[Jaspersharpe]

From what I've read I'd agree with what other people have said and wait for a bit Jim. The Android based tablets appear to have caught up with the ipad so now we just have to wait for them to surpass it and become cheaper just like the phones have already done.

It's bound to happen in exactly the same way as market share shifts:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-android-tablet-20120127,0,96563.story

I'm waiting for my netbook to die before I consider a tablet and I'm pretty sure the above will have happened by then.

[Paul B]

Mainly, it's easier to use and you don't have to be a geek or spend hours doing research to use it. I don't know about Android because I've never tried it, I suppose it should be very similar?

I think that's the crux of the matter; Apple protect their user experience religously and the outcome is a very intuitive polished offering that you can't argue with.

Android is the same but like most things open source its not quite as polished (and never will be due to its nature). Its whether you see the flaws and quirks it has as something you can live with in order to enjoy the positives, one of which is user control. For me it comes down to cost, the hardware is just far too expensive.

I don't think it'll be too long before Honeycomb tablets catch up.

[Jim]

plus you can stick a USB device or SD card in a non-iPad tablet which for a lot of users is a basic requirement (well it definately is for me)

[Bubba]

iPad2 has USB and you can plug a card reader into that.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is meant to be nice but it's not cheap.

[account_inactive]

Having been a religious windoze user for years we switched over to a mac and an ipad. Both of these have been so much easier to use than any PC I've had. I just ended up getting bored with the time sponge that is 'tweaking'.
The ipad 2 is only worth having if you go for the crack which opens up a world of paid for (stolen) and free apps. I joked about a friends samsung tablet, saying it was a poor mans ipad. After turning in on the whole thing froze hahahahaha

Sent from my Ipad

[fatdoc]

leavin a senior management post this week... need some I.T of worth to live.... want to ride to work with it ... I WANT / need my own solution.. and use it for me...

I'm hoping ipad3 means ipad2 still exists, but cheaper..

I'll have the 2  next month, thanks.

[slackline]

Despite being a fully paid up member to geekness* I'm yet to be convinced that anyone really needs any of these things. 

Technology always will be a trade off between what you're willing to pay for and how much time you're willing to invest in learning how to use something/get it working.  But really most stuff isn't that hard or awkward to learn/understand (at least thats what I keep on telling myself when I'm  ), and having spent the time learning something you then have an additional set of skills (problem solving and the actual solution/knowledge you've acquired).  Should state up front though that I've no kids to take up my time.

Now, where is the "Posting whilst pissed thread" 




* Although that is perhaps the crux as I'm geeky enough to be arsed spending time tinkering, working out similar solutions for less than paying through the nose (mainly because I've no desire to spend my whole life working to pay for them and would rather the free time to go and do other stuff, only some of which is consumed by said tinkering).

[underground]

fatdoc: I'd just buy the Ipad 2, if you want a solution next month, or week - I doubt ipad 3 will be so different, personally (it'll no doubt be faster etc a la iphone 4s) and it'll not mean cheaper if you aren't prepared to shop around and fuck about. Get a 32Gb wifi only model and you'll be fine, and nicely Apple supported. It's a great bit of kit, I don't use mine in any way that justifies its existence in a monetary sense but I wouldn't give it up... having iplayer and sky go sat in front of me on top of the breadbin while I slice onions is more than enough.

slackers and dylan: slackers, you're right -no one really needs any of it - for computing needs, we could all do with a 486 running linux and get access to office and the internet. I used to love geeking about with stuff, and then, like dylan, it became a total time sponge - whether that was making something happen that I never needed to happen until I knew it could happen, or actualy maintaining the thing just to work. The big one was a relentless cycle of turning network cards and routers on and off before i could even think about using the internet.

I also had a HTC Hero phone and again, I could have spent ages making it do stuff, but fuck me would it make a phonecall?

So I got an iphone 4, then a macbook pro, then a ipad 2..., and it was from a cynic's background - came from buying the bits from micro mart to build a pc for £1500 with 16mb of ram etc if you were lucky, but that's not what I want nowadays - and it was all I ever got with windows in terms of still having to fuck about.

