Posted on 09/13/2010 3:01:39 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Gingerbread seems likely to be tablet-friendly OS
Android not ready to power iPad rivals, says Google
Google has stated that it currently isn't using Android on any tablets, hinting that it will have a tablet-centric OS soon.
Although Gingerbread and Honeycomb have been strongly tipped to be tablet-friendly versions of Android, this is the first time Google has confirmed Froyo isn't a platform for iPad rivals.
While some will point to the Galaxy Tab as the flaw in this statement, the device features all the connectivity of the Galaxy S, making it essentially a larger phone rather than a standalone tablet.
"Android is an open platform. We saw at IFA 2010 all sorts of devices running Android, so it already running on tablets," said Hugo Barra, director of products for mobile at Google.
Android Market not for tablets
"But the way Android Market works is it's not going to be available on devices that don't allow applications to run correctly.
"Which devices do, and which don't will be unit specific, but Froyo is not optimised for use on tablets.
"If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn't run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor.
"We want to make sure that we're going to create a application distribution mechanism for the Android market, to ensure our users have right experience."
This echoes comments made by Archos to TechRadar at IFA, stating that Google is looking for the 'wow factor' with it's tablet platform, with custom animations and UIs, so it could be that we'll be seeing a whole different breed of Android devices to take on the iPad.
That is HORRIFIC. It's a Frankenstein Monster of an error. How did anyone let this go?
Maybe it needs a Parallel port too over there? And a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive bay! /s
Lots of places. If you are on an iPhone or iPod touch, try the Wi-Fi Finder application. If you have a laptop or netbook, try Open WiFi Spots.
Maybe I should Photoshop up one with a VGA port, a DB-25 parallel port, two RS-232 ports, two PS/2 ports and one DA-15 joystick port. That was about the standard load on a legacy-port PC. Wait, small notebooks have the ability to connect to scanners, external hard drives and CD writers, so we need a 50-pin SCSI connector too.
Nah... save yourself the headache. Just know TIME is on our side. And like I said.
If suddenly there are BILLIONS of cheap Android Tablets and every inner city kid can buy one for $69 at Walmart.... Apple is the one who MADE this possible. Without them, Tablets would look uglier than that Sony and still cost $2000 and no one would buy them.
The iPad changed the world. Apple changed the WORLD. AGAIN.
Now, if they would just figure out that we WANT to store our Movies like our Songs and get Apple TV right... LOL
Rachel, please don't lie about me. It's fine for me. I like it. I didn't say it was perfect, I said it was perfectly functional. Please don't lie, you make baby Jesus cry.
Oh, and please call me Puget or PugetSoundSoldier. I find the term "Pug" to be derogatory. Thanks!
I have a PS3 and an XBox, both of which do Netflix (BTW, XBox does it much better). I can't see any need for an Apple TV. All I need now is for either of those systems to do Hulu.
Good thing I've got a nice metal case and a glass touch screen, then... It's great for my purposes, I find it quite interesting that by my possessing something that works for me you bring forth such anger!
They'll ignore the custom SoC, vastly longer battery life, and better construction of the iPad.
Hmmm... my 721 uses a Telechip 8902 which has no problem doing full 1080p decoding output. It runs for 7-8 hours which is plenty for my purposes, and the construction quality is as good as I've seen on an iPad. Of course, you do know as you've seen both devices, right? Or are you just making an assumption?
A while back PSS was touting what was basically a cheap 7" media player loaded with Android 1.6 as iPad competition. Yeah, right.
As the iPad fans have often stated that an iPad is a replacement for a regular desktop or laptop for most people, the lower cost Android tablets are a replacement for a full-power tablet for many people.
It's a great alternative for a book reader or e-mail device, for most people. About the same size (but with a bigger screen) than a Kindle, able to run Kindle and Nook and many other readers, user-expandable storage, about the same DPI as an iPad, and lower cost.
So if a person is looking for mainly a book reader and some light e-mail capability, you can do a laptop (which the iPad fans deride), an iPad (which is quite costly, large, and overpowered for those purposes), or one of those low-cost (sub $100) Android tablets. I guess it depends upon what a person wants to do with it.
Apparently choice isn't an option for Apple fans?
And a netbook is in the same class as a high-end ultra-portable notebook like a MacBook Air or Sony X series.
