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iPad or Asus Transformer?
- Thread starter pizz
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1. Apple's support is fine if you live close to an Apple store. I don't.
2. Don't expect a winning vote for the Asus here, as this is an iPad forum.
3. I have both an iPad 2 and the Asus Transformer. The Transformer has android 3.1 and will be getting android 3.2 this month or early in August. If you get one though, make sure you get the keyboard dock as well. Together you get 16-20 hours of use before recharging, and the keyboard can be left behind or folded up with the tablet into a great symbiotic package protecting both critical surfaces. IPS screen on mine looks as good as the IPS screen on my iPad. Better ratio for movies. Better web experience. Better view of Angry Birds. My iPad lasts a week or so on a charge, but only because I rarely pick it up anymore.
4. If you want a winning vote for the Asus, visit a few Asus Transformer forums.
2. Don't expect a winning vote for the Asus here, as this is an iPad forum.
3. I have both an iPad 2 and the Asus Transformer. The Transformer has android 3.1 and will be getting android 3.2 this month or early in August. If you get one though, make sure you get the keyboard dock as well. Together you get 16-20 hours of use before recharging, and the keyboard can be left behind or folded up with the tablet into a great symbiotic package protecting both critical surfaces. IPS screen on mine looks as good as the IPS screen on my iPad. Better ratio for movies. Better web experience. Better view of Angry Birds. My iPad lasts a week or so on a charge, but only because I rarely pick it up anymore.
4. If you want a winning vote for the Asus, visit a few Asus Transformer forums.
If I wanted an Android tablet, that's what I'd get. I still prefer the iPad form factor and iOS ecosystem. However, I really haven't had much hands on time with the transformer.
That's like saying iOS4 is dead because its waiting for iOS5.
The best advice I can give you is buy each one to try it out. You can return them for a full refund.
If the ONLY thing that's holding you back is the GPS, then get the iPad. To be honest, I've never had an issue with geo-locating on my iPad Wifi. In fact, until this thread, I didn't even know that the iPad Wifi doesn't have a GPS chip (never bothered to read into the technical specs) because the geo-locating works so well.
Do you also plan on purchasing a databased map application such as the TomTom app? If not, then your GPS chip will be rendered near useless when on the road anyway. Unless you're near a wifi network which, even on Long Island where Cablevision claims to have the island covered in wifi signal, isn't common when you're traveling.
Do you also plan on purchasing a databased map application such as the TomTom app? If not, then your GPS chip will be rendered near useless when on the road anyway. Unless you're near a wifi network which, even on Long Island where Cablevision claims to have the island covered in wifi signal, isn't common when you're traveling.
Are you talking about the 10 tablet optimized apps? That certainly is something to brag about.
I believe Android has less then 400 tablet optimized apps at this point compared to Apple's 100,000 + Think about the gross difference in that number. My experience with Android is like driving a Cadillac, nice, but no where near the refinement of a BMW or Mercedes meaning iOS.
Honeycomb is catching up to iOS as is Ice cream sandwich. iOS 5 is offering some new features that to my knowledge are only available if you jb your iOS device.
iPad user with an Android phone and a Playbook here. Also tried out Honeycomb tablets for a bit at the stores.
Without good apps, a tablet is nothing but a browser, which is still good, but not when you have the iPad which does great browsing despite sans Flash, and a host of other things. If Playbook, Honeycomb or any other non-iPad device does browsing vastly better that might be a legit strength, but that's not the case unless you need Flash really badly, and if Flash is that important for you, I wouldn't really use any mobile device for it.
Also iOS is just more delightful to use because of its smoothness and polish. After using my Android phone and Playbook for a while, it's almost startling to come back to my iPad because the scrolling, touch response, etc, are all just so much smoother.
On the other hand, the argument does get more interesting for the geek types, who often love to have the freedom to change the themes and widgets and access things like game console emulators and pirated ROMs, torrented AVIs and MKVs(as well as running torrent clients), illegal streaming sites which usually use Flash, etc. And of course, they want to run home brew apps
But even then, a jailbroken iPad offers most of these benefits, if not all. I'd say if you're a type who enjoys installing different OSs just for the sake of installing OS and fool around with it, then Transformer could be the choice. However even for that, I'd much rather go with the Nook Color which is much cheaper and at least offers a significantly different form factor size from the iPad. Or just get a cheap used iPad 1 and jailbreak it.
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I keep hearing that being offered as a negative to Apple/iOS/iDevices. That assumes a need something outside of of Apple's offerings, so tell me what do *I* need (me, not what's available or what you want)? If I had to have the latest of Google's Beta Parade of Failures then I will buy a different device or JB.
Reading this before I post it sounds harsher than I meant to but it's too nice a day to wordsmith.
Your post wasn't harsh. It was accurate.
This "closed Apple ecosystem" doesn't really exist anymore. Apps of course will only run on the platform they were designed for. You sure as hell can't run an Android app on iOS. (OMG ANDROID IS CLOSED ECOSYSTEM!!!) The only DRM is in movies downloaded from Apple, which I agree sucks (but to be honest, I dont exactly have time to watch movies twice, so I don't buy movies anyways. I just rent via AppleTV). You can put epub and pdf books on the iPad. Music is DRM free. Where is this "closed" ecosystem?
