Amazon Tablet May Cost Hundreds Less Than iPad

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

So people who buy iThings do so because they think it makes them cooler than others?

Whereas you seem to think that not buying them makes you clever than others?

I question the rationality of both.

Even I, a person who runs miles to stay out of dead end arguments such as this, have to respond here.
You will see, if you look at my device list, an iPad listed.
When they first came out, I thought, "Hey, those are cool..." but that's about as far as it went. Last spring, my husband caught what I am now calling "tablet fever". We both did, to an extent. We researched, talked about, and read reviews, and researched some more - ad infinitum, ad nauseum. One evening, after a loooong day, my husband woke up from a nap and said, "I'm DREAMING about damned tablets. We're going to go buy an iPad." After making sure he wasn't still sleeping (Chris is notorious for being "meh" about Apple products), I happily went along.
As soon as he found out you can't connect an iPad to a PC/Mac with a USB cable and instantly access a folder structure, he was out of that game. The iPad became mine. I offered to let him return it, but he saw that I really was enjoying it so the next day, he went and got him an eminently hackable Android tablet, (which he has since sold).
The iPad is still hanging around - I actually USE it - for reading, recreation, and even some *gasp* schoolwork/productivity. It's not going to replace my desktop anytime soon, but it did replace my convertible netbook/tablet that ran Windows...

The point here? We didn't buy an iPad because we thought it would make us cool. Both of us are confirmed geeks, and to be quite honest, secure enough in our personalities to not care what too many people think of us.
We didn't NOT buy an iPad because that would make us even cooler. We basically got it out of curiosity and frustration, LOL, and then I just happened to like it.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by =X=

It's a catch 22 for Amazon. If they chose to alter the OS like B&N their on their own and the latest Android OS they'll be running is Gingerbread. The product will be obsolete the minute it comes out.

Given that Google has not released the HC source and if you noticed not one vendor has altered the HC interface I'd be surprised if Amazon comes out with a skinned OS that has HC.

Also using the B&N approach goes against what Amazon is doing which is promoting it's Appstore which is open to any android device. Really the best play for Amazon is to ship with the latest version of Android and have their apps heavily integrated with the OS.

However I have this sinking feeling Amazon won't do that. What I suspect will happen is they will have a 7" model that uses the B&N approach and their Hollywood model 10" will be an Android tablet unmodified.
=X=

Actually Samsung has or is slapping TouchWhiz to the Galaxy Tab 10.1

[stonetools]

(snip irrelevant stuff, ad hominem, and Apple bashing)

Most people with any technical background will tell you Flash is not a satisfactory solution.

So you are bashing Apple because they didn't offer an unsatisfactory solution on the iPad?
Sure, Android offered choice. But so what? Flash was a bad choice for mobile devices. Wasn't Apple just simply right about that?
I'll add that Apple's stance on Flash has helped push HTML 5 development, which most techies think is a Good Thing. Doesn't Apple get credit for that?

Apple has tended to push out fading and obsolescent technologies in pursuit of better use experience (remember the floppy disk?) . Their stance on Flash will eventually been seen as forward looking and correct.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

It is okay for you to not like Apple products, or the iPad in particular.

It is offensive, insulting, and stupid for you and people like you to keep insisting that people who buy iPads are idiots who are swayed by marketing and are only interested in looking cool.

This may be hard for you to understand, but for most people the iPad is the superior product. This is why it is massively outselling competing tablets - because it is better overall than the competition. Which is obvious if you are a regular consumer - Netflix wasn't even available on Android until two months ago. I mean, I agree that not having flash can be a minor inconvenience sometimes - but not having netflix on a tablet is terminally stupid, since one of their big selling points is *watching videos.*

The relative absence of apps - while now improving for Android - is another reason the 30 million so-called idiots went for the iPad.

