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Tablets: Battle of the OS - FIGHT! (Now with poll!)

Which tablet OS do you like the most? (excluding external factors like apps)

  • Total voters
    173
Apart from willy waving I don't personally need 100,000 apps.

I just want good apps and the main apps.

The top games to be made for the platforms, the top utilities to be created for the platforms.
Although these it great quality in the Apple app store there is a giant amout of dross also.
The kind of things you could wade though in online flash game web sites.
Not the type of things I want to use.

I'm hoping perhaps the top tablet platforms will gain support from the best apps, the the 90% of junk out there really does not matter to anyone.
 
vrDrew said:
Its hard to appreciate until you've spent some time with it. Simply put, a huge part of the whole iPad experience is that it - quite literally - "frees" you from so many of the irritations that come along with laptop use.

How many times do you see someone's laptop, in their home, sitting on a desk or a table with a power cord, complete with ugly, dusty "brick", draped across the carpet? I'd hazard a guess and say that most laptops spend at least half their time plugged into an outlet.

Secondly, a 10 hour battery life is enough to get you through an entire day of travelling. I fly international at least three or four times a year, and my iPad's got the amp/hours to keep me entertained from the time I leave the house, through a couple of hours in the departure lounge, through an eight hour flight - and still has enough juice left for me to browse, surf, or watch a movie in my hotel room in my destination city. Try doing that with a laptop. The fact of the matter is most airport departure lounges are usually dotted with laptop owners clustered around the measly few available power outlets.

Even if you never leave your house with your iPad, it still plays a big part. I'll check e-mail a half dozen times a day, do some gaming, do the NY Times crossword - every day. But recharging is something I do, on average once or twice a week. Even better, when the battery meter gets down to the 20% mark - thats STILL enough power to get your through a two hour movie.

Lastly, when people say "10 hour" battery life on the iPad - they mean it. About the only thing you can do that will run the battery down faster than that is gaming with the sound turned all the way up. But with most laptops, after a couple of hours of web-surfing or video watching - you're already thinking about where and when you are going to plug in.

Trust me - the battery life is a huge part of the reason people like their iPads.
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Ok, I see your point. but I don't think it would hurt battery life too much to have a "tap to flash" type service, that way it wouldn't affect battery life unless u wanted it to. Then for multitasking could be tweaked slightly to just present it to look more like real multitasking, maybe add a couple more API's to make it act more like real multitasking. That probably wouldn't hurt battery life very much. and then add a dashboard page of widgets, maybe they wouldn't even update till you pull up the dashboard, saving battery life. With all those things and with the advances in battery technology over the past year I'm sure Apple could still get 10 hours out of the new iPad.

On a side note, how long is the charger cable for the iPad? is it the same length as the iPhone, because that would be ridiculous. Is it long enough to actually use the iPad while charging?

ditzy said:
However the HP tablet, that made sense to me. I'm aware that there are many reasons why it may fail, the biggest being lack of apps. But this is the first tablet other than the iPad which has even made me think about buying it.
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Yup. if they can build the "buzz" factor that apple is famous for, and get developer support, they have a real winner there.
 
Mark my words:

2 years from now no Apple competitor will have got double-digit share of the tablet market. iPad will still be above 50%. Feel free to bump this if I'm wrong.
 
Bernard SG said:
Mark my words:

2 years from now no Apple competitor will have got double-digit share of the tablet market. iPad will still be above 50%. Feel free to bump this if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify what you are saying:

Are you saying no one company will hold a double digit tablet sales, or are you talking about platforms?

EG: Android tablets will never get a double digit share of the tablet market within 2 years?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

So u r saying that android will have 9% or less, RIM 9% or less and HP 9% or less?? Meaning that the ipad will have greater than 73% market share? I doubt that... But I agree they should still have about 50% at that point
 
I'll check out the Xoom when it is released in the next two weeks and see how it compares to the current iPad. Soon we should be hearing more about the iPad2 and I wouldn't buy anything until that is out too. The HP does look quite promising, I hope it isn't too far in the future. If it has a good touchscreen, battery life, is priced right and is well made like the iPad, it may be a good choice. The current version of the iPad isn't for me, but the iPad2 may very well be.

