Quote:
Originally Posted by Sregener
Maybe true, maybe not. You're paying a lot for the Apple name, the Apple arrogance, and the Apple Sandbox experience. Is it really that much better than an Android 4.2 device that it justifies double the price? I don't believe so.
And many games that you must buy for IOS are available as free, ad-supported versions for Android. So you can try them out and see if they're any good before spending any money, and then if it's worth it, you can buy the ad-free version. That's a money-saver as well.
Want to develop apps for IOS? Buy yourself a $99/year subscription to the development kit. Android? Free. Have a PC and want to develop apps for IOS? Um... no; at least not officially.
Did the latest version of IOS make your device a mess? Downgrade quickly or you'll never be allowed to. Apple decide to stop supporting your device? Nobody else can release a patch to fix what ails it.
The iPad is good. Very good. But Android is not far behind, and may be far ahead for some users. Openness counts for something, too.
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I'm personally a fan of Android and hoping that Google does what is necessary to close the gap even further, but there is still a significant difference in apps. Some of it caused by the no-cost entrance into the Android app market (the $99 entry fee on the iOS side helps keep some of the riff-raff out), some of it caused by the OS and APIs themselves. This is where the reputation of a particular app ecosystem plays an important role. In Google Play, developers pop in, then they pop out. The impression left is that there are many fly-by-night developers who will disappear (never to support or update their app again).
This causes people to be hesitant to pay for apps. I'm not saying that nobody pays for Android apps, but studies have shown that a larger percentage of iOS users pay for apps than Android users pay for apps.
I'm not against paying for quality apps. But I need to have a certain comfort level that the developer created a quality app in the first place and that they will be around to provide bug fixes. I'm talking about the features that are present in the current version of an app that I'm paying for... not some expectation of a future feature to be included. My comfort level is high for the iOS app store... not so high for the Android markets.
And I've yet to encounter an Android tablet of comparable size and weight that offers the same battery life as an iPad.