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xfactor0707

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 5, 2009
28
0
So i just won 500 dollars from winning my fantasy football league and im interested in using that money and investing in a tablet. Ive done my research and it looks like the ipad, transfomer, and galaxy tab are the top tablets on the market. I plan on using it for school and taking notes and stuff and i plan on using it to read news aticles. The only thing holding me back from getting the ipad 2 is that its not flash compatible. Are there any apps or something that i could use that will help me use flash with the ipad? Thanks
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,289
4,039
Florida, U.S.A.
iPad 2! iOS is here to stay, fully supported by hundreds of thousands of apps. Other Tablets stop being supported by their makers after they release a newer model.
Also, you can find lots of accessories for it, from Apple and third party. Speakers, docking systems, etc.
Other devices don't have than much variety to choose from.

And Flash is dying... Remember that Adobe stopped development on Mobile Flash Player, and instead is working on a solution for developers to create content for both Flash and HTML5 for mobile compatibility.

I avoid flash even on my Mac, as it slows things down. Flash was a great thing until it got abused by web developers and also grew too big and resource hog.

Anyways, that's just my opinion; I thought about it a lot before finally buying my iPad, as I was tempted by the other options. Just seeing these other options come and go convinced me to get the iPad.
It was a leap of faith at the beginning, with the condition of returning it if I didn't like it. The first week I hated it, two weeks later I couldn't be without it; and the feeling is still the same up to this very day.
 

Infrared1

macrumors newbie
Dec 28, 2011
14
0
iPad 2! iOS is here to stay, fully supported by hundreds of thousands of apps. Other Tablets stop being supported by their makers after they release a newer model.
Also, you can find lots of accessories for it, from Apple and third party. Speakers, docking systems, etc.
Other devices don't have than much variety to choose from.

And Flash is dying... Remember that Adobe stopped development on Mobile Flash Player, and instead is working on a solution for developers to create content for both Flash and HTML5 for mobile compatibility.

I avoid flash even on my Mac, as it slows things down. Flash was a great thing until it got abused by web developers and also grew too big and resource hog.

Anyways, that's just my opinion; I thought about it a lot before finally buying my iPad, as I was tempted by the other options. Just seeing these other options come and go convinced me to get the iPad.
It was a leap of faith at the beginning, with the condition of returning it if I didn't like it. The first week I hated it, two weeks later I couldn't be without it; and the feeling is still the same up to this very day.
Someone with intelligence, thank you for that post. Android will NEVER be advanced as Apple's iOS. I laugh at the people who buy Android tablets, seriously.
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,289
4,039
Florida, U.S.A.
Someone with intelligence, thank you for that post. Android will NEVER be advanced as Apple's iOS. I laugh at the people who buy Android tablets, seriously.

Well you got to understand that not everybody can or want to afford an iPad as their first Tablet. The presence of so many Tablets starting at $70 is very tempting and many buy those, as their needs are very basic (browse the web, read a book, check email). In some cases they return it and buy iPads or keep trying with other Tablets until they learn which one is the best. :D

Now, about laughing about other people, it's better to laugh with them than laugh at them. You never know if you may need them some day.

People driving Lexus laugh at people driving KIA, Ford, etc., so imagine there would be chaos on the streets if everybody would start laughing at other people for their personal preferences.
 

marc55

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2011
872
217
Android will NEVER be advanced as Apple's iOS. I laugh at the people who buy Android tablets, seriously.

Well, I for one do not believe that. Apple iOS is a fantastic system, but it's only a matter of time before Android becomes more standardized and stable, and maybe even surpass iOS.

I know many Apple lovers don't want to accept that, but to think that another system will "never" be as good as Apple's is a little closed minded.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
iPad 2! iOS is here to stay, fully supported by hundreds of thousands of apps. Other Tablets stop being supported by their makers after they release a newer model.

All tablets continue to run both old and new apps after new models come out.

In fact, even older Android tablets will have later versions of useful programs like Google Maps available long before iOS does.

Also, you can find lots of accessories for it, from Apple and third party. Speakers, docking systems, etc. Other devices don't have than much variety to choose from.

