Android tablets vs ipad questions

[JamesUK]

Hi, i am currently looking for a tablet, i am hoping in the long run it may replace my laptop but i am not going to sell that yet incase, but for day to day use i would like to use a tablet more.

i have always used android on my phones, i currently have a Samsung galaxy s2 using a custom rom, resurrection remix. So i do like android a lot and very comfortable using it.

on the other hand my girlfriend had an ipad 3 already and i do kind of like it a lot and use it a lot when im at hers, i never find any fault with it, it runs extremely smooth giving its lower specs to current new android tablets out. on my phone i must admit i will get the odd app saying it has to close or it couldn’t start and vie had to restart my phone etc.. i have not once seen my girlfriends ipad crash.

This now leaves me unsure about what to get and would like some opinions, my hearts telling me you have to stick with android because its what you know and love.. and your supposed to hate apple!

But my brain is telling me deep down, you know the ipad is going to be better long term with less problems and a much bigger market.

giving that android are having so many issues now with patents, they have lost the right to carry on using flash etc which used to be a big bonus for android users. how many other issues are going to crop up where every time you update your android tablet you will lose some of its function because android have been ordered to take it out because of a patent ruling.

this all kind of worries me a little in terms of the future, will devs start favouring apple before anyone else when it comes to making apps, will at some point they say we aren’t making them at all for android because of all these issues (of course they already make more for apple than they do android now) im just wondering if it will get worse? i know android was certainly catching up but i think that may start to reverse a little soon.

Most of the above comes from what i have either heard people say or what i have read, i dont know 100% of everything above is correct or not. so some advise would be good.

How good / bad is the android market and is the apple store that much better.
will all my current bought apps, and the majority of free ones probably work fine on an android tablet, or would some look stupid stretched, or do they have to be designed especially for tablet use?

I was wanting to be able to transfer files from usenet on my tablet to a media player, I’m guessing from what i have read that will be impossible with an ipad and do-able on an android tablet but still probably nowhere near as easy as from a laptop, this is one main reason i am not going to get rid of my laptop to soon incase it proves a nuisance. If i got an ipad i assume i would have to keep my laptop for this purpose?

is there any reason why the specs of say the ipad are fairly standard compared to some of the newer android tabs and i still hear a lot about the android tabs being sluggish sometimes and the menus not being smooth, if apple can do a dual core 1ghz pad with 1gb of ram and it be soo smooth, how come android tabs which are also 1 and sometimes 2gb have multi core cpu's at 1.2 - 1.6 ghz yet they perform much more sluggish to the ipad?

is it because android is being added into a whole host of different makers to fit their specs, where as the ipad is being made only for apples own operating systems therefore its always going to be smoother as its all been made for the one system rather than for multiple systems?
i am assuming if android also made their own hardware the two would go together much more smoothly, or am i wrong?

From reading the above back it feels like in am heading more towards the ipad, but i would like reasons why i should maybe not choose the ipad.

the tablets i have been looking at are:

Huawei MediaPad 10 (which i have literally only just come across but looks good specs)

Asus transformer pad infinity 32gb (i don’t know how much this is going to cost without the dock, i think i would only need the dock if i was to get rid of my laptop)

Samsung galaxy note 10.1

Ipad 3

Up to now that’s my shortlist, i would be looking at the 32gb versions unless the 64 wasn't a bad price, i am looking to spend about £400 - £500 max, i have seen new ipad 3's 64gb on ebay for £480, not sure how much the others will be, i would need to hold out for the 32gb or 64gb versions of the galaxy note 10.1 if i was to get that, not sure why they have only released a 16gb version and no others.

Thanks for any feedback you give

James

 

[UKDTweak]

My wife has an ipad3 16GB, I have an Asus Transformer Tf300t.
All she does is play games, browse the web and email/ Facebook... IPad cant do much else and requires iTunes.

I do the same, but also download videos from YouTube which I can then transfer wirelessly to my PC, laptop, ps3 or sgs2 without installing third part rubbish on my pc, I can drag and drop any movie file onto the Tf300t without having to convert to a compatible format and can stream to PS3 with a single app.

The Tf300t comes with a dock which has a full SD and USB port and doubles as an extra battery. all this and it has 32GB built in storage, plus I fitted a 32GB micro SD into the tablet and a 16GB card into the dock, and it cost the same as her 16GB ipad3.

