Funnily enough I have/had 4 iPhone 4s in our household - none of them suffered from the death grip adversely - sure if you held them as tight as you can in both hands the signal would drop - but which phone doesn't, and do you really make calls like that?
I've been asked a few times about android or apple, I look after an Apple office, we've got MacBook Air's, servers, iPads and iPhones, I have an iPhone 4 & an Android (Xperia S) and my answer to those questions is this.. Do you want to take it out of the box and just use it without playing around trying lots of different apps to find one that does work, but only get to 95% of what you want? Then get an Apple device... If you're happy to waste days tweeking and testing but want it exactly how you want then Android...
I'm using the Xperia S mainly these days but only becuase of the bigger display - 4" iPhone 5 will see me back to Apple.
semi-working functionality
I'd be interested to hear what you feel is 'semi-working'. I've got a Sensation, OH has an iPhone, and there's very little to separate the two in terms of functionality. I can count the number of times either of us has thought "I wish my phone did what yours does" on the fingers of one foot. Only real difference is interface and workflow; Android works for me and Apple for her, neither of us would like to swap.
Apple do release half arsed things they just call it design and waft magic smoke - you remember the phone that didn't make phone calls etc
Not to mention the first release of MacOS X. Still, if I were to choose between a high-end iPad and a similarly priced Android tablet, I'd have got the iPad.
The Iphone 4 that only worked if you held it a certain way or bought a different case
Oh that. You mean the phone that made phone calls just fine, but holding some early run versions in a special way sometimes caused worse reception for people on a flaky US network, resulting in a huge twitterstorm and blogasm about nothing? Which was then addressed by offering full refunds or free cases?
(I have my iPhone 4 in front of me, sans-case. If I squeeze hard enough on the [i]"special point"[/i], with moistened fingers, I can sometimes get it to drop 1 bar off the full 3G reception. It's really a complete non-issue for me).
Do you want to take it out of the box and just use it without playing around trying lots of different apps to find one that does work, but only get to 95% of what you want? Then get an Apple device... If you're happy to waste days tweeking and testing but want it exactly how you want then Android...
Sound advice.
I too had a Desire, worked fine, but ran out of memory, so I upgraded to Sensation. Big mistake.
Problems....
The ability to remain on the network, Desire worked fine, Sensation spends hours unable to connect. I started with Vodafone, then switched to T-Mobile. Both are hopeless with the Sensation.
Data connection can drop off for days...Some days I have to constantly reboot to try to get to connect for mobile data, even if the phone has good signal strength for calls.
Screen won’t turn on, once every few day’s it just won’t turn on...have to take the battery out to get it to work.
Bluetooth, only let’s me switch it off once. After one switchoff, it won’t restart until I take the battery out, so it has to be left on all the time.
Sounds like what you've got isn't "semi-working functionality that Android devices have", rather you've got a broken phone. Have you considered getting it repaired / replaced?
Just bought an Archos® Arnova 7F G3 off staples for £81, will report back.
http://www.staples.co.uk/technology-promotions/tablets/arnova-7f-g3-8gb-black
Just got the Asus Transformer Prime. First impression: its bloody lovely. keyboard dock is ace, and tablet itself just feels "right".
🙂
Sounds like what you've got isn't "semi-working functionality that Android devices have", rather you've got a broken phone. Have you considered getting it repaired / replaced?
I think it's pretty unlikey the phone is broken, given that I work 10 feet from someone who also has a Senstation, on a different network, who has similar issues with connectivity. He also upgraded from a Desire, which worked fine, and now has loads of connection problems with a Sensation.
Added to this, there is a ton of people with the same phone who have the same problems, i think it's pretty unlikely to be the phone?
Maybe his is broken too.
Maybe you've both installed the same app which is causing problems. Are you using a task killer? Have you installed a custom ROM? Do the issues persist after a factory reset before you've installed anything else?
If it's unlikely to be broken, what are you suggesting it is instead? Do you think it was designed like that? That's clearly not the case, as aside from the fact it'd be bloody stupid, mine is fine. So it's not inherent in all Sensations, unless mine has a fault which makes it work correctly.
If there are a 'ton' of people with the same problem, and assuming it's not self inflicted, perhaps there's a bad batch kicking about. They should send theirs back too.
So, had the Transformer over the weekend. and its going back for a refund tomorrow...
Docking station battery was capput and wouldn't charge, and unfortunatly the problems with the wifi I'd heard about (ie its a bit rubbish) turned out to be true.
Real shame, cos using it was great.
should have got the ipad...
The Iphone 4 that only worked if you held it a certain way or bought a different case
Funny how all the reports came from America...
...and it was a demonstratable issue with phones from Nokia, Samsung, etc.
Nice of Apple to give away a Belkin case, though; it's kept my phone pristine, despite being dropped on concrete a couple of times.