In fact, the Apple ecosystem is pretty fantastic. I can download an iPhone app, it runs on my iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. I can take any song from iTunes, which is DRM free, and play it on any of my devices. I can AirPlay that song to my AppleTV and play it throughout the house. I can take any movie from iTunes, or any movie I've ripped, and play it on any of my Apple devices, play it on AppleTV, etc. I can read books on any of the iDevices, I can download ANY content (movies, music, books, whatever) and put it on my devices. Again, where's the "closed" ecosystem?
The only thing I can't do is download an app from a non-Apple-registered-developer and put it on my device. And you know what? I'm glad for that. I don't want to be in the same boat as Android and deal with malware, viruses, virus scanners, and all of that 1990's bullcrap. .... but if I absolutely wanted to, I could simply Jailbreak and do it.
Closed ecosystem has nothing to do with running an Android app on iOS or vice versa. It means that you can't side-load something that Apple doesn't approve. This means apps that contain certain features or capabilities, system tweaks, themes, different system sounds, etc. Android is not a close ecosystem in that if their market rejects an app, you can still manually install it. If the OSX App Store rejects an app, you can still download and install it outside of the App Store.
Two points:
1. You can always jailbreak your device and side-load whatever you want.
2. It's an undeniable fact that a non-jailbroken iDevice and Apple's app store ensures as secure of a platform as reasonably possible. One of the reasons PCs/Windows is so crappy is because people end up installing all sorts of garbage they download and it's all loaded with viruses and malware. Likewise, with Android, when you install stuff freely outside of the app store you are exposing yourself to risk of viruses and malware. This is why you in fact have a virus scanning software on your platform. When you really think about it, it's absolutely ridiculous to have to have virus software on a phone or tablet.
Yeah, I'll stick with a "closed" ecosystem.
The problem with that argument is the number of apps is the least problem of iOS, since one main argument for open in theory is that it'll encourage more developers to participate in the open platform which will lead to a more vibrant development scene free of a draconian central control. In practice this hasn't worked out all that well since Android lags both in the number of apps available and the quality of apps.
I guess one could be a very principled person who wouldn't use a platform because you're against the policy at the philosophical level, but if so that person would probably only use Linux and its "clean" open source derivatives for mobile, not Android. Mind you Honeycomb isn't even a real "open" platform yet other than the fact the market place is open, since Google approves the hardware and the sourcecode still hasn't been released.
And for those who need the tweaks not available in the app store due to Apple's policy, iOS has a great repository of non Apple-approved stuff in Cydia so you do get the best of both world in the sense that you can pick and choose between the most tightly controlled app store with countless quality apps and a vibrant hacking scene full of tweaks and themes as well as system utilities.
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Honeycomb is pretty awful. Poor UI and laggy even on dual core procs. You would think Google could do better with all their resources but nope. The app situation is awful and not getting much better. That alone is a reason to get an iPad instead. There are also malware issues with Android apps.
Build quality and service and support for the Asus are poor.
I see the appeal of a tablet that is $100 cheaper. I doubt Asus is making nay money at this price but just want to get their foot in the door. I also think Apple overprices the 3G/GPS iPad. But it really makes no sense to buy an Android wannabeiPad.
You can save some money by ordering online from a place like B&H Photo. $50 plus in tax you won't have to pay.
All this business about Android being "open" is a lot of baloney. It doesn't apply to Honeycomb anyway since Google won't release the Honeycomb source. They also don't, and won''t ever release large portions of the Android source like pretty much everything that communicates with any aspect of hardware. "Open" is a scam that Google uses to rope in the know nothings. Besides, you can always jailbreak an iPad if it doesn't so something you want it to do.
Using up valuable cpu and memory which are at a premium on a mobile device to protect against malware is just pathetic.
Build quality and service and support for the Asus are poor.
I see the appeal of a tablet that is $100 cheaper. I doubt Asus is making nay money at this price but just want to get their foot in the door. I also think Apple overprices the 3G/GPS iPad. But it really makes no sense to buy an Android wannabeiPad.
You can save some money by ordering online from a place like B&H Photo. $50 plus in tax you won't have to pay.
All this business about Android being "open" is a lot of baloney. It doesn't apply to Honeycomb anyway since Google won't release the Honeycomb source. They also don't, and won''t ever release large portions of the Android source like pretty much everything that communicates with any aspect of hardware. "Open" is a scam that Google uses to rope in the know nothings. Besides, you can always jailbreak an iPad if it doesn't so something you want it to do.
Using up valuable cpu and memory which are at a premium on a mobile device to protect against malware is just pathetic.
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I wasn't weighing in on the pros and cons, I was just correcting you on what closed ecosystem means. Jailbreaking is not proof to the contrary because its something done to break the system. Regardless of whether its a good idea, someone can't take a stock iDevice and sideload applications or tweaks.
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I sent my transformer back for manyreasons. Is not ready for prime time.
