Galaxy Tab 10.1 Vs. iPad 2 Review 524
DeviceGuru writes "DeviceGuru's 10-inch tablet smackdown pits Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 against Apple's iPad 2. At price parity the iPad 2 is probably a better bet for the average user since it's a more stable, near-perfect device with a rich assortment of apps for nearly every possible function you'd like to perform on a tablet, reasons the post. However, with the Samsung tablet's cost of goods rumored to be around $215 versus $260 for the iPad 2 for comparable models, Samsung could drop its 10-inch tablet's price to $425 and pose a serious challenge to Apple's device. But will they...?"
Better Value (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Better Value (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Better Value (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, and the ipad comes without a passanger-seat and lighter-plug meaning if someone wants a ride, they have to take my seat, and I can't plug in anything.
Re:Better Value (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Better Value (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Better Value (Score:4, Funny)
Could you please explain to me what on my Xoom requires "tinkering"?
The price.
Re:Better Value (Score:4, Insightful)
Could you please explain to me what on my Xoom requires "tinkering"?
Nothing requires tinkering. But if you want to tinker then the Xoom is a better choice. If you don't want to tinker then either device is a (potentially) a good choice based on your wants, needs and any other Android or iOS devices you own or use.
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Agreed, I actually own an iPad 2, but not an Android tablet. I do however have an Android phone.
There's a lot of rough edges on the iPad, it's merely a myth by Apple fanboys that it's got a somehow perfect UI experience. I don't know how Android tablets compare, because I've never used one, but certainly compared to Android on my phone, Android is the nicer OS imo. It has no more rough edges than the iPhone, and yet has a lot more features.
To cite some examples, I don't like how in the Apple store, if you w
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I like tinkering myself, but my GF is determinedly non-geek and still prefers the Android interface to iOS. Given that the hardware specs favour the Asus, as does the price, the Transformer is clearly a better device than the iPad.
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I think the better part of your argument is the lack of "the passenger seat" (multiple account support). These devices really do get passed round/left on a coffee table. I know if i had one, and left it out i would expect that my guests feel free to pick it up and play with it.
Both iOS and Android are rather weak in this area to be honest and I hope someone gets it together soon. I'd still probably not consider the iPad due to the hood being welded shut, but with the correct maintenance agreement i could be
Re:Better Value (Score:5, Informative)
It's not secret on the inside. The hardware and software APIs are extremely well documented. You are confusing your ignorance of the product with an imagined secrecy.
You are allowed to peek inside - Apple even has a free developer program and downloadable tools to let you do exactly that. Download the free OS developer tools, develop any app you like, and install your app on your IOS device.
The only caveat is that Apple won't help you install "whatever update you like". And you most certainly can't sell products on the Apple App Store that don't conform to their rules. But there's nothing stopping *you* from installing *your* apps on *your* devices.
This is what irks me about the supposedly Free Software and Open Source advocates when it comes to Apple's IOS. Free Software could really go to town on IOS. For example, Apple won't distribute MAME through their App Store; and fair enough too. But anybody with a free developer account could compile the source code for MAME for IOS (assuming it exists) into an app, sign that build with their developer certificate, then upload the binary onto their own phone.
Instead people bitch-and-moan that they can't use Apple's App Store to distribute binaries. Why is that a problem? This is a community built on open source and free software. So why not distribute the apps as source. If open-source is such a big deal, why the fascination with bundling everything up as binaries and asking Apple to distribute it?
So you could have any app you like on your iPad or iPhone. The only barrier to entry is you need to know how to compile and install software. Is that really a problem in the Free Software world which has distros like Gentoo? It would keep out all the annoying non-developers too. It would be like the good old days of Linux when everybody actually knew UNIX; before the hoi-polloi found out about it and fucked it up.
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Unless it has changed in the past couple years since I've last looked, deploying code to your own iOS device requires a $99/year developer subscription. Which very much is preventing me from installing my apps on my devices. The free tools don't provide you with a certificate to deploy to real hardware, only the emulator.
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90% of the population won't change their own oil, and only put air in the tires when they have too.
these people put gas in their cars and that is all. iDevices are similar, you set it up once, and maybe add a fancy steering wheel cover, and that is it.