The HP really looks good in the video, but who knows if it will actually be that way when it is finally released. I think that this is the future direction of tablets and what Jobs has in mind for replacing laptops at some point in time.

I've used a friends iPad many times and I do enjoy it. With a few changes it would be more suited to my liking. I want a bit more out of a tablet, maybe something between the iPad and a laptop, but with the iPad weight, size and battery life. It doesn't need to be overly complex, but it also doesn't need to be as simple as the current iOS.

Why do Apple products have superior touch capabilities to the competition? Is it the OS or the actual hardware? Or a combination of both? The Macbooks have the best touchpad in the business, IMHO. They work and they work extremely well. The iPad screen works the same. I have only played with a few phones that come close to the iPhones touch screen accuracy. I will say the competition is getting better in this area, but isn't quite there yet.

Regardless of who makes what, it is an exciting time for the new direction that the computing market is taking. I am looking forward to it. ;)
 
another thing that I think apple will have a problem with when developing iOS is making sure everything can be done on both the iPad and the iPhone.

like for example any 4/5 finger gestures.... they will be difficult/impossible to do on the iphone. I think some things would be ok, like the gestures that are being demonstrated in 4.3 don't add any EXTRA functionality just use a new method for a large screen. But say Apple wanted to create a 4/5 finger gesture to go to a dashboard of widgets.... that might be the best solution on the iPad but they will need to create a new gesture for the iPhone... uh oh... fragmentation, I don't think apple would really want to do that. So does that mean they need to dumb down all gestures so they can work on both?

or what about creating a new animation of multitasking that is similar to expose/mission control. I think this would look amazing on the iPad, possibly even a superior solution than webOS has. But I think the screen on the iPhone would be too small to be able to pull that off...

I think apple is running into some difficulty with issues like these... just something to think about.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
another thing that I think apple will have a problem with when developing iOS is making sure everything can be done on both the iPad and the iPhone.

like for example any 4/5 finger gestures.... they will be difficult/impossible to do on the iphone. I think some things would be ok, like the gestures that are being demonstrated in 4.3 don't add any EXTRA functionality just use a new method for a large screen. But say Apple wanted to create a 4/5 finger gesture to go to a dashboard of widgets.... that might be the best solution on the iPad but they will need to create a new gesture for the iPhone... uh oh... fragmentation, I don't think apple would really want to do that. So does that mean they need to dumb down all gestures so they can work on both?

or what about creating a new animation of multitasking that is similar to expose/mission control. I think this would look amazing on the iPad, possibly even a superior solution than webOS has. But I think the screen on the iPhone would be too small to be able to pull that off...

I think apple is running into some difficulty with issues like these... just something to think about.
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That's because they are stupid if they think a 3.5" device you carry around in your pocket and often use very quickly whilst out and about on the move should operate in exactly the same way as a 10" device more often used indoors when you are sitting down and ave a lot more time on your hands.

Why would anyone be dumb enough to think two such devices should operate in the exact same manner?

Of course they should be different in ways that get the very best from each device. Does not mean they can't be similar in some ways. But not the same.
 
It's not just the OS these days is it, it's the whole damm content ecosystem too. Reminds me of the early days of the VCR. Beta max was a better spec but was blown away by with lots of content on VHS. :eek: just really showed my age.

Anyway competition is good for the consumer and I'm sure will see lots of cross-pollination of OS features in the future.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
I hope webOS gets the support from developers. Just because they deserve to do well, but unless that happens the future is bleak.
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I think HP will muscle its way with devs ... they know that apps is what gets Tablets and phones into peoples hands ... They have invested too much into WebOS to just let thinks go on their own ...

