Well I sold my iPad 4 last week in order to get some cash for the upcoming 5 or Mini 2 (haven't decided which), and for the past week I've been using my wife's Galaxy Note 8" tablet (that she never uses). I have the following observation:
The Good:
1. The two speakers on the bottom of the device are nice and louder than the iPad 4's one speaker. The iPad's speaker my have better quality, but IMHO volume is far more important on a mobile device. If I want quality I use speakers or headphones.
2. Love the form factor. It wasn't until I started using this device that I started to consider getting a Mini instead of the 5. Being able to hold in one hand is very nice.
3. The screen is much better than I thought it would be. Despite it's lack of sharpness, the color quality is very high. I believe it is better than the current Mini overall.
4. Forgot to mention Multi Window ability. It is nice. the screen is not large enough for me to use this as often as I thought I would; but still, it's an option. Wish iOS would offer on iPad.
The neutral:
1. The stylus. I stopped using it after a few days. For note taking and Photoshop type tasks it would be awesome, for everything else it's just meh. This is a surprise, as I assumed I would love it.
The Bad:
1. Despite being a quad core device and having 2gigs of RAM, this mofo is laggy. Every version of the iPad that I've used is snappier...by a long shot.
2. Their are no good alternatives to the YouTube app that I can find, and I hate Google's YouTube app. Granted I've only tried a few, but nothing comes close to MacTube thus far (or the old iOS YouTube app).
3. Feels cheap.
4. The screen, while good given it's low resolution and PPI, lacks sharpness and pales in comparison to the Retina screen as well as the original Nexus 7.
5. Battery life about 2 hours less than my previous iPads.
6. Chrome isn't as fast as every browser I've used on an iOS device. The iOS version of Chrome is faster for some reason.
7. Widgets sometimes do not work and show empty boxes. I've only tried 3, but they've had issues.
8. The screen is not very bright compared to every other mobile device I've used.
Anyway, that's my week with the Note 8"...YMMV. It's a good device, but it's not an iPad in my opinion.
edit: added #4 in good list.
The Good:
1. The two speakers on the bottom of the device are nice and louder than the iPad 4's one speaker. The iPad's speaker my have better quality, but IMHO volume is far more important on a mobile device. If I want quality I use speakers or headphones.
2. Love the form factor. It wasn't until I started using this device that I started to consider getting a Mini instead of the 5. Being able to hold in one hand is very nice.
3. The screen is much better than I thought it would be. Despite it's lack of sharpness, the color quality is very high. I believe it is better than the current Mini overall.
4. Forgot to mention Multi Window ability. It is nice. the screen is not large enough for me to use this as often as I thought I would; but still, it's an option. Wish iOS would offer on iPad.
The neutral:
1. The stylus. I stopped using it after a few days. For note taking and Photoshop type tasks it would be awesome, for everything else it's just meh. This is a surprise, as I assumed I would love it.
The Bad:
1. Despite being a quad core device and having 2gigs of RAM, this mofo is laggy. Every version of the iPad that I've used is snappier...by a long shot.
2. Their are no good alternatives to the YouTube app that I can find, and I hate Google's YouTube app. Granted I've only tried a few, but nothing comes close to MacTube thus far (or the old iOS YouTube app).
3. Feels cheap.
4. The screen, while good given it's low resolution and PPI, lacks sharpness and pales in comparison to the Retina screen as well as the original Nexus 7.
5. Battery life about 2 hours less than my previous iPads.
6. Chrome isn't as fast as every browser I've used on an iOS device. The iOS version of Chrome is faster for some reason.
7. Widgets sometimes do not work and show empty boxes. I've only tried 3, but they've had issues.
8. The screen is not very bright compared to every other mobile device I've used.
Anyway, that's my week with the Note 8"...YMMV. It's a good device, but it's not an iPad in my opinion.
edit: added #4 in good list.
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