Honeycomb "hideous"? What? - Eee Pad Transformer General

So I was reading the Ars Technica review of the Tab 10.1 and found a lot comments were *****ing at how "hideous" and like "desktop Linux" Honeycomb is. And, eh, I don't get that. Honeycomb looks pretty good to me (I like blue and black, so sue me), and resembling a desktop environment is a plus, not a minus, the silly *****. What's supposed to be so hideous about Honeycomb as opposed to the blown-up phone OS on the iPad, the cartoonish horror of the Playbook, or another blown-up phone OS on the HP Touchpad?

I know what you mean. I find it really frustrating reading unbalanced reviews - and yeah, the comments section always turns into a kindergarten.
I expect a breakdown of functionality and usability. One person's hideous is another person's gorgeous - so I wish they would tone down some of the subjective style assessments.
Personal I find honeycomb to be acceptable. Give it a few months and people will be making it look awesome.

I too am no fanboy to any Operating system, well too be honest, I was a hardcore Winmo fan back in the days...
On a serious note though, I tend to go for systems that will do what I want and need from them and what they are capable of doing in the future... Before I make any decision to purchase this or any type of gadget, I do my research to see what the system has to offer hardware wise and OS wise.
For me Honeycomb at present fits the bill nicely due to its flexability, widgets and Androids general openness to be tweaked. Sure other OS's have their plus points but if they are going to highlight what they don't like about a particular OS or its hardware limitations or lack of expandability, they also need to highlight what their preferred OS cannot do against the one they are bad mouthing, this will be true and objective reviewing otherwise their reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt.
These reviewers also tend to forget that Honeycomb is still in its infancy and things should improve as we go along into the future.

Its pretty, I like it but everyone has different tastes

I it even better than my Ubuntu with Compiz Cube. Someone should make something like that (well, exactly like that) for Compiz.

I just wish you could select to auto-hide the status bar. That thing taking up precious space (especially for movie playback) is annoying.

