I have an Archos 70 Internet Tablet. Android 2.2 (Froyo) with a 250GB hard drive. It's 7 inches instead of 10 (they have a 10.1 inch model - bigger screen than iPad, thinner than iPad, lighter than iPad). It doesn't come with the Google Market (Archos has some gay thing called AppsLib), but the first thing I did was download and install the apk so I could have it. It has tethering, so if you don't have a WiFi connection you can use your phone's 3G connection to connect to the Internet. Archos is about to come out with an optimized version of Flash for the device, so I can't wait. The Archos 70IT 250GB model cost $350 (same as the 10.1 inch 16GB flash model). All the other models are significantly cheaper than that. The price and the 250GB HDD is what sealed the deal for me.
I'm leaning heavily towards the ipad2 when it comes out. Nothing can beat the sheer volume of apps that the ipad/iphone has.
No way ... I'm getting a Honeycomb tablet, unless HP just blows everybody out of the water with their tablet announcement. Google is doing some phenomenal things with the Android platform and I want in on it. Besides, Apple's A4 chip is slow as molasses now compared to what's out there, particularly NVIDIA's Tegra 2 and the TI OMAP4.
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I've used my iphone 4 pretty heavily lately. It runs some phenomenal games. I rarely curse the lack of flash, and the processor handles all of the apps well. The only thing that's really lacking is a bigger screen. Which is what the ipad offers. I know that 'droid is making strides and may even be superior to IOS. And the curse of hardware is that there is always something faster right around the corner. Who cares if you have a Ferrari if you can only drive it down the dirt road? I'm not pro-anything. I will buy the hardware that will get the most use. Its like Mac vs PC. I see the upside of the Mac OS, but Windows runs everything I need and much much more.
You've got to be kidding me if you're comparing Android market to a "dirt road". Android Market is huge, and there are plenty of applications available on Android now that iOS doesn't. That's not even mentioning Google's own applications, such as Maps 5.0 with Navigation and 3D street view (which by the way has an upcoming augmented reality update that makes anything available now look like trash), or Google TV integration, or Android's advanced speech input. In fact, on the other hand I'd dare you to name one compelling reason why one should choose iOS over Android now other than "it looks pretty and smooth". Your A4 processor may handle your apps well now (at least as long as it's allowed to only run one at a time), but throw in future app requirements and watch it buckle. Want to hook up your 3D game to your HDTV and play? Want to record 1080p video? Or even *watch* HD video? Fuggedaboutit. I'm pretty sure Apple's pinning their hopes for making a splash on adding an LTE radio to the iPhone for the VZW launch. Big whoop.
you can watch any dvd you can encode. Also, it does display many video formats, I believe... .mov, .mp4 and the Great wall of flashprevention will come down eventually.
Apple's strategy to make products that are fantastically easy to use and not future proof enough to kill future sales is brilliant. I have an iPhone 3G that I got X-mas '08 that I've been looking to upgrade for almost a year. My issue with your line of thinking about future proofing is that most people that can afford to buy these products do end up by the next generation anyway. I know several people who went iPhone to 3G to 3GS to 4 in some combination. If those features you list become so ubiquitous in time, Apple will end up putting them in the next generation and the people buying that cycle will get the benefits of that feature VERY well polished.
Heck, for some of them you don't even need that anymore. (not that I know that firsthand or anything) lol Weren't you the big 'WebOS Guy'? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else. Anyhow, Xero specifically mentioned games. Android is lagging behind horribly in that department. Hell, Windows Phone 7 will probably pass it up in the next year. And lots of other apps tend to get released later on Android, sometimes much later. (I wouldn't even be surprised if, with their huge stacks of cash and resources, Windows starts making a dent in Android there too). "Dirt road' might be a little bit much, but he has some valid points in comparing the app availability.
After using an iPhone for the past 2 years, and having switched over to Android with the new Nexus S, the app selection and quality is not even close. Android still has a far way to go.
I bought an iPad on black Friday. I must say for browsing the web it's great. Perfect for sitting on the couch. The app selection is by far the best. I wouldn't worry about the strain on the eyes. You can always dim the brightness or switch the color on the screen. It's good for watching movies and tv shows you can always download the nook, kindle and iBooks and google bookstore you have 4 bookstores to choose from. It really does feel like a book. I find it faster to look up something fast on the iPad than it would be to look it up on the computer Some of the other tablets are good too but apple does a great job on the user experience. Vizio is coming out with a tablet this summer. I'd wait on the iPad 2 since FaceTime is almost a guarantee.
You still not understanding. It still does not support FLASH. It's just a better web browser than the POS Safari and the sites you're going that look like Flash video are actually html5 websites supported.
Yeah, I'm pretty big on WebOS and I still think it is the best mobile OS there is -- it's just waiting on good hardware to match. Obviously Apples app store has been around much longer than Android market, but Android has caught up tremendously in recent months. When it comes to the stuff that matters, the apps are there for Android. The one area where it still lags iOS is gaming (heck, I think it even lags WebOS in that department), but with new hardware capabilities chips like the Tegra 2 offer, that won't remain the same for long. The future is very, very bright for the Android platform the way I see it, and there are possibilities there that are not available in Apple's closed, tightly-controlled ecosystem. Honeycomb looks simply amazing. I won't disagree, for many people the iPad meets their needs for right now, but the bar has been raised by Google. I hope HP raises the bar again with their WebOS announcement in February, but right now, it's an Android world.
