Android or Apple?

Glaucus

Glaucus

Glaucus

Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,678
Need a new phone and a tablet.

My original plan was to get android but been seeing more and more downsides as time goes on. So my newer plan was to see if I could get an ipad and wait to see how android matures and see what IOS5 stacks up, before committing to one or the other. However went and lost my phone so now I can't wait and need to pick one or the other.

Apple:
+ Good hadware
+ More decent apps, better stability
+ Prefer apple OS although is starting to look dated
+ Itunes is great
- However no flash


Android
+ Has flash
+Widgets - great for some, but I don't like clutter on home screen.
+ a back hardware button, so so useful
- However no itunes like software although Movies is part of the android market, so looks like they are going to have something soon
- Less decent apps and far less stability, although hopfully now they have a market share, companies will start cross platforming. But they haven't yet.
-Hardware or at least from xoom, screen seems to be worse.


Main use is at work where I can be stuck on site in a van (so bight sunlight and reflections, with no way of blocking it) with nothing to do for 12hours and in hotels when lodging away from home.
Use will be internet, purchased digital movies and lovefilm streaming.
And that's where the problem comes in.
Android as of yet, no digital purchase films will work on it, screen on xoom has problems in bright day light, missing decent apps.
On the other hand Apple do not support flash so no lovefilm streaming or blinkbox or other such things. However looks like Lovefilm is working on a proper app.

So what would you do and if you suggest android what phone and when are the tegra2 powered phones coming out. Also which manufacturers do fast android updates. I really don;t like or can be bothered to do custom roms.
 
Grooveshark > iTunes?

What Anfroid Tablet are you looking at getting, I wouldn't really plump for anything other than the xoom atm.
 
Won't it be very expensive buying lots of films over iTunes?

I'd go iPad 2 + SGS2 + Kindle + a ton of ripped DVDs stored on microSD cards. That should keep you occupied ;)

(the Kindle is for reading in direct sunlight, as the iPad/Xoom etc are rubbish compared)

Also check out the Motorola Defy (£250) if your on site frequently and need a brilliant, tough phone now.

Morba said:
I'd go Apple. the battery life on the ipad is beaten only by the ipad2.
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Only over wifi, the Xoom is probably still top for 3G browsing. (They're all great anyway)

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sarge78 said:
Won't it be very expensive buying lots of films over iTunes?
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Not especially, get plenty at £5.99 for hd files. Can't be bothered to sit there and rip. I've sold most of my dvds anyway and am selling the remaining lot.

which ever I go for has to be same brand so apple or android, not one of each.

I've used a mates ipad and ffnd reading on it fine, No way I would have a kindle as well over priced and I just don't see the benefit over a tablet, other than maybe in bright sunlight.

Battery life isn't that big a deal. Cigarette charger or socket for 99% of what I'll be using it for. Although I am going to Australia later this year.

Skyfall said:
What Anfroid Tablet are you looking at getting, I wouldn't really plump for anything other than the xoom atm.
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Not sure there are loads coming out in April, so would see what the reviews say. Although i do like the look of asus transformer, but some say build quality is poor. but it depends what they mean and prices.
 
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I have an Android phone, think they're awesome, would love an Android tablet and wouldn't have an iPhone again.

But it looks like you want an iPad. You're right that at the moment there isn't a proper store for buying movies on Android, one may come along but who knows when. At the sametime I can't see Apple letting Flash on anytime in the near future so you'll have to hope Lovefilm do an iPad app.

If you have to buy something right now the iPad is going to do more of what you say you want than an Android tablet. Also on the Kindle topic, I don't know if you've used one but if you want to read on a device in sunlight, even with the iPad's IPS panel, nothing comes close to the clarity and ease of reading than eInk screens.
 
Without repeating everyone else, I'd argue Android's range trump the iPhone/iPad in terms of hardware, if you're referring to core spec/speed/etc.
 
ipad2 chip is superior to tegra2 as are the screens, compared to what we have seen in android tablets. xoom is also £599 for wifi only 32GB,

Yes things like cameras are better, but who the hell is going to whip out a 10.1" tablet to take a photo. I barely take any photos with a phone.
 
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I wouldn't buy the Xoom in its current state. It's been rushed to market and is very rough around the edges.

If you want an Android tablet, I'd wait for the second generation of devices. Hopefully by then Google will have fixed up Honeycomb and there will be a decent range of apps available.
 
Russinating said:
Not up on my tablets at the moment to be honest, I was more referring to phones :). For example: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4177/samsungs-galaxy-s-ii-preliminary-performance-mali400-benchmarked
Although the Xoom and Galaxy both support 1080p playback, the iPad2 doesn't, and they also have expandable memory and the Xoom has a larger resolution.
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A lot is over hyped on both sides and that's what the real problem is I don't care about the branding only the features. Both have one major downside and lots of niggles.

The microsd slot on the xoom is actually disabled with no estimate of when the software will be updated to enable it. 1080p is very much like the cameras I can't see when I would hook it upto a tv, I run a media pc. Marginally better resolution at the cost of a marginal worse panel.

The tegra2 android phones are competition for the iphone5 which is released in June so I would expect them to be faster than iphone4, but nothing wrong with iphone4 speed. Which then begs teh question if I went for apple, do I wait for iphone5 which would mean no decent phone for 3 months.
 
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AcidHell2 said:
xoom is also £599 for wifi only 32GB,
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Xoom WiFi is priced @ £499 RRP...and thats without internet/supermarket competitive pricing.

Tunney said:
I wouldn't buy the Xoom in its current state. It's been rushed to market and is very rough around the edges.
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Could you list for me what area's of the XOOM and Honeycomb are 'very rough around the edges'?
 
The iPad2 is by far and away the best choice here.

It is in a league of its own and it will take a long time for the other offerings to get close.
 
kona786 said:
when you make a statement it helps more if you back it up with points.
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Decent useful apps and itunes store are the two things I'm worried about with android. No doubt both will come to android, the question is how long and in what state, which is why I was hoping to wait, but now I lost my phone it's kind of pushed my hand.

The real question is why are big companies not developing android apps, is it a market share question in which case we should see them shortly. Or is it due to the open system or something else.
 
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kona786 said:
when you make a statement it helps more if you back it up with points.
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Is it really needed here? Are you honestly suggesting that any tablet can currently compete with the iPad?

At this moment in time, buying any tablet that isn't an iPad is a foolish waste of money.
 
The simple fact that everything about the iPad is better?

Yes, it doesn't have Flash, and for some people that might be a royal pain the arse, but it offers a phenomenally better app store which MORE than makes up for the lack of Flash in most cases, a better design and a far more mature OS supporting everything.

Even Android fanboys are finding it hard to recommend any of the other tablets at the moment.

Those are very vague points but I'm sure if you do some research you can find out more about it.

If I can just quote a small part of the iPad2 review from Engadget, this sums up my current thoughts too -

Engadget said:
It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn't just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market. As much as we'd like to say that something like the Xoom has threatened Apple's presence in this space, it's difficult (if not impossible) to do that. Is the iPad 2 a perfect product? Absolutely not. The cameras are severely lacking, the screen -- while extremely high quality -- is touting last year's spec, and its operating system still has significant annoyances, like the aggravating pop-up notifications.
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The Ipad is THE best tablet on the market, im no fanboy but its true, there isnt anything to compare to the app store and itunes.

Other tablets maybe touted as "faster" but that doesnt mean anything without content.
 
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