And I never noticed any significant drop-off without it, probably because O2 has a better network that AT&T does. 😀
Funny how all the reports came from America...
never had a problem with mine in the UK, a week in tampa and my phone was barely useable and when I could get a call through the quality was shocking.
should have got the ipad
Main reason I wanted the Android was ability to recognise and play WMA files as that's what most of my collection is in. I don't really want to re-record/convert it.
Also like the ability to easily read SD cards, and expand memory, plugin USB devices etc.
and the keyboard on the dock is really good, much beter than just using the tablet for typing longer emails (or forum posts)
The reports of WiFi problems put me off the Prime too. After deliberating between various Android tablets for months, I went ahead and ordered the Acer Iconia A510 on Saturday (the olympic branding didn't put me off as it'll be hidden in a case), and took delivery of it about 10 minutes ago. Which was great until I realised that the price on Amazon has literally just dropped by £15.... 🙄
Never look at prices after you buy something - this will only ever lead to swearing. 😆
Well I've yet to see it credited back, but the nice virtual lady I've just spoken to at Amazon said she'll refund the difference as a one-time-only exception to their rule that they won't price-match post order.
I think I'm going to save my pennies for the Asus Infinity when its available now.
I have just bought the Nexus 7 for my o/h for her birthday.
Only had it one weekend, but it really is a good piece of kit. Well put together, very fast and the screen depth and colors are amazing.
Yes, it is at the cheaper end of the market, but the way I see it a large number of these will be sold which means there will be plenty of aftermarket mods and add-ons to enhance it.
Have you thought about the forthcoming [url= http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-gets-unboxed-102884/ ]Galaxy Tab 10.1[/url] - should be announced 15th August.
I have just bought the Nexus 7 for my o/h for her birthday.Only had it one weekend, but it really is a good piece of kit. Well put together, very fast and the screen depth and colors are amazing.
We looked at it this weekend, only playing not a serious test, as the OH wanted a Kindle and I suggested the Nexus as an alternative with more uses (& to stop her stealing my ipad). She/we were seriously impressed what a great bit of kit in a nice size for travelling, trouble was it's double the price of a kindle (still a great price for a tablet) and you still have the whole screen glare issue (same as any tablet), so she went for the kindle much to my disappointment....
What she didn't get in the slightest was the ability of an android to customise the screens, "why? whats the point" was her comment...
bit of an update on this.
Having sent the Transfomer Prime back for a refund, I bought a reconditioned TF300 from the same shop for £330. Same inside as the Prime, but a plastic case and not Super ISC screen, just ISC.
All was well, until I realised the battery in the tablet bit wouldn't charge above 50% capacity. So that went back to Asus.
Got it repaired under warranty - it was physically ok, but the firmware needed changing. Got it back last week, and its had an upgrade to Jellybean, and I can say its bl00dy ace.
Configured it to see my NAS, so I can copy photos from SD card, which just plugs neatly into the slot, happily enjoying it. 🙂
The Iphone 4 that only worked if you held it a certain way or bought a different case
I had the problem myself. Hand across the two sides of the metal aerial and it killed the signal. Mine was a fairly early iPhone 4 though.
what is the appeal of a tablet anyway?
its either a large clumsy smart phone .
or a very low spec, limited, laptop .
and it costs twice as much as either without any benefits .
🙄
what is the appeal of a tablet anyway?
The main reasons I got a tablet are thus:
Instant on - no waiting for it to boot up, it just works
Compact - Much smaller than a laptop makes it easier to surf on the sofa with
Touch screen - much better interface for general browsing and navigating around stuff than a mouse.
Wipe clean - ahem.
The only real downsides are when you want to input data but this is still perfectly acceptable, just doesn't type quite as well as a normal keyboard.
in respect of the OP, I have now had an iPad 2 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1. I would choose the Samsung every time as it allows you a degree of customization and freedom from the Apple ecosystem of which I am not a huge fan. the iPad screen is subtly better and the build quality of the iPad is definitely a premium feel but it was £150 more when new and not worth the extra to lock yourself out of the android world.
what is the appeal of a tablet anyway?
Instant on. Much lighter. Much longer battery life. Much cooler (laptops get very hot). Much better interface (iPad touch screen). Apps are much cheaper than "software". Better platform for email/web browsing/watching movies
I haven't read most the thread, too long. Though I thought I would add my view.
I am fairly brand agnostic though dislike the monopoly that is Apple.
Below is my device inventory.
Works laptop = Windows 7
Home netbook = Ubuntu 12.04
Works phone = Motorola running custom Android ROM
Tablet = iPad v3 32Gb (no wifi)
Note: I had the choice of an iPhone 4, recently used it for a week and decided to stick with the Android because I prefer Android on a phone rather than iOS.