I think we will see a more Microsoft approach toward devs from HP.

And well ... lets face it .. the more OS's for devs ... the more people they can target and make money out of it ... no one is going exclusive in this business ;)

Tho I see RIM slowly being squeezed out of the game by a now 3 way race between Apple, Google and now Nokia-Microsoft
 
aduteau said:
I think we will see a more Microsoft approach toward devs from HP.

And well ... lets face it .. the more OS's for devs ... the more people they can target and make money out of it ... no one is going exclusive in this business ;)

Tho I see RIM slowly being squeezed out of the game by a now 3 way race between Apple, Google and now Nokia-Microsoft
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What do you mean by microsoft's approach? I'm not familiar with it. Do they offer some sort of incentive to get ppl on board?

Well the more OS's to develop for the more difficult it is. and right now webOS has like 3% marketshare or something, so why invest into something that might never grow.

RIM will definitely continue shrinking, but I'm not sure if they will ever be edged out of the top business smartphone, meaning they won't get too small.

fun fact: you joined macrumors 10 days after I did :)
 
Mapmonkey said:
It's not just the OS these days is it, it's the whole damm content ecosystem too. Reminds me of the early days of the VCR. Beta max was a better spec but was blown away by with lots of content on VHS. :eek: just really showed my age.

Anyway competition is good for the consumer and I'm sure will see lots of cross-pollination of OS features in the future.
Click to expand...

Good example. BetaMax was the superior system but marketing and a few other key factors led VHS to the top very quickly. Similar to the mistake that Apple made a couple of decades ago and why Windows took over the market. Desire for complete control has its drawbacks too as history has shown.
 
Bernard SG said:
Mark my words:

2 years from now no Apple competitor will have got double-digit share of the tablet market. iPad will still be above 50%. Feel free to bump this if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

What is amazing to me is that there are people who seem to doubt that.

Look at the iPod. Look at the iPhone penetration despite starting from behind. Look at the current iPad market.

Above 50%? You chicken. Above 65% easy.
 
shen said:
What is amazing to me is that there are people who seem to doubt that.

Look at the iPod. Look at the iPhone penetration despite starting from behind. Look at the current iPad market.

Above 50%? You chicken. Above 65% easy.
Click to expand...

Hopefully Apple takes complete control over the world and all other companies go out of business. Wouldn't that be great?
 
The Five Stages of Android Tablets

1) Denial: "You might want to tell me the difference between a large phone and a tablet." Google CEO Eric Schmidt, January 29, 2010

2) Anger: "My god, am I underwhelmed by it. It has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make buying one the last thing I would want to do" Adam Frucci, Gizmodo editor, January 27, 2010

3) Bargaining: "Now this is jolly good news. LG, which already has a Windows 7 tablet in the works, is gearing up to service those with a hankering for some Android in their slate computers as well. .. LG has just announced that it'll bringing out its own Google-centric tablet before the end of 2010. Indications are that it'll be different (presumably better) than current offerings on the market" Vlad Savov, Engadget, July 2010

4) Depression: "The First Good Android Tablet Has Locked Down Wi-Fi and Costs $800, Ughhhh" Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo, on the Motorola Xoom, February 6, 2011

5) Acceptance: "Doesn't really sound like the most appealing proposition we've ever heard, but maybe if those prices remain static once the Xoom gets its 4G upgrade, we could learn to love them." Vlad Savov (again) Engadget, February 6, 2011
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Hopefully Apple takes complete control over the world and all other companies go out of business. Wouldn't that be great?
Click to expand...

You seem to have confused what I think will happen with what I wish would happen. I am not saying I hope Apple dominates the tablet market. I am saying I think they will.

As long as they hold enough market to be a force and attract devs, that is what I want. I certainly don't want them to crush everyone and have no reason to compete. I would say 20-25% is enough for me.