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I don't change my own oil for two reasons: if I screw it up, I'm the only one to blame, and it costs me more in supplies to change my own oil than it does to pay Jiffy Lube. Taking my car to Jiffy lube every 5-6 months, buying tires and a battery every three years, and filling it up is all car maintenance should be. If it is anything else, you are a serious hobbyist, or you are doing it wrong.
5 quarts of generic oil at wal-mart (with tax is $20). A standard oil change, plus filter at Jiffy lube is $25, an
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Where does the fun come in?
I know I'm in the minority, but if I can't pop the lid and mess with the noodles without violating some eternal oath, or having it turned by remote control into a very slick-looking trivet, it's just not for me.
God bless 'em for selling a zillion.
Re:Or jailbreak it (Score:4, Insightful)
Heh, open in the sense that any door is open if you have a crowbar.
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He also removes any addons you may have installed and makes sure the welds are stronger this time.
Btw, my friend tried to park his iCar in my garage and iGarage wanted to erase the tapes in his 8-track and glovebox.
Will I have to install a new carport to avoid it (tinker?) or will someone relax a bit soon?
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The G Tablet runs the same android as most other tablets. It's problem is the shitty screen that makes it unusable, and it came out running Android 2.2, so you had to root and install the market before it was usable.
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You're right, buying a tablet because it's a cool new must-have tech gadget is idiotic. Buying a tablet because it has a dual-core processor makes much more sense!
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No, I think it's clear that you're the one not giving consumers enough credit. They are choosing, in overwhelming numbers, the tablet that they actually want. You're the condescending prick who is saying they are just mindless drones buying iPads for social status, right down to explaining why iPads are so visible everywhere as some sort of "conspicuous consumption" type display.
Specs are absolutely meaningless except in as much as they effect your experience with the product.
Then there are those that actually do pay attention to specs and features. Cause if that weren't the case every laptop sold would be an atom-based netbook.
How so? Nobody goes, "oh an Ato
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And are you sure you read the article here, cause I don't recall the part about the iPad being "head and shoulders above the competition". I'm pretty sure it said they were just about equal, and which you should get depends upon whether you prefer Apple's closed-space environment or Android's open one. I guess you must have been thinking about that Mac Li
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Five years ago, if you wanted a hard-disk based MP3 player with 20GB of capacity, you had one or two choices. The iPod; I believe Toshiba had their own product, as did iRiver.
Price-wise, there wasn't an enormous amount between them. The iPod was slightly dearer, but not a huge amount by any means - maybe £20 or so. The competition was - as a rule:
- Bulkier.
- Shipped with much poorer software (be it in the form of firmware and the UI provided by said firmware or in the form of software which you had to
Executive summary (Score:2, Insightful)
If you're the kind that likes to do a lot of handwaving about openness while boring all your friends and have a 'DIY attitude' (read: lots of free time), buy the Galaxy Tab. Everyone else, stay away until they either become significantly cheaper than the iPad or Android has caught up in marketshare and polish (which, conveniently, is always 6 months from now.)
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Everyone else, stay away until they either become significantly cheaper than the iPad or Android has caught up in marketshare and polish (which, conveniently, is always 6 months from now.)
Or you could wait 5 years and get holographic storage.
Exactly. (Score:4, Interesting)
As someone who works in the open source world, I gotta say that's not only spot on, but applies to almost all open source software. You're trading ease of use for configurability and openness, at the cost of glitches and big, empty promises.
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I am using a Thinkpad R60 right now with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Everything works perfectly. All of the hardware works. When I close the lid, it immediately goes into standby. When I open it, it immediately comes out. Wireless, bluetooth, everything flawless. The software I run has yet to crash one single time. Firefox runs perfectly. Chromium-browser runs perfectly, all of the cli apps (ssh, vi, etc.) run perfectly. Networking, i.e., Samba, apache, ssh server, run perfectly. There i
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Re:Exactly. (Score:5, Funny)
As someone who works in the open source world, I gotta say that's not only spot on, but applies to almost all open source software. You're trading ease of use for configurability and openness, at the cost of glitches and big, empty promises.
Yeah, that's why I'm still running Internet Explorer. Firefox and Webkit (among the most popular and widely distributed of open source software) may have configurability and openness, but they'll never match Internet Explorer for its ease of use, lack of glitches and fulfilled promises.
