State of Android Tablets?

[Ncage1974]

Hey guys hows it going? I currently have an Ipad 3 and thinking on switching to the dark side . The one i'm currently looking at is the nexus 7. I of course waited for the new ipad announcement and was somewhat disappointed. Yes its great they made the ipad lighter (which is really i thought about the upgrade) but the price is way to expensive for what it is. I can't believe the didn't drop the price at all and actually made the mini more expensive. How much more they want to charge you for a 3G chip & more space is outrageous.

I seem to use my ipad about 95% of the time for reading. RSS, Kindle, Twitter, Pocket, ect....

That being said my ipad3 is fine except for the weight. Unfortunately for prolonged reading it bed it can get a bit heavy.

My first and main concern is with non-wifi connectivity. My ipad 3 is a LTE verizon version. I would buy the LTE version of the nexus 7 but unfortunately, as far as i know, verizon won't connect it to their network. I don't have much choice in this matter in my area. I would dump verizon if i could but the only really alternative in my area is at&t and i can't even get a connection when i'm in my office. Anyways i have an iphone. Is there anyway i can use the personal hotspot feature of the iphone and have the nexus 7 connect to it or is it going to be problematic?

Hopefully the few apps i really make use of will have alternatives on android:
Kindle (pretty sure thats on android)
Podcasts ( when i had an android phone i used doggcatcher which is excellent)
Pocket (pretty sure thats on android)
Rss Reader (this i'm not quite sure of. I currently use Mr Reader on the ipad which is awesome. I use feedbin. Hopefully there is something comparable).
Twitter - (i'm sure there are plenty of good twitter clients - i currently use tweetbot)
Email - Great email client that can use exchange

The next concern i have is how android scales to a tablet (bigger screens). Hopefully it has gotten a lot better where tablet apps look great. Hopefullly most don't look big streached out Phone apps.

The next concern i have is on screen size but thats something i will have to figure out for myself . I'm going from a 10 to a 7 in screen. Some of the videos i watch are developer type videos where you have to try to see what they are typing. Hopefully it doesn't make it hard to read.

As an aside. I would look into android phone if, what i consider to be problems with the echosystem were fixed, but i don't know if they ever will be. I would love to have a bigger screen. Like i said i'm stuck on verizon. The one phone i would consider i can't get (nexus 5). The upgrades for android just aren't where they need to be. Carriers / Phone manufacturers don't want to upgrade your software. Heck i'd even pay for upgrades if i could. It's just not the carriers either. Look at how quickly Samsung upgrades its tablets. Its my feeling that you should get upgrades for 2 years after you buy your device. So your left with a device that they might not even patch all the security vulnerabilities. Also carriers what to be able to throw whatever crap on your device they want and want to lock you out from removing what you don't want.

Anyways any help would be appreciated?

 

[Stuntman]

Hey guys hows it going? I currently have an Ipad 3 and thinking on switching to the dark side . The one i'm currently looking at is the nexus 7. I of course waited for the new ipad announcement and was somewhat disappointed. Yes its great they made the ipad lighter (which is really i thought about the upgrade) but the price is way to expensive for what it is. I can't believe the didn't drop the price at all and actually made the mini more expensive. How much more they want to charge you for a 3G chip & more space is outrageous.

I seem to use my ipad about 95% of the time for reading. RSS, Kindle, Twitter, Pocket, ect....

That being said my ipad3 is fine except for the weight. Unfortunately for prolonged reading it bed it can get a bit heavy.

My first and main concern is with non-wifi connectivity. My ipad 3 is a LTE verizon version. I would buy the LTE version of the nexus 7 but unfortunately, as far as i know, verizon won't connect it to their network. I don't have much choice in this matter in my area. I would dump verizon if i could but the only really alternative in my area is at&t and i can't even get a connection when i'm in my office. Anyways i have an iphone. Is there anyway i can use the personal hotspot feature of the iphone and have the nexus 7 connect to it or is it going to be problematic?

WiFi hotspot should allow any device to connect. Your iPhone just becomes a wireless router. That's how WiFi hotspots work for all smartphones.

Personally, I don't have a use for anything more that WiFi on my tablet. I just use the WiFi hotspot on my phone if I were out. Most of the time, I'm home and have WiFi connectivity.

