Android tablet
- Thread starter BrentB
- Start date
Captains Cat
New member
Had a little Sylvania one, only 7" though. IMHO, there's no comparison with an iPad. Mine is a full size one though. JimB has a mini [iPad] however. I've never seen it though.
On edit, I could get in trouble with this...
Oh well, won't be the first time. I'm sure other folks will chime in. :note :note :clock soon...
Merry Christmas, bug man!
Charlie
On edit, I could get in trouble with this...
Oh well, won't be the first time. I'm sure other folks will chime in. :note :note :clock soon...
Merry Christmas, bug man!
Charlie
Captains Cat
New member
Brent, on a more serious and more to the point of your question, this from another site:
"I recently happened to travel a couple of days for a programming competition. I get bored easily. I had a flight of about five hours. I carried my phone (4 inch screen) and my laptop (13 inch screen) and left my tablet behind.
I tried to use my laptop for reading during the flight initially, but due to the confined space, I couldn't bend the screen at a decent degree for comfortable reading. I then switched to watching a movie. It wasn't very comfortable either, because the keyboard (and the hardware) of the laptop was wasting space, per se. All in all, I ended up watching a movie on my phone with a 4 inch screen because using my laptop wasn't comfortable at all, for both reading, and watching a movie. This is when I wondered why the hell I didn't carry my tablet. It's smaller than my laptop, and would have been more comfortable to use, and would do all tasks I would use my laptop for during the travel.
At home, I do prefer my tablet for both watching movies and videos, reading, browsing, and news over my laptop. It is much more comfortable. And some of the apps are so well designed they enhance the experience.
All in all, your tablet will not do anything substantial your phone and laptop can't do, it'll simply make the experience of doing whatever task you're doing more enhancing, and/or comfortable.
Name of poster omitted by Captain's Cat
But he didn't name the Tablet... :sad
"I recently happened to travel a couple of days for a programming competition. I get bored easily. I had a flight of about five hours. I carried my phone (4 inch screen) and my laptop (13 inch screen) and left my tablet behind.
I tried to use my laptop for reading during the flight initially, but due to the confined space, I couldn't bend the screen at a decent degree for comfortable reading. I then switched to watching a movie. It wasn't very comfortable either, because the keyboard (and the hardware) of the laptop was wasting space, per se. All in all, I ended up watching a movie on my phone with a 4 inch screen because using my laptop wasn't comfortable at all, for both reading, and watching a movie. This is when I wondered why the hell I didn't carry my tablet. It's smaller than my laptop, and would have been more comfortable to use, and would do all tasks I would use my laptop for during the travel.
At home, I do prefer my tablet for both watching movies and videos, reading, browsing, and news over my laptop. It is much more comfortable. And some of the apps are so well designed they enhance the experience.
All in all, your tablet will not do anything substantial your phone and laptop can't do, it'll simply make the experience of doing whatever task you're doing more enhancing, and/or comfortable.
Name of poster omitted by Captain's Cat
But he didn't name the Tablet... :sad
Captains Cat
New member
Grumpy":aj15knzh said:
I suppose if it gets too GUI, you need to use a different lubrication system. Like a good vintage wine? :wink:
"Candy a stinky butt licker this quicker..." SIRI IS SICK.. :cry
"Candy is Dandy, but Liquor is Quicker". There, fixed her!
Charlie
And it's right side up this time! Look Jim, no pictures!
beermanPDX
New member
I have had an Asus Transformer Prime (TF201) 10" since it came out in Jan 2012.
Asus Transformer Primer
There is not too much I don't like about it. It's very fast since it was the first on the market with a quad-core processor (there's technically 5 cores in the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip). Prior to the newest iPad's retina display, it had the best screen on the market in my opinion. The main camera is pretty impressive at 8MP (newest iPad is 5MP). I bought the keyboard accessory that it snaps on to. It basically becomes a netbook type device (the keyboard also has a battery which adds 5 hours to runtime). Since its not Apple, it has built in SD slots for added memory, USB port, and a micro-HDMI port.
The only negative about this tablet was that the GPS receiver was relatively weak and some people had issues locking on to enough signal to provide very accurate location. There were enough complaints from consumers that ASUS shipped out a custom GPS dongle that corrected the issue. I didn't experience the issues, but got the dongle regardless. I run Navionics and have no issues without the dongle. With the dongle, it just locks on much quicker when on the water. There is already a newer version of this tablet I believe.