As for loosing flash, this is nothing to do with android, its being fazed out in favour of the better html5, I don't see android losing anything to Apple, just getting stronger and stronger.

From what your looking to do, android is the only option until Surface is released, so you may want to wait till then and see what it can offer.

 

[AbsenceJam]

Not reading all that.

I use Android for my phone but I definitely wouldn't swap my iPad for an Android tablet. It's a much nicer and more cohesive experience with far better applications and the retina display is amazing.

 

[EDDS]

i am hoping in the long run it may replace my laptop.

Microsoft Surface, covers all grounds.

 

[Fallen god]

Microsoft Surface, covers all grounds.

Right now I very much doubt it, in the future maybe, right now there is no apps more or less. The iPad has the best tablet apple selection by a long long distance, and ultimately your tablet is rather useless without them. The screen is also behind the iPad by a lot, if you ever go to the web using an iPad you will see how amazing the retina display is. MSFT has finally woken up and is supporting HTML5 and CSS3 after almost 10years :S this is one of the main reason why Flash is still alive, so the experience will be better with IE10, but I have huge doubts that MS can make anything good after years and years of disappointments.

 

[weringo]

Don't forget whilst Apple has won patent wars in the US, our laws are far more sensible the courts won't show the same bias towards Apple, so it won't have such an effect on UK users.

 

[wellibob]

Android lost the rights to Flash. You my friend should get an iPad . It sounds your level .

 

[AGD]

Ok, I don't really know where to start with this one. You may be a troll or exceptionally uninformed but it's difficult to tell!

on the other hand my girlfriend had an ipad 3 already and i do kind of like it a lot and use it a lot when im at hers, i never find any fault with it, it runs extremely smooth giving its lower specs to current new android tablets out. on my phone i must admit i will get the odd app saying it has to close or it couldn’t start and vie had to restart my phone etc.. i have not once seen my girlfriends ipad crash.

The ipad 3 doesn't really have lower specs compared to the new android tablets out. It is a very powerful device. I've never had my android phone/tablet crash. Poor quality apps may crash but android itself is remarkably stable. I have had an ipad crash before though. If you download good quality apps then you shouldn't have any problems.

I'd be interested to know what your current android phone is? The new version of android is smooth - perhaps you are comparing a mid-end phone with an old version of android, against a top end tablet? edit: ah I see you are running a custom rom. Well there's the reason for your crashes.

giving that android are having so many issues now with patents, they have lost the right to carry on using flash etc which used to be a big bonus for android users. how many other issues are going to crop up where every time you update your android tablet you will lose some of its function because android have been ordered to take it out because of a patent ruling.

I don't know where you are getting your information from because it is all wrong. Android has not lost the right to flash - Adobe (the company who make flash) have decided to stop supporting flash on mobile devices. It was nothing to do with patents. I would say the chance of apple denying its users basic features for business reasons (as it did with flash) is higher than android losing features because of patent disputes.

this all kind of worries me a little in terms of the future, will devs start favouring apple before anyone else when it comes to making apps, will at some point they say we aren’t making them at all for android because of all these issues (of course they already make more for apple than they do android now) im just wondering if it will get worse? i know android was certainly catching up but i think that may start to reverse a little soon.

There is no reason to believe current trends will reverse. Android phones are selling more a lot more than iOS ones. I know people working on apps and they are shifting more and more to equal development on the two platforms.

As a side point, your written English is quite appalling!

 

[Fallen god]

i have always used android on my phones, i currently have a Samsung galaxy s2 using a custom rom, resurrection remix. So i do like android a lot and very comfortable using it.

on the other hand my girlfriend had an ipad 3 already and i do kind of like it a lot and use it a lot when im at hers, i never find any fault with it, it runs extremely smooth giving its lower specs to current new android tablets out. on my phone i must admit i will get the odd app saying it has to close or it couldn’t start and vie had to restart my phone etc.. i have not once seen my girlfriends ipad crash.

Firstly, the iPad3 is no doubt right now the best tablet I must admit. The main reason your S2 will crash is because your using a custom rom, they cuase issues like this, I have never had anything crash while running stock. On apple devices instead of letting you know it crashes it just closes and returns you to the home screen, which is why you might not notice it.