Very true, although I see more and more Android users getting onboard with sharing common media devices via DLNA, partly to avoid being tied into a single (Apple) system.

And Flash is dying... Remember that Adobe stopped development on Mobile Flash Player, and instead is working on a solution for developers to create content for both Flash and HTML5 for mobile compatibility.

Doesn't help now with all the Flash sites out there. It's really handy to not have to avoid parts of the web, or see blank spots in a page.

All that aside, it can be a difficult decision. For a 10" tablet or if you have kids, I'd lean heavily toward the iPad right now. Apple has kind of become the "IBM of tablets"... it's the easy, safe decision.

Depends also on how much you need to do stuff like sharing documents between apps and/or customization that can be easier to do on Android.
 

Buckeyestar

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2011
804
39
Well, I for one do not believe that. Apple iOS is a fantastic system, but it's only a matter of time before Android becomes more standardized and stable, and maybe even surpass iOS.

I know many Apple lovers don't want to accept that, but to think that another system will "never" be as good as Apple's is a little closed minded.

The biggest problem with Android is Google. They make the software without being built for specific hardware and just throw it out there. Then the manufacturers come along, stitch together some hardware, slap Android on it (along with their own crap) and hope for the best.

Meanwhile, Apple makes their own software AND hardware. They know exactly what hardware their software will be running on and optimize it for such. This is the only logical approach, in my opinion.
 

alex2792

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2009
1,125
2,973
Depends on what your needs are, if you want to customize the hell out of your tablet go Android otherwise get an iPad. Personally I would go with the iPad 2 due to the app selection,which destroys Honeycomb.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
The biggest problem with Android is Google. They make the software without being built for specific hardware and just throw it out there. Then the manufacturers come along, stitch together some hardware, slap Android on it (along with their own crap) and hope for the best.

Umm, no.

While it might happen with the cheaper tablets, major manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and Motorola don't just "stitch together some" hardware. In fact, they're often on the cutting edge.

As for "slap on Android", ever port an OS to new hardware? You start simple and then you customize the drivers to fit the specific chips you're using, be they new radios, GPU, or CPU.

You don't "hope for the best"; each manufacturer does the best optimization they can within the time and money constraints that they have.

The same technique applies whether it's Android OR iOS.

Now, if you want to argue that Apple has fewer hardware options to optimize for, and that this can be an advantage as far as using fewer company resources, I'd be in full agreement. But it has little to do with the OS itself.
 

PracticalMac

macrumors 68030
Jan 22, 2009
2,857
5,242
Houston, TX
So i just won 500 dollars from winning my fantasy football league and im interested in using that money and investing in a tablet. Ive done my research and it looks like the ipad, transfomer, and galaxy tab are the top tablets on the market. I plan on using it for school and taking notes and stuff and i plan on using it to read news aticles. The only thing holding me back from getting the ipad 2 is that its not flash compatible. Are there any apps or something that i could use that will help me use flash with the ipad? Thanks

At this moment the performance of Android tables is poor, that is why iPad's dominate even for the premium price point.

Every measure for tables, iPad is on top (except native hardware connectivity, that is SD slot or USB connection needs accessory to use), and will be for some time.
 

ThatsMeRight

macrumors 68020
Sep 12, 2009
2,290
251
The main advantage, in my eyes, for Apple is right now that there are so much more apps developed specifically for tablet-usage. This might change in 2012 but right now I'd say Apple definitely has an advantage with the App Store (for tablets).

Another thing to keep in mind: Apple will keep supporting the iPad for a quite a while through software updates. With most Android tablets, you'll be lucky if you get software updates after a few months.

I'd say: try them out all three and than decide what's best for you!
 

Mac.World

macrumors 68000
Jan 9, 2011
1,819
1
In front of uranus
Depends on what your needs are, if you want to customize the hell out of your tablet go Android otherwise get an iPad. Personally I would go with the iPad 2 due to the app selection,which destroys Honeycomb.

Wrong. You want to customize an iPad and you can. It just requires jailbreaking to do so. But, to be fair, same has to be said for android devices. To really customize, they have to be rooted.

