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Anyone else impressed with Honeycomb?

N

nateDEEZY

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 24, 2007
696
0
San Francisco, CA
Been an iPad owner since day 1. The main reason I didn't upgrade to the 2 is because of the lack of a new display.

Anyways after looking at reviews of the Asus EEE Transformer in action I'm impressed with the OS. At the same time I'm losing a bit of hope for iPad and the iPad 2 even with iOS 5.

Anyways, here's to hoping the Andriod tablet market pushes Apple to faster product update cycles and a better tablet OS.

I'm sure iPad 2 owners would be upset... but Apple's gotta do something if they want to keep the tablet market for the next 18 months.
 
No, because Honeycomb is buggy and lacks tablet optimized apps.
 
The tablet market isn't the phone market, where you can win the numbers game, by flooding the arena with disparate devices. That strategy works in phones, because a phone is an essential purchase.
Tablets are considered luxury(in necessity terms), so folks will plump for the one the truly want, as opposed to the cheaper device and/or contract, etc.
 
nateDEEZY said:
Anyways, here's to hoping the Andriod tablet market pushes Apple to faster product update cycles and a better tablet OS.

I'm sure iPad 2 owners would be upset... but Apple's gotta do something if they want to keep the tablet market for the next 18 months.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. The screen real estate for the iPhone, and iPad, and even AppleTV are very different from one another. Honeycomb looks like it's evolving. Some people here say that it's buggy or its not as good as iOS now but it will get better... well that just tells you the course that iOS is taking will be overshadowed by Android.

I understand that sometimes massive change isn't always a good thing (i.e., Final Cut X) but the tablet market is just starting to explode. It maybe be a luxury toy for some, but it will be an everyday accessory in no time...

I want Apple and iOS to be the dominant mobile device maker. But after watching the unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich, and how pretty much every appliance, electronic device and vehicle could contain a potentially scalable version of Android, I feel that Apple won't have that mass market share for too long.
 
I like it, but one thing I just cant get over is when switching screens it lags.

It looks BAD. I don't know how.. someone posted it before, but apple had an algorithm so that when your moving your screens it's VERY smooth (i.e. 60FPS) vs. what looks like 25-30 on android.
 
The problem with all the Android tablets I've seen or read about is that they are "all sizzle and no steak."

Meaning that, even when they have flashy-looking lockscreens, there isn't really much you can do with them. No just that the App selection available for them is poor, bordering on pitiful. Its that the whole experience, for me, is complicated, confusing, disorganized, and badly implemented. You pick one up in a Best Buy, and try it out - and you think "meh, this isn't any different to using a laptop." Contrast that ith the experience at an Apple Store - where they've got dozens of iPads running cool, bordering on amazing, demo Apps.

Sure: With an Android tablet you can poke around with files in a way you can't with any iOS device. And you can set up widgets, sideload Apps, and watch Flash video. But the point - to me at least - is that I can ALREADY do that with my laptop or desktop PC. The Android tablet just does the same thing with a smaller screen.

The iPad, by way of contrast, is in many ways a completely new way of interacting with the Internet, and digital data in general. If the iPad operated on its own, without the App-ecosystem, and without my iTunes library, and without my AppleTV 2 setup - it would be a closer contest. But the reality is that many, many people have an iTunes library. For a hundred bucks they can get an Apple TV. And fox sixty or a hundred dollars they can fill the iPad with incredible software (Garageband, etc.) that simply isn't available on any Android tablet. And its doubtful if it ever will be.
 
I love when know-nothings come in here and say how Apple barely has a grasp on the market, how Android is taking over, etc. There is no tablet market. You either buy an iPad, or you don't. No one even cares or acknowledges these other worthless "tablets."
 
At this point I'd much rather take the HP TouchPad over Honeycomb if I had to choose a non-iPad tablet. Honeycomb just feels... odd to use for whatever reason and I am an Android user so it's not because I'm only familiar with iOS. On a related note, I also use a PlayBook and yes, it's terrible. Not technically but mainly because there's so little you can do with it and the whole thing feels rushed in many little places.
 
extremely impressed with honeycomb, especially with some of the absurdly basic stuff that apple prevents its users from doing. apple is smothering us with insane policies. why can't i see my (@$*!$) file tree!? *sigh*

but, i'd pick an iPad over any honeycomb device in an instant because of the app environment. i have some great apps that i love using (pdf readers on honeycomb don't compare to stuff like goodreader in os), and the iPad is a part of my life now. until google polishes the experience a bit more (ice cream sandwich?) and adds apps that i want to use in its store, the hardware (asus has done a great job!) doesn't even tempt me.

so far i am really impressed with apple's implementation. everything is so well organized, and i can move effortlessly between os and ox. but they really need to loosen their grip on me. i am pretty annoyed. it is a bittersweet experience.
 
jmpnop said:
No, because Honeycomb is buggy and lacks tablet optimized apps.
Click to expand...