Related

Android Gripes blog is seriously pissing me off

EVERYONE has a few gripes with Android...Everyone...however this blog is so biased and uninformative it seriously annoys me.
The first post was about how SOME iOS apps look better than their Android counterparts...a fault entirely with the devs of those apps, not Androids fault...which is obvious but not on that blog...
Then they start posting half truths and lies and it's absurd.
Such As:
one post is entirely opinion based (Android looks like crap)
Another uses the recent Skype scandal as if it is somehow Androids fault that the devs were incompetent.
Another actually disses the notification panel...seriously...
And the most recent one disses flash...as if A) it has to be always on and B) is worse than it is...
the blog is seriously frustrating...
check it out....
android-gripes.tumblr.com
there are iOS haters, so there are Android haters too
don't worry we love our Android.
I agree with houzuoguo. The thing about this blog that will infuriate many is the lack of comments section, each post should open to discussion. It's closed (ahem iOS) and would cater to Apple fanboys.
I blog about my gripes with Android sometimes, but the majority of which are geared at the carriers and manufacturers actions, not Android itself. Android is so customizable, I'd have a hard time believing that Android looks ugly. I also keep my comments section open for discussion which I enjoy. This blog just seems like a shill for Apple.
tkgod said:
I blog about my gripes with Android sometimes, but the majority of which are geared at the carriers and manufacturers actions, not Android itself. Android is so customizable, I'd have a hard time believing that Android looks ugly. I also keep my comments section open for discussion which I enjoy. This blog just seems like a shill for Apple.
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that's what pissing me off the most...the first post I read about devs making android apps look like crap compared to iOS apps...I was like yea, good, bring this to the forefront...but soon after it seemed to be overwhelmed with half truths and lies and just all around BS.
Seriously...the dude who dissed the Android notification panel even went as far as to say that iOS's notifications are better....even the most diehard Apple blog has never said something so retarded before right then.
That blog is full of crap...not even close to being creditable. Android is in 1st place for OS's and continues to rock!
omg he quoted you! (out of context, naturally, him being an iTard)
He does have a right to spew his crap on his blog,twitter and fb. Create a new androidRocks id and challenge every single of his lines, with rock hard evidence.
His biased opinion is clear here (quote), I wont even try to correct him as every single statement is false.
Why do I write this blog?
I have been an user of iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac for years. I like Apple’s products for some reasons and I like Apple’s culture.
I admire what Google has done for the Internet, but I do have some negative opinions on Android. I’m fine with new products coming into the market and competing with Apple’s. What bothers me is that Android gets into the market in an “evil” way - it proposed “openness” and claimed Apple products are “close” so Android is better. This is absolutely nonsense marketing buzz. So sad that a lot of medias also blindly jumped into it. “Openness” is such a vague concept and whatever it tries to say means almost nothing or even something negative to consumers. Smartphones do not need the so called “openness”.
I have constantly heard many gripes about Android. Recently I happened to have access to some Android phones and use them in a daily base. The more I use Android, the more I feel that Android is indeed a half-baked OS, its UX/UI is horrible and various hardwares are poorly designed. It’s true that those phones are working like smartphones, better than feature phones from old school, but they ignore a lot of the details. Just for Google’s own benefit, they helped handset manufactures brutally dumped a huge amount of unpolished devices to the market. They made people think this is how smartphones should work. This is so unfair to consumers. IMHO, it is no different from committing a crime. That’s why I made the cartoon of “Android Gripes” as a Monopoly “Go Directly To Jail” card showing an Android on it.
As much as I believe in Apple, I think everybody deserves great user experience, especially when it comes to phones. I think it is my mission to let more people know that Android does not provide you that. Android only provides inferior user experience. You either admit it and bear with it, or go for better alternatives. That’s why I started writing this blog.
This blog, and related Twitter account and Facebook Page, are all run by myself. I’m not affiliated with Apple Inc. in any way, neither with Google Inc., apparently. I only have very limited time, so I often cite others’ articles and occasionally write down my own experiences and opinions. You may sometimes find my writing sound unusual, that’s because I’m not a native English speaker. I started writing articles in English since not very long ago.
Happy reading and I appreciate your support.
Lastly, competition should always be encouraged. Wish the best to Android.
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Lol, the way he gets his point across may may appear as bashing, but he isn't entirely lying. Stock Android is hideous, and people only prefer it to anything else because of it's speed. It isn't polished and it simply isn't too lovely. However I do like how Google focuses on "Dark", iOS seems somewhat too bright and colorful. Yes colorful is usually good, but iOS also makes everything shiny, somewhat childish or something... it's hard to explain why I don't entirely like it, but something about iOS in general seems eh to me.
I was going to actually give this guy the benefit of the doubt and assume that he actually wanted to better Android. Then I noticed that he only post news related to Android when it makes Android look bad. Only when it makes Android look bad. What does random news articles have to do with your problems with Android? It also seems to me he hates Android and wants everyone to hate Android as well. Then again, the title of the blog is "Android Gripes", so I guess focusing on the negatives on the OS is the point. Posting how Skype had a vulnerability does seem extremely odd though... it again makes me assume he just wants to create a site to make Android seem pathetic. The "Is Samsung’s New Galaxy Tab Fibbing About Its Figure? And About Those Galaxy Tab Fans…" post is completely irrelevant to the blog. And video of the new, thinner 10.1 tab has been out for a few days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdu5PVjCGo0, sadly not before that post.
I agree with him entirely from a design standpoint, several Android apps and Android without being properly modified in general is ugly. There is no denying that (well it is an opinion, so you could deny it) but it is also highly customizable -- and it also seems that developers do not try as hard on their Android apps at all. However, I do not like his hate toward Android. He is trying to use every minuscule flaw, or even things that that aren't really even "flaws" of the operating system to make it seem inferior to iOS. I honestly hope such a blog inspires Google to focus a little harder on Android's user interface. Google sucks at this. And they always have.
You will not find a bigger Android guy than me, but I admit, that the design of many of our apps is crap. This is actually why I got into application design. I love Android and want to make it better, and before Honeycomb it didnt look like Google was really making big strides in the design arena. But then again, I dont think they are a very design heavy company as a whole, and there have been numerous stories throughout the years of how their designers get fed up and leave because the engineering heavy company just doesnt seem to understand design as a whole. Fortunately with Mathias Duarte now on board I believe things are going to change quite a bit, and imho already have with some great new ui stuff on Honeycomb.
I dont think the Android phone ui is hideous or anything, but when you have such great functionality as Android has, it really brings you down to see such poopy design sometimes. For instance do a search on "calendar widget." There is only one I would consider being well designed, Pure grid, while the other 200 cal widgets may have great function, but look just awful.
All that being said, if anyone is interested in getting an application designed professionally by my company, feel free to dm me. We have some great stuff coming out for iOS, and since I'm one of two guys at my company that uses Android I would love to get some more Android apps to work on. Plus it would be nice to throw in my bosses face when he bad mouths Android designs
I admit there are more polished looking apps on iPhone over android. But I happen to find stock gingerbread just pure elegant and beautiful. With launcher pro of course, but I find it beautiful. I mean how could stock android be "ugly" and not have iOS ugly as well? Stock android looks way better to me.
AbsoluteDesignz said:
EVERYONE has a few gripes with Android...Everyone...however this blog is so biased and uninformative it seriously annoys me.
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I guess the best way to get back at him is to make a blog of your own called iOS-gripes.tumblr.com
As far as the look of the operating system I would have to say that stock Android is nicer than iOS.
Main reasons I ended up switching to the iPhone 4 was due to:
1. HID bluetooth keyboard support built into the OS.
2. Netflix app that streams video.
3. Navigon GPS app for iOS that I actually prefer over Google Maps Navigation (doesn't need data, lane assist, turns down music instead of just pausing it). I tried out the Android version of the app and it seemed really half-assed like how it would talk over the music playing instead of trying to pause it or turn it down so you couldn't hear what it was telling you.
4. Better resale value when selling it on Craigslist. Usually the top android phone gets replaced by something better within 3 - 6 months and the resale value goes down accordingly. With the iPhone there are always tons of sheep wanting to buy yours and its guaranteed to stay at the top of the food chain for an entire year.
I agree though AD the guy is just being a troll and should either be less biased or needs to keep his mouth shut
I in no way deny the fact that iOS apps as a whole are better designed than Android apps...that's a fact...an unfortunate fact, but a fact.
I also think Stock Android is about 2 or 3 steps away from being much better (and from what I've seen and "felt" of Honeycomb it'll be closer once that hits phones).
I just do not like a select few posts which show an obvious bias...
The Samsung post...like that has anything to do with Android.
The Skype post, like that is Androids fault in the least.
The notification panel post which is just ridiculous.
And the snide comments in the article itself.
I respected the blog when I first said it as I felt it was bringing to light a big issue about app quality...then he kept updating it and yea...BS.
Well I have a Nexus One and an iPad2.
Let me just say that I fight with the iPad 2's iOS constantly. And while it may look pleasant, the design and functionality are lacking.
2 Examples that blow my mind:
AppStore: Browsing through tons of pages until I find an app I want to try. Click. Download. Exit. Homescreen... Ok I see it installing. Flip back. Re-Launch AppStore.... oh wait... I'm back to page 1 out of 254,325. Great...
SketchLive HD: Sweet doodle app. Click Send. Pop's up asking to set up an email account. No back button. No exit button. Back to the homescreen. Relaunch SketchLive HD.
This is like this for almost every app. You only have 1 option, the home button. I'm new so I'm exploring lots of apps. Almost every one of them has something that wouldn't allow me to go back... forcing me to close out and relaunch.
My thinking: Android is created by geeky logical coders where functionality > style. Apple is just the opposite where style > functionality.
I'll take functionality any day. I'm glad I never bought an iPhone as my daily communication device as it would be shattered on a road somewhere. Nothing is more aggravating then knowing what you are trying to do, but the software is too stupid to do it.
Here's more: The App Store shouldn't ping me to enter in my password every 15 minutes. It's freaking annoying. iTunes required me to setup a password that has Numbers and Capital and lowercase letters. It's a pain in the butt trying to go through Caps and Numbers on the iPad.
Also: The keyboard is atrocious. Why are the letters Capped when I'm using lowercase? Why can't you press and hold for numbers? Why does it FORCE a capital letter as the first letter of an input box? Very annoying and it makes me want to simply break it.
Apple found the magical formula to polishing a turd, and selling it for butt loads of money. Well played.
Just glanced quickly over at that blog and I agree completely with "Too many apps “live” in the notification panel".. If I want to be 100% sure Android won't kill an app I have to have it as an ongoing notification at ALL times? That is so ridiculous
crachel said:
Just glanced quickly over at that blog and I agree completely with "Too many apps “live” in the notification panel".. If I want to be 100% sure Android won't kill an app I have to have it as an ongoing notification at ALL times? That is so ridiculous
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Notification icons are optional and completely up to the developer, however a windows style "hide inactive icons"/manual configuration will be nice.
britoso said:
Notification icons are optional and completely up to the developer, however a windows style "hide inactive icons"/manual configuration will be nice.
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right, but even if the developer allows for no icon, there is still a blank space.. so if you have 2 or 3 ongoing notifications, you might have 2 icons with 1 blank space in between which looks even dumber..
crachel said:
right, but even if the developer allows for no icon, there is still a blank space.. so if you have 2 or 3 ongoing notifications, you might have 2 icons with 1 blank space in between which looks even dumber..
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Huh? In my experience, Apps that have an option on whether or not to display a notification panel icon (like Trillian or Skype) don't leave "blank space" in the notification area, they just aren't present there.
If an app developer opts for a non-visible phantom icon he is probably doing it wrong.
PartyMango said:
Huh? In my experience, Apps that have an option on whether or not to display a notification panel icon (like Trillian or Skype) don't leave "blank space" in the notification area, they just aren't present there.
If an app developer opts for a non-visible phantom icon he is probably doing it wrong.
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Click to collapse
If you want your app to avoid potentially being garbage collected by Android you have to have an ongoing notification (running in the foreground) which means an icon or a blank space on the status bar
If the app is not running in the foreground (ongoing notification), Android could possibly see fit to kill it in the event memory is needed elsewhere.. so in this case, you're correct the app wouldn't be present at all
Nevermindz, lol.
crachel said:
If the app is not running in the foreground (ongoing notification), Android could possibly see fit to kill it in the event memory is needed elsewhere.. so in this case, you're correct the app wouldn't be present at all
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Thanks for the information, didn't know about that.
Eclair~ said:
The Speedtest.net app was updated for Android to look exactly like the iOS (which is beautiful) version:
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This is their new design, Speedtest.net redesigned their website as well. It is very unlikely that this is in any way related to the android gripes post.