Re:Executive summary (Score:4, Insightful)
For new users, if you like tinkering, the galaxy tab is for you. Otherwise, get an iPad, to have *today* the reference tablet, or a Galaxy Tab 2 to have an old version of *tomorrow* reference tablet (Galaxy Tab 3). Unless you need flash, in that case, buy a laptop.
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...kind of depends on what you want to do with a tablet/phone and whether or not this will run afoul of Steve's vision and what the devout fanboys think you should be doing with a tablet.
More and more it becomes easier and easier to want things that the devout fanboys will call "geeky".
Re:Executive summary (Score:4, Insightful)
Everyone else, stay away until they either become significantly cheaper than the iPad or Android has caught up in marketshare and polish (which, conveniently, is always 6 months from now.
6 months from now, when the androids can finally compete head to head with the ipad2, and all the early adopters have expired after being shot in the back with arrows, I'm sure sales against the ipad3 with retina display or whatever its supposed to have will be ... once again, not so brisk; but I promise once again, in just 6 more months, we'll have an Ipad3-killer android tablet ... ready by the rollout of the ipad4...
Re:Executive summary (Score:5, Insightful)
It's one or the other - if you want to claim they have the polish *and* and marketshare, then you are dreaming.
There are some really awesome Android handsets that are more than a match for the iPhone. These don't make up the majority of the Android market share though - that distinction belongs to the cheaper "built to a budget" phones that can also run Android. I've seen several of these handsets too (and used them) and they are nowhere near the polish of an iPhone (or their much better Android cousins).
So, it is more accurate to say "Android has swelled its marketshare by going after part of the market that Apple has no interest in - cheap, crappy smartphones - while also having some genuine iPhone equivalents". You can't simply say that have "overtaken iPhones in marketshare and polish".
There are some features of Android that I'd love to have on iOS, and funnily enough, they weren't features that the cheap Android phones I've used have had on them either. Other than that, by far the biggest downer on the cheap ones is the quality of the screen and the quality of the touch response.
Of course manufacturers can make something equivalent to the iPad 2 "within a year" - they just can't make it cheaper than Apple, which has been the rub. Everyone automatically assumed that Apple was slapping a giant markup on the iPad and making hay while the sun shined. The number of "just you wait for the Android tablets at half the price with better features! any day now! any day! next month!" posts that we saw on slashdot and other sites during the iPad 1's unchallenged reign was remarkable. The closest we really got was the Xoom, which, funnily enough, cost pretty much the same as the iPad. What they were hoping for was to be able to get some sales going because the Xoom was better than the iPad 1, but Apple went ahead and one-upped them and released the iPad 2 at the same time and for the same price as the first one and the Xoom is dead in the water. It didn;t help that they rushed it to market too quickly because of the impending iPad 2 and shipped it with some of the much lauded "essential missing features" of the iPad not working at all (SD reader, Flash, usb).
Re:Executive summary (Score:5, Insightful)
These don't make up the majority of the Android market share though
Can you cite that? The only lists I can find of top-selling Android phones are almost completely dominated by the "super phones", i.e., Evo 4G, Motorola Droid, Galaxy S. The crap Android phones seem to be far outsold by the good ones. Which kind of blows a hole all through your long-winded theory here.
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I have no cite, only my personal experience. Perhaps I just know some very cheap people but I have only run into two people with awesome Android phones, and about 10 or 15 people with really poor ones. Three of those have said they hate it and will be switching to a new phone as soon as possible. One of those has and got an iPhone 4, the other two are still in contract and are considering more expensive Android phones since they like the OS.
I always ask to try out friends' phones if the opportunity arises f
Re:Executive summary (Score:5, Insightful)
I have no cite
That's what I thought. Here's Amazon's best seller list in post-paid cell phones. [amazon.com] Notice the list is dominated by high-end Android handsets. Here's an article from a while back showing the same thing [cnn.com].
Your personal experience means squat and it would be great (and make for a more honest dialog) if you wouldn't pretend like it does.
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So who's buying them, or is that list skewed by people who buy phones online, and not via a carrier store?
My personal experience of seeing actual phones in the wild is the opposite. I think I've seen one Incredible.