But my brain is telling me deep down, you know the ipad is going to be better long term with less problems and a much bigger market.

Since google released the N7 their has been a much better push for tablet apps on android, but it is still far behind the iPad.

giving that android are having so many issues now with patents, they have lost the right to carry on using flash etc which used to be a big bonus for android users. how many other issues are going to crop up where every time you update your android tablet you will lose some of its function because android have been ordered to take it out because of a patent ruling.

Patent issues are more a problem for OEMs right now, and outside of the US apple has see little to no success so I really wont cause any issues.

this all kind of worries me a little in terms of the future, will devs start favouring apple before anyone else when it comes to making apps, will at some point they say we aren’t making them at all for android because of all these issues (of course they already make more for apple than they do android now) im just wondering if it will get worse? i know android was certainly catching up but i think that may start to reverse a little soon.

In term of Phone apps it is a given now that anyone making an iPhone app makes an android (Unless they intend to sell it for a very high price), and the 2 are normally released right after each other or 1 after another.

In terms of Tablet the charge for android tablet apps has just began and I'm sure that wont slow down for a while, so unless your messing soemthing right now it shouldnt be an issue. Again it will take a long time before they catch up to the iPad .

How good / bad is the android market and is the apple store that much better.
will all my current bought apps, and the majority of free ones probably work fine on an android tablet, or would some look stupid stretched, or do they have to be designed especially for tablet use?

I think this is down to devs, but I would guess some will be fine others just look rather streched out but still work well.

is there any reason why the specs of say the ipad are fairly standard compared to some of the newer android tabs and i still hear a lot about the android tabs being sluggish sometimes and the menus not being smooth, if apple can do a dual core 1ghz pad with 1gb of ram and it be soo smooth, how come android tabs which are also 1 and sometimes 2gb have multi core cpu's at 1.2 - 1.6 ghz yet they perform much more sluggish to the ipad?

IIRC the iPad runs at 1.5ghz (might be wrong), but the bigger problems is the OEM adding junk on top of android, if you try the Nexus 7 you will notice how it is stupidly fast, I would say it is faster then the iPad. However the iPad will win interms of GPU power, which is needs to push the crazy high res. Moreover Android tends to run a lot more tasks in the background and more apps multi-task compared to iOS, iOS is also an app drawer more or less, this all leads too it being smoother or less powerful hardware. Android has stepped its game up in JB and ICS but it just up to OEMs to actual update their products.

From reading the above back it feels like in am heading more towards the ipad, but i would like reasons why i should maybe not choose the ipad.

I wouldnt really look for any reason, if you like the iPad and it does what you want then get it. It is an amazing tablet experience, the Display alone makes it the best thing out their to use on the web, it offers the best HTML5 support right now, and the best apps. So if you like it get it .

 

[braveheart]

I dont like any of ipad, hate it and im still own and use samsung galaxy tab 10.1 run ics 4.04... Love it every mins, great stuff and feature also have four foscam ip camera that can screen on andriod tablet.. Cool apps and camera

 

[DailyGeek]

I'm on an ASUS TF300 now, typing on a proper keyboard.

Jellybean 4.1 is very smooth, flash is present, and it has been put back on Google Play, it's just that Adobe will not be updating it any more. Basically flash is still there.

It's so much more than an iPad (having owned one for over a year) and this has replaced my laptop entirely. The flexibility and 15 hour battery life, USB port and SD card slot make it perfect imo.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

iOS - does the job, runs smoothly with little config required.
Android - not as smooth but does allow tinkering.

With the demographic on this board being overclockers (or at least tinks), I would have thought that Android has more appeal to us. Granted, I do overclock PCs and I have an up-and-running Raspberry Pi, but my reason for using Android is because their phones and tablets offer larger screen models and that's important for visually impaired POV.

As for the patent battle, I couldn't care less. Samsung didn't copy Apple. They both copied Robocop, a film that was recorded 25 years ago! I have linked this picture before and I will keep doing so where it is relevant. Oh, and for pinch-to-zoom, I saw that first on a tabletop computer that Microsoft made many years ago. Can't remember what it was called but it was from around 2005. You could drag and zoom pictures using your fingertips. Shame it didn't take off.