Yet that's the very point pushed by the iPad fans. They "don't need" a netbook or laptop because they have an iPad. They tell us time and again how you can just use the iPad for 80% of what you need, it's fine. Great. Since we're taking that approach, why not look at a low-cost Android tablet? Plays basic games, e-mail, browsing, and book reading. You know, the stuff that the iPad fans keep telling us is all a person ever does, so don't get a laptop get an iPad.
If you want to listen to music, read a book, watch a movie, or answer a few e-mails, a basic, sub $100 Android tablet works great. Why not have that option on the market?
I have an expandable music and movie player (currently have a 32 GB card installed), lightweight e-mail/browser (being used for this post), and book reader. And I got it for about the price of the new Kindle ($130). Glass screen, aluminum sides, steel back. Android 2.1 with full Market integration. How is that not a good option?
Cheap tablets have been on the market for several years... Used to use them by the dozens back 10-12 years ago for SONAR installations, and they were right around $800 each then (of course, with more capability, since they ran a full OS and had more than one I/O port, and were also waterproof when you put the port covers on...)
Heck, I worked a bit with a company in Seattle that was using the Compaq TC1000 tablet in the early 2000s (like 2003-2005 I think) where they made the interactive menus at places like Aureole and other high-end restaurants. Also did auto-updating wine lists, and the like. All touch-based, no pen needed.
And at that time Microsoft was loaded with tablets; it was the thing to have on campus. IBM, Compaq, HP tablets with swivel screens and detachable keyboards abounded!
So, I don't see Apple as inventing or changing the world, perhaps just because of their great PR engine they brought focus back on them.
I will grant you that Apple "made them pretty", so I guess in that regard, Apple is much like Calvin Klein or Vera Wang or Versace or Armani - making the ordinary not better, just pretty...;)
Now, if they would just figure out that we WANT to store our Movies like our Songs and get Apple TV right... LOL
Yep. And I predict that - once again - because Apple wants to keep a closed, continual-revenue-stream model working, they'll end up back in the sub-10% of the marketshare. Just like they did with PCs.
I was talking about the first one you quoted with the Rockchip. It was pathetic, literally a media player with Android slapped on it.
The second one is better, but still not as good as an iPad even looking at straight specs.
Apparently choice isn't an option for Apple fans?
Apparently it's not for Apple haters who say there's no reason to buy an iPad, or any Apple product for that matter. The problem is that you derided the iPad saying that these things are replacements for the iPad. No, they are not. They compete much lower in the market, not on the level of the iPad.
Glass screen, aluminum sides, steel back. Android 2.1 with full Market integration. How is that not a good option?
The newer one is okay. Just don't try to say it's an iPad replacement. BTW, that cheap re-purposed media player is $130 here. The new one is far more expensive than $130. The Shanghai street corner price is not the valid one to quote when talking about what the American consumer can buy.
You're in luck! Hulu Plus is coming to Xbox! I know several people waiting for that as they, like you, already have Netflix on the Xbox, and use it as their DVD player/media/entertainment center.
I’ve seen tablets too. Tablets have been used for exactly what you say: specific commercial uses. The one I mainly saw was for network engineers. It had Ethernet and other ports for plugging in the cables, and a pen-based Windows program did all the analysis (of course I had pens back in the 80s too). I’ve also seen specific POS touch tablets like you have.
That is all irrelevant. No touch tablet ever gained traction in the consumer market. The consumers rejected them all. They were all attempts to shoehorn a desktop/laptop OS into a tablet, and it simply didn’t work well. Apple finally made it work, not because of the pretty case, but by giving a general-purpose OS to the people in tablet form that could truly be easily and intuitively run by the fingers only. They didn’t slap a layer of touch over an existing OS like Microsoft did, they used a system where the entire UI was painstakingly designed from the ground-up for touch on small devices.
Yet for a person who wanted a media player, book reader, and e-mail client it was - and is - a great option. You're placing your ideals and expectations as the "bar" by which any and all entrances in the market must be measured. Interesting!
The second one is better, but still not as good as an iPad even looking at straight specs.
Really? It's a great movie and music player. Great book reader. Lasts plenty long. Has removable memory that I can share between my laptop and phone (so I can always have my latest mix/arrangement of music/media/documents with me). Great apps available. Easy-to-use e-mail client.
It's great for what I need, and the specs are more than enough for that purpose. What "spec" would improve my experience?