GTab >>>> Ipad

I posted this in another forum, thought I will re-post it here.
I had Ipad2 for 2 weeks and returned it. Once you use android tablet for a week, you can't go back to Ipad 2.
There are lot of reasons to choose android over ipad. Couple of examples:
=> Google maps kicks ass in android. IPad also has google maps, but its crippled - there are no reviews, no 3D view, no rotating using multi-touch, etc..
=> Widgets make a big difference in the 10" screen. You get the see emails, weather, calendar in the main screen, esp. with re-sizable widgets. Switch on the tablet, look at important stuff, move on with your life. In Ipad, you need to search for the three apps in the sea of icons, open one, close, look for next app and so on. There's a sea of difference in usability.
=> Android task bar has short cuts to change lot of settings like brightness and is available without the need to close the app that you are on. Say, you are reading a webpage that has a link to youtube. For reading you may like low brightness, but video with dark background requires more brightness. Steps to change screen brightness in IPad: you need to close the current app, search for settings icon in the sea of app icons, open settings, look for 'screen' settings, open the settings, look for brightness control, change brightness, double tap the hardware button to see the previous app, click it to open where you were. In honeycomb, you just click the task bar icon, change brightness, done. Now, that's usability.
=> Ipad is 4:3, pretty useless for viewing videos/movies. Watching 16:9 movies in Ipad is painful. Netflix works in Ipad (in the works for android, not out yet), but I honestly couldn't use it in Ipad because of the 4:3 screen. It's like watching movie on the old CRT screen.
=> IPad has no flash.
=> IPad has no back button. Every app implements 'back' functionality in their own way. You need to search for the 'back' button in every app. It gets frustrating very fast. Android has a beautiful back button that's available always and behaves exactly the same way in every app. It's magical. Really.
This is just the tip of iceberg. The list goes on and on.
If you are not big on games, then the several thousand apps in the app store means nothing. Because every useful app has a counterpart in honeycomb.
I know this is a android/gtab 10.1 forum so we'll be obviously biased, but what do you think of ipad?
I agree with everything you have said - not to mention the specs are under that of the 10.1, and if the rumors are true around the place there will be an updated model either at the time of the release of the 4G (unlikely), or within a few months after...
I am crossing my fingers and waiting for the rumors to be confirmed because if an updated model with wqxga (retina display competitor) 300+ dpi, plus microSD (if it's not released with the coming model), and possible quad core cpu (although it might just be the exynos 1.2Ghz), comes out within that sort of time frame then bugger me you are already beating the released 'possible' specs of the 2012/2013 release of iPad3!
lol - I am seriously excited about the 10.1. I have no doubt it is going to rock the crap out of the iPad2 for all the reasons you have stated and many more.
I have no concerns about possible build issues with the device as I have an Omnia 2 which is the same high grade plastics they are using in the 10.1 and i have dropped it many many many times - the phone has no issues, no cracking no warping etc it is just like the day i bought it (with some minor scratches of course).
Also people say customer service is crap for Samsung - well that depends on the country you are in and your expectations but let me tell you here in the philippines where customer service for the majority of companies is unheard of, I have had my screen replaced on the Omnia 2 when i had some white dots appear (probably due to me dropping it down some stairs on to concrete), no questions asked, within 3 to 5 days. and that was with a cooked rom that came up with a naughty boot message.
So yeah I don't blame you for trading in your iPad2
I started writing out this long response on all the positive points I see with the iPad 2 over the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Not because I think the iPad 2 is better. Just wanted to point out some of the iPad's strengths because I do think the device is pretty good.
But I like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 more, got worried I might come off wrong and get riped apart like a rabbit before a pack of wolves. Haha.
So instead of the long post, I'll just give a brief short list of what I consider some pros for the iPad 2 over the Galaxy Tab 10.1... and I emphasis I still like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 more and am waiting to buy one.
* Over 50,000 tablet optimized apps. Original iPad came out over a year and has been massively successful. Apple has a huge head start. I think the Android optimized apps still count in the low hundreds right now. And I often see lesser quality with the Android versions. It'll improve, but it's going to take time.
* iOS is more stable. 3.1 has helped, Android Market doesn't bug out on me as much. But there are still stability issues with Honeycomb. I'm a little fearful to install too many apps on my Android tablets because I've had some apps have a negative impact on the entire tablet's performance. Even Motorola's CEO commented recently on this being a concern. iOS on the other hand I have no fear installing everything I see (had over 120 apps on my iPad 1) without fear of performance issues.
* iPad has excellent standby battery life. I can leave the iPad asleep for 24 hours and find it the next day still at 99 or 100% battery life. My Android tablets seem to lose about 25% or more battery life a day just sleeping. I wish more review sites would measure this. I'm curious how much it varies between Android tablets and wouldn't mind seeing more light shed on the issue.
There are other things I could bring up. But generally iPad's strength is the maturity and polishness of it's OS, it's 1 year head start and massive number quality apps.
Still. An exciting thing about Android is this is it's first tablet OS, I think things are moving fast for Android, and we get to be along for the ride. It's only going to keep getting better. And we are already blessed with amazing freedom, flexibility, and customization options. This is what I love about Android.
And I had seriously thought about getting an iPad 2. There are some apps I know I like much more on iOS than Android. But I feel like I'm just giving up way too much control for that. And I think the apps will get better here.
Ravynmagi said:
* iPad has excellent standby battery life. I can leave the iPad asleep for 24 hours and find it the next day still at 99 or 100% battery life. My Android tablets seem to lose about 25% or more battery life a day just sleeping. I wish more review sites would measure this. I'm curious how much it varies between Android tablets and wouldn't mind seeing more light shed on the issue.
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Yeah, this is weird. Samsung has a bigger battery, but 2 1/2 hours less runtime on the Anandtech review.
Again I agree with everything you said as well and as far as summaries are concerned you are probably summing up the majority opinion on the overall apple or something else debate.
I am an intel person myself because of that very freedom Apple lacks. I love intel because if I want to dual boot, or just feel like blowing my machine away and running pure linux, or windows or whatever even a hacked version of OSX, I can do that. You go apple, you have to use their hardware - while it is pretty sexy etc it is expensive and you can't mix and match the way you can with intel or make your own best of breed monster. If it had of been they didn't customise OSX to only run on apple hardware i probably would have switched to OSX and been laughing - but again they chose to limit their market and for whatever reason maintain the big f you apple sentiment (maybe just in my opinion only )
The same goes for the tablets - with IOS you are stuck with IOS - you can jailbreak it but with more and more difficulty, and gain access to 100,000's of really cool apps and games, it seems to flow a bit better (well at least in the iphone arena) than other OS's etc but at the end of the day you are stuck with IOS and their way of doing things as otherhawkeye said in his/her post.
My biggest dislikes re apple mobile technology - no common connectivity options (micro usb connector), cannot remove the battery and replace it yourself, no microSD, limited to itunes for a lot of things, lack of common options like gps, 3g etc until their customers all complain and then they add one in and then their customers complain some more and they add some more in. Some people like to be ripped off and jerked around and played like the fools apple must think of the majority of people out there... but sorry it's just not to my liking.
I have to give props to Samsung for actually stating once Apple had released iPad2 that they were going to delay the release of their product revamp it and release a better product because he felt (ceo of samsung) that the 10.1v was inadequate! This is a Korean based company and they are known for quality - that is what the Korean's pride themselves on - best quality from clothes, food, appliances, cars etc - you ask a Korean and they will say everything of theirs is better quality than anywhere else from rice to well everything. That's the mindset they have ... so while it may not always be the case in the real world and is a little biased etc, you have a company trying to live up to that ethos and saying while the 10.1v is good and in many ways still better than the competition they can make it better before finally releasing it.
Apple - ummm well just look here and see what has changed from iPad 1 to iPad2 http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/02/ipad-2-vs-original-ipad-whats-changed this is a YEAR between release dates also....
Remember this is an entirely NEW product yet only a few things have changed. and the cameras they added in are of particularly crap quality according to many reviews. Pleeeease don't tell me that they couldn't have included a better camera, please don't tell me they couldn't include a microSD card, or micro USB or put in the retina display like they did for the iPhone4, or a host of other things that are in smaller devices already. Your probably going to talk quality control and proper lead time for adding in things right - or give other reasons why they don't want to "clutter" the thing with microSD or micro USB etc but ... faf that!
As I have said in my previous post there are already hints that later this year (we're already half way through), that Samsung will more than likely release another version of the same tab with a few extras, if they don't release them along with the 4g version... this is the same product getting revamped for the 2nd time WITHIN the same year! Why? It would be nice to think of it as living up to the ethos but I like to think that it's more that they are sick of Apple releasing inferior products and cleaning up the market with hype and sexiness and they really want to stick it to Apple.....