But your sarcasm is refreshing.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Good example. BetaMax was the superior system but marketing and a few other key factors led VHS to the top very quickly. Similar to the mistake that Apple made a couple of decades ago and why Windows took over the market. Desire for complete control has its drawbacks too as history has shown.
Click to expand...

I can tell you exactly what killed Betamax in the UK.
It was Sony not willing to rent out recorders.

I lived through that time period and it was a killer to get anyone to rent a betamax player. I managed to get a private store that bought them, themselves and rented them to just a few people.
All the major rental stores in the UK could not rent out Betamax video recorders to the public as Sony would not let them, they wanted too much control.

Ferguson, JVC, Hitachi etc etc crappy VHS models were all you could get in the UK high street rental stores in the very early days. Harldy anyone bought them as they were incredibly expensive. I guess around £2000 in todays money.

It was not till much later you could rent out Betamax and by then it was too late as the massive customer base of VHS was already established.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
What do you mean by microsoft's approach? I'm not familiar with it. Do they offer some sort of incentive to get ppl on board?

Well the more OS's to develop for the more difficult it is. and right now webOS has like 3% marketshare or something, so why invest into something that might never grow.

RIM will definitely continue shrinking, but I'm not sure if they will ever be edged out of the top business smartphone, meaning they won't get too small.

fun fact: you joined macrumors 10 days after I did :)
Click to expand...

Well it has been reported by both Engadget and Gizmodo that MS called lots of devs that made iphone apps and offered them LOTS of money right up front if they would port and make apps for Windows phone 7.

Same thing happened in the Xbox division, MS has given LOTS of cash up front to devs so that the Xbox could have game exclusively for a while.

Thats the MS way of doing things, get the wallet out and buy yourself out of trouble. (I'm sorry I had to get that one off my chest ... I just cant comprehend how shareholders let a guy like Steve Balmer in charge ... Just listen to him .. every time he opens he's mouth he sounds like a clown).

Anyways back to the topic.

I just think that HP will probably use it's own wallet to get devs onboard with WebOS to make it more appealing to the public.

About that fun fact :p Well guess I've found myself a MacRumor buddy then ;)
Man ... already 3 years since joining ... going on 4 ... boy does time go fast.
 
shen said:
What is amazing to me is that there are people who seem to doubt that.

Look at the iPod. Look at the iPhone penetration despite starting from behind. Look at the current iPad market.

Above 50%? You chicken. Above 65% easy.
Click to expand...

You realize that Android has only been out for approx 2 years after being released over a year after the iPhone, and they are already surpassing iPhone sales. webOS looks superior to iOS in many respects and now has backing from HP, a large enough company to throw money at it. I think the playbook can make some serious ground in the business field, and I'm sure microsoft is going to jump into the tablet arena soon (possibly with their new friend nokia)

I think it's a little arrogant to assume that in 2 years apple will still hold over a 65% marketshare "easy". This is going to be a fierce marketplace. I think in 2 years time Apple will still be number 1, but I think that everyone will be nearing them. Apple will be happy to be holding on to 50% of sales in spring of 2013.
 
shen said:
You seem to have confused what I think will happen with what I wish would happen. I am not saying I hope Apple dominates the tablet market. I am saying I think they will.

As long as they hold enough market to be a force and attract devs, that is what I want. I certainly don't want them to crush everyone and have no reason to compete. I would say 20-25% is enough for me.

But your sarcasm is refreshing.
Click to expand...

I was being sarcastic in general, not at you personally. I think Apple will be the market leader in sales too for the next few years. But their percentage has no where to go but down if Android and HP have any kind of success. And a lot has to do with how the products are marketed, supported and priced. If HP or on of the Android producers can get that right along with some good apps, they will sell some units. Will it happen? Who knows, but for all of our best interests, I hope so. A monopoly is seldom a good thing unless you're the one monopolizing.
 
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