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Or if you refuse to indoctrinate yourself into the Cult of Apple.
Heh. The righteous shalt chooseth Google.
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Every Android vs iPad review... (Score:5, Insightful)
Every Android vs iPad review, summed up:
"The iPad is the best product, hands down, but if you don't mind dealing with a bunch of issues, the Android tablet is a strong contender."
It's like all reviewers need a horse race, and will bend over backwards to try to say nice things about the Android tablets. Do you think they'd do the same if the tables were reversed?
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No, they grade Apple on a curve.
When no one had Macs, marketshare was proof that Macs were inferior. Now that everyone has i-Devices, marketshare is proof that the owners are sheep.
Re:Every Android vs iPad review... (Score:4, Insightful)
What are you implying? That the Samsung Tab 10.1 is all bad?
You may not seem to like this, but the Samsung Tab 10.1 is a strong contender (to the big iPhone lookalike). For some people with expensive existing music collections/movie collections (that predate iTunes or that were not gotten through iTunes), an Android tablet is really the only option they have. To a consumer, it's not a question of freedom, they rarely care about that, it's really a question of being able to play the stuff they already paid for.
Not only that, but the Samsung Tab is lighter and feels better in your hands than the iPad 2, and has the ability to turn off the auto-screen rotation (not just on an application basis, but on the entire device, this is useful when you're using it while laying in bed). And unlike the iPad 2, the Honeycomb version of Android was designed with the size of the larger screen in mind. Haven't you noticed that the screen icons of the iPad 2 are far too spread apart than they really need to be? And don't get me started on multi-tasking which the iOS still hasn't gotten right (despite their claims to the contrary).
And if you happen to own an hdmi-enabled television/flat screen, the next best choice is probably the Xoom, not the iPad2 (which tries to control everything you try to video-out). With a Xoom, you can mirror anything you have on your screen, you can play games on the big screen, you can play your music collection/movie collection through it. You can do anything through it. This is a huge plus for my friends. With the iPad 2, the only way it will allow you to play a movie through to a bigger screen is only if you purchase the movie through iTunes (it won't even allow your netflix streaming to go through to a bigger screen unless you're willing to purchase that same movie a second time).
So like I said, the Samsung Tab is a strong contender, and even the Xoom (in some areas). And unless Apple loosens up the control it holds over everything you do on your iPad, it's leaving huge openings for Android-based tablets to sweep in and take over some of the Market.
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You are 100% incorrect about HDMI mirroring on the iPad 2.
As for any existing Android tablet as being a "strong contender", that flies in the face of reality. You are making a theoretical claim (for example, that the Tab feels better, or that icon spacing on the iPad is a problem, etc.). This is all well and good, but the fact is that the iPad is outselling all Android tablets by a very wide margin, so clearly these aspects which you claim make the Android tablets "strong contenders", in reality, don't.
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To be fair the iPad 2 also let you lock orientation device wide. In fact it let you bind the lock button for that task and its very handy.
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What the hell are you talking about? DeviceGuru is a Mac magazine?
Why not take your own advice, and broaden your horizons? Android is getting its ass handed to it in the tablet space.
But here on slashdot, apparently it's easier to just say things like "Cult of Apple" or "fanboy", than to actually make arguments based on reality.
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I just like poking the Apple fanbois. They've got so much bullshit stuffed up their asses it's hard not to.
In other words, you're just a troll.
And I wouldn't worry too much about Android in the tablet space. It's getting "clobbered" cause those not enthralled by Stevie J know when something isn't worth buying. Unlike Apple users who will buy anything and everything Apple sells without so much as a single nano-thought.
In other words, anyone who likes what you don't like are stupid.
Tablets are DOA devices.
Reality contradicts this claim.
The fact that Apple sells so many only underscores how braindead people like you are.
Back to the "everyone who doesn't share my opinion is stupid" line.
Tablets will either transform into something useful or will die out quickly. And then where will the iPad be? In landfills with all the other old and useless Apple equipment that cost too much and did too little (other than make you look cool to your friends and co-workers).
And a combination of ignoring reality and everyone not like me is stupid.
All you need as proof is the smartphone market, where Android has busted a dozen caps into Apple's ass.
