How many of you will consider an Android Tablet?

[Superbike81]

I think it all depends how you normally hold it, I rarely hold my iPad in portrait mode, I am almost always using it in landscape mode unless I'm reading a long essay or something, but I'm not really typing in that case. I do understand your concern though if you primarily type when in portrait mode.

But, with the availability of different types of keyboards on Android, this should be less of a problem for you. With SwiftKey on my phone, I rarely have a type a complete word, the predicitve text works amazingly, learns the words that I type, even names, uncommon words, etc. For example, as soon as I type "J" it brings up my name Jason, and when I select Jason it automatically presents my last name for selection without typing anything. It really is my favorite app, and well worth the $3 I paid for it.

 

[donka]

I'm thinking more about typing while in landscape though - posting in forums for example - you have very little screen left to see what you are typing or in reply to.

 

[Superbike81]

I was looking for a good quality Android tablet earlier this year, but they aren't quite there yet, so I purchased the iPad. I expect in the next 6-12 months Android tablets will be a real competitor to the iPad. The Android manufacturers aren't as conservative as Apple, so we will see dual core, built in cameras, >1GB RAM etc on Android before we do on iPad. For a lot of people that will be the deciding factors.

iOS will have the advantage in user experience for awhile, but it won't make enough difference for most users. It's a lot like the original MacOS vs Windows situation from 15 years ago.

6-12 months? You don't have to wait anywhere near that long for a tablet that will perform as well or better than the iPad. The Xoom comes out on Feb 24th, the LG tablet sometime in March, and several others between March and June.

Only problem is all