Opinions - IPad 2 or 3?

Janx · Aug 15, 2012

Umbran said:
Rumor has it that the Microsoft's "Surface" tablet (running Win8) is going to debut in October with an entry price of a whole whopping $200.

wow, that's really cheap and hard to believe, but MS is probably the company to pull off eating the loss.

Not to fuel the Android vs. iOS argument, but I saw an interesting viewpoint a few months back at by a presenter. He was just raving about switching to a new WinMo phone. Don't know what model, but he was talking about the OS features. How seemless it integrated with his music library, and the dashboard made more sense.

While MS seems to be a bit player in the smart phone business, they are more likely to put out an OS with a solid look and feel to compete with Apple than Android.

Android scored some high marks on UI improvements in Jelly Bean, but it still reviews as a total experience designed by a bunch of schizophrenic bi-polar bears flipping bits at the Waffle House. It's inconsistent, has no UI design bible that anybody has to follow. Has more settings and adjustments to make than should be necessary. as one reviewer put it, the fix for bad software should not be to add more software. While it's great that you can install a third party app to "fix" a shortcoming, the OS itself probably shouldn't have had that shortcoming.

I've drifted off topic. Sorry. Android could do well. It sells great. But I feel it really needs enforcement of standards to make it as smooth as the other OSes. Otherwise, MS will sneak up behind and take its lunch money, because MS is pretty good at maintaining standards on their platforms.

In other news, has Mallus acctually made his purchase yet?

Mallus · Aug 15, 2012

Janx said:
In other news, has Mallus acctually made his purchase yet?

Not yet, though I'm pretty sure I'm going with the base model iPad 3.

I'm tempted to swing out to Best Buy during lunch --ie in about 5 minutes-- but I'm going out for our anniversary tonight w/my wife. I'm half-seriously afraid if I bought one this afternoon I'd be all distracted and fidgety during what promises to be a lovely dinner at the tapas joint owned by Iron Chef Jose Garces!

Maybe tomorrow would be better...

re: Android UI - I played around with my buddy's Google Nexus phone at lunch last Sat. Pure, current Android experience, no extra UI layer slapped on by the carrier. In the words of Mr. Horse, no sir, I don't like it.

Umbran · Aug 15, 2012

Janx said:
wow, that's really cheap and hard to believe, but MS is probably the company to pull off eating the loss.

That is the suggestion, yes. Low price on a basic model to produce market penetration quickly.

... but it still reviews as a total experience designed by a bunch of schizophrenic bi-polar bears flipping bits at the Waffle House.

Okay. That, if nothing else, is an evocative phrase. Kudos!

Mallus said:
... I'd be all distracted and fidgety during what promises to be a lovely dinner at the tapas joint owned by Iron Chef Jose Garces!

Ooh. That should be tasty!

Janx · Aug 15, 2012

Umbran said:
Okay. That, if nothing else, is an evocative phrase. Kudos!

Yeah, I kinda overstated things there, but it was funny to write, and I've been wanting to use my newest Care Bear "Bi-Polar Bear" joke for some time.

Android is a perfectly fine OS that gets the job done. I think it should be better, but that's mostly a UI difference of opinion. If companies would stop locking down ideas in patents and law suits, maybe it would be easier for both OSes to incoporate the best ideas for better products all around.

Asatru · Aug 18, 2012

Now granted I'm not a fan of walled gardens to begin with (much rather have an open air garden). I would say first question is what are you going to use the device for? Because buying an Apple product MAY NOT be the best thing for YOU. Find out what does the things you want it to do and then find the best product for the job if it turns out to be Andriod OS or iOS or even something else just do the research before you decide to spend 300+ Dollars on something. That way you are going to be FAR less prone to "buyers remorse".

I hope some insight was provided and whatever you choose make sure you enjoy the product otherwise there isn't going to be a positive ROI (return on investment).

