iPad vs Android

[seanbig]

I was reading another thread about a tuner app for the Android and I am currently looking at Android Honeycomb tablets and wondered if anyone had any opinions of their use of iPads/iPhones or Android Phones/Tablets. Any drawbacks to either of them or any surprise expenses that came up along the way.

Do you use them in your workshop or just at home? Any problems using them in the shop or otherwise?

[Jim_H]

I have an iPad and an Android phone (Nexus S) and a G-Slate Android tablet (I work for a wireless provider :p )

Other than the gStrings tuner I have on my phone, I don't use any of them in the shop much. Any of them have functional web browsers and forum reading apps like Tapatalk, so you can keep up with the stuff on the web. The iPad is limited by the fact that it won't support flash nativly, which can cause havoc on websites that employ it. There are some really good 3rd party browsers for Android (I use Dolphin HD).

The iPad has a lot more multimedia apps available, some guitar recording and effects stuff (like amp modeling), so it can be useful for those sorts of things. The big downside with the iPad is that it is a walled garden. It is intentionally designed this way. They want everything going in and out through iTunes. Unless you are keen to hack it, the only way to put files on it, is by importing them through iTunes (Which I personally abhor), or by using a 3rd part app like DropBox.

Android is an open platform. You can even write your own apps for it with the freely available SDK from Google. The openness lends itself to cool things like being able to connect to a standard USB connector and drag/drop documents or files to it just like any other USB device (i.e. your camera, etc..). The android Market is far more open, which has upsides and downsides. The apps on the Android market don't have to be approved by anyone, at least not anything like the Apple approval process for the iTunes market. So there are a lot of apps out there for it. Unfortunately some of them are sketchy, so you have to be careful. As long as you are installing reputable apps or apps from reputable developers, you will be fine. I have personally never had a problem with an Android app beyond the occasional bug or whatever. Also, the nature of the Android platform is that there much larger variety of platforms out there. This is great for having a good selection of features and costs to choose from. The down side is from a developers perspective is that there are soooo many patforms to develop for, it can be difficult to develop stable apps that work on all devices. The more complex the app is, and the more it uses the hardware api's, the more likely it you could run into compatibility problems, or an application becoming deprecated after a patch. This happens in the PC/windows world as well. It's a trade off...

Bottom line is, having both freely available to me, I tend to grab my Android G-Slate more often than the iPad. The iPad is a lot slicker and prettier, but I find for my usage habits, the Android tablet suits me better. One factor here is that the iPad is physically a beast compared to the G-Slate. The G-slate is somewhat smaller and it's easier to carry around with me.

Which one suits you is going to depend on how you use it, and what apps you plan to use. There are not nearly as many 'cool' apps for Android as there are for iPad, but I find that 90% of my time I'm just reading a .pdf, email, browsing websites, or reading news apps, and there are plenty of those to make Android useful for me.

Also the tuner app I mentioned is not available on iTunes..

[seanbig]

Thanks Jim,

That was really helpful especially because you own and use both.

[Jim_H]

Sean,

There are a lot of factors to consider. Connectivity for example. If you need mobile wireless from a wireless provider, you'll have to look at which platforms your provider has with that option. If you just need WiFi, you can get those at lots of places (Apple store for Ipads, office max or staples, best buy, newegg, or whatever for Android Wifi only).

Another positive for my Android tablet over the iPad is that it will let me tether. The G-Slate is a "4G" wireless device, and has the ability to act as a WiFi tether, which means if I have a wifi only device (like a laptop or another tablet), I can use the WiFi tether to connect to the Internet from those devices. This is a handy feature and I've made a lot of friends doing this :p

The G-Slate has been around for a while. There are newer and more powerful Android tablets out there. And the G-Slate has some gimmicky 3D video stuff that no one has any use for, so I'm not necessarily recommending this specific model... definitely shop around...

I strongly suggest thinking about what your needs are and then doing some research. If you have specific questions about functionality, feel free to ask. I'm a tad biased towards Android for lots of reasons, so my general opinion may not be of as much value as it would if I were answering specific questions...

Jim

[seanbig]

Jim,

Have you had any experience with Motorola XOOM or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1? Those seem to be the two that the provider I am hoping to go with support. I can't find any information about either of them having a USB or Micro USB port which leads me to believe that they don't have them. I think that is enough to make me wait or get one that is WiFi only and choose the tablet I like the best.

Do you use USB with your tablet at all? Any other thoughts?


Thanks,

[Jim_H]

Sean,

I don't have either of those tablets (I have the LG G-Slate), but looking at the Samsung website, it looks like USB to PC connectivity can be accomplished via a special cable.

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy ... DP0UBEGSTA

If you mean a USB port to allow connecting other USB devices to the tablet, I don't think this is an option, unless it's something they are adding in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Of the two you mentioned, the new Galaxy Tab is a second generation tablet, and will probably be supported with updates longer, and because it's pretty popular, there should be a nice selection of accessories available. The Xoom is a first gen tablet, the same as my G-Slate, and is most likely stuck on Android 3.1 (although that's not a statement of fact.. Motorola may very well provide an update to 4.0). According to the sites I'm reading, Samsung has officially announced that the Galaxy 10.1 will get Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich at some point (it comes stock with 3.1)

Hope this answers your questions!

Let me know
Jim

I've been researching tablets in preparation for buying my wife a holiday gift. Right from the start, let me say that I'm opposed to iPad and for that matter, anything Apple. I disagree with their corporate strategy. I won't own an electronic device that controls me. iPads are locked into the iTunes application. I don't like iTunes. It doesn't make sense to me that I cannot simply copy something to my device or remove it without the hassle of the iTunes gatekeeper. OK, rant off.
I intend to go with a Toshiba Thrive because:
Full size HDMI connection.
Unlimited external storage with SD cards.
USB connectivity.
Attractive price point.
It's not Apple.

tommyboy

[seanbig]

Of all the tablets I've been looking at the Toshiba Thrive was at the top of my list. The provider I have chosen that has the best service for me does not sell the Thrive and I am not sure if it is a good idea to purchase a tablet from a retailer then see if it can be connected to a service provider, if any other reason than you get hundreds of dollars off if you sign up for a service plan.

Does anyone have any experience using hardware that they purchased from a retailer first then had set up with a service provider at a later date? Maybe I will get the Thrive and just use it on WiFi for a while.

[Jim_H]

The Thrive is Wifi and Bluetooth only, so it doesn't matter who you buy it from (since you aren't getting a 'connectivity' contract with it).

Just a tip, if you have a smartphone that will function as a WiFi hotspot (i.e. Tethering), you can connect your Thrive (or any other WiFi only device) to it for Internet access (just don't count on your battery lasting very long).

Jim

[seanbig]

Oh wow, thanks Jim, that would have been a bad choice.