Not sure how manyother contributors to this thread had one, but I can tell you there are considerable issues with the device to begin with...considerable issues with honeycomb, and a serious lack of apps and polish overall.
In a year this type of device will probably be much more compelling...right now I is pretty substandard in usage IMO.
Not sure how manyother contributors to this thread had one, but I can tell you there are considerable issues with the device to begin with...considerable issues with honeycomb, and a serious lack of apps and polish overall.
In a year this type of device will probably be much more compelling...right now I is pretty substandard in usage IMO.
Please list those "issues" instead of aping the standard iOS user's mantra again. Then compare that list with the thread names in this forum. I'll start:
- iOS5 crashing frequently
- Was going to return iPad because of factory problem...
- Backlight bleeding
- Lag when opening apps in iOS 4.3/4.3.3
- Card reader not working after fw update
- iPad 2 showing , "NO SIM CARD INSTALLED"
- iPad 2 Battery Stuck at 100% or 98%
- How to open web linked AVI file on iPad from email..Help!!!
- iBooks not displaying colored books correctly
- Need help restoring
- Every time I sync iPad it reloads all apps. Help?
- Screen Wake Up Problem
- iPad not charging AND NO I'M NOT using a USB port!
- Emails automatically deleted within iPad mail app?
- iPad Stuck in DFU Mode
- IPad definitely has yellow tint issue
- Loose Home Button
- Cannot sync a purchased movie from iTunes to iPad.
- iPad 2 WiFi speed about 13Mbps only
- No sound anymore for once working movies :/
My Point? I have no "issues" with my android Tegra 2 tablets, but there seems to be quite a few problems listed here for ipads.
Had the transformers and the xoom. These are my issues with Honeycomb.
They include:
-slow performance: rotation is slow, and my home screen was lagging quite a bit. The zinio app is unusable for me, even after the tegra 2 update.
-bad battery: some apps were keeping my tablet awake all the time. My battery went from great to bad after a few months.
-apps: not as big of a deal as some claim, but it's lacking some apps like netflix, kik, and slacker. Even google voice is better on ios, which is kinda sad.
The iPad with ios4 is pretty good, but I think that when ios5 comes out it'll be amazing. The airplay mirroring alone is a killer feature!
The samsung 10.1 with LTE does look enticing though. When it comes out, I might check it out.
They include:
-slow performance: rotation is slow, and my home screen was lagging quite a bit. The zinio app is unusable for me, even after the tegra 2 update.
-bad battery: some apps were keeping my tablet awake all the time. My battery went from great to bad after a few months.
-apps: not as big of a deal as some claim, but it's lacking some apps like netflix, kik, and slacker. Even google voice is better on ios, which is kinda sad.
The iPad with ios4 is pretty good, but I think that when ios5 comes out it'll be amazing. The airplay mirroring alone is a killer feature!
The samsung 10.1 with LTE does look enticing though. When it comes out, I might check it out.
I have an Asus Transformer (32GB) with the dock as well as an iPad2. I like the Asus but the iPad is clearly a better product overall.
iPad2 advantages:
- much thinner, clearly better build quality
- tons of accesories (I can't even get a 2nd charger for my Asus)
- better screen (my TF screen is dimmer and has noticably more glare)
- far better app selection and app quality (Netflix, Hulu, FlipBoard, iWork etc.)
- AirPlay, AirPrint, Facetime
- huge music+movies+tv+podcasts+audiobook selection on iTunes
- iPad2 is graphically more powerful than Tegra 2 (gaming is much better on iOS)
- no HD video playback issues (TF has problems with 720p decoding, iOS5 can do 1080p!)
- 4:3 screen is better for books etc.
- required Apple app approval process likely results in less malware
- iOS apps tend to be more elegant and run faster than their Honeycomb equivalents
TF advantages:
- $100 cheaper (add $150 for dock)
- microSD onboard, SD on dock (I have 96GB total), USB ports on dock
- 16:10 screen is better for movies
- GPS (not on WiFi iPad), although no quality offline GPS nav app exists
- Flash (personally I don't particularly care)
- Keyboard dock with trackpad is great and includes 2nd battery
- user-installable keyboards
- customizable homescreens (widgets, live wallpaper etc)
- free native cloud music players (Amazon+Google)
- apps not subject to Apple approval
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Defensive much?
Backlight bleed way worse than iPad
Dock battery drain
Keyboard lag makes text entry awful
Web browser lag (alternate browsers can help but lose out in many other ways.
Malware in market place
Keyboard input selector issue
Wifi underpowered or bad pm
Lack of apps makes web browsing more necessary (see number 4)
Rdc client displays garbled screen
Flash laggy and bad video quality
Noticeably worse YouTube quality
720p playback stutter
Here's a biggie, device encryption doesn't work.
Again I think in a year after ics and maybe one more update, along with hardware maturation th platform can bw great. For now it doesn't even accomplish the basics. I think you are being very nitpicky with your list, though the iPad 2 has flaws. Some of the stuff was clearly to fill out the list. We could do the same from android forums. The issues I listed are why my transformer (which I bought to replace the iPad 2) went back.
I'm not aping jack all, I want the bet device I can have. Couldn't care less who makes it.