My wife has the original iPad as well as the newest iPad. I've used both and I still prefer my android tablet. I've been in the software industry for the past 15+ years so I probably view things differently than many brats.
Asus Transformer Primer
There is not too much I don't like about it. It's very fast since it was the first on the market with a quad-core processor (there's technically 5 cores in the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip). Prior to the newest iPad's retina display, it had the best screen on the market in my opinion. The main camera is pretty impressive at 8MP (newest iPad is 5MP). I bought the keyboard accessory that it snaps on to. It basically becomes a netbook type device (the keyboard also has a battery which adds 5 hours to runtime). Since its not Apple, it has built in SD slots for added memory, USB port, and a micro-HDMI port.
The only negative about this tablet was that the GPS receiver was relatively weak and some people had issues locking on to enough signal to provide very accurate location. There were enough complaints from consumers that ASUS shipped out a custom GPS dongle that corrected the issue. I didn't experience the issues, but got the dongle regardless. I run Navionics and have no issues without the dongle. With the dongle, it just locks on much quicker when on the water. There is already a newer version of this tablet I believe.
My wife has the original iPad as well as the newest iPad. I've used both and I still prefer my android tablet. I've been in the software industry for the past 15+ years so I probably view things differently than many brats.
Our daughter uses Android tablets with her middle school classes. She bought an iPad after seeing ours. She says, "The iPad is SO worth the additional cost. Easier to use, more dependable, more durable." That's her evaluation, after extensive hands on with both... don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.
Regarding the GPS chip: both of our iPads acquire the satellites faster than our Raymarine E-80 on the boat. Absolutely as accurate as the dedicated chartplotter as well. I've had the opportunity to use Android tablets on a few occasions, but not with the chartplotter apps, so I can't say if there's any functional difference.
I use a Droid phone, Joan uses an iPhone, and the Droid acquires the satellites faster.
Best wishes,
Jim B.
Regarding the GPS chip: both of our iPads acquire the satellites faster than our Raymarine E-80 on the boat. Absolutely as accurate as the dedicated chartplotter as well. I've had the opportunity to use Android tablets on a few occasions, but not with the chartplotter apps, so I can't say if there's any functional difference.
I use a Droid phone, Joan uses an iPhone, and the Droid acquires the satellites faster.
Best wishes,
Jim B.
beermanPDX
New member
JamesTXSD":116nkibk said:
You can't just say that android tablets are less dependable, less durable than an iPad. There are so many makes / models of android tablets out there that it's too generic of a statement. The only thing that they share is the operating system. How is an operating system less durable?
beermanPDX
New member
BrentB":1dzyqcqo said:
I'm not sure who that question is addressed to, but at any rate.
The Asus tablet that I have has the Broadcom BCM4751 GPS chipset. It's the same GPS chipset that the iPad 2 has. The reception issue I mentioned was due to the full aluminum back on the tablet blocking some of the signal. The iPad 2 got around this by putting the GPS antenna behind a strip of plastic.
The newer model of what I have is called "Asus Transformer Pad Infinity". It has a strip of plastic by the antenna to correct the issue mentioned above.
beermanPDX
New member
BrentB":x8pjy0x6 said:
Absolutely. As I mentioned, my wife has the newest iPad so I use it often. She also has the iPhone 5. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3. So we are a divided household in some respects.
In my opinion, the gap between Apple / Android has virtually closed. The projections are that at some point next year, Android tablets will surpass iPads in sales. Inevitably, market share will follow thereafter. The point is that you're not at risk of being on some bleeding edge / unvetted gadget.
Initially, there was a large gap in app availability between Apple and Android. The gap is now non-existent. That doesn't mean all the apps you want are available on either platform. There are definitely Apple apps that I'd love to have on Android (AyeTides, GarageBand, etc). Still, I prefer my Android tablet.
beermanPDX":1ic9lsvq said:
OK, I take it all back. 8) I was just relating what our daughter tells us based on her experience, with middle school kids with hands on experience. I will once again state that I don't have extensive experience with Android tablets of any manufacturer. Feel free to sing the praises of anything you desire. I'm OK, you're OK.
beermanPDX
New member
JamesTXSD":e2k74bp6 said:
My point was that you can't bash an entire class of product based on one specific tablet. I don't doubt the specific tablet your daughter used may have not held up to the iPad for her needs with respect to durability / dependability, but you can't extrapolate that to all android tablets.