lol I hope that doesn't come off as apple bashing too much....
Ravynmagi said:
There are other things I could bring up. But generally iPad's strength is the maturity and polishness of it's OS, it's 1 year head start and massive number quality apps.
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I'm not sure about the "more polishness", but its more stable than honeycomb. I think honeycomb is more polished than ios, but it's less stable right now due to the FCs.
About battery life - honeycomb tablets don't have bad battery life. 8-10 hours battery life is not bad. Apple does have couple of more hours of battery life and better standby battery life, but then we are now in the bragging rights territory. If you charge every day and not going on international trips, the extra hour of battery life is not going to matter to most of the tablet buyers.
Same goes for app store. You said you have 120 apps installed in your ipad, average person has 5 to 20. Honeycomb had every app *I* wanted. The quality of third party apps was similar between Ipad and Honeycomb. But YMMV. If a person needs a specialized app that's not available in HC, then they need to stick with Ipad. OTOH, google apps are vastly superior to the ones in Ipad. That was the deciding factor for me.
Is it true that iPhone apps do not scale on the iPad? I am sure I heard this somewhere, but I cannot imagine it's true.
With that said, while there are not many Honeycomb-specific apps, at least most pre-3.0 apps play nice with HC (upscaling for screen size).
I had a brief time (about 3 hours) where I thought the iPad2 would be a better option for me than the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Luckily, I was talked off the ledge. The only thing that had me leaning towards the Pad is tablet-specific apps, but in the end most of my tablet usage is through the browser.
What sealed the deal in my getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was the deep integration of Google services. Until iOS5 comes out, there is definitely nothing on the iPad that holds a candles to Google's Android-account management system (not that I'm aware of, but I an ignorant on this subject).
mightymouse2045 said:
Again I agree with everything you said as well and as far as summaries are concerned you are probably summing up the majority opinion on the overall apple or something else debate.
I am an intel person myself because of that very freedom Apple lacks. I love intel because if I want to dual boot, or just feel like blowing my machine away and running pure linux, or windows or whatever even a hacked version of OSX, I can do that. You go apple, you have to use their hardware - while it is pretty sexy etc it is expensive and you can't mix and match the way you can with intel or make your own best of breed monster. If it had of been they didn't customise OSX to only run on apple hardware i probably would have switched to OSX and been laughing - but again they chose to limit their market and for whatever reason maintain the big f you apple sentiment (maybe just in my opinion only )
The same goes for the tablets - with IOS you are stuck with IOS - you can jailbreak it but with more and more difficulty, and gain access to 100,000's of really cool apps and games, it seems to flow a bit better (well at least in the iphone arena) than other OS's etc but at the end of the day you are stuck with IOS and their way of doing things as otherhawkeye said in his/her post.
My biggest dislikes re apple mobile technology - no common connectivity options (micro usb connector), cannot remove the battery and replace it yourself, no microSD, limited to itunes for a lot of things, lack of common options like gps, 3g etc until their customers all complain and then they add one in and then their customers complain some more and they add some more in. Some people like to be ripped off and jerked around and played like the fools apple must think of the majority of people out there... but sorry it's just not to my liking.
I have to give props to Samsung for actually stating once Apple had released iPad2 that they were going to delay the release of their product revamp it and release a better product because he felt (ceo of samsung) that the 10.1v was inadequate! This is a Korean based company and they are known for quality - that is what the Korean's pride themselves on - best quality from clothes, food, appliances, cars etc - you ask a Korean and they will say everything of theirs is better quality than anywhere else from rice to well everything. That's the mindset they have ... so while it may not always be the case in the real world and is a little biased etc, you have a company trying to live up to that ethos and saying while the 10.1v is good and in many ways still better than the competition they can make it better before finally releasing it.
Apple - ummm well just look here and see what has changed from iPad 1 to iPad2 http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/02/ipad-2-vs-original-ipad-whats-changed this is a YEAR between release dates also....
Remember this is an entirely NEW product yet only a few things have changed. and the cameras they added in are of particularly crap quality according to many reviews. Pleeeease don't tell me that they couldn't have included a better camera, please don't tell me they couldn't include a microSD card, or micro USB or put in the retina display like they did for the iPhone4, or a host of other things that are in smaller devices already. Your probably going to talk quality control and proper lead time for adding in things right - or give other reasons why they don't want to "clutter" the thing with microSD or micro USB etc but ... faf that!
As I have said in my previous post there are already hints that later this year (we're already half way through), that Samsung will more than likely release another version of the same tab with a few extras, if they don't release them along with the 4g version... this is the same product getting revamped for the 2nd time WITHIN the same year! Why? It would be nice to think of it as living up to the ethos but I like to think that it's more that they are sick of Apple releasing inferior products and cleaning up the market with hype and sexiness and they really want to stick it to Apple.....
lol I hope that doesn't come off as apple bashing too much....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
umm.. you do realize that apple computer run on intel chips, right? saying that you're "an intel person" doesn't really many any sense..
anyway, you say that the ipad sucks because they use proprietary ports, don't have sd, etc. but... the galaxy tab 10.1 doesn't have those things either
ralexand said:
Is it true that iPhone apps do not scale on the iPad? I am sure I heard this somewhere, but I cannot imagine it's true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's true. iPhone apps run on iPad /w the same resolution (occupy a tiny area in the middle of the tablet) or 2x the resolution (occupy most of the tablet screen, but /w blurry text, etc.). Either way, I found it unusable.
OTOH, many, but not all, phone apps run well in HC. They scale nicely and you would hardly know that they are not designed for HC. Case in point, engadget app or many of the news apps.
smaskell said:
umm.. you do realize that apple computer run on intel chips, right? saying that you're "an intel person" doesn't really many any sense..
anyway, you say that the ipad sucks because they use proprietary ports, don't have sd, etc. but... the galaxy tab 10.1 doesn't have those things either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol yes i know they changed over to intel hardware - however OSX only supports their combination of hardware, won't install on other hardware etc unless you get the hacked boot image and then the drivers that are in the 'hacked' OSX support some hardware and not others and the hardware that is supported it varies on either partial support to full support. when i played with it last year i could only get a single gpu working on my dual gpu video card, no wifi support, no 3d effects, multi threading and virtual support and some other issues that I just wasn't willing to accept. They have a kickass OS why don't they release it to the masses - because they want you to buy the hardware as well from them to get more money. It's like the Catholic church - the only path to God is through the church.
The intel man statement was more meant to describe the freedom you have when using intel based hardware, windows and linux OS's compared with if you go OSX and in the past risc based Apple - you need apple hardware. I like open standards, compatibility and choices for my computing experience.
Yes I am aware of the 'potentially' missing microSD port, and the proprietary 30 pin port to USB cable it comes with. You didn't read what I said about possible 2nd revamp and release of another version which would include the microSD along with an even better screen and maybe a quad core later this year?
Look through some other posts about what supercurio is saying about the current gtab 10.1 - transformer has a screen - gtab 10.1's screen is art, and other comments comparing ips (apple) to pls (gtab 10.1).
mightymouse2045 said:
lol yes i know they changed over to intel hardware - however OSX only supports their combination of hardware, won't install on other hardware etc unless you get the hacked boot image and then the drivers that are in the 'hacked' OSX support some hardware and not others and the hardware that is supported it varies on either partial support to full support. when i played with it last year i could only get a single gpu working on my dual gpu video card, no wifi support, no 3d effects, multi threading and virtual support and some other issues that I just wasn't willing to accept. They have a kickass OS why don't they release it to the masses - because they want you to buy the hardware as well from them to get more money. It's like the Catholic church - the only path to God is through the church.
The intel man statement was more meant to describe the freedom you have when using intel based hardware, windows and linux OS's compared with if you go OSX and in the past risc based Apple - you need apple hardware. I like open standards, compatibility and choices for my computing experience.
Yes I am aware of the 'potentially' missing microSD port, and the proprietary 30 pin port to USB cable it comes with. You didn't read what I said about possible 2nd revamp and release of another version which would include the microSD along with an even better screen and maybe a quad core later this year?
Look through some other posts about what supercurio is saying about the current gtab 10.1 - transformer has a screen - gtab 10.1's screen is art, and other comments comparing ips (apple) to pls (gtab 10.1).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, of course. I couldn't agree more. Just thought it was a bit of an odd way of putting it haha.