The handset market is the *one* market where Android and iOS overlap which is significantly influenced by factors external to OS choice. Carrier choice, plans, prices all have a significant impact.
So, the one and only market which you can ci
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I just like poking the Apple fanbois. They've got so much bullshit stuffed up their asses it's hard not to.
Yes, we call you haters, and your focus on asses is very easy to detect since you always come off as one.
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I just like poking the Apple fanbois.
Given your username, that's not surprising anybody.
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So the article linked to in the story here is an apple fanboy site? I just read it and it didn't seem that way to me. More like an android fanboy reviewing an android device trying to like it and yet having to come clean about some problems. But still saying it's better.
I've not used either an ipad or any of the android devices, but I'm pretty interested in buying one within the next year. The problem is that every time I read about the android devices on the android fanboy websites, there are always some a
Even Android reviews lack polish!! (Score:2)
From early in the Gripes list:
Occasionally, view orientation momentarily switches back/forth between portrait and landscape modes for no apparent reason; only happens when it's on its stand, slightly reclined.
Then a little later on in the same list:
The device occasionally switches between landscape and portrait modes for no reason, when operated on stand (a setting can lock it, however).
I guess it was really annoying to list it twice!
Galaxy Tab 10.1 owner here (Score:5, Informative)
Disclaimer: I got my galaxy tab for free, so I have a little extra love for it.
I've been using the tablet for a couple months now and I'm pretty happy with it. Since the Android 3.1 update came out, it fixed a lot of the initial software issues I had with the device. My biggest annoyance is the lack of Netflix support. But overall, it's been great for web browsing and standard tablet activities.
Pros:
Cons:
In the deeper parts of the device I'm sure I could find complaints, but as a web browser/email client and occasionally playing games on it, my Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been a good experience (again, since 3.1 came out).
The 3.0 firmware that was originally on the Tab was really buggy. I had lots of rendering errors when visiting various websites (Google News was a big offender). but they fixed all my major issues since then.
Motorola Xoom owner here (Score:5, Informative)
I've had my Xoom almost since it first came out and I, as you, have had a much improved experience following the 3.1 update. A friend of mine as well as my boss both have iPads that I have had much experience with and here's my 2 cents.
I prefer the Xoom for the following reasons:
The web browser makes more sense ergonomically on a tablet than Safari does on the iPad since it has tabs that are always viewable.
Higher resolution widescreen display.
I prefer the way multitasking works as I just hit a button on the taskbar and thumbnails of currently running programs display to pick from.
Always visible and consistent "back" button on the taskbar.
Widgets
Wi-fi hangs on to a signal better. My boss is constantly getting the "would you like to sign up for a cellular plan" pop-up on his iPad when the wi-fi falls down.
Google Music integration with the music player so all of my stuff is always at hand.
Scripting layer for Android so I can write and run python scripts right on the device.
Choice of keyboards including "Hacker's Keyboard" that gives me access to all keys including Esc, Ctrl, and Alt for vnc/ssh sessions.
Firefox web browser that stays in sync with my desktop browser including tabs/settings/passwords, etc.
Ubuntu chroot so I have an industrial strength cli environment right on the device.
About the only advantages I see for iPad is the interface is smoother and their are more tablet oriented apps. Some people claim that it is simpler to operate but I don't really think that is the case. I have yet to see any particular exclusive apps that would draw me away from Android and I can get past the relatively small difference in smooth. YMMV.
Re:Motorola Xoom owner here (Score:4, Interesting)
There is one huge disadvantage that I see with Honeycomb tablets: the stock browser is a horrible, slow piece of crap. It's probably the fourth time I post this on Slashdot, but this just serves to highlight the point: there have been two Honeycomb updates already (3.1 and 3.2) and none of them fixed it. It is still impossible to post a comment on Slashdot using the stock Honeycomb browser: the typing lag is so slow that it is an exercise in frustration and nothing else. Meanwhile, Safari on iPad can do so just fine. Heck, browser on my Android phone can do it!
And before I get a bunch of replies about how it's Slashdot HTML/JS that's crap (it is, but it's not relevant in this case) - it's not just Slashdot. Same problems on XDA forums, for example, A bunch of other places, too.
I can't imagine how this kind of bug can go unfixed for two significant updates.
