Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

roadbloc said:
Show them the App store, lots & lots of excellent games there.

The majority of which cost money. Flash games are free. The iOS equivalents tend to cost 69p at least.

So instead of buying them some $1 games you spent hundreds on another tablet?
 
Show them the App store, lots & lots of excellent games there.

Typical fanboy response. So instead of letting him play online with all his friends on moshi monsters using the transformer , I should give him the ipad and tell him he can't play online with his friends? What rubbish. He doesn't want the games in the app store - he wants to do what his friends are doing and thats why the ipad is gathering dust and no longer used.
 
there is a difference here. Google isn't advertising for their OS on various devices. They have left it up to the manufactures to advertise.
Motorola has done a terrible job with adverts. Other then around the week they debuted, I have never seen a Xoom ad.
I do see Galaxy Tab ads now that the 10.1 is out, but those are the first ads for them I have seen since about a month after the original tab debuted.
Also, same goes for the Playbook and the HP tablet. I only saw ads right before and after launch, but none after that.

Whereas with iPad and iPad2 (and iphone4) I still see ads, not as frequent, but they are still actively advertising 1.2 year old devices fairly heavily in a world that always move to the next best thing. Thats why apple is winning against Android. Has nothing to do with how good the tablets actually are but because of clever and consistent advertising.

Without reminders people have a fairly short memories, even fanboys!

Also, the whole stuck in the ecosystem thing is really big too. I would have a hard time justifying a move to any android device now because i purchased many apps over iTunes and that doesn't translate to the android app store.

wow, you can't be serious
 
Hmm would you buy a tablet that is potentially good at some random time in the future or would you rather buy a tablet that is very good right now?

Potential is good but useless if you do nothing with it.

this is a large problem for competing tablets

we always hear how "there will be more apps soon" or "that's bound to be fixed soon" etc.
 
Didn't the tsunami have a part in the lack of iPads?



If you mean this post, once again I was simply pointing out that we didn't have enough information to form a solid opinion.

I've been posting online for forty years. I'm not into religious device battles, as every fad comes and goes.

What I and others here do try to promote, is the concept of examining sources and doing further research before jumping on bandwagons or believing everything we read, right away.

For instance, I always go back and find the original source of anything I read in so-called tech news sites. It's ridiculous how much many stories get modified as they pass through the internet echo chamber.

This is why many of us with years of industry experience hang out here. We can right away say, hey no, that patent doesn't mean that. Or that statistic is misleading. Once informed, then people can go ahead and argue using a better basis.



My daughter uses Android tablets all the time for games and watching videos, but never surfs the web.

Come to think of it, all the women that I've given iPads to, don't use the web browser either! They use Facebook, Flipboard and other RSS readers, email, and such... but almost never surf the web like men tend to do.



Apps cannot compare to the rich interactive kid's worlds available online that use Flash. From Poptropica to Wizard101 to Moshi Monsters to ZwinkyCuties to whatever.

there are rich, interactive kids games for ipad. have you really looked?
 
Typical fanboy response. So instead of letting him play online with all his friends on moshi monsters using the transformer , I should give him the ipad and tell him he can't play online with his friends? What rubbish. He doesn't want the games in the app store - he wants to do what his friends are doing and thats why the ipad is gathering dust and no longer used.

lucky for you the rest of the market disagrees and your unused ipad still has an excellent resale value that you should take advantage of
 
there are rich, interactive kids games for ipad. have you really looked?

The popular kids' sites we're talking about usually have two major common features:

1) They are server-based, allowing users around the globe to interact with each other's avatars in realtime within a huge virtual world that's constantly being added to.

Are there similar iPad games?

2) They're written in Flash:

That means they can login and play on any desktop, laptop or tablet that supports it.

My daughter can play on a 3G/4G Android tablet in the car and transition to a large screen desktop at home. Or I can ask her to move to another device so I can use that tablet :)

(PS. Please only quote the sentence(s) that you're replying to, not the whole post. Thanks!..)
 
The popular kids' sites we're talking about usually have two major common features:

1) They are server-based, allowing users around the globe to interact with each other's avatars in realtime within a huge virtual world that's constantly being added to.