10.1 vs Transformer vs Ipad2

After I could compare the Ipad2, 10.1 and Transformer for days now, I decided to go and buy an Ipad2. Yes, I turned my back on Android and here's why:
10.1:
Very nice lookings, high quality and hardware but there is a big problem: the colors. On some pictures the saturation is so high that it kills lots of details every time 2 similar colors are nearby. Here you can see what I mean, check the right circle where orange and red meets - if the orange circle would be more reddish, you could hardly tell there are 2 rings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bkovoLXw4&feature=player_detailpage#t=208s
If you compare it to a perfect calibrated monitor, it looks like crap. Flashy, colorful and nice but details are gone. That's the one and only weaknes from what it offers. It's 16:9 display is a winner when it comes to videos but video playback is poor. Ipad2 is much better, even for flash, later more to come about it.
Another MAJOR problem is Samsung support. Android is a fresh system and needs tons of support. Samsung provides NONE. For EU, they still have no release dates or closer info about their device - just lol. For me, the 10.1 is just a step in the process to upgrade to Tegra3. They built the shell now and can use it for the next device to compete with Apple. Same like they did to the 10.1v - no support, they just forgot about it.
Transformer:
Diplay is pretty good but the build quality is crap. After I saw the Archos tablets with the bronze frame, I knew where Asus bought their stuff. Both have those sharp metal frames which are wrapped around the screen. TF and Archos have gaps between the frame and glas, with some kind of rubber to fill it. Asus tried to even out the sharp edges but you can see how cheap it is. Archos tablets can cut in your finger if you swipe around the edges ! For me: complete garbage quality, should cost 250$ max to satisfy the minimalist who just want's to read or something.
Ipad2:
This device is pretty awesome. First I thought the 4:3 diplay sucks for reading but after I measured books and calculated ratios, they were ALL closer to Ipad2 standards. That menas you will have less wasted space on Ipad. When surfing internet you will learn to love 4:3, everything fits perfectly while you feel how broken sites are on 16:9. The drawback are 16:9 movies without a border and the good about it, you have FULLSCREEN ! in emulators without scaling. There are also a lot of older movies/series with 4:3, which I prefer on travel anyway.
It is fluent everywhere and feels like my Galaxy S after getting the lagfix. Stock 3.1 is bull**** compared to it. The only point where it is superior, are widgets.
Root/Jailbreak/Flash:
Jailbreaking an Ipad is a piece of cake, visit a website, click on a button, your done. No bull**** to flash around or to risk your device. After that you have Cydia which is an alternative market. You can also add repos to it, so you gain access to apps of all kind, also the not so legal ones.
You can play Flash Videos on Ipad using Iswifter or other apps. Inconvinient sometimes but to my surprise, they are fluent on the Ipad - Androids are sluggish. The Ipad even played a movie fluent with 10 other flash animations around it !
The crappy part about the Ipad is itunes and the structure how app files are arranged. Every app has it's own folder, so if you use FTP or something to transfer via network, you have to put those files IN the app folder, so they can find it. Not a big deal, if the app folder wouln't be named like 429403290239203023948393. Android is way better, copy somewhere on SD and browse it. Sure you can use itunes to put everything together but Itunes won't work with Jailbroken apps from Cydia. This breaks the use of my NAS server at home, leaving me with ****ty USB-to-PC solutions if I want it the easy way. Music and Videos which are supported by NAS can be played over UPNP but I found more nice apps for that on Android as I could on Ipad.
Conclusion:
10.1 is a nice device but it's like to own a ferrari and only have crappy roads to drive on. Android kills the Tab, sadly. It's good for smartphones but not for tabs - it's worse as an alpha build of windows. Every manufactuerer does what he wants, there are no standards. Compatibility between Android versions are a joke - imagine you upgrade from win7 to win8 and everything stops working - arrrrrrrgh.
This may be fixed with 4.0 but it will take another 1-2 years for the software. Until then, there will be Win8, which could break Androids neck (if it's compatible to Win7 programms!). Also I can sell the Ipad2 for 200-300 bucks, even if Ipad3 is released, so screw it, will lose ~150-200€ to it. But it will buy me at least 6 months of fun.
The best is, I don't have to care about the future. There is no "will it work after OS upgrade" problem with Apple.
Wow there are so many problems with this post I don't even know where to begin. I think I will just address your last line:
The best is, I don't have to care about the future. There is no "will it work after OS upgrade" problem with Apple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try telling that to the iPhone 3G users who upgraded to ios4 and had a device that was next to worthless. Apple pushed that update out to ose iPhones knowing it would turn it into a piece of **** 100% of the time.
dcc22 said:
Root/Jailbreak/Flash:
Jailbreaking an Ipad is a piece of cake, visit a website, click on a button, your done. No bull**** to flash around or to risk your device. After that you have Cydia which is an alternative market. You can also add repos to it, so you gain access to apps of all kind, also the not so legal ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having met way more people with iPodTouch4/IP4/IPad1&2 that do this than those who DO NOT do this, it makes me wonder if the ideology of app devs to take preference to iOS for financial considerations is not completely flawed.
....what is the point of this post?
your inability to play with android OS and tweak it is not an excuse for you to say that android is flawed..with that said, i agree some stuff need to be fix, but its minor stuff such as typing on the browser...and...well thats it for me.
if you want something that work out of the box, agreed pick ipad 2, but if your geeky or you like linux pick android, more custimization then IOS can ever dream of.
THE firmwares with ripped features for different devices, as they become incompatible with every next release the iphone 3g and now 3gs with ios5. Don't tell me jailbreak is easy, it took the developers 3 months to make a jailbreak for ipad 2 which is still raw with compatibility issues! If buying the idevice is an excuse for free apps...probably games in your case with a new handheld gaming device than off board ye pirate! People jailbreak the device for customisation which is the soul of android os (which is not fresh but time tested and evolving i need not wait a whole year for new features to sprout, mostly inspired and already popular in other os!).
Ever heard of DFU mode, recovery mode? Similar terms and combos are used here! Atleast in android thanks to diversity if one model ain't suitable there is a myriad to choose from! Compare two devices of same platform when making a point.
I agree with G1 and the person above but since you decided to share...let me take a turn.
Why you felt the need to justify your iPad 2 choice in an Android related forum is beyond me.
You either realize or fail to see that Apple purposefully limits their tech. Minimal upgrades between generations. Even the newest iPhone won't support 4G from what I have heard yet they want to use LTE patents against Google?
Your train of thought that the iPad 2 is perfect is already starting to form.
The iPad's dimensions do not in any way make it better for video, reading, and web surfing. I was just having a debate with a friend who started complaining about where the dock port was on my Galaxy Tab 10.1. He was quickly shut up when I pointed out that cell phones have the port at the bottom so our hands can grip the sides. However a tablet is meant to be held in LANDSCAPE...that's why sticking the port in a different place was a smart decision.
Point being...he turned into another person claiming everything is horrible with Android. Guess what? He never owned an Android device. He actually has a Touch Pro 2 right now. IGNORANCE!
Look I've had an iPad. I know that jailbreaking it is POINTLESS. Your battery dies out super fast, the app selection is fairly weak, and all of that jailbreaking does nothing but try to replicate an Android experience. But it fails.
Unlike you, I do care about the future. I don't want to live in a world where everybody has the same glossy tablet with a slippery back so you can drop the darn thing. I don't want to be told what I can and cannot do on my tablet. I do not want to support any company intent on holding back technological progress for the sake of money or who buys patents just to sue other companies out performing them.
You have EVERY right to buy an iPad 2 but just know that your choices and who you choose to support speaks volumes. I have friends just like you. One day they're talking about freedom and openness. The next day they're justifying EVERYTHING Apple does. Cool. As long as I have a choice too.
As for your claims about Windows 8, it only serves to buttress how you allowed us yourself to come to your decision.
"Ignorance is bliss." That should be Apple's new tagline.
I love the OP and how he compares the worst of Android tablets to the best of iPad2 lol
4:3 is perfect for reading books with less wasted screen space. Yay! Now try reading comics and watching WS movies You prefer 4:3 movies? Good for you
Jailbreaking is easy for the iPad2 NOW! But do you know how long it took for the jailbreak to come out? That's right, they've been working on it since the iPad2 was released in March. Four months for a jailbreak to give you the 3rd party features equivalent of... Android. Who knows how long it will be the next time a new iPad/iDevice comes out. Compares that to the usual quick turn-around of rooting an Android device.
I'm happy that you're happy with your iPad 2. It's a nice device. But it sounds like you're just an iOS fan who tried Android and didn't like it.
I'm so glad you guys posted such thorough responses, so now I don't have to. I particularly like the point about why an Apple Fanboy felt the need to post his decision in an Android forum was beyond sensible.
goalweiser said:
I agree with G1 and the person above but since you decided to share...let me take a turn.
Why you felt the need to justify your iPad 2 choice in an Android related forum is beyond me.
You either realize or fail to see that Apple purposefully limits their tech. Minimal upgrades between generations. Even the newest iPhone won't support 4G from what I have heard yet they want to use LTE patents against Google?
Your train of thought that the iPad 2 is perfect is already starting to form.
