Ipad?
Samsung?

Any views on which one to pick? I also remember a website that had a load of unbranded tablets at a cheaper price.

I’m pleased with my Galaxy Tab 10.1 and glad I didn’t choose the iPad, there may be a new slightly bigger screen (but same size case) Tab announced in the next few days.

I’m pleased with my iPad and glad I didn’t bother with the Android alternatives. As the alternatives are just as expensive, don’t have anywhere near as many apps, and simply don’t have the “it just works” interface of iOS that children or grandparent can just pick up and understand.
😉

What is it going to be used for ? I got a playbook for 100 quid and its perfect for watching video on the move going on the net and reading emails .. Think the 16 gig ones are 170 now .. the only thing i find a little frustrating are lack of apps for highly supported things like no sky player, no skype, Netflix, love film etc .. other than that its a great bit of kit hardware wise.

glad I didn’t choose the iPad

Why?

From here I can reach an iPad and a Asus transformer. No contest, iPad all the time (and that’s where my own money went).

16:9 on the android just aint as good for anything but video, and the UI is laggy compared to my old 1st gen ipad. But the main thing is the lack of decent apps.

As the alternatives are just as expensive

correction, the high branded alternatives are as expensive, like Samsung.

There’s a lot of excellent hardware coming out of China now running Ice Cream Sandwich very well.

I have a tablet that cost £120, running various OS when I feel like it, and it’s excellent. 5 yr old stoner jr is now a dab hand with it too. Might need to get him one.

Mainly for watching videos, internet and I will be going to NZ in september so skype is fairly important.

Stoner- whats the website with them on?

http://gadgetfreakz.co.uk/
http://ipadalternative.com/

Minimum spec Id look at is IPS screen, 1ghz CPU.
I have an aurora. At the moment Im running a very slick build of gingerbread. It can also cope with ICS but I think it’s faster with 2.x

Check skype support on the OS first. Some are unspported in current ROMs.

I use mine for browsing, eBooks, movies, podcasts and music. And games. Does what I need well, and excellent battery live. IPS screen is awesome.

correction, the high branded alternatives are as expensive, like Samsung.

Ok, alternative that are as well spec’d ,as just as expensive.
I’ve read your cheap tablet threads with interest Stoner, but have also played with a cheap tablet, they simply don’t compare.
Though I don’t dismiss there part in the overall market, I didn’t want a device that was so compromised & don’t regret the price I had to pay to get it..

Thats the playbook out then , Looks like all the major brands are just trying to ignore the machine which is a bit Odd. RIM must have pissed someone off as they have been selling loads since they cut the price in half and updated the OS

It depends on what you want to use it for. We’ve been looking into tablets for a while and have got down to a shortlist of the Motorola Xoom 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The principal difference between the iPad and it’s main competitors is that the iPad is not Flash compatible, using HTML5 instead. As my better half uses Facebook a lot and the Flash-hosted applications therein, any portable internet access device we bought would have to be Flash compatible to make it a viable purchase – for us, your requirements may well be different. We actually sold a first generation iPad that we won in a raffle!

Apple’s ‘official’ main reason for favouring HTML5 over Flash is that Flash is used for the majortity of spam advertising banners, it is also far and away the most common medium for internet porn! Historically, Apple have always ploughed their own furrow, so to speak, so there may be an element of deliberate incompatability in there, you’d have to pop up to heaven and quiz Steve Jobs on that one though. HTML5 is becoming better supported by the day, probably due to Apple’s clout and the industry accepting it will have to dance to Apple’s tune or be left behind – the iPad ain’t going away any time soon. As mentioned in previous posts, there are more iPad apps out there than Android, this is largely due to Apple stealing the march with the original iPad. Android is catching up fast though, with most popular apps like Sky Player, Netflix etc being offered in iPad and Android versions.

The iPad does have an advantage in the compatible accessory market, with seemingly every man and his dog making stuff for it (both a by product and contributary factor of the global success of the iPad and iPod). The Samsung appears to be increasingly well supported in this area too though.

One last thing to consider is whether you want 3G or WiFi. A 3G device has it’s own sim card and can connect to the internet wherever there is a signal, just like a smartphone. A WiFi device is dependant on WiFi hotspots, such as your home, airports, McDonald’s etc. All of the major tablets, including iPads, come in both 3G and WiFi flavours.

Ok, alternative that are as well spec’d ,as just as expensive.

As my better half uses Facebook a lot and the Flash-hosted applications therein, any portable internet access device we bought would have to be Flash compatible to make it a viable purchase – for us, your requirements may well be different.

Have you tried flash on an android tablet? Just because it runs flash doesn’t mean it works, or works well in all cases.

The main problem is it’s generally designed for use with a mouse. E.g. how can you mouse-over something with a touch interface? you can’t. And how do you drag, and distinguish that from a scroll action etc. Some flash stuff you can full-screen, and then there’s no scrolling the page, but you drag instead….but in general, applications (flash or otherwise) designed for mouse use don’t work well with touch.

Standby battery life is also awful on the transformer, it’ll die just sat there for a few days. Other android tablets may be better of course.

10.1 galaxy tab here too its brilliant! .

as they have been selling loads since they cut the price in half and updated the OS

Loads compared to what? Certainly not compared to the iPad.

http://daringfireball.net/2011/11/fun_with_numbers

Higgo, glad to see your nice and up to date…

IA – Member

Have you tried flash on an android tablet? Just because it runs flash doesn’t mean it works, or works well in all cases.

If she wants to struggle with her bloody farms and fish and Christ-knows what else on a tablet, I’m going to leave her to it!

