The Official Tablet Thread
jaydee74
Posts: 1,526
So I'm finally looking into buying a tablet. My wife wants to get one to keep our daughter occupied on our flight to Palm Springs in July. While my wife and I both would love to get the new iPad, we're just not sure about the price and I have been doing a bit of research on the Nook and they seem pretty cool as well. I wanted to start a discussion about the various tablets that are on the market and what people like and what they don't like about the various tablets. Maybe it will help me figure out what to get. Do people on the boards have a Nook? What are your thoughts? Do you like them? Do you think the for the extra money the iPad is worth it? I would love to know. Thanks.
Comments
According to practically all tech magazines and sites the new iPad3 tops all the lists. So - if I'd had some spare cash I'd buy the iPad3 today.
Apple products - at least in Switzerland - tend to cost 30-40% more than other brands in similar fields.
$500 might still be a lot of money, but you definitely get your money's worth. Compared to PCs just a few years ago, this thing is from the future.
The Nook and the Kindle Fire is nice devices at an enticing price, but they are far less capable than an iPad. From a horsepower standpoint as well as screen real estate they don't live up to their big brother.
And the app support offered by iPad is second to none. Developers are marching full-steam ahead. There are so many amazing apps already and the stuff we will see soon is going to blow our minds.
I would stay away from Android tablets. They cost the same as the iPad, and while there appears to be similar app support, the quality of those apps just isn't there.
As a guy who's currently developing an Android app for work, I can tell you that the world of Android is so awful compare to the Apple world. The infrastructure is a mess. Market fragmentation makes coding things so much more difficult and frustrating. Instead of focusing on awesome functionality and cool features, we have to make sure things work across hundreds of devices. Bogus. On Apple you need to make it work on about 6 devices. So much easier.
So Android apps will always be several steps behind their iOS cousins. If you are going to pony up the $500 get the real deal. And don't even hesitate. Tablets are the computers of the future. Your laptap or desktop will start to gather dust after you buy a tablet.
Bry
- Comics look AMAZING on it. I pick up Demon Knights digitally when it comes out (yes, I pay the full $2.99 day and date - I want that book to keep going), and it is gorgeous. I know we're used to seeing our colors and inks diluted by putting them on a paper medium, but the iPad absolutely makes the graphics explode with brilliant lights and darks that paper simply can't give you. (And yes, I still love me a good paper book as well, lest you think it's apples and oranges...you're allowed to eat both, you know!)
- One-stop shopping. People may be a little put-off by the idea that you buy everything through/via the Apple store. I love the idea. No conflicts. No extra user agreements or "must keep this active in the background while using our apps" (I'm looking at you, Amazon). My family now knows exactly what I want for my birthday/christmas every year (appstore cards!). I love that I can see a book in Comixology or the DC app, buy it, and I'm done. No hoops to jump through.
- As mentioned before, it's not just a tablet. Last con the guy next to me was taking credit card payments via his iPhone. I was entranced and he said "You *have* to get one of these". It's a nifty little device the Square corporation (not the game developers) shoot you that plugs into your headphone jack - voila! You've just opened yourself up to everyone at the convention - not just the people with cash!
- More than just a reader. Yep, you can even play games on it! Good games! I also use a lot of news aggregators - no more need for a newspaper or going to just one website to get the latest news. With one app I have dozens of news sites shooting me stories I want to read about. Not to mention hopping on Netflix and watching something from my IQ.
Bottom line - there's a time to look for a bargain on something, but there's also a time to pay up the dough for a proven quality product, and this is it. If you're going to spend $200 on a Nook or Fire, find a way to get that extra $300 and get the iPad (which also has a Kindle app I use to read my ebooks).
i've got an ipad 2 and even after seeing ipad 3, i wasn't so inclined to "trade up" as it were. get an ipad 2, see how you end up using it apart from how you intended to initially.
If I thought I was going to spend significant time reading on a tablet, weight and thickness would be at the top of my comparison list; probably even above screen resolution and battery life.
This appeared to me to be the first time Apple made a design sacrifice when introducing new functionality (the extremely high resolution screen). It is thicker, heavier, and hotter under strenuous use (long periods of high end gaming), due to the graphics processing, than the iPad 2. Seemed to me their magical ways slipped just a tiny bit with this release. Funny how many of us have come to expect miracles from this company though.
They're still a long ways off, but I am so impressed with my Windows Phone that I am definitely anxious to see tablets with Windows 8 later this year.
Also a little interested in this 13" tablet that Toshiba is going to release. Comics on that huge screen could be pretty cool if you don't mind sacrificing some of the portability.
Turn them on and look at the screens and you will never want to look at the old iPad again. Especially for reading. For all your eye can tell, you are looking at an actual printed page, not a digital screen.
Yes, Apple made a sacrifice, but it was totally worth it. Nothing else you've ever looked at even comes close to the resolution of the new iPad. Worth every penny.
Bry
I still enjoy using my regular Kindle 3G for reading but I find myself using my iPhone in the evening for both comic book reading and the Kindle app. Plus, when they released the iPad 3, I was a little put off that Amazon did not release their Kindle Fire 3G model, to include a slightly bigger screen, to compete with Apple. The more I thought about it, I do find myself lending towards an iPad purchase. Not just for the sake of staying consistent with my iPhone use but for all the other advantages that others, especially Bry, have stated so well. I can’t afford one at this moment, but it’s my plan to get one pretty soon.
I've seen the new iPad display. It is pretty neat. My personal preference is for thinner, lighter, and more battery life.
Frankly, as neat as it is, I think the new iPad display is overkill. I don't agree that the sacrifices were worth it; but to each his own.
I simply go to each publisher's section and click on the comics I want. They are placed in my cart and then I check out.
It will be another few months, but I will have a Windows 8 tablet, Windows Phone, and Windows 8 desktop. Finally all in one ecosystem without a complete reinvestment in hardware or software.
Anyone else interested in Surface?
Thin, light, 10.6" screen, and apps shared across all my devices. I like it, but will probably go with Asus, or one of the other hardware vendors.
I can't wait to see what developers in the digital comics industry create when they can develop for Windows 8 on tablets, desktops, and phones simultaneously.
A review for the Toshiba Excite is up.
I don't know...a bit on the heavy side. Could be nice for those double-page spreads though!
Anybody using that model of the Fire and does anybody know if the Comixology reader operates the same on the fire as it does for an iOS device?