The iPad's dimensions do not in any way make it better for video, reading, and web surfing. I was just having a debate with a friend who started complaining about where the dock port was on my Galaxy Tab 10.1. He was quickly shut up when I pointed out that cell phones have the port at the bottom so our hands can grip the sides. However a tablet is meant to be held in LANDSCAPE...that's why sticking the port in a different place was a smart decision.
Point being...he turned into another person claiming everything is horrible with Android. Guess what? He never owned an Android device. He actually has a Touch Pro 2 right now. IGNORANCE!
Look I've had an iPad. I know that jailbreaking it is POINTLESS. Your battery dies out super fast, the app selection is fairly weak, and all of that jailbreaking does nothing but try to replicate an Android experience. But it fails.
Unlike you, I do care about the future. I don't want to live in a world where everybody has the same glossy tablet with a slippery back so you can drop the darn thing. I don't want to be told what I can and cannot do on my tablet. I do not want to support any company intent on holding back technological progress for the sake of money or who buys patents just to sue other companies out performing them.
You have EVERY right to buy an iPad 2 but just know that your choices and who you choose to support speaks volumes. I have friends just like you. One day they're talking about freedom and openness. The next day they're justifying EVERYTHING Apple does. Cool. As long as I have a choice too.
As for your claims about Windows 8, it only serves to buttress how you allowed us yourself to come to your decision.
"Ignorance is bliss." That should be Apple's new tagline.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
God, I really like this post. Spoke about everything I wanted to say.
I dont want to be told what I can or cannot do. I want to tweak, optimize and control every setting that I can. There are tons of problems with JB and everyone, even a non-apple user like me, knows it. And without JB youre just living in a matrix that Steve Jobs dictates.
I would really like to hear the OP thoughts on flash. My friend tried to buy something on the web and couldnt use her credit card on the iphone. in the end I bought it for her using-yes my samsung 10.1- and she wrote me a check. And Steve Jobs is saying people dont need/shouldnt use/ cannot use flash on their mobile device.
This kinda makes me think of how I am training my 2 year old son to use the potty.
hmmm
I just recently got a galaxy tab 10.1, after spending the last month using an ipad2, I need both tablets for an app i am building.
And I can tell you this much, anyone that has an iphone will love an ipad2. Anyone that uses an ipad2 will be very very very happy with it.
But trust me, use that device for a month, then switch to honeycomb..... and it will blow you away.
One think I can say about apple is so easy to use, than it becomes boring after a while.thats why I have the samsung galaxy tab.
evolishesh said:
One think I can say about apple is so easy to use, than it becomes boring after a while.thats why I have the samsung galaxy tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apple's draw over its competitors has been its simplicity for years - well before Android. Back in the day it was Microsoft. The sad truth is that reduced functionality in a shinier package is what most people want. Thankfully for those of us with a bit more intelligence, we have products like Android to keep us entertained.
SolusCado said:
Apple's draw over its competitors has been its simplicity for years - well before Android. Back in the day it was Microsoft. The sad truth is that reduced functionality in a shinier package is what most people want. Thankfully for those of us with a bit more intelligence, we have products like Android to keep us entertained.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. I love android and its platform
Um, wow. Glad everyone else said already literally everything I could think of responding to the OP with.
And personally, I will never buy a Win8 tablet until I can wipe it and install Android, Ubuntu or MeeGo on it.
Lorddeff07 said:
hmmm
I just recently got a galaxy tab 10.1, after spending the last month using an ipad2, I need both tablets for an app i am building.
And I can tell you this much, anyone that has an iphone will love an ipad2. Anyone that uses an ipad2 will be very very very happy with it.
But trust me, use that device for a month, then switch to honeycomb..... and it will blow you away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the non-ipad users, could you elaborate some points on that? I just want to know some actual comparisons aside from the well advertised facts, ex: flash.
All of these tablets have their quirks and flaws. Mostly with the software. I actually need to return my second 10.1 because it's been randomly turning off like my first. Must be due to heat.
In any case, I will wait for the next batch of tablets instead. Hopefully we start getting some stuff that's really spectacular. Like a processor that can handle the native resolution of HC and has more video codecs.
Colors are pretty drab on ipad and saturated on tab. Both screens need calibration.
Tabs screen is brighter and higher Res. Side by side with same pics regardless of source tab wins everytime. Anyone saying otherwise needs prescription checked.
There's a reason ipadhd is coming. Apple knows full well there display is now second rate.
dcc22 said:
After I could compare the Ipad2, 10.1 and Transformer for days now, I decided to go and buy an Ipad2. Yes, I turned my back on Android and here's why:
10.1:
Very nice lookings, high quality and hardware but there is a big problem: the colors. On some pictures the saturation is so high that it kills lots of details every time 2 similar colors are nearby. Here you can see what I mean, check the right circle where orange and red meets - if the orange circle would be more reddish, you could hardly tell there are 2 rings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bkovoLXw4&feature=player_detailpage#t=208s
If you compare it to a perfect calibrated monitor, it looks like crap. Flashy, colorful and nice but details are gone. That's the one and only weaknes from what it offers. It's 16:9 display is a winner when it comes to videos but video playback is poor. Ipad2 is much better, even for flash, later more to come about it.
Another MAJOR problem is Samsung support. Android is a fresh system and needs tons of support. Samsung provides NONE. For EU, they still have no release dates or closer info about their device - just lol. For me, the 10.1 is just a step in the process to upgrade to Tegra3. They built the shell now and can use it for the next device to compete with Apple. Same like they did to the 10.1v - no support, they just forgot about it.
Transformer:
Diplay is pretty good but the build quality is crap. After I saw the Archos tablets with the bronze frame, I knew where Asus bought their stuff. Both have those sharp metal frames which are wrapped around the screen. TF and Archos have gaps between the frame and glas, with some kind of rubber to fill it. Asus tried to even out the sharp edges but you can see how cheap it is. Archos tablets can cut in your finger if you swipe around the edges ! For me: complete garbage quality, should cost 250$ max to satisfy the minimalist who just want's to read or something.
Ipad2:
This device is pretty awesome. First I thought the 4:3 diplay sucks for reading but after I measured books and calculated ratios, they were ALL closer to Ipad2 standards. That menas you will have less wasted space on Ipad. When surfing internet you will learn to love 4:3, everything fits perfectly while you feel how broken sites are on 16:9. The drawback are 16:9 movies without a border and the good about it, you have FULLSCREEN ! in emulators without scaling. There are also a lot of older movies/series with 4:3, which I prefer on travel anyway.
It is fluent everywhere and feels like my Galaxy S after getting the lagfix. Stock 3.1 is bull**** compared to it. The only point where it is superior, are widgets.
Root/Jailbreak/Flash:
Jailbreaking an Ipad is a piece of cake, visit a website, click on a button, your done. No bull**** to flash around or to risk your device. After that you have Cydia which is an alternative market. You can also add repos to it, so you gain access to apps of all kind, also the not so legal ones.
You can play Flash Videos on Ipad using Iswifter or other apps. Inconvinient sometimes but to my surprise, they are fluent on the Ipad - Androids are sluggish. The Ipad even played a movie fluent with 10 other flash animations around it !
The crappy part about the Ipad is itunes and the structure how app files are arranged. Every app has it's own folder, so if you use FTP or something to transfer via network, you have to put those files IN the app folder, so they can find it. Not a big deal, if the app folder wouln't be named like 429403290239203023948393. Android is way better, copy somewhere on SD and browse it. Sure you can use itunes to put everything together but Itunes won't work with Jailbroken apps from Cydia. This breaks the use of my NAS server at home, leaving me with ****ty USB-to-PC solutions if I want it the easy way. Music and Videos which are supported by NAS can be played over UPNP but I found more nice apps for that on Android as I could on Ipad.
Conclusion:
10.1 is a nice device but it's like to own a ferrari and only have crappy roads to drive on. Android kills the Tab, sadly. It's good for smartphones but not for tabs - it's worse as an alpha build of windows. Every manufactuerer does what he wants, there are no standards. Compatibility between Android versions are a joke - imagine you upgrade from win7 to win8 and everything stops working - arrrrrrrgh.
This may be fixed with 4.0 but it will take another 1-2 years for the software. Until then, there will be Win8, which could break Androids neck (if it's compatible to Win7 programms!). Also I can sell the Ipad2 for 200-300 bucks, even if Ipad3 is released, so screw it, will lose ~150-200€ to it. But it will buy me at least 6 months of fun.
The best is, I don't have to care about the future. There is no "will it work after OS upgrade" problem with Apple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing,I had the transformer for week return it and waited for the galaxy tab,I love the galaxy tab but too much force closes and app crashing.I exchange tab for ipad2 and jailbreak it.
I am very happy with the ipad,but I miss honeycomb,hope ice-cream sandwich and all manufactures they stop using nvidia Tegra
The hardware is there, and Google is revving up for Ice Cream Sandwich right now, which will hopefully bring some much needed changes to current Android
Tablets.
Sent from my Fascinate with MIUI Gingerbread
The fact that you're here means you don't mind getting your hands dirty.
So you have one simple choice - have your device running as you want it by managing the device yourself, loading ROMs from XDA - or not and wait until Apple decide to fix something.
XDA is fantastic - here there's talented bunch of guys & gals mixing & matching the best features from roms of different vendors into something unique.
There is no comparison between Apple & Android.