Hopefully the few apps i really make use of will have alternatives on android:
Kindle (pretty sure thats on android)
Podcasts ( when i had an android phone i used doggcatcher which is excellent)
Pocket (pretty sure thats on android)
Rss Reader (this i'm not quite sure of. I currently use Mr Reader on the ipad which is awesome. I use feedbin. Hopefully there is something comparable).
Twitter - (i'm sure there are plenty of good twitter clients - i currently use tweetbot)
Email - Great email client that can use exchange

You should be able to find equivalents of popular apps in Android. The easiest way is to check out the Google Play web site and see what is available.

The next concern i have is how android scales to a tablet (bigger screens). Hopefully it has gotten a lot better where tablet apps look great. Hopefullly most don't look big streached out Phone apps.

It depends on the developer. If they develop their app properly, it should look great. The simple scaling is available if the app isn't built to scale. You need to check each individual app. Most of the apps I used scale well on my 10" tablet.

The next concern i have is on screen size but thats something i will have to figure out for myself . I'm going from a 10 to a 7 in screen. Some of the videos i watch are developer type videos where you have to try to see what they are typing. Hopefully it doesn't make it hard to read.

As long as the developer coded the app properly, it should look fine.

As an aside. I would look into android phone if, what i consider to be problems with the echosystem were fixed, but i don't know if they ever will be. I would love to have a bigger screen. Like i said i'm stuck on verizon. The one phone i would consider i can't get (nexus 5). The upgrades for android just aren't where they need to be. Carriers / Phone manufacturers don't want to upgrade your software. Heck i'd even pay for upgrades if i could. It's just not the carriers either. Look at how quickly Samsung upgrades its tablets. Its my feeling that you should get upgrades for 2 years after you buy your device. So your left with a device that they might not even patch all the security vulnerabilities. Also carriers what to be able to throw whatever crap on your device they want and want to lock you out from removing what you don't want.

The minimum time a device must be supported is 18 months. The nature of Android devices and their huge variety compared to iOS devices lead to non-Nexus devices taking some time to get updates. Until Google decides to lock down Android and control all devices and release very little variety of devices, you cannot expect the same level of updates as iOS. Your decision to consider Android tablets is as a result of the locked down nature of iOS devices. You'll have to accept this trade-off to get something you are not getting with iOS which is more variety of devices that are not priced so high.

At least with most flagship devices, they will likely get updates although at a slower pace than Nexus devices. They tend to be most popular and manufacturers (and carriers) will get updates for these devices out more so than mid-range or low end devices.

If updates are really important to you, I would suggestion you consider Nexus devices for both phones and tablets. The Nexus 5 phone has just been released this week. Nexus devices will get updates way faster than non-Nexus devices.

As for your security concerns. Mobile OS's are built with security in mind. Modern mobile OS's are very secure as is. I would expect that any security related update would be pushed out rather quickly. I haven't seen any major security issues arise with the OS on my Android devices personally at least. I also find that security issues tend to be over hyped by organisations whose purpose is to sell you security products.

 

[jefboyardee]

I currently have an Ipad 3 and thinking on switching to the dark side .

To?

 

[sfbloodbrother]

To?

I think he meant from the dark side.

 

[rabidhunter]

As an aside. I would look into android phone if, what i consider to be problems with the echosystem were fixed, but i don't know if they ever will be. I would love to have a bigger screen. Like i said i'm stuck on verizon. The one phone i would consider i can't get (nexus 5). The upgrades for android just aren't where they need to be. Carriers / Phone manufacturers don't want to upgrade your software. Heck i'd even pay for upgrades if i could. It's just not the carriers either. Look at how quickly Samsung upgrades its tablets. Its my feeling that you should get upgrades for 2 years after you buy your device. So your left with a device that they might not even patch all the security vulnerabilities. Also carriers what to be able to throw whatever crap on your device they want and want to lock you out from removing what you don't want.

Anyways any help would be appreciated?

As far as upgrades go, Motorola has done a 360 and now are much better at updates. They have confirmed that they are getting the Android 4.4 update soon. How soon, that's the question, but probably not more than a month or two. For sure, KitKat will come to the Moto X, DROID Maxx, DROID Mini, and DROID Ultra. If you want a 48 hour battery life, the Maxx is the way to go, $69.99 w/contract on Amazon. The Moto X goes for $49.99 on Amazon. And Ultra and Mini are at $0.01 on Amazon. Now with Project Svelte, KitKat will work on phones with 512 MB RAM. So, essentially, it can run on pretty much everything out there.

