Kindle or iPad 3?

[Kzach]

I mean, the first thing you do on a PC when you're stuck is to "right click" and look at your options.

Sigh. Get with the times, man. Macs have had right-click functionality for over twenty years. They simply didn't come pre-packaged with a two-button mouse by default until about fifteen years ago. And even then, if you understood the reasons behind why they did that, which ties into the fundamental design of GUI's and user friendliness, then you wouldn't be saying what you're saying.

That and what you're arguing is irrelevant to the argument of, "Are Apple devices more user-friendly than others?" You're saying, "I expect things to be done this way because that's what I know!" Well, if Apple devices did things the way other devices did, then they'd be nothing more than what those other devices are; instead, Apple have their own design philosophy on use.

If you come at an Apple device with expectations on how things should work, then obviously they're not going to work like that and you'll get frustrated. However, if you come at an Apple device without preconceived notions on how things 'should' work, then they tend to facilitate ease of use because they are designed to be intuitive to the user, rather than requiring the user to learn it's archaic nature.

 

[lmbarns]

lol The Ipad1 my girlfriend's mom rushed out and bought when they were new didn't even have a USB port, you had to buy an expensive cable from Apple to access your content and no way to access your portable devices like a usb Hard drive.


They changed it on later devices, but that was a really slimy tactic on Apple's part, when USB was universal, and dirt cheap.


And as far as accessing your other content on non Apple devices, I haven't used every brand out there but Android and most mobile devices plug directly to your computer via USB, and you can drag/drop files onto your storage card folder or you can access online stuff via wifi. There's probably a migration tool with a user interface if you wanted it for importing apps, which is what I imagine you're talking about Apple having?

TBh there's not a lot of difference in mobile apps regardless of what brand and there isn't much difference in touch inputs/gestures anymore. Older android devices couldn't register multiple touches at the same time but they can as of a couple years ago...

Apple's app store is more successful because they were first to market and have the most content, they also promote apps (free marketing) and are active with quality control, which are parts you could say Google screwed up with the Android store, but with android it's not just Google's app store, there's amazon, nook, etc places that have app stores. Most people/studios making mobile games target both platforms.

Also I hate Apple because as an app developer, you have to pay them money for a yearly membership to write software for their platform, you also must write your software on a Mac computer, not just own one.

 

[Chairman7w]

They changed it on later devices, but that was a really slimy tactic on Apple's part, when USB was universal, and dirt cheap.

What's your point? That Apple made a dumb business decision? Okay, again: You win.

Nobody said they were infallible or always make the right decisions. I just think their products are a joy to use.

 

[Kzach]

They changed it on later devices, but that was a really slimy tactic on Apple's part, when USB was universal, and dirt cheap.

It wasn't slimy. They were pushing a design envelope. A USB port simply couldn't be added at that point in time.

Also I hate Apple because as an app developer, you have to pay them money for a yearly membership to write software for their platform, you also must write your software on a Mac computer, not just own one.

And then they market, store and distribute your app for you. Yeah, sucks to be an app developer.

Please, take your Apple hate elsewhere.

 

[lmbarns]

It wasn't slimy. They were pushing a design envelope. A USB port simply couldn't be added at that point in time.


And then they market, store and distribute your app for you. Yeah, sucks to be an app developer.

Please, take your Apple hate elsewhere.

Hey, the thread was "Should I buy a $500-$900 boutique device or a $200 one that's functionally comparable".

USB was definitely possible, believe what you want.

Yea it does suck paying $2k for a computer, $500+ for a mobile device, and $100/year to Apple even if you don't have anything for sale yet.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yea it does suck paying $2k for a computer, $500+ for a mobile device, and $100/year to Apple even if you don't have anything for sale yet.

Every business has its costs. Try being a sports agent: each pro league has its own annual agency registration fees- measured in thousands of dollars a year- just to have the option of advertising yourself as an agent in good standing with the league. And that's in a market in which 70%+ of all athletes are handled by 3 agencies...

I don't like those odds, so I passed on that "opportunity".

 

[Alan Shutko]

lol The Ipad1 my girlfriend's mom rushed out and bought when they were new didn't even have a USB port, you had to buy an expensive cable from Apple to access your content and no way to access your portable devices like a usb Hard drive.

Are you talking about the original iPod, which did not have USB (it was firewire)? The first iPad certainly did come with a USB cable (USB at one end, dock at the other, like other iDevice except the shuffle). That's how it charges.

You are correct, it does not use a standard USB (big), mini or micro-USB connector. The two cables, should you have to buy them new, cost around the same on Amazon (starting around a buck for either).

which are parts you could say Google screwed up with the Android store, but with android it's not just Google's app store, there's amazon, nook, etc places that have app stores. Most people/studios making mobile games target both platforms.

Sales on alternate stores are really, really low.

Also I hate Apple because as an app developer, you have to pay them money for a yearly membership to write software for their platform, you also must write your software on a Mac computer, not just own one.

The cost of the dev program is tax deductible as a professional expense. The reason you need to write your software on the Mac is that the iOS and OS X frameworks are very similar. Using the Mac development environment lets the iOS Simulator compile to native Mac frameworks, and then cross-compile to the iOS device. This means a much faster simulator than the Android one, which has to emulate the entire device.

 

[falcarrion]

Does Android tablets have a magic jack app?

 

[Janx]

It wasn't slimy. They were pushing a design envelope. A USB port simply couldn't be added at that point in time.


And then they market, store and distribute your app for you. Yeah, sucks to be an app developer.

Please, take your Apple hate elsewhere.