Are there similar iPad games?

2) They're written in Flash:

Adobe's cross-compilation environment was released about a month ago. Flash apps are now showing up in the App Store (politifact is the only one I can name off the tip of my tongue).

Any Flash developer can now put their apps in the App Store. Once they do that, their Flash apps can now be accesses by the 222M+ iOS computers (and the attractive demographics of that audience). They can set a price on their Flash apps and collect 70% of the fee or they can set them to to be freely distributed.

The point: there don't have to be "similar iPad games" created -- the exact same Flash code can run on the iOS platform. If those developers release their apps that way, your kids could run 'em on an iPad.
 
2) They're written in Flash:

That means they can login and play on any desktop, laptop or tablet that supports it.

My daughter can play on a 3G/4G Android tablet in the car and transition to a large screen desktop at home. Or I can ask her to move to another device so I can use that tablet :)

I am curious: what games are they playing in Flash and how well do they work on the tablet? I've heard of very few actual Flash apps translating into anything close to an enjoyable experience on a mobile device.
 
www.moshimonsters.com - its all flash server based "game" and it works perfectly on the asus transformer. Running this on a phone wouldn't make sense - it needs a big screen and trying to play on such a small size screen (even a 4.5 inch) just wouldn't make sense. However on a tablet it works great and the kids have no problems whatsoever.


I am curious: what games are they playing in Flash and how well do they work on the tablet? I've heard of very few actual Flash apps translating into anything close to an enjoyable experience on a mobile device.
 
Just curious: what's wrong with using iSwifter for Flash games, plus they get the benefits of the games in the App Store? I just tested out a bunch of stuff in it and it worked great. You get Flash AND you get the App Store.
 
i don't think it is terribly interesting to compare the xoom to the ipad, because the xoom in terms of specs is a great piece of hardware. so are many of the other tablets. the issue is more about the software environment.

how many apps are there that i want to use?
how well do the apps work?
how polished is the os?
will i get updated os versions when they are released?
how committed to aftercare service is the company?

i couldn't find clear answers to any of these questions when i was originally looking at tablets, and i still can't. i think many consumers are probably like me--android curious, but not keen on being a guinea pig. the apple ipad, whatever my complaints about various things, could provide clear and extensive answers to every question. it was and remains the obvious choice for me.

until other manufacturers work better with google to address these concerns, i doubt any tablet will do well, even if it outperforms the ipad in terms of specs.

to give a concrete example, apple supported my ipod1 until the most recent update, and i basically got a brand new device every update cycle. they completely won me over, and i am now an mbp and ipad user (halo effect). amazon still refuses to tell me if it even plans to update my dx someday, and i have had it for a year now. they have made great updates to the smaller kindle, though, and dx users have to rely on hacks to access some of those features. updates are technically feasible, but it is obvious to me now that amazon has inconsistent commitment to its hardware. as much as i like amazon, after seeing how they treated dx customers, i won't even consider their tablet. i don't really feel like gambling on any other dabblers in the tablet market.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

bocomo said:
there is a difference here. Google isn't advertising for their OS on various devices. They have left it up to the manufactures to advertise.
Motorola has done a terrible job with adverts. Other then around the week they debuted, I have never seen a Xoom ad.
I do see Galaxy Tab ads now that the 10.1 is out, but those are the first ads for them I have seen since about a month after the original tab debuted.
Also, same goes for the Playbook and the HP tablet. I only saw ads right before and after launch, but none after that.

Whereas with iPad and iPad2 (and iphone4) I still see ads, not as frequent, but they are still actively advertising 1.2 year old devices fairly heavily in a world that always move to the next best thing. Thats why apple is winning against Android. Has nothing to do with how good the tablets actually are but because of clever and consistent advertising.

Without reminders people have a fairly short memories, even fanboys!