Jupp · Aug 18, 2012

I was in the same situation a few months ago when I was looking for a tablet. In the end I decided against an iPad because I felt that a Droid/iOS tablet would be too limiting for me. You are bound to an ecosystem like Google Play and iTunes so if an app is not there to do what you want then you are basically screwed. Not only that but also the majority of the apps we have at the moment are not really meant for tablets, or at least are not designed for them specifically. The other thing is that iPads are ridiculously expensive for what they can provide in terms of features and flexibility.

All the above has in the end led me to buy a tablet PC with Windows 7 installed on it. The one I bought was the Samsung Series 7 Slate. And basically I would not want to trade it back for any other kind of table on the market at the moment. It can do everything an iPad can, has about the same size (bit bigger actually) and is in the sub 1 kilogram category. Additionally you have all the applications and tools at your disposal that you would expect on a standard desktop PC, with the addition that you have a pressure sensitive pen and a touch panel with finger swipe functionality.

For example, I also run our D&D sessions with the Slate connected to a HD LED TV with maptool, PDF reader, browser with D20SRD and Excel open at the same time (something you can't do with iOS or droid tablets)

I agree that Windows tablets are expensive (but not that much) but what you get back in versatility still makes the Windows based tablet a winner, at least in my book.

Hope that helped a tad.

Umbran · Aug 18, 2012

Jupp said:
I agree that Windows tablets are expensive (but not that much) but what you get back in versatility still makes the Windows based tablet a winner, at least in my book.

This is part of what I wonder about for the Win8 tablet. While MS seems about to do something *dumb* for Win8 (not allowing one to permanently turn off the Metro interface), it does look like they've grasped onto a concept - the idea that going forward, people will just have their tablet as their PC. The hardware's starting to get to the point where you can do real productivity with it, if you extend the input to a real keyboard.

Jupp · Aug 18, 2012

I think you are right that the different kinds of hardware (phones, TVs, tablets, appliances) are starting to merge into one kind of device from where you can do all the things you need and want to do. Though at the moment we are in some kind of transition phase that make some kind of things kinda awkward to use.

If you look at Windows 8 then you can see that it is clearly designed for tables and other touch controlled devices. But Windows 8 really fails at being cool to use with the standard mouse/keyboard combo. I've tested Win 8 since first beta and it always started to go downhill as soon as you tried to use it with mouse/keyboard. It was great to use on the Samsung tablet though, but still this conversion to a tablet centric OS is a hard step. You basically change your way of working of the last 20 years and are confronted with a new way to control an operating system.

Microsoft is on the right track but it seems the user is not yet ready to accept the change. But someone always have to make the first step.

This is also the reason I still have Win 7 installed on the Slate. Old habits die hard and it is hard to convert to the a new religion.

Umbran · Aug 19, 2012

Jupp said:
If you look at Windows 8 then you can see that it is clearly designed for tables and other touch controlled devices. But Windows 8 really fails at being cool to use with the standard mouse/keyboard combo.

Are you sure that's the nature of Win 8, or just the Metro interface?

It makes seven kinds of sense to me to have two different interaction modes for such a device.

Mallus · Aug 19, 2012

Umbran said:
Ooh. That should be tasty!

It was! We both got the chef's tasting menu and it was a ridiculous number of delicious small plates (I believe it was the first time I've had Iberico ham). If you're ever in Philadelphia, I heartily recommend eating at Amada.

Asatru said:
Now granted I'm not a fan of walled gardens to begin with (much rather have an open air garden).

Walled gardens don't bother me, so long as they're nice inside.

Jupp said:
IThe one I bought was the Samsung Series 7 Slate.

That's an interesting piece of hardware I wasn't aware of - thanks. But I'm looking for a lightweight media consumption device, not something to do real work on (no more than light note-taking during a gaming session). With that Samsung I'd be paying over twice the price of an iPad for features I don't want/need -- or are there cheaper models? The ones I saw on Amazon stated over $1000.