Cost wise - outlay expensive, yes, but in the last 8 years I've had at least 3 desktop PCs and a netbook that have bitten the dust in ridiculously short timescales and been uneconomical to repair, not to mention the need to flatten and rebuild others due to windows nonsense...

[slackline]

Yeah, I do get that some people don't want to have to spend time getting things working, and completely understand why people want something that 'just works', its the 'cult of apple' that I don't get.

Personally I've found the two Android phones I've owned to be extremely intuitive and 'just work^TM' out of the box, everythings been intuitive.  The only thing I've had to read up on how to do is rooting the second phone and tutorials on using Tasker (of which I don't think there is equivalent functionality under iOS).

[Oldmanmatt]

I wonder though, what counts as intuitive; to someone who has vast experience in IT matters and mere Luddites like me...
I absolutely hated the MAC, great for looking at photos and watching movies, shite for working.
I love the iPad.
I love me iPhone.
Mrs OMM has the NokiaN8, it's got a great camera but otherwise it's crap.

[Jaspersharpe]

I'm a luddite but I love Android. Fact is that all independent reviews say that the best phone on the market is now once running Android which costs way less than an iphone. The same will happen soon with tablets.

Everything else is just personal preference, brand loyalty or whatever you want to call it.

[slackline]

I wonder though, what counts as intuitive; to someone who has vast experience in IT matters and mere Luddites like me...

The curve may have been less steep, but you've still learnt how to use iOS just as you'd previously learnt how to use M$-Win.  None of us are born with an innate understanding or knowledge of how computers and their UI's work.

This is perhaps the crux to what I find irksome when people say "its so easy" about X, Y or Z.  Relative it may require less learning but it does still requires some, so perhaps I'd find 'easier' less annoying (although most of the time it just comes down to having enough patience to read documentation/manuals which is ultimately pretty easy).

I totally accept and understand that some want to lessen the angle and length of this learning curve, but in doing so you'll almost invariably have to pay a premium, which (in an attempt to drag things back on topic) is kind of what this thread was asking about in the first instance.

Aaaaanyway 

Whilst waiting for the price to drop on Android tablets Jim could always get one of the original tablets to play with for a few fuck-alls.....

[cofe]

I'm quite interested to check out the Kindle Fire when it finally arrives over here. For booky people, Waterstone's are expected to announce something soon too, possibly their own version of the US Barnes & Noble Nook.

[slackline]

Or for games get all retro with....



(I actually still have my old Gameboy somewhere along with the magnifier, Tetris, Othello, Super Mario Bros and some other games)

[underground]

What distro are you running on it?

[slackline]

Can't remember, not booted it up in years.  Might see if I can get it to run UNIX though.

[saltbeef]

http://www.youtube.com/user/AdamBuxton?feature=watch#p/u/23/jbHF63b7g50

[Bubba]

Some reviews here: http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-tablets-2012-49160/

[slackline]

New offering from Huawei with huge battery (yet retaining small format)

[Jaspersharpe]

Groupon doing a deal on Nexus 7 today if anyone's interested.....

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/national-deal/gg-photodirect-52/34990121

[Jaspersharpe]

And again today. I don't need one at all but I'm tempted to buy one just cos it's really cheap! Resisting as I'll spend the money on a new phone instead.........

[slackline]

In case anyone is wondering these are the 2012 model (based on the specified processor, the 2013 has a different processor).


They are a good deal, but I feel the stated £95 saving is slightly over-stated as you can pick up the 32Gb WiFi for < £200 in many places so its more like saving £60-70 (so yes still a good saving).


The older model shouldn't put anyone off though, my brother has one and there's no discernible difference in performance between it and my 2013 model.

[Bubba]

I bought one from the previous groupon offer. I saw 4g in the ad and assumed that it was the 2013 version (and I'd had a few). 

Returned it the day after I got it which was a lot of hassle and bought the 2013 from Amazon instead for only £40 more.

[T_B]

In my experience of Groupon, you'll receive it and it will be a Nexus tablet, only it will be a tablet of chocolate. Or something similar.

[Bubba]

To be fair to them there was nothing wrong with the tablet.

I've not yet got my refund but Groupon have authorised it so hopefully a few days.

The new Nexus 7 does have a much better screen and is thinner so worth the extra imo.