I do agree here. "Slimy" is Microsoft's new X-Box for $99 with a 2 year $15/month agreement.

You'll pay more in 2 years than if you had just bought the same X-box with 2 annual subscriptions to Live for $60 each.

A decision to not put a USB port on a device that Apple didn't think people would need as much isn't slimy. It just is. Annoying for folks who wanted one, but given that the add-on STILL doesn't let you access external USB media, the ball is back in Apple's court that they don't want you doing that, not that they were trying to price gouge you.

Price gouging = slimy
Being restrictive = dickish

I'm no Mac fan. They changed the OS radically from my days of OS7 and before. So I walk up to a Mac and wonder, how the heck to I see my open programs. There's nothing wrong with the Mac. I've merely spent forever on Windows systems and my expectations of "where to look" are different. I hate the Ribbon in Windows for the same reason.

As for @Morrus; comment about Android being just as easy to use as iOS, as described by how to launch an app. You've described the trivial aspect of most modern OSes. It ain't rocket science to launch an app in Windows, X-windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Metro, Xbox, PS's X-bar. There's only so many ways to display that in a GUI, so it's fairly easy to figure out on an alien platform.

What's harder is in the details. Using and configuring an actual app varies greatly from each OS. It is really easy to setup email on iOS. I talked my CEO through it last night over the phone. It took me considerably longer to configure my own Android phone to talk to my Exchange server. And I'm second in command over IT at my company (I'm the architect, my job is to know tech and software development). I figured it out, but my experience with the Android was that things were just "harder" to do than on iOS.

My observation is that iOS has less features, and streamlines their interface to be as simple as possible. Feature clutter usually means more menus, options, icons that confuse users.
Android tends to have more features, more options, more ability to customize. This in turn leads to clutter in the interface, making it less obvious on what to do.

As a software designer, I see this ALL the time. The users want it intuitive and easy to use, but they also want a zillion features, as if that won't complicate the interface.

For my needs, I choose iOS for phone and tablet.

For my computing needs, I use Microsoft. I need to use Office and Visual Studio to do the bulk of what I do for a living.

I don't really consider the complaint that you have to own a Mac and pay a dev-license to code for iOS as legitimate. Duh! I have to own a PC, Microsoft Windows, Visual Studio, SQL Server and Windows Server licenses to write and test for my platform, too. I either buy them individually or get an MSDN subscription, which costs quite a bit more per person than the measly $100 a year that Apple wants.

 

[lmbarns]

As for Imbarns comment about Android being just as easy to use as iOS, as described by how to launch an app. You've described the trivial aspect of most modern OSes. It ain't rocket science to launch an app in Windows, X-windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Metro, Xbox, PS's X-bar. There's only so many ways to display that in a GUI, so it's fairly easy to figure out on an alien platform.

What's harder is in the details. Using and configuring an actual app varies greatly from each OS. It is really easy to setup email on iOS. I talked my CEO through it last night over the phone. It took me considerably longer to configure my own Android phone to talk to my Exchange server. And I'm second in command over IT at my company (I'm the architect, my job is to know tech and software development). I figured it out, but my experience with the Android was that things were just "harder" to do than on iOS.

My observation is that iOS has less features, and streamlines their interface to be as simple as possible. Feature clutter usually means more menus, options, icons that confuse users.
Android tends to have more features, more options, more ability to customize. This in turn leads to clutter in the interface, making it less obvious on what to do.

As a software designer, I see this ALL the time. The users want it intuitive and easy to use, but they also want a zillion features, as if that won't complicate the interface.

For my needs, I choose iOS for phone and tablet.

For my computing needs, I use Microsoft. I need to use Office and Visual Studio to do the bulk of what I do for a living.

I don't really consider the complaint that you have to own a Mac and pay a dev-license to code for iOS as legitimate. Duh! I have to own a PC, Microsoft Windows, Visual Studio, SQL Server and Windows Server licenses to write and test for my platform, too. I either buy them individually or get an MSDN subscription, which costs quite a bit more per person than the measly $100 a year that Apple wants.

Well, luckily there are tools to ease the port from OS to OS. The game engine I use requires licenses to port to different platforms, but you write all your code in c# or python, which you can then publish to various platforms(assuming you follow the restrictions of the device). When you convert your project to the android license, it outputs a native .apk file, when you convert your project to iOS, it outputs a native xcode file.

For huge licensing fee's you can port to wii, ps3, and xbox live. The engine abstracts everything so it's very easy to switch touch/accelerometer input controls between iOS and android, or switch to keyboard/mouse for pc builds.

Android has more limitations, iOS apps can be hundreds of megs, android has a 50mb limit with the allowance of 2 external files 2 gigs each. So you have to build an installer app to download the rest of your content which is a pain on large games. But google hosts it all for free.

The biggest thing going for iOS over android from a developer side is the limited number of apple devices. There are over 500 models of android devices, a developer couldn't buy all 500 to be certain if their app works on each (if it doesn't work for someone you get 1 star ratings), and many models might meet the hardware requirements to play it but some other obscure issue breaks it. For apple there's only a dozen products to test, and if it runs on an ipad1 or 2, it's a safe bet it will run on ipad3 and newer.

I got both a tablet and phone for $500. Both play 3d games, movies and ebooks. I don't use the cameras, I have an SLR and point-n-clicks for taking nice pictures, depending on what you're planning to do I guess should motivate your purchase. But for $139 a refurbished kindle fire is a darn good value. And if it comes to spending $500+ on a device I'd take a cheap laptop anyday.