I mean, look at Xoom's marketing - significant because it was the first Honeycomb tablet. It was only offered at $200 above the cheapest iPad, and at $100 over the most popular iPad. While flash and expandable storage were theoretical advantages, the Xoom shipped with neither functioning, but a promise to make them work later. (Which they did a few months later...but seriously, who wants to buy something unfinished?).

Finally, although not really of importance to normal consumers, the Android tablets all made the mistake of running Tegra 2, a somewhat dated processor that sometimes struggles with animations (particularly where a tablet isn't running straight Android). Or, as Anandtech put it "Apple outfitted the iPad 2 with a pair of ARM Cortex A9s and a GPU significantly faster than anything else on the market."

In short, people bought iPads because the competition sucked. Not because they are easily manipulable fools.

(And it's silly for Android fans to pretend that only Apple fans are concerned with coolness - there's just as much trendiness in being "open source," running Linux, and posing as being too sophisticated to use Apple products as there is in using Apple).

But, seriously, who knowingly buys an unfinished product?

I would have to disagree, the reason for the Xoom's not taking off after much hype has ALOT more to do with it pricing it at $799 and $699 w/a 2 year contract. Motorola F&*^% this launch by getting into bed with Verizon and not releasing a 16 g wifi only model. And much the same for the others who launched shortly after.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer was the first Honecomb hit , it was priced it at $399, offered something unique and was wifi only with no contract. They sold very well with basically no mainstream advertising, virtually no physical store presence etc. Basically underground "word of mouth" it became the wise guy's choice.

I would love tho hear how in what way shape or form is the iPad "superior"
aspect ratio
4:3 horrible for watching movies
no connectivity without buying extra conncections for Apple
total tied to iTunes
no memory expansion
No USB ports
No HDMI connection without a dongle
No Sd card reader
basically very little customization

but you're right it does have that apple logo on the back that does make it superior

and oh before you start running off about apps, for one Android tablet app market has grown alot and second what app is absolutley essential in ipad optimized format that is not available via it's website? Phones it's different because of screen size, tablets bank of america app is not better than the actual website, especially when most apps are nothing more than shortcuts to the respective mobile websites.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by stonetools

(snip irrelevant stuff, ad hominem, and Apple bashing)



So you are bashing Apple because they didn't offer an unsatisfactory solution on the iPad?
Sure, Android offered choice. But so what? Flash was a bad choice for mobile devices. Wasn't Apple just simply right about that?
I'll add that Apple's stance on Flash has helped push HTML 5 development, which most techies think is a Good Thing. Doesn't Apple get credit for that?

Apple has tended to push out fading and obsolescent technologies in pursuit of better use experience (remember the floppy disk?) . Their stance on Flash will eventually been seen as forward looking and correct.

I think what you are failing to grasp is Flash is not going anywhere anytime soon. Your lord and Master Steve-o said Flash would be dead by now and guess what it's not and not even close.

the second is with Android products you have both Flash and HTLM5 does this not sink in at all? Android no worries you have choice and you can even turn off flash if you so desire. Apple your choice has been made for you.

[stonetools]

Its superior by the only standard that truly matters in the end-acceptance by the people.

I would love tho hear how in what way shape or form is the iPad "superior"
aspect ratio
4:3 horrible for watching movies
no connectivity without buying extra conncections for Apple
total tied to iTunes
no memory expansion
No USB ports
No HDMI connection without a dongle
No Sd card reader
basically very little customization

This is a laundry list of things that geeks think are important-and which have been ignored by the average consumer when offered in other tablets. Sure, if you measure by features and specs the iPad is inferior. Consumers, however, measure by how easy and intuitive it is to use the product to do things that they enjoy. Guess what? The Ipad consistently wins there.