I ditched my iPad for Android (Score:4, Interesting)
I've had an iPad since the day it launched. And I do like the hardware and I prefer the screen ratio to the Android tablet widescreen - the page size is better for reading magazines and comics.
Then Woot had a sale on refurbed XOOMs and I bought one. Imagine, I can just plug it in with mini-USB and transfer files or SSH them over wifi. I can replace the soft keyboard with a better one. I can have mail on my 'desktop'. Basically, there's very little I can't control, especially with Tasker. The screen on the XOOM is not quite as good as the iPad's in sunlight, and of course the iPad has a far better game selection, but I don't think I can go back at this point. So since I think the Tab 10.1 is better hardware than the XOOM except for that stupid proprietary cable that'd be even better.
My biggest regret is that I could only delete iTunes from my computer and not skull@#$ it till it died, since that's what I feel like it was doing to me every time I was forced to use it.
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What do you transfer files for? Serious question, because one of the greatest things Apple has done with the iPad is get rid of the antiquated concept of the file system. Obviously, iOS is a work in progress, but I can't see why I'd want to put files on a tablet computer a year from now.
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The serious answer is for putting music on, putting reading material on, and putting photos on for slideshows. I have far too much music to fit on any tablet and there's only about 10 CDs I want to listen to at any given time, so I just copy the artist/[year]_album directory over or delete it.Then there's scanslated manga, which comes in zips or rars, or pdfs of books like 'Machine of Death'. Copy those over, delete when read. I realize some people love iTunes to death for this, but since I'm well organized
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How does the iPad get around the concept of the file system? (serious question, I really would like to know)
For example, if I download an image in my web browser, how do I select it in image editing software, and then take the result and email it to my friend in my email software?
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i'm not sure i understand the theory here; files seem like a good thing.
i agree that relieving the user of the burdens of file-management as much as possible is good, .. which sounds like files to me.
but i think our OSs need to preserve the concept that they need to support 'documents' of unanticipated types
which multiple unanticipated apps can work with.
or are you suggesting that we still have a filesystem, it's just not on the device ?
or perhaps another clarifying question is: how does the "camera roll" i
Something I've never understood (Score:2, Flamebait)
Here's something I've never understood...
Samsung could drop its 10-inch tablet's price to $425 and pose a serious challenge to Apple's device. But will they...?
Why would anyone trade so much away for 10% of the price in a luxury market?
There's no way I'd drop most of my half of a mortgage payment on something that "kinda works sometimes" when I could just toss in the cost of a nice night out and get the top of the line...
Imagine if the decision was to buy the yugo for $9K or the BMW for $10K. You can have a grilled to perfection steak dinner for $5 or save a whopping 50 cents by having a three day old mcdonalds burger inst
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...except in the real world it's the Yugo that doesn't fly apart into pieces.
Again with the clueless "BMW" remarks from the devout fanboys. I doubt if any of these jokers have ever been inside a BMW.
Some people are just brand fixated and will pay a lot of money for the right logo.
Re:Something I've never understood (Score:4, Insightful)
Tactical error on my part. A better standard /. analogy would have been:
$9K for a used beater from '05 with 100K miles driven hard by teenage fast-and-the-furious wannabe that often breaks down vs $10K for a new one of whatever jedidiah thinks is a decent car brand.
The point remaining, if I'm gonna toss out a substantial amount of dough for a luxury, I want it to "just work perfectly", not be "kinda close for 10% less".
"Kinda close for 10% less" is how you sell 6-32 screws to engineers who wanted to use 8-24 screws but the boss forced the redesign because its a little cheaper. "Kinda close for 10% less" is not how you sell luxury goods.
"Here's my new Rowlex... Its almost like a Rolex, in that its worn on a wrist and tries to tell time, but not really, because it doesn't work. Oh well, I saved 10%" ... um, maybe, just maybe, that would fly at a 2600 meeting, but probably no where else..
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As for /. users (Score:2)
[Get the iPad]...unless you’ve got a grudge against Apple for some reason, or are enamored with the idea of having a more configurable tablet
He just described ~80% of slashdotters there. So go get your Galaxy Tabs, folks.
