Choosing Apple or Android tablets

[VectraMan]

Any photos I take on my Android phone get copied to my Dropbox account and so onto my PC (and laptop). But you don't have to do it that way. Google have Picasso - I think - that's a photo sharing service.

[The Spartan]

Plus the ease of transferring files between devices using Android Beam (NFC) if the devices have it, ok I'll stop geeking out now hahahaha

[VectraMan]

And there's always the use a USB cable option.

Nexus 10 looks very very good. More powerful, better screen and considerably cheaper than an iPad. Only a moron would buy the latter.

Although Apple fanbois think a user interface based on this:



is innovative.

[The Spartan]

I'm surprised they haven't filed lawsuits against i-raq and i-ran

[NickFitz]

I just don't like Apple because of years of being forced to buy protected MP3s on iTunes, only installing what they allow you to install, not so easy to just drag movie files onto the iPad without using iTunes (a problem if you're travelling and only have crappy locked-down client laptop).

On the protected MP3 front your objection makes no sense. The DRM was imposed by the music companies as a requirement for them to allow Apple to sell music by download, so if it annoyed you so much that you think it deserves a boycott, you should refuse to buy any music from those companies, such as EMI.

Once the iTunes Music Store became the most popular music distribution channel it gave Apple a degree of control over the music companies, and Steve Jobs told them they had to consent to the removal of DRM to be allowed to remain in the store. There wasn't a lot they could do, which is why since 2009 the iTMS has been DRM-free, and other distributors such as Amazon have also been able to insist on no DRM.

In other words, you have Apple to thank for legal DRM-free music downloads. You'll have to get by on just hating them for the other reasons you cite in future

Although there are third-party apps in the App Store that will stream or download video files, in a variety of formats, from your computer; so you may have to give up on that one too.

[captainham]

blah

Goddammit man, let the irrational hater HATE in peace!



There are a few other reasons of this ilk too, that I'm too lazy to get into on a forum, but to be honest I definitely don't need persuading of the error of my Apple-hating ways (not saying that's what you're trying to do btw)..I'm perfectly happy to lie in my reasonably priced and more customisable non-Apple bed and be at one with the world.

[captainham]

This still makes me chuckle:

I want an iphone 4 - YouTube

[The Spartan]

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/bru...music-library/

The whole DRM thing reminds me of this, you don't actually own the music you just have the licence to play it on up to 5 devices.

[northernladuk]

This still makes me chuckle:

I want an iphone 4 - YouTube

That is hilarious!!! Great find.

There is a part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aigwu...eature=related

[Gentile]

IIRC if you pay for an app from Google Play you can use it on both your tablet and phone and you only pay once for it.

I don't think that's the case. I'm not a heavy apps user, but I did have an app that I used for Google Analytics that I had to buy separately for my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone and for my Asus Transformer tablet (both Android). I could be wrong, though: possibly they were just specialised apps for the devices they were running on.


In terms of the Android tablet, I think it's been OK. However, I've been pretty annoyed with all the bloatware that's included on both it and my Android phone. Also, I don't like being pestered to update the OS every five minutes: once I have a configuration I'm happy with, I want the choice whether to update or not. Unless you take steps to circumvent it, Android only allows you to "delay" any updates that are forced upon you.

I could Root my tablet to gain full administrative control of the OS, but to be honest I've not had the time or the inclination to do so. I've mostly been able to stop it from trying to update the OS by selectively disabling running services. However, I've still been exposed to a couple of dodgy updates that on the whole have made the device less useful rather than adding beneficial features. E.g., the recent ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) update seems to have done some Bad Things to the way scrolling and resizing works in the default Android browser. I regularly find it attempts to do one whilst I'm trying to do the other.

Other annoyances are that my tablet keeps pestering me to turn on GPS. Why it's even trying to use GPS when I've disabled every app, including Maps, that should have needed access to it is open to debate. I don't trust Google in the slightest as they're a company that seems hell-bent on invading users' privacy. The way they use GPS on their devices appears to be a case in point.

As for the alternative of an iPad. I chose not to buy one because I was singularly unimpressed with the iPhone 2 I bought a few years ago. The thing couldn't even make phone calls properly in the middle of busy cities that should have had plenty of mast sites available. And, when I worked in an office located out in the countryside, we were all iPhone users and none of us could get a signal in the office. I switched to a Windows Mobile 6 phone, and was able to get a connection straight away using the same mobile phone company and SIM. The problem, therefore, was definitely just that the iPhone was a crap phone. It's form over function, and I prefer solutions that actually work rather than merely look pretty. That, basically, is why I decided not to trust Apple when it came to buying a tablet for work.

Good stuff about Android: The Kindle for Android app is fab, the Google Play store is easy to use and has plenty of apps, and their phone has never let me down for making a call. Both the tablet and the phone also have very slick interfaces. I've never updated my phone's OS, and don't intend to. It works just fine, and updating the OS on my tablet was what introduced most of the quibbles noted above.

All-in-all, I'll probably try a Windows device next time I buy a tablet or phone. Android's been OK, but the best phone I've had by far in the past 10 years has been the Windows Mobile 6 one I had (which is showing its age now, but still looks pristine and still works years later). If Windows 8 tablets are that reliable, I'll be happy to give them a go.