If she wants to struggle with her bloody farms and fish and Christ-knows what else on a tablet, I’m going to leave her to it!

haha, valid point 🙂

Apple’s ‘official’ main reason for favouring HTML5 over Flash is that Flash is used for the majortity of spam advertising banners,

The official reason is that Flash is the number one cause of all browser crashes and is frequently shown to have huge security holes in it.

it is also far and away the most common medium for internet porn!

No problem finding HTML5-based porn – and if your favourite grot is still using flash then there are several browsers that can transcode and play flash video on the fly.

I have equal access to a Transformer Prime and an iPad 2.

I use the Prime 90% of the time and play with the toy iPad…

I have equal access to a Transformer Prime and an iPad 2.

I use the Prime 90% of the time and play with the toy iPad…

Interesting, what do you prefer about the transformer? Genuinely interested, maybe I should give this one a second chance..

clarkpm4242 – Member

I have equal access to a Transformer Prime and an iPad 2.

I use the Prime 90% of the time and play with the toy iPad…

Awesome product name! Please tell me they do an ‘Optimus’ version…!

The Prime is miles better than the original Transformer. They are doing a new Infinity version.

You get the best of both worlds. Top class Andriod ICS tablet and/or an Ultraboook for half the price.

Connectivity etc so much more ‘open’ than iPad. Was away with 4 others this weekend, all candidates for iPad and iOS, none has gone Apple.

YMMV

You get the best of both worlds. Top class Andriod ICS tablet and/or an Ultraboook for half the price.

Half the price of what? A quick Google suggests a new 32GB Transformer Prime is £500-570

A new 32GB iPad 3 is £479.

Half the price of an Ultrabook. Prime is £499.

It has great build quality and can be used for work and play.

Cheers.

Ah right.

can be used for work and play.

Presumably you are stuck with Android though – or does it dual boot?

There’s a lot of excellent hardware coming out of China now running Ice Cream Sandwich very well.

It can be the best hardware in the world but hardware doesn’t sell tablets!

iPad has the best, most apps, very easy to use, intuitive interface and just works, no the hardware may not be the best but it sells in big numbers.

Remember the Betamax vs VHS debate….. Betamax had the better hardware, but the software sold VHS

Very happy with my iPad1 which is the device I spend most of my time on re: web browsing, email, downloaded content such as movies or BBC iPlayer etc. From an MTB perspective it’s great for forums and watching youtube/Vimeo. The iPad can drive your TV for watching content, movies etc. I no longer use my laptop, just the iPad and desktop computer (mac Mini)

To be honest I did not seriously consider any alternatives, why take the risk with an “unknown” as the iPad works really well.

I guess when the alternative is £120 and will do 99.999% of what the iPad 3 is typically used for people are tempted

I’m writing this on a Motorola XOOM 1 32gb, that I got about a month ago for £280, it’s great. That’s all.

Great stuff, compare a brand new cheap tablet to a year old ipad. If I add an ipad 3 to the table its drastically more powerful than either, comparing raw CPU MHZ is such a stupid way to go.

Massive Android fanboy here, own an SGS2 at the moment with custom roms and things, SGS1 before this, I’ve published an Android game. I’d still say ipads are better hardware than anything Android to date rather tragically. Very good battery life, very responsive operating system, absolutely crazy amounts of graphical power (like double a Transformer Prime) and a screen far better than anything else out.

I’ve heard nothing but bad stuff about the cheap Rockchips, it used to be the case that half the ones sold on ebay as 1ghz were 600mhz. You’ll have sod all compatibility with games and things running those as well, rather than the 100% the ipad will offer.

30 second Google search: U9GT2 – Sounds great! 🙄

Thanks very much for your views and opinions. I’m swayed towards the samsung at the moment

I have the Onda Vi40, or rather my five year old son does. http://gadgetfreakz.co.uk/tablet-pc/onda-vi40-elite-android-4-0-9-7-ips-tablet.html
It’s a great bit of kit, he uses it to play games and call me on Skype when I’m away. There are some downsides like the fact the power charger is a bit flimsy but at half the cost of the Ipad 2 (at the time) a bargain. It came with Android market and skype pre-installed so has been trouble free so far and the screen really is very good.

Samsung is slightly quicker in side by side tests on new devices opening the same webpages and using the general ui

Still bought an ipad as id already bought into ios with an iphone …means no rebuying media.

The samsungs are an ipad mirror image !

Have a look at the Allwinner A10 based tablets. I got a 7″ version for 85 quid that I’m taking out east purely for watching films and a bit of gaming and it’s perfect for that. 1Gb of RAM, 8Gb of NAND, 16Gb micro SD.

But… The iPad is better at being a complete solution. The hardware and software are less fractured and forked and it works as a unit better, but ICS is not too bad at doing the job.

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I’m writing this on a Motorola XOOM 1 32gb, that I got about a month ago for £280, it’s great. That’s all

+1 For Motorola XOOM 1 32gb. Using one here. Almost as slick as an ipad, hard to tell diference when not using side by side. For me the killer features are in built gps and sd card slot. Ipad doesn’t offer either of these. Galaxy tab 10.1 would have been a contender if it had the sd card slot, only very early models had it.

I went with a acer a500 does everything i need sd slot usb less than half the price of an ipad.

Had a Xoom but changed it for an iPad 3. Have not been disappointed

IME having owned and used both iOS and android tablets, the iPad wins. If only for the fact it’s not “force closed” anything

@ mark90, all 3G and 4G iPads have GPS, it’s only the wifi ones that go without

XOOM here too. I don’t doubt an iPad3 is better, but remember that a XOOM is 270 quid!