And for those wondering, the untethered jailbreak is out for A4 devices. They should have the untethered jailbreak for A5 devices out within weeks, which means iPad2 will soon be fully customizable!
 

Trav29

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2011
82
0
Wrong. You want to customize an iPad and you can. It just requires jailbreaking to do so. But, to be fair, same has to be said for android devices. To really customize, they have to be rooted.

And for those wondering, the untethered jailbreak is out for A4 devices. They should have the untethered jailbreak for A5 devices out within weeks, which means iPad2 will soon be fully customizable!
Wrong. No matter what, customizing an iPad is no where near the customization you can do on an Android device.
 

Mac.World

macrumors 68000
Jan 9, 2011
1,819
1
In front of uranus
Wrong. No matter what, customizing an iPad is no where near the customization you can do on an Android device.

Really? What exactly can you customize on an android device that can't be done on a jailbroken ios device? I'm not talking about android specific apps, but actual customization from widgets to animated backgrounds, customized fonts, etc... You can do all that after jailbreaking.

Additionally, tell me how much you can customize a non-rooted android based device. Cause I'd love to know how much customizing you can really do with that crappy touchwiz (or insert other manufacturer here) ui blocking the way. Gotta love those craptastic icons you can't delete, just like with ios!
 

matttye

macrumors 601
Mar 25, 2009
4,957
32
Lincoln, England
From what I've seen (and please bear in mind I've only read reviews, I haven't actually used android tablets), android tablets pretty much suck. This might change with ice cream sandwich, but the honeycomb ones seem to have very poor performance even though the hardware is top of the range.

I chose the iPad mainly because of all of the content that's available; apps, newspapers, music, movies, etc, and how easy it is to manage that content. You can automatically keep your photos, music etc in sync between your pc/mac and all of your iOS devices. This is incredibly convenient. :)

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Wrong. You want to customize an iPad and you can. It just requires jailbreaking to do so. But, to be fair, same has to be said for android devices. To really customize, they have to be rooted.

And for those wondering, the untethered jailbreak is out for A4 devices. They should have the untethered jailbreak for A5 devices out within weeks, which means iPad2 will soon be fully customizable!

You don't have to be rooted to change fonts on some android devices. My galaxy s2 let's you change the fonts. I've installed the google roboto font from ice cream sandwich on it, although it doesn't look that great on such a small resolution :(

You can completely change the launcher, lock screen etc. on an android phone without having to root. The only thing you really need root for is to customise the actual skin of the device.

Android supports animated wallpapers out of the box, and as for the craptastic touch wiz icons you can remove them from the home screens, just not the app drawer. I just shoved them all into a folder called "Samsung apps" and stick that right at the end of the app drawer where I won't see it.

A non-rooted android device is a billion times more customisable than a non-jail broken iOS device.

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Additionally, tell me how much you can customize a non-rooted android based device. Cause I'd love to know how much customizing you can really do with that crappy touchwiz (or insert other manufacturer here) ui blocking the way. Gotta love those craptastic icons you can't delete, just like with ios!

You can change the launcher....

This is my unrooted galaxy s2:

Lock screen:



Main home screen:



I see no sign of touch wiz, do you? :D
 

mac jones

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2006
3,257
2
As far as I can tell, it seems like Adobe has really improved flash for the desktop.

It used to be extremely resource intensive.

Perhaps it still is, and it's just my hardware upgrades....don't know.

Anyway, I don't see what's stopping you. If Flash is supported with these Browsers like the above posters say, than definitely get the iPad. It's great.
 

Phil A.

Moderator emeritus
Apr 2, 2006
5,799
3,094
Shropshire, UK
Wrong. You want to customize an iPad and you can. It just requires jailbreaking to do so. But, to be fair, same has to be said for android devices. To really customize, they have to be rooted.