Just making sure android gets its fair shake amongst the iPad sycophancy. After all, this thread was specifically about android tablets and it took one post to turn in to "ipads are better".
iPads are definitely easier to use for non-techies. Once you understand the reason they are easier to use, you'll understand why many people don't care for them.
beermanPDX":jrxqn5z3 said:
I'm a techie and I understand why iPads are easier to use. Not sure I understand why "many" people don't care for them. In fact I haven't met many that have tried and iPad who don't (except for real technophobes who can't use anything). I have met a number of super geeks who don't like anything apple because of the more closed nature of the OS and the amount of control they exercise over 3rd party apps etc.
I have an iPad and an android phone. I bought my wife an iPhone. The thing I dislike most about the iPad relative to the android phone (or most anything else for that matter) is the lack of a back button. I don't find the single button interface on the ipad particular intuitive. What I like best about the iPad is that the apps are generally more uniform in their UI's, somewhat less error prone and less frequently updated. On my android phone, many of the apps seem to update every week or so for no apparent benefit to the user.
I agree that the gap between iOS and Android is not as large as it used to be and I agree that there are many good android tablets out there. There are also many crappy or marginal android tablets out there. If one isn't very tech savvy, the iPad can be counted on for a reliable level of quality and service. However, it's possible to but an Android tablet that isn't that great. For the tech savvy, it's easy to buy a decent android tablet but for those who are not able to evaluate the various technologies, I think that the iPad is a safer (but generally more expensive) purchase.
beermanPDX
New member
I tend to agree with most of your points. It's certainly easier to buy an iPad because your choices are limited to color, memory, wifi/mobile. You know you'll get a quality product no matter what choice you make. With an android, you add many more variables to the equation which could result in a less than stellar choice.
The android apps do update much more frequently than iOS. App development / distribution is much easier on android. The issue is that the apps have to work on such a wide variety of devices unlike iOS where it's limited to an iPhone or an iPad. Many of the android app updates are just to correct issues on specific devices.
That's precisely what I was referring to (consistency and continuity) as the reason why the iPad is easier to use and also why many people don't care for it. I think there may be more than just the super-geeks who don't like the Apple restrictions. Some people are just philosophically opposed.
The android apps do update much more frequently than iOS. App development / distribution is much easier on android. The issue is that the apps have to work on such a wide variety of devices unlike iOS where it's limited to an iPhone or an iPad. Many of the android app updates are just to correct issues on specific devices.
rogerbum":2lbmxpyu said:
That's precisely what I was referring to (consistency and continuity) as the reason why the iPad is easier to use and also why many people don't care for it. I think there may be more than just the super-geeks who don't like the Apple restrictions. Some people are just philosophically opposed.
Rob,
The reason for me brining up the issue with Android about the frequency of app updates is the amount of data frequent updates consume. At present, I have a grandfathered unlimited dataplan with Verizon so I don't worry about how much data I use. However, I notice that even with only about 30-40 apps installed, about half of my bandwidth is used on app updates - most of which don't really seem to add anything to what I already had. If I was on a more limited data plan, I'd either turn off automatic updates on most apps or set them all to update only when I'm on a wifi network.
The reason for me brining up the issue with Android about the frequency of app updates is the amount of data frequent updates consume. At present, I have a grandfathered unlimited dataplan with Verizon so I don't worry about how much data I use. However, I notice that even with only about 30-40 apps installed, about half of my bandwidth is used on app updates - most of which don't really seem to add anything to what I already had. If I was on a more limited data plan, I'd either turn off automatic updates on most apps or set them all to update only when I'm on a wifi network.
beermanPDX
New member
rogerbum":2y12omsy said:
Like you, I'm on a grandfathered unlimited data plan with AT&T, so I never considered bandwidth on updates. Good point.
I'll tell you though, being grandfathered in with an LTE device is nice. Up until LTE, I always did any major downloading / streaming on mobile devices via wifi. I have a 30mbps business plan through Comcast. I've starting noticing LTE download speeds matching that, if not topping it at certain times. I ran a speedtest in downtown Portland a few weeks ago and got over 40mbps download.
Understood and apologies extended to any android users who felt I was bashing. No doubt they are fine tablets... We were just having that conversation about the different tablets when I read this thread. I thought it was an interesting perspective from one who gets to see these things in everyday use. No malice intended... Hey, I use an Android phone.
In the spirit of the season, I would like to see all the tablet users of the world hold hands and sing in harmony. Just kidding - a little humor to diffuse the tension.
Best wishes,
Jim
In the spirit of the season, I would like to see all the tablet users of the world hold hands and sing in harmony. Just kidding - a little humor to diffuse the tension.
Best wishes,
Jim