If I wanted to rip CDs to my computer and transfer the music to my Andriod device, I had to deal with instructions like "Mount USB device" and go through the kind of rigmarole that techies will put up with, but which I find frustrating. To transfer music to my Ipad, the steps were:

1. Use Itunes to rip CDs
2. Connect my Ipad to my computer
3. ??? There is no (3)!

Just about everything on the Ipad is that simple.
You can't just dismiss the App Store either. the App Store really is superior to the Android market in just about every way right now-and there's no malware. THere really is more content available in ITunes and its easier to buy it, download it, organize it and enjoy it than going to the several different stores in the Android Market.
The Ipad is superior because the USER EXPERIENCE is superior. This is something that geeks, with their hardware and specs fixation, just don't grasp-and maybe never well.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Its superior by the only standard that truly matters in the end-acceptance by the people.



This is a laundry list of things that geeks think are important-and which have been ignored by the average consumer when offered in other tablets. Sure, if you measure by features and specs the iPad is inferior. Consumers, however, measure by how easy and intuitive it is to use the product to do things that they enjoy. Guess what? The Ipad consistently wins there.

If I wanted to rip CDs to my computer and transfer the music to my Andriod device, I had to deal with instructions like "Mount USB device" and go through the kind of rigmarole that techies will put up with, but which I find frustrating. To transfer music to my Ipad, the steps were:

1. Use Itunes to rip CDs
2. Connect my Ipad to my computer
3. ??? There is no (3)!

Just about everything on the Ipad is that simple.
You can't just dismiss the App Store either. the App Store really is superior to the Android market in just about every way right now-and there's no malware. THere really is more content available in ITunes and its easier to buy it, download it, organize it and enjoy it than going to the several different stores in the Android Market.
The Ipad is superior because the USER EXPERIENCE is superior. This is something that geeks, with their hardware and specs fixation, just don't grasp-and maybe never well.

for one there is no rigamore when transferring songs from your computer to an android phone, you select USB connection Whooopeee tee doo. Your computer see's your phone and drag and drop Ohhhhh soo difficult. whatever.

Ok since aspect ratio is too much of a geek term for you to comprehend I will put in is simple language for you iUsers to understand.

4:3 Aspect ratio think of a square, it's the old standard format. Think of your old CRT , whoops I'm sorry, more geek terms. Think of your old really big TV. Now remember when you are playing your DVD's that were widescreen? And remember those big black bars you would see on the top and bottom? yes that is the iPad Aspect ratio

now let's go to honeycomb tablets. 16:9 is widescreen. think of a rectangle. Now when watching wide screen movies, you will either have less black bars on the top or bottom or none at all. Depending on how the movie was shot.

now on your iPad you will see big black bars or even bigger blackbars making the viewing of a movie much less desireable.

So you ask a regular consumer, just a regular joe what would you rather watch a movie on, full screen with little or no black bars or watching a movie with some or alot of black bars or distorted picture to fill the screen?

You don't have to be a geek to appeciate 16:9 vs 4:3 when talking about multimedia playback.

Also the average joe knows what an Sd card is. People have been using digital camera's for how many years now? So let's say two people go on vacation to Alaska, certainly a place you would want to use a great camera and not your cell phone to take photo's. Person A has an iPad person B has Toshiba Thrive we'll say. both are using a high Nikon camera taking great shots of the Alaskian wildlife. You get back on the boat or back at the hotel, Person A fumbles through his luggage to find his dongle and his photo rigamarue to set up his photo's on his iPad.
Person B pops his Sd Card directly into Toshiba and his photo's are uploading.

So yes let's talk about user experience shall we

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by stonetools

This is a laundry list of things that geeks think are important-and which have been ignored by the average consumer when offered in other tablets.

You keep using that word [geek]. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by boswd

for one there is no rigamore when transferring songs from your computer to an android phone, you select USB connection Whooopeee tee doo. Your computer see's your phone and drag and drop Ohhhhh soo difficult. whatever.

You could probably explain that without sounding quite so obnoxious.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

I agree with much of what you say, but, the XOOM price thing annoys me. The equivalent XOOM and iPad are identical in cost (in the UK, anyway). Oh, and flash worked straight out of the box, didn't it?