Comparing HC devices to the ipad2

Has anyone else noticed the number of complaints about light bleeds, freezing, and glitches about the ipad 2?
I regularly run into ipad and ipad2 users and their universal attitude seems to be "my tablet is better than yours".
Isn't the ipad 2 suppose to be the perfect hardware and software integrated product?
goodintentions said:
Has anyone else noticed the number of complaints about light bleeds, freezing, and glitches about the ipad 2?
I regularly run into ipad and ipad2 users and their universal attitude seems to be "my tablet is better than yours".
Isn't the ipad 2 suppose to be the perfect hardware and software integrated product?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea what you're talking about, seriously. I had an iPad and now iPad 2 as well as the Iconia and love em both for their separate strengths. We have 3 ipad2's in our house and due to my job, they are stuffed to the gills with all kinds of apps and none have frozen, needed to be restarted or crashed. There have been an occasion app that has refused to load, but nothing like you are gleefully mentioning.
As for your rumor regarding screen issues, I posted something about this earlier today- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1188841 - the iPads have consistently been the screen by which all others are compared and reports of light bleed, from what I've read, have been a rare defect.
I'm also loving my Android devices now that my Infuse is rooted (ROM is next) and my Iconia has HC3.1. There are days when I only use something running iOS for phone calls (my iPhone still has my main number). But Android it still doesn't have the polish iOS does (/ducks to avoid flames and large stones... ) which I blame more on the OEM's than the software. Android, again IMO, also doesn't have as many quality apps- game, productivity, multimedia, graphics, etc. But this is just a matter of time.
Is iOS the "perfect" blend of hardware and software? Maybe not, but IMHO, it's the closest to it for an "out of the box" experience at the moment. I'm sure with enough tweaks, ROMs and hacks, an experienced owner could create a near perfect tablet experience and while the ability to do all that is the beauty of Android, you can't expect your average user to do anything close to that.
So I don't know if your post was a troll shot and I got suckered into replying, but I guess I'm replying as an iPad and Android owner that doesn't feel like I have to boast about one product to denigrate another. Other than stating how a particular OS suits their expectations more than the other, I've never been around any iPad owners chanting about how superior their tab is, that's just ridiculous... of course all the iPad owners I know other than my son are adults...
goodintentions said:
Has anyone else noticed the number of complaints about light bleeds, freezing, and glitches about the ipad 2?
I regularly run into ipad and ipad2 users and their universal attitude seems to be "my tablet is better than yours".
Isn't the ipad 2 suppose to be the perfect hardware and software integrated product?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think some Apple folks suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect as well as some cognitive dissonance - caused by the ADF (Apple Distortion Field).
Any and all Apple products, therefore - as superior to any competing product. Any and all Apple strategies are superior to any competing brands strategies.
Any and all Apple "stuff" is superior to any competing "stuff".
Once you understand and agree to compromise (shut yo mouth, foo!), you'll get along with them.
Now, these statements are a mixture of jokes and certain feelings I may possibly really believe .
Either way, the truth of the matter is the iPad and iPad 2 are great products. I think they are extremely thoughtfully made for better or for worse. I think they choose processes that make them great looking and 'easy'. I also think they are terrigreedy, holding back tech. and restricting certain features in order to squeeze money from customers. But give any company a chance and they'd do this - don't think it's just Apple. They are simply getting away with it, and that upsets folks.
I haven't seen many products which touch Apple quality in terms of materials they use and such. Apple's been shipping laptops with backlit keyboards for a while, look how long it took PC makers to do the same? (Granted, Apple notebooks are at a more than 70% premium, but still...nice, right?).
The light bleed may be an issue for some but think about it, most Apple users aren't doing anything to accentuate it. We're hard on our stuff! We really are. We penalize our hardware harshly, they don't (for the most part) and those that do are probably not Apple fans.
We turn lights off and make our screens pitch black in order to check for problems we wouldn't notice unless/until we search for them, they don't...they use and enjoy their stuff. While I do not agree that the iPad 2 is a BETTER device than even the A500, I do think it contains some parts that may be considered superior. That doesn't mean the competition (A500, Tab 10.1, TF) doesn't beat the pants off of the iPad 2, they in general do in terms of playing movies, games and such - but it means that a TYPICAL user will probably get 1. less heartache and 2. more enjoyment out of the iPad 2, while there's sort of a small learning curve for Android Tablets.
I hope this makes sense.
I'm a little biased, you can tell...but I'm objective enough to know good technology when I see/use it.
tazm0n said:
So I don't know if your post was a troll shot and I got suckered into replying, but I guess I'm replying as an iPad and Android owner that doesn't feel like I have to boast about one product to denigrate another.
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Click to collapse
Actually, no, it's not a troll shot. I take the train everyday to work, so I encounter quite a few ipad users on a daily basis. Even at work I run into them. There's something about the ipad that makes people want to look down on everyone who uses something else.
Neoprimal said:
I haven't seen many products which touch Apple quality in terms of materials they use and such. Apple's been shipping laptops with backlit keyboards for a while, look how long it took PC makers to do the same? (Granted, Apple notebooks are at a more than 70% premium, but still...nice, right?).
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Click to collapse
I mean, no, not really. I HAVE a macbook, and don't care about, nor will look for a backlit kb on my next laptop... The mofo has also developed an annoying problem where it seems to see phantom touchpad presses and repositions my cursor at random.
I've the Iconia and the original iPad.
If I didn't have 'weird' requirements from a tablet, which are:
Connect a KB/Mouse for RDP
Use Bittorrent client (for legit purposes of course!!!)
... I would use the ipad every single time.
IMO, it's just a much much much nicer experience to use. Now, don't bother contradicting me on that. It's MY opinion and it's MY experience.
It's just smoother, nicer, better apps and the tablet itself is nicer (esp the iPad 2 which I have access to at work).
I've been thinking recently tho.. what I really want is a 13.3" Windows 8 tablet with Tegra 3, full size USB/HDMI, and something like a retina display and be same weight/thickness as iPad2.
Then I can ditch my laptop which I really only use to play Windows only games.
I also want 13.3" cos 10" is too small to work on all day long and I hate my work desk cluttered by a big fat clunky external screen. Just waiting for those transparent displays like u get in Avatar.
Windows 8 so I can install Diablo 3 on it when it comes out. Or OSX or whatever since I guess D3 will be out on Mac as well.
All I want is one all-encompassing device (and by the time D3 comes out, that shouldn't be too hard....)
MrBoingy said:
... I would use the ipad every single time.
IMO, it's just a much much much nicer experience to use. Now, don't bother contradicting me on that. It's MY opinion and it's MY experience.
It's just smoother, nicer, better apps and the tablet itself is nicer (esp the iPad 2 which I have access to at work).
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Click to collapse
Not trying to argue against you, but thought I'd just offer my personal view on that too, since I have experience on both devices too. I have an Ipad and the Iconia in my home as well, my wife has the iPad2 and I have this tab. Before I got the tab, she used to have the original iPad, and I used it quite a bit...she upgraded to the 2 around the time when I got my toy, after which I've barely touched the iPad2.
Now, I really like the iPad - I really do. When we just had that, I used it all the time (too much according to my wife ). It's snappy, clear to use, simple...nice device, I really like it for very basic stuff.
However, when that was the only tablet thing we had, I had to use my laptop/desktop much more than I do now, I felt like it was "too basic" for my needs. I didn't use to think I go to many flash sites, but I guess I do...there were plenty of things that just didn't work with the Safari, unfortunately. Plus the whole media experience is completely different, with the iPad I never watched anything since I just couldn't...it supported absolutely nothing of my current video collection, nothing works, everything should've been re-encoded and somehow (itunes I guess) brought into the iPad, which I didn't want to bother with - I have my setup and there are plenty of standards to go with how I access my stuff (DLNA, SMB, etc.), I didn't want to bend over backwards to redo everything. And now, with my Iconia, I can stream vidoes of whatever format from my home server, copy files by plugging in the USB or using samba etc. all sorts of options for that. So to me, the Iconia / HC tabs are clearly more useful than the iPad, the Android tablet is more of a computer in that way, it works with my existing network, just plugs into it. So yeah, I prefer it. Greatly. And even physically, I have to say I prefer the Iconia now...the 4:3 aspect ration on the iPad just looks wrong now.
But anyway, not trying to argue, just offering my views on the two devices. Like you, I see good points in both, but I'd say I strongly prefer the Android tablets for the more "computer-like" power they have and the way they interact with the existing setup I have.