Galaxy Tab has already been declared the winner (Score:2)
Here
http://www.displaymate.com/Tablet_ShootOut_2.htm [displaymate.com]
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That's weird. You say the Galaxy Tab has already been declared the winner, but the link you provide declares the iPad the winner... and goes as far as to use words like "obnoxious," "tolerable," "hurts to look at," "sledge hammer approach," and "Samsung ruined it" to describe the Galaxy Tab. (Note that the review is just of the various tablets' screen technologies.)
No longer comparing Apple's to apples... (Score:3)
I MY FREAKING OPINION -- just like the article this is linked to:
The iPad is for someone that's heavily invested in iTunes and enjoys an overly simplified UI that holds one's hand and lets that user know exactly what they can and can not do. It's a device that throws individuality out the door in favor of conformity -- every iOS device looks pretty much the same with only a slight variation in the background and it's pretty sad that almost all of them have AngryBirds installed. iOS has become rather generic.
The iPad is a safe and limited tablet that will rarely evolve beyond what it is now. It's main purpose is to keep the user in Apple's eco-system and it does an excellent job at that task.
Android(Honeycomb) tablets on the other hand, are for those that want the consumption strengths of a tablet, but WAY more functionality like a traditional OS. They're devices for the tinkers, the individuals, power users. People that don't readily conform to one generic set standard and would like to personalize their experience outside of just having different apps available.
They're excellent devices for those that don't need their hand held and can make decisions on their own.
This is a troll. (Score:3)
At price parity the iPad 2 is probably a better bet for the average user since it's a more stable, near-perfect device with a rich assortment of apps for nearly every possible function you'd like to perform on a tablet, reasons the post.
Come on. I like how the OP tacked on "reasons the post" at the end to somehow claim objectivity. You did a great job of being objective OP.
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You can easily and cheaply develop custom applications for the ipad
For user customization what kind of customization? There are plenty of things on the ipad that can be customized.
As for those items mattering not at all. The last two items are so low on the list of what real users want to do it. As for visiting all sites on the internet, since neither devices can do it, that is not a major item. Most major sites have pag
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For support entire web: neither there are plenty of sites a galaxy cannot access.
I have Firefox installed on my Xoom with the desktop UA string. What site can I not access?
You can easily and cheaply develop custom applications for the ipad
If you already have a Mac, sure. Otherwise, you will need to buy one to the tune of at least 7-8 hundred dollars, then pay the 99 dollar iTunes fee. For Android, you just download eclipse and the Android sdk for free on whatever computer you have at hand whether it has Windows, Linux or OSX on it. Then when you want to load your app on your device, you pay nothing.
For user customization what kind of customization?
Widgets? Alternative launchers? Themes? And tha
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I have Firefox installed on my Xoom with the desktop UA string. What site can I not access?
Sites that use Flash, Silverlight, Java applets, or ActiveX controls, for starters. What's more, when using the built-in browser I've also seen plenty of Flash sites that reject the Galaxy Tab because it doesn't have the Flash Player installed (even when it does).
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I would wager that at least 95% of tablet users have no interest in developing custom applications. I suspect that this will never be a major selling point for these devices, sure a niche audience is interested in this ability but most of the users don't care.
And honestly, my 95% estimation is probably on the low end of the spectrum. Its probably much closer to 99%.
Although this is merely anecdotal evidence, I can say that every user that I personally know who utilizes a tablet device will never develop a
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http://www.apple.com/html5/
Most of it works pretty well considering the fact that the site is owned by Apple and is specifically designed to show off iOS compatible extensions to a non-ratified HTML and CSS standard. Nice try though.
MySpace was completely customizable too. Look how that turned out.
Look how Windows turned out. Neither of which have anything to do with the tablet space.
No! Not they don't.
Every Android device I see that someone has is chock full of widgets. You have no idea what you are talking about.
Re:Only things that matter: (Score:5, Funny)
If units sold means a better product then Britney Spears is one of the best musicians in the world.
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If units sold means a better product then Britney Spears is one of the best musicians in the world.
Funny, that's exactly what Android users keep using as "proof" that Android phones are "better" because of a few quarters of higher sales numbers.
Winning and Clarity (Score:2)
The claim was "clear winner"
Why would that not obviously be defined by who is making the most profit? Since after all the point of any company making said devices s to make money...
Then of course, the "clear winner" is Apple.