Apparently it's not for Apple haters who say there's no reason to buy an iPad, or any Apple product for that matter
I don't. However, I am routinely accused of doing just that. If you're happy with an iPad, enjoy! However, just because I see no need for one, nor find it a good value or option for me does not make me a neanderthal, or Apple hater, does it?
They compete much lower in the market, not on the level of the iPad.
Which was the exact same argument put forth by iPad fans about the iPad versus laptops. It's lower in the market, but "does enough" that you simply must get one. Why does that approach break down when moving further down the cost ladder from the iPad?
The newer one is okay. Just don't try to say it's an iPad replacement.
For me, there is nothing that an iPad offers that I do not have. FOR ME, it is an iPad replacement. Are you going to seriously claim otherwise?
The new one is far more expensive than $130. The Shanghai street corner price is not the valid one to quote when talking about what the American consumer can buy.
You'll find them all over eBay for $190 shipped now (down about $30 in the last month), and that continues to drop. By November, they'll probably be $140 shipped.
At Alibaba.com you can find them right now for $145 plus shipping (putting them at $165). November will probably see the $130 street price in the US, delivered.
So, for about 1/3rd the price of an iPad, I got a device that can do everything I need it to do - everything than an iPad offers to me. How is that a bad thing? It's well-built, has a case, small, powerful enough for my purposes, and low cost.
It plays all my media (including WMA audio files and every type of movie I've ever found, including Flash), reads my books, stores my data, acts as a USB drive, and is a great sketch-pad (I can actually use a stylus on it, for fine-detail drawings/idea sketching when out and about).
What's the problem? Does everything NEED to be like an iPad? Is monoculture good?
Great news, thanks. I use the XBox for Netflix, but the PS3 for other video, especially since it does Blu-ray. Now I'll be using the XBox for Hulu.
Too bad not in the livingroom for a while though. That one just broke (suddenly won't sync with the controller) and Microsoft wants $110 to fix it, plus tax, plus what I pay to ship it there. The Indian support guy was unintelligible, unhelpful and supremely annoying. No-go. BTW, Apple uses call centers in California and Texas, staffed with Americans, for American support. I believe Nintendo is the same.
I’d argue Apples “insight” was to offer a simplified OS for the consumer for use on tablets, instead of full-strength OSes. An OS with the power of the phone, just in a bigger form factor.
Apple no more created the tablet market than I created jazz or you invented the reciprocating engine.
Apple simplified the OS for the consumer, and decided that giving them “X” percent of the functionality in an easy-to-use package was enough. Clearly it was a good idea!
However, when other alternatives build on that (much like Apple built on the concept of touch screens and tablets), by offering alternate form factors, UIs, or functionality choices, those alternatives are immediately derided as “toys” or “media players slapped together with touch”.
Apparently, Apple can decide to dumb-down the tablet, but no one else can decide to do so.
Can you smell the hypocrisy in that position?
Actually, you can use it for a phone with several apps, so long as you have a WIFI connection... The Apple head set for the iPhone, or several of the after market ones, will work fine for that purpose.,, or you can use it as a speaker phone. Skype and iCall are just two of the apps I know of that give the iPad VOiP capability.
Make sure you have the latest version, I use it on my iPhone 4 and the last update solved a lot of problems for me. But as you say the iPad is much easier to read, but I have a grand fathered all you can eat web on my iPhone, so when I travel I take both. The iPad is definitely easier to use o the highway.
Maybe I don’t know all the tricks but one issue with it, on my iTouch is I can’t make the larger font the default. So while I can set the font for a web site I have to go in and change the font every time I change pages. That is a PIA.
I also have issues with bookmarks.
If only Safari would ‘reflow’ (I think that’s what it’s called) when I enlarge the font.
Or you could just buy a TV that does it right out of the box, like Samsung.
Pug, you will never understand, most people just want something that works, not something they can work on as a hobby. Apple makes their stuff hard to upgrade, because only about 1% of the people ever upgrade anything. Facts are silly little things, but when you have some, you sound smarter.
Please call me Puget, or PugetSoundSoldier, thanks...
And my Android tablet “just works”. I tap on the “Market” icon and up comes the Market. I tap on the “WeatherBug” icon and up comes the weather for my current location (no need to configure, it finds your current location and uses that).
It just works. Yes, it does. Do you have experience to the contrary?
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