Interesting re: "full hardware accel" in ICS

Just a blog re: ICS enabling full hardware acceleration of the GUI. We've all figured it would make our tablets sprint but this is putting things in a new light so I figured I'd post it here.
Linky
I'm sure the programmers and people on top of Android out there knew this. It sort of worries me though. Keeping in mind, Apple is running a totally different system - it sort of makes me respect iOS more so, to know that such a smooth system exists within the limits of 256MB of Memory when we're going upwards of 512MB and still having 'issues'. Don't jump down my throat, I don't want iOS (or an idevice), I'm just sayin'.
Jesus. I've known for a long time that there is something wrong with the way Android accelerates stuff and the whole UI design paradigm, but that's just boneheaded o_o That begs the question though: who made the decision to implement acceleration in such a horrible way and why wasn't it designed properly from the get-go? Anyone who has the slightest experience in OpenGL programming would've been able to tell them they're doing it wrong.
What a stunningly stupid way to implement things.
Just goes to show how much difference it really makes when it comes to having experience in OS development...
I like Android, but this design choice was just... dumb.
FloatingFatMan said:
What a stunningly stupid way to implement things.
Just goes to show how much difference it really makes when it comes to having experience in development...
I like Android, but this design choice was just... dumb.
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Click to collapse
Well, there are several shortcomings to Android exactly because of these kinds of brainfarts, like e.g. the permissions system is terribly sketchy and should've received a lot more Q/A. But now that it's released there's little Google can do about it without breaking compatibility as they didn't even plan for it to be extendable.
I do quite like Android, but it's too uneven to really feel professional or trustworthy. I just recently pondered about what I'd want from a future mobile tablet on my Google+ page and while I didn't mention it there, I feel like Win8 would've been in a terrific position for the OS on such a device if they didn't decide to remove traditional desktop from the ARM-version. I know Windows and Microsoft aren't popular here, but they've got a lot more experience with OS-development than Google and are a lot better at power-management design and acceleration of UI and its drivers, plus they've really put some real effort into security lately. Alas, with them scrapping traditional desktop from ARM-version Win8 won't cut it, either.
You guys should read Google's blog post. That article misses one huge point: the trade off. This was far from a bad implementation, it was just a very different one. If you read the article you would know that ios freezes if you hold your finger on screen while loading a large list, Android does not. Android balances the CPU threads for ui display and data processing somewhat equally, while ios grants utter priority to their ui display thread . Basically, if the ui display thread is busy, data processing stops. Android is the winner, it is ios that will now be limited in speed with this configuration until it is optimized for new hardware much like how Android currently works!
autom8r said:
You guys should read Google's blog post. That article misses one huge point: the trade off. This was far from a bad implementation, it was just a very different one. If you read the article you would know that ios freezes if you hold your finger on screen while loading a large list, Android does not. Android balances the CPU threads for ui display and data processing somewhat equally, while ios grants utter priority to their ui display thread . Basically, if the ui display thread is busy, data processing stops. Android is the winner, it is ios that will now be limited in speed with this configuration until it is optimized for new hardware much like how Android currently works!
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Click to collapse
Uh, it is a bad implementation. You can have both a good implementation AND still balance priority of both the rendering queue and application threads, they are not mutually exclusive.
WereCatf said:
Well, there are several shortcomings to Android exactly because of these kinds of brainfarts, like e.g. the permissions system is terribly sketchy and should've received a lot more Q/A. But now that it's released there's little Google can do about it without breaking compatibility as they didn't even plan for it to be extendable.
I do quite like Android, but it's too uneven to really feel professional or trustworthy. I just recently pondered about what I'd want from a future mobile tablet on my Google+ page and while I didn't mention it there, I feel like Win8 would've been in a terrific position for the OS on such a device if they didn't decide to remove traditional desktop from the ARM-version. I know Windows and Microsoft aren't popular here, but they've got a lot more experience with OS-development than Google and are a lot better at power-management design and acceleration of UI and its drivers, plus they've really put some real effort into security lately. Alas, with them scrapping traditional desktop from ARM-version Win8 won't cut it, either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Microsoft is dumb enough to kill desktop mode on ARM, that really destroys the Win8 tablet market outside of running on Intel chips, which puts them at sub-par graphics. I suppose the only hope then is if AMD steps in and I'm not all that much a fan of AMD, though they have tried to make good efforts in the mobile arena with their A-series chips and having decent GPUs.
I suppose I'll keep an eye on this and see what Microsoft does. Given their lack of intelligent decision making of late (ie. far dumber than their normal stupidity), I don't hold out much hope. Pity, Win8 tablets were looking strong, too.
Gnoop said:
If Microsoft is dumb enough to kill desktop mode on ARM, that really destroys the Win8 tablet market outside of running on Intel chips, which puts them at sub-par graphics. I suppose the only hope then is if AMD steps in and I'm not all that much a fan of AMD, though they have tried to make good efforts in the mobile arena with their A-series chips and having decent GPUs.
I suppose I'll keep an eye on this and see what Microsoft does. Given their lack of intelligent decision making of late (ie. far dumber than their normal stupidity), I don't hold out much hope. Pity, Win8 tablets were looking strong, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Metro-interface is aimed for touch-based devices, including tablets. Desktop-mode doesn't work too well on such. The problem is that Win8 tablet could serve as BOTH a mobile device AND a desktop computer if Microsoft played its cards right and thus reserve a very nice spot for itself.
WereCatf said:
The Metro-interface is aimed for touch-based devices, including tablets. Desktop-mode doesn't work too well on such. The problem is that Win8 tablet could serve as BOTH a mobile device AND a desktop computer if Microsoft played its cards right and thus reserve a very nice spot for itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. Being able to handle both of those would hook me in pretty easily.

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