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No, but they'd be the "clear winners", which is what was claimed.
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Open Screen Project (Score:2)
[SWF is] a proprietary closed source standard from Adobe.
Used to be until two and a half years ago [wikipedia.org]. In February 2009, Adobe published the SWF specification under a license that does not prohibit third-party SWF players. Flash Player remains proprietary software, but the spec license change has allowed for Gnash [wikipedia.org], Gordon [slashdot.org], and Smokescreen [slashdot.org].
Re:Open Screen Project (Score:4, Insightful)
Used to be until two and a half years ago [wikipedia.org]. In February 2009, Adobe published the SWF specification under a license that does not prohibit third-party SWF players. Flash Player remains proprietary software, but the spec license change has allowed for Gnash [wikipedia.org], Gordon [slashdot.org], and Smokescreen [slashdot.org].
That argument seems to be sort of a smokescreen to me (no pun intended). None of those projects can play all Flash content. The most mature of the three, Gnash claims to support "most" Flash v7 and "some" Flash v8 and 9. Flash is on Version 10. As long as the only way to reliably play Flash content is to install the Adobe product, then Flash remains "closed" as a practical matter. Same is true of Microsoft's XML-based Office file formats; you can read the specs, but how many open source projects can reliably read/write .docx files? I would say none.
Re:Only things that matter: (Score:4, Informative)
None of the demos on this page( http://www.apple.com/html5/ [apple.com] ) will run on the Galaxy Tab. Therefore the Galaxy Tab does not support the entire web.
How do we know if they'll run on the Galaxy Tab? They very well might, if Apple hadn't put up a wall that prevents non-Safari Web browsers from viewing them. The content won't load on a Galaxy Tab, but to my knowledge nobody has checked whether it will run (which isn't the same thing). Saying that makes Apple's product superior is like saying Internet Explorer 6 is a better Web browser than Chrome because Chrome can't view Web pages with ActiveX controls on them.
Greater ability to adapt... (Score:2)
I disagree the Android tablet has a greater ability to adapt. Most standards that would emerge would be well supported by a very robust application space, sooner than any Android tablet. You want a cloud file management app? Here's 20 on an iPad.
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Rubbish, the support period from Apple is longer than from Samsung. Apple supports 2-3 years, the industry average is 1-2 years, usually 12 months.
Flash is a non-Apple standard? it's not even a standard. A standard implies that a specification or protocol is available to 3rd parties which is incorrect. It's closed and proprietary, I find it laughable that people who are normally advocating openness think such proprietary closed source technology is a good thing?
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A standard implies that a specification or protocol is available to 3rd parties which is incorrect.
I still wouldn't necessarily call it a standard, but your assertion that there are no specifications available to 3rd parties is wrong.
http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/swf/pdf/swf_file_format_spec_v10.pdf [adobe.com]
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Neglecting to mention those were paid for using $25 face value 1/2 oz golden eagles.
Yes I'm well aware its laughably bad comment spam, but its kinda funny how the numbers pretty much work out...
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add the touchscreen layer
You just answered your own question.
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Solution is raise the price to match the ipad? Crazily enough it might work to position themselves as "about the same although a little different" rather than carefully positioning themselves to be the ipad's annoying kid brother, or the ipad's poseur wannabe guy.
Imagine how horrible linux market share would be on servers if it was marketed in the 90s like Android is marketed in the 10s... "Well, RHAT will sell you a support contract for 10% less than msdos 3.30, so you save there, but its not quite as goo
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not to be too much of an ass/youngin' here, but wasn't most of the rest of the world outside of MSdos 3.30 using slashes at the time anyways?
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I have a Xoom with Android 3.1. Could you tell me what about it doesn't "just work"?
Full automated backup - has this been implemented yet? I may be ill-informed or behind the times, but a colleague of mine was complaining about the series of manual steps that needed to be undertaken to perform a full backup of system, data and apps. He even made the suggestion that root access was required...
Feel free to shoot me down if this isn't the case. I don't own a Xoom myself.
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Just tried it on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and it works fine. I personally never put much stock in display models, especially at a high-traffic "big box" store like Best Buy. Those display units go through hell. If one crashes, I just think, "Jesus, couldn't they have even put a working one out for display?"
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