Also, the whole stuck in the ecosystem thing is really big too. I would have a hard time justifying a move to any android device now because i purchased many apps over iTunes and that doesn't translate to the android app store.

wow, you can't be serious

Yes I am. Look spec wise and featurewise the ipad2 may be getting beat but there are few reasons they are selling more of any 1 iPad model then all other tablets combined.
1. Halo effect
2. Amount and quality of apps
3. Ease of use
4. And I think this a major reason - in the consumer view co stanly because of good advertising. YOu could have the absolute best tablet out there, it can project 3d holograms, cure cancer, solve calculus, and perform other "services" as needed. But with out good advertising it will fall by the wayside and bee forgotten about
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)



Yes I am. Look spec wise and featurewise the ipad2 may be getting beat but there are few reasons they are selling more of any 1 iPad model then all other tablets combined.
1. Halo effect
2. Amount and quality of apps
3. Ease of use
4. And I think this a major reason - in the consumer view co stanly because of good advertising. YOu could have the absolute best tablet out there, it can project 3d holograms, cure cancer, solve calculus, and perform other "services" as needed. But with out good advertising it will fall by the wayside and bee forgotten about
Amount and quality of apps and ease of use are among the major features of the iPad2. So, with respect to features, you could say that the iPad 2 holds its own.

I'm not sure whether the "halo effect" is boosting iPad sales. The term was originally applied to the increase in Mac sales that resulted from people who loved their iPods deciding to buy Macs to go with them. Essentially, the iPod was a portal into the Apple ecosystem for those who were not previously Apple customers. Now, it may be that iPhone customers who are invested in the App Store are also buying iPads, but I have not seen any surveys to prove or disprove this speculation.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)



You entire post is a fail.
The same iPad 2 compared to the base Xoom is $100 more. Not $200. That is the wifi, 32GB version. But there is less of difference when comparing the 3G version.
The screen resultions arent that much different and the Xoom isnt HD also.
Xoom has flash but having flash is a nonissue and is a nice to have feature but no a game changer or a killer feature.

The fact is the xoom is a good tablet, and has potential but hasn't reached it yet.

I know what I paid so your first point is WRONG!

HD video starts at 1280x720 which fits perfectly on the Xoom's 1280x800 screen. The iPad screen size is 1024x768, 256 pixels short of basic HD and has to scale the video down to fit the narrow display, dropping detail, so your second point is WRONG!

When the Japan earthquake hit, I couldn't watch most live video feeds on my iPhone or a coworker's iPad because of the lack of flash, therefore no flash was a HUGE issue that made the Apple products completely useless. Flash IS used for things other than games, so your third point is WRONG!

WRONG on three out of three. Who's entire post is a fail?

Just because I don't automatically buy a product for the Apple name doesn't mean I'm attacking your religion.
 
Applefanboymeter going off the chart!

C'mon people, Jobs is human and Apple is not a religion.

And your just as bad. No one thinks apple is a religion or steve jobs is a god. The poster has a valid point. The current implementation on android tablets is not stable and was indeed rushed. Just go use a Xoom it's painfully obvious.
 
I know what I paid so your first point is WRONG!

HD video starts at 1280x720 which fits perfectly on the Xoom's 1280x800 screen. The iPad screen size is 1024x768, 256 pixels short of basic HD and has to scale the video down to fit the narrow display, dropping detail, so your second point is WRONG!

When the Japan earthquake hit, I couldn't watch most live video feeds on my iPhone or a coworker's iPad because of the lack of flash, therefore no flash was a HUGE issue that made the Apple products completely useless. Flash IS used for things other than games, so your third point is WRONG!

WRONG on three out of three. Who's entire post is a fail?

Just because I don't automatically buy a product for the Apple name doesn't mean I'm attacking your religion.

In fact, I think you are incorrect. I assume you were talking about NHK's website, which is notorious for its use of Flash. I use the iSwifter app to view it. I think the video quality suffers quite a bit, but it is certainly viewable. I would agree that iPad suffers from its poor support for Flash (it takes a bit of work to view it), but it is not useless.

As for other people's point about ads, I guess there is something to be said for good advertising, but i think Apple competitors are actually doing quite well with their campaigns. Word of mouth and a whole host of issues (listed in my post above) seem far more relevant. After all, if it was all just a bunch of hype, it would be difficult to explain how satisfied iPad users are with their products.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.