This. Shame on me for feeding the troll thread : /

For an OS that was released with a large amount of bugs and still not fixed I'd be a little upset if I were an Android user. Honeycomb was a rushed product.

palpatine said:
extremely impressed with honeycomb, especially with some of the absurdly basic stuff that apple prevents its users from doing. apple is smothering us with insane policies. why can't i see my (@$*!$) file tree!? *sigh*
Click to expand...

This isn't a "policy" its simply how the OS works. I never understood these types of comments. Every piece of software works differently, its not some huge conspiracy theory.
 
If Google gave Honeycomb to Apple - which won't ever happen - then Apple improved it: optimisation, and allowed Apple apps to be installed on it, then - yes, it would be OK. The only thing I like about Honeycomb is the widgets, the notifications and the home screen layout - widgets and apps of the users' choice.
 
Yeah, I agree. If I had a gun to my head and was forced to choose a non-iPad tablet, I'd pick one with WebOS. Honeycomb/Android are complete pieces of crap.
 
nateDEEZY said:
Anyways, here's to hoping the Andriod tablet market pushes Apple to faster product update cycles and a better tablet OS.

I'm sure iPad 2 owners would be upset... but Apple's gotta do something if they want to keep the tablet market for the next 18 months.
Click to expand...

18 months? Apple has the tablet market on lock for the next 18 months. iPad is going to be a huge holiday seller. Other tablets won't be in any appreciable capacity.

Faster update cycles? A better OS? This is moving goalpost nonsense that can never be satisfied.

coldwarx said:
Honeycomb looks like it's evolving. Some people here say that it's buggy or its not as good as iOS now but it will get better... well that just tells you the course that iOS is taking will be overshadowed by Android.
Click to expand...

If other competitors can't get it right now, why will they magically get it right in the future? They've had just as much time as Apple.

palpatine said:
extremely impressed with honeycomb, especially with some of the absurdly basic stuff that apple prevents its users from doing. apple is smothering us with insane policies. why can't i see my (@$*!$) file tree!? *sigh*
Click to expand...

You know it's not like there's a fully-designed 'file tree' in your iPad where Steve Jobs flicked a switch to turn it off right before they put the shrinkwrap on, right?
 
My favorite part of honeycomb is the home screens.
I love the widgets, and the customizability of the home screen.

I think iOS on the iPad, needs widgets for the home screen. The iPhone is fine, and implemented great with the notification center.
The iPad needs more, it's bigger and has more screen real-estate. We need widgets.

The thing I always loved about Apple products, is how smooth transitions and animations are. When I first saw honeycomb, it looked great. Then they slid to the next home screen thing and it lagged/stuttered. For that, I will not buy one.
I imagine, by the time 4.0 comes out, android will really shine.
 
Honeycomb is indeed very impressive, and as an OS is superior to iOS 4.x. There, I said it. :D

Multitaslking, widgets, live wallpapers, access to the file system, and Google apps (Earth, Maps) make it better. And as a Xoom user since launch day I can say all this talk about buggy software is crap. Yes, it has bugs, and maybe more than iOS, but some iPad apps simply quit once in a while too.

Now, if you want to compare app stores, iOS kicks Android's behind all around the block... :apple:
 
palpatine said:
extremely impressed with honeycomb, especially with some of the absurdly basic stuff that apple prevents its users from doing. apple is smothering us with insane policies. why can't i see my (@$*!$) file tree!? *sigh*.
Click to expand...

You may not want to believe this, but the majority of computer users have little-to-no idea what they are looking at when they open a file explorer.
Only the tiniest fraction of the file system has value to users. Apple is trying to re-think this area and hide the rest. They have made some bold choices in application isolation, but they have also provided significant improvements in explicit cross-application file sharing in the last release iOS release. As of right now, I can easily open and move files between relevant programs using Dropbox and GoodReader as my hubs. I expect iCloud integration to be another significant step in this area by providing seamless cross-device synchronization. The concepts of universal versioning in Lion will also push the simplification of user data access to iOS.
In general I like the direct that Apple is taking by creating a new paradigm in data access, as opposed to simply exposing the decades old implementation of a hierarchical file system.
 
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Himynamesnoah said:
The thing I always loved about Apple products, is how smooth transitions and animations are.
Click to expand...

That's something that always get me back too. It just feels like I'm interacting with something of higher verisimilitude when I interact with the UI in iOS compared to other platforms. Android just fall shorts in general, PlayBook does it smoothly but the movement isn't "right," for the lack of better words - it's like everything is sliding on ice just beyond my grasp. And WebOS also suffers a bit here as well.
 
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