Google has done a lot as far as the updates go. For example, they have stripped away a lot of the core features away from the main OS and are instead stuck on the Play Store. This makes for faster updates on those key components. They've also been working more with carriers on these issues.

 

[Steve B.]

Samsung is hit and miss on their upgrades. My Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is stuck on Ice Cream Sandwich, with no sign from Samsung that an upgrade is imminent. Problem is that some of the apps are now rolling out for Jelly Bean and KitKat. Thus some stuff won't run and crashes the OS, as I discovered. Google Maps being problem 1, Chrome being another. Samsung doesn't help that the only method to upgrade is thru their Kies software, which is the worst POS stuff I ever loaded onto a hard drive.

In general, I experienced yet again on a 2nd Android device, the fragmentation of the various manufacturers going their own route with the OS, reminiscent of when you would have a problem with Windows, call Microsoft tech support who would tell you it's the software you installed and round and round you went. I mean, really ?, Chrome can't find it's server ?, after a factory re-install of the OS and app ?, and there's NOBODY to call at Google !.

Thus my 2 year old Galaxy was replaced by an iPad Mini, 1st generation, that are now out there for $270. Better device then a Nexus, IMO

 

[chanchan05]

If we're talking Star Wars, yeah, iOS is the dark side. They correlate more to it in a lot of aspects. I could geek out and point the parallelisms but that's beside the point.

One thing I should mention is that personally, I am starting to find the 7inch screen too small for heavy reading. But maybe it's due to the types of text I read (mostly medical textbooks and lectures). If you can check out a Nexus 10, try to do so. It's actually 60g lighter than the iPad3 LTE. Of course it's still almost 2x the weight of an iPad Mini though. You could try looking at 8inchers (similar size to iPad mini) from Samsung. The Note 8 is a good one.

As for updates, the flagships get updates a lot. If your device isn't a flagship from the different brands, updates are a hit or miss. But flagships like the S4 and One are more than likely to get 2 years of updates.

@SteveB: Is your Tab 7 Plus tied to a carrier? I got Jellybean on mine months ago (official update via Kies).

 

[funpig]

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 plus. In Canada, our version is still officially stuck with Honeycomb 3.2 despite promises almost two years ago that we would receive ICS. I recently upgraded by using a UK version of Jelly Bean 4.1.2 which works perfectly fine. There is no reason for the delay for an official upgrade. I will never buy a Samsung product again. Samsung's support is very slow to non-existent. Samsung is only interested in selling you a new product, not supporting their existing products.

My advice would be to get the Nexus 7 and keep the iPad 3. We have both apple and android products in our house. I can tell you that it is easier to post on this forum using the ipad than my galaxy tab. Go figure.

 

[Steve B.]

@SteveB: Is your Tab 7 Plus tied to a carrier? I got Jellybean on mine months ago (official update via Kies).

No, it's WiFi only. I have monitored the update status religiously and have not seen JB released in the US, outside of T-Mobile.

Kies is supposed to "know" when there's a new version available and hasn't pushed anything. When I reset the device to factory, it re-installed ICS. Checking on the device for Upgrade shows zip. And, yes the device is registered with Samsung.

 

[jhawkkw]

If your iPad 3 sim is a micro sim, then you should be able to pop that out and into the Nexus 7 and it will work just fine on Verizon. The people having issues activating a Nexus 7 on Verizon are those trying to get a new sim card activated. But Verizon will eventually support the Nexus 7 and will give out new sim cards if they ever get their act together and certify the device.

 

[redfishsc]

I am an Android guy, but my boss (and, also, close personal friend) is a HUGE Apple cultist.

I think what you will notice is that Android has FAR more apps to choose from, but they will vary a lot more in quality. There are a LOT of sketchy apps on Google Play. I think Apple has a lot tighter quality control on their end for the apps. So ups and downs with each.


I use my worn out old Uniden Android tablet for reading. As long as I keep the number of apps to a bare minimum, the Android makes a great reading tablet. If I had a newer tablet with at least a dual core processor, so much the better.


For what it's worth, there seem to be a LOT of chinese-sold (they are all chinese made I think lol) tablets on places like Focalprice that are 1/3 the price.

If you are wanting to "try" an Android to see if you like the overall format, $130 can net you an 8-10" dual core running a fairly up to date version of Android (4.0 ICS at least).