Sorry, that's not correct: You can change the home screen launcher (i.e. the main UI) on any android device without rooting it

To answer the OP's question, I have an iPad 2 and an Asus Transformer (original, not prime) and find them both very good devices and very useful in their own way. However, if I was forced to get rid of one and just have one device, the one I'd keep would be the iPad 2. The main reason for that is that as a tablet, I much prefer the form factor of the iPad 2, particularly in portrait mode: The widescreen devices feel out of proportion in portrait IMO

In fact, I very rarely use my Transformer as a tablet - it's pretty much constantly connected to the keyboard and used as an Android Netbook

As far as flash is concerned, it's nice to have on the Transformer, but it's certainly not the end of the world that the iPad doesn't support it and as others have said, there are workarounds available
 

Les Kern

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2002
3,063
76
Alabama
I have the Transformer as well as the iPad 2. I forced myself to use the ASUS exclusively for a few weeks, and frankly? I really wanted to go back to the iPad. The form factor is okay and it's solid, doesn't feel cheap (it's not, so that's good!) but somehow feels much heavier. Browsing was a PAIN. I tried a few different apps and none worked all that well. Scrolling is at choppy most of the time, and on longer pages is simply annoying. It's too complicated! I'm a tech person and it reminded me of why I prefer iPad... it was designed to be used, and not designed by an engineer in a cubicle.
Lots of the apps I used were available, and the Market is pretty nice and has a LOT of free apps that you need to pay for on iTunes. The camera is what surprised me... the Asus was actually a bit better than the iPad's, but not as good as the iPhone 4s camera. The screen ratio doesn't bother me so much and wide screen movies play fine. The free office app is okay. I can't get my iCloud mail at all, which I suppose is because of Apple.
It's easy to click the wrong button, and a lot of the apps (like the browser) take a lot of getting used to, but expect to have to go out of the app and come back in to re-orient yourself.
Bottom line for me: I prefer the iPad2 but not by a whole lot. The deal breaker for me of course is iCloud integration. If you don't need that, consider the Transformer. It's not really that bad.

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At this moment the performance of Android tables is poor, that is why iPad's dominate even for the premium price point.

Every measure for tables, iPad is on top (except native hardware connectivity, that is SD slot or USB connection needs accessory to use), and will be for some time.

Exactly. I bought the best reviewed and most powerful, and, well, it's not. That's the beauty of IOS isn't it? At it's heart Android is a cluster**** of code.
 

SporkLover

macrumors 6502
Nov 8, 2011
498
1
So i just won 500 dollars from winning my fantasy football league and im interested in using that money and investing in a tablet. Ive done my research and it looks like the ipad, transfomer, and galaxy tab are the top tablets on the market. I plan on using it for school and taking notes and stuff and i plan on using it to read news aticles. The only thing holding me back from getting the ipad 2 is that its not flash compatible. Are there any apps or something that i could use that will help me use flash with the ipad? Thanks

First, a little bit of advice, do not let flash be a deciding factor. I too was skeptical about lack of flash, but then again I didn't miss it after adopting the iPad as my main casual browsing device. unless you have to have it for work or school, don't use it as a discriminator.

For the purposes you listed Either platform will perform well enough.

As a tech fan(not android nor apple), I went with the iPad and iPad 2. I wanted mine for media purposes, and the iPad, IMHO, is king when it comes to media delivery. It's battery life is awesome.

Some strong points about the iPad:
1. The ecosystem is awesome, and a definite strong point. From integration/connectivity with other iDevices to the huge aftermarket, it really is strong.
2. Does media great
3. Great battery life. I used mine for video watching on a 10 hour flight and I still had north of 60 percent battery life. I watched 4 entire movies.
4. Simple easy to use interface.
5. Now this is opinion based off of my personal observations, but apps in the IOS community tend to have better fit and finish to them. I've seen my share of buggy iOS apps, but, again my opinion is that they are usually better than their android counterparts. Only downside is good apps usually cost. I guess you get what you pay for.

Some strong points about the android offerings:
1. It's got a decent Eco-system, I love how its open and you can do with your device as you wish. There are something's that require root, but many do not. I like how the native media player is not hobbled by draconian adherence to one media format.
2. File system. This is one thing i miss from my wm and android devices, because of a central file system, I could attach emails from within the email app.
3. App integration. On an android device apps are bettered integrated with the OS. You can upload pictures from any gallery app to Facebook. You can click on an address and load the gps/map program of your choice.
4. USB/micro sd ports. Great additions.


There are other reasons, but those rose to the top of my heap.
 
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