each?
 
Tunney said:
I know that this is a Android-centric forum. I apologise for voicing an opinion that there's yet to be a decent Android tablet at the premium end of the market.

Right, back to playing XCOM on my iPad...
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The screen is lower resolution but has better black levels and contrast, not to mention it's widescreen so far superior for watching modern TV & films.
There's no need to spend hours converting films via handbrake because the OS is locked down to itunes/app store content either.

The tablet is also Slimmer, lighter, water resistant, most apps are free. Ipad fanbois are upset that the current best all-round tablet isn't made by apple.
 
My parents get on great with their Galaxy Tab 10.1. I load them up things onto microSD card and the screen ratio is perfect for them to watch things. They also like the fact I can remotely install new apps for them, plus the Google and Dropbox integration.

Personally I have an iPad 4 and a Tablet Z - the iPad I really only use for Sky Go but for most other things I prefer the Tablet Z. Great for putting your feet up in the bath and watching TV on without worrying about it falling it! Also the Tablet Z is far more comfortable to hold due to the weight difference.

Horses for courses really, you can't go wrong with either unless there is something you specifically want which the other doesn't offer. If you play games like XCOM then it's a no brainer, but if it wasn't for Sky Go I'd probably never use the iPad now.
 
MatteH Oxford said:
The tablet is also Slimmer, lighter, water resistant, most apps are free. Ipad fanbois are upset that the current best all-round tablet isn't made by apple.
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And this is where my opinion differs from most Android fans. I don't want free apps; I want quality apps. Android has a handful of really good tablet-optimised apps. The iPad has thousands.

If you want cheap then Android is a great choice. If you want quality (hardware + software) then the iPad is still the way to go.
 
There are a lot of people which just want to browse the web, do emails, consume media. In this regard, Android tabs are great especially on the media front with SD/ large codec support. Android has a quite a few the popular apps catered for on tabs.

I agree that for the number of quality tab apps - it is way behind the ipad.
 
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