The equivalent Xoom and iPad (32 G/ 3G) cost the same in the US, too. However, the most popular iPad is the 32G wifi, which is $100 less, and the second most popular is the 16G wifi, which costs $200 less. It's not that they are charging more for an equivalent product; it's that they are not offering a popular, less expensive product. And that they may have lost potential customers because of this.

The Xoom was released on 2/24; the update enabling flash was released on 3/11 (at least in the US). So it was a couple of weeks.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by stonetools

So you are bashing Apple because they didn't offer an unsatisfactory solution on the iPad?

So let me get this straight. Saying people want choice is Apple bashing?

And for the record I was not bashing Apple I was bashing you.

Originally Posted by stonetools

Sure, Android offered choice. But so what? Flash was a bad choice for mobile devices. Wasn't Apple just simply right about that?

Not so, I enjoy flash just fine thank you.

Originally Posted by stonetools

I'll add that Apple's stance on Flash has helped push HTML 5 development, which most techies think is a Good Thing. Doesn't Apple get credit for that?

I don't know if you a re being serious or just having fun but if you think Apple is the prime mover behind HTML 5 then there is no way a person could have an educated discussion with you.

Originally Posted by stonetools

how easy and intuitive it is to use the product to do things that they enjoy. Guess what? The Ipad consistently wins there.

My wife had her Android phone configured and running in 15min with no help from me. Inversely her iPad sat for a week on her desk because it's so "intuitive". It required her to install iTunes, create an Apple ID, and create an iTunes account. BTW her solution was to get this "geek" to set it up for her.

Originally Posted by stonetools

If I wanted to rip CDs to my computer and transfer the music to my Andriod device, I had to deal with instructions like "Mount USB device" and go through the kind of rigmarole that techies will put up with, but which I find frustrating. To transfer music to my Ipad, the steps were:

1. Use Itunes to rip CDs
2. Connect my Ipad to my computer
3. ??? There is no (3)!

Obviously you know little to nothing of Android. So let me rewrite your list.

1. Use Itunes to rip CDs
2. ??? There is no (2)!

With apps like doubletwist you iTunes account would be synced wirelessly.


Since your a Apple Geek let me ask you this.

My son has an iPod touch how do I backup the images without having to sync his music and apps first. I don't have enough diskspace to backup the apps. His Apple ID account has been disabled somehow so we can't install any additional apps.

=X=

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

The equivalent Xoom and iPad (32 G/ 3G) cost the same in the US, too. However, the most popular iPad is the 32G wifi, which is $100 less, and the second most popular is the 16G wifi, which costs $200 less. It's not that they are charging more for an equivalent product; it's that they are not offering a popular, less expensive product. And that they may have lost potential customers because of this.

The Xoom was released on 2/24; the update enabling flash was released on 3/11 (at least in the US). So it was a couple of weeks.

So, just to be straight, equivalent Xooms and pads are identically priced. iPad is better because it offers cheaper , lower specified options? By that logic, Fords are better than Rolls Royces, simply because they offer lower priced, lower specced, alternatives?

XOOM was released later in the UK with flash working immediately hence my confusion.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

So, just to be straight, equivalent Xooms and pads are identically priced. iPad is better because it offers cheaper , lower specified options? By that logic, Fords are better than Rolls Royces, simply because they offer lower priced, lower specced, alternatives?

XOOM was released later in the UK with flash working immediately hence my confusion.

Did you guys get the SD card slot activated on launch? I think they just added that here this month.

[HappyMartin]

Sorry guys but this has to be the dumbest most pointless argument on MR at the moment. Different people like different stuff and like doing things in different ways.

Some people like coffee and some like tea. If someone likes something you hate it does not mean they are stupid and that little uncertainty in your own mind that tells you that you could be wrong won't go away when you yell at someone else.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by kjk

Did you guys get the SD card slot activated on launch? I think they just added that here this month.

No. We got it with the 3.1 update.