After much research the tablet I purchased was an iPad, despite not being an "Apple person". Reason being is the quality of the apps and the continued support for the OS (ignoring iOS6 / iPad v1).
I avoid the use of iTunes because my Ubuntu netbook recognises the iPad (out of the box) and allows me to upload photos, films, routes, maps, etc.
what is the appeal of a tablet anyway?its either a large clumsy smart phone .
or a very low spec, limited, laptop .
That's what everyone thinks before they own one.
Try this: lie down on your sofa, open the latest Singletrack from the digital archive. Now hold your laptop up in one hand and read it as you would a magazine.
Arms getting tired yet? Fed up of the crap resolution yet? Annoyed you have to keep reaching for the trackpad/keyboard to turn the page?
Or are you still waiting for the laptop to boot up and update the virus scanner, do Windows updates, update Flash and Adobe Reader.. etc etc?
As someone who was initially fairly sceptical about the tablet form factor I've been pleased with how much use I've got out of mine.
However, as the owner of an iPad 3 I can't recommend high end Android tablets highly enough...
Low spec and limited: I think not.
I took a load of video on the new iPad yesterday and spliced it together using Splice (free).
Exported all the individual videos to the laptop and spliced them together using DVD Videopad and exported them to an AVI
Having converted both the AVI file and the MOV file to mp4s I find that there is virtually no difference in quality between the files. The file direct from the iPad may be very, very slightly better, but that's probably because it went through one fewer conversion.
Oh, and I think that Splice did the stitching marginally faster, too, despite the fact that the laptop has a reasonable spec.
Post sent while lying on the settee holding said iPad in one hand...
as the owner of an iPad 3 I can't recommend high end Android tablets
I completely agree 😉
The shoddy cut and paste let's you down as well?! 😀
That's what everyone thinks before they own one.
We own one. My OH loves it. I don't really get it.
Or, rather, I do, I just don't think it's for me. I understand all the benefits; but personally, it's too big to be truly portable and yet lacking features to be a viable laptop replacement. It occupies a niche that, for me, doesn't really exist.
Perhaps with a keyboard-case I might change my mind, but it all just seems a little trivial. You've got this killer piece of very expensive technology and the vast, vast majority of people I see with iPads are either watching movies or playing some shallow game that looks like it just escaped from Facebook. Which, y'know, is fine and all, but I'd like to see a bit more meat on the bone. Bugger 'Angry Birds', where's World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Halo, Skyrim? Why aren't people editing spreadsheets and creating presentations on them? Surely this thing is capable of far much more.
are you still waiting for the laptop to... update Flash
To be fair though, I could get an identical user experience to the iPad simply by uninstalling Flash.
where's World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto is pretty good on the iPad actually.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/software/3339154/grand-theft-auto-3-for-ipad-review/
Especially for £3
"[i]I have now had an iPad 2 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1. I would choose the Samsung every time[/i]"
Blimey.
I come from the position of generally hating Apple stuff, and of loving Android (Froyo/Gingerbread) on my phones, and...
I bought an iPad, which was nice enough but eventually I got frustrated by the shoddy iOS5 app store and the usual Apple things like not talking to very much via Bluetooth and generally just being a bit [i]Appley[/i] about everything.
So I sold it and bought a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.
And whilst it was nice to be able to install different keyboards and tweak all sorts of things, it was the biggest pile of toilet I'd bought in ages. A horrid thing to use, worse in every way than the iPad. I'd expected that, but only to a marginal degree -- but it had appallingly bad lag between touching the screen and it registering, which made everything infuriating and some things entirely unusable. Plus I could list a whole bunch of ways in which the ICS usability sucked (not helped by a couple of Samsung's 'enhancements') and is worse than 2.*.
So I sent it back and bought an iPad again.
A TF300 would be an interesting proposition, almost solely from the point of view of using AIDE, but as a general tabletty sort of a tablet I've not seen anything come even close to the iPad.
Oh, and another thing is that iPlayer on iOS is a joy, whereas iPlayer on Android is a complete half-arsed Friday afternoon lemon of an implementation which is a dog to use and seems insistent on using the lowest-quality stream it can get its hands on.
All change with Iplayer shortly.
For most tablets are a toy, some an expensive toy some a cheap one.
I'd probably use one if I had one but no way could I justify the price of an apple offering (even if I wanted one)
At home my phone does enough and the TV is powered by a PC anyway so it's always on, most of our PC's are either always on/in powersave/hibinate do no real lag on startup. As for updates these happen at night.
With the Nexus 7 in the market now I would expect an improvement in usability from android.
As for work it's laptop all the way so no point in carrying a second device for playing with.
I don't know if its the Jellybean upgrade, but my TF300 is now performing spot on. Touch screen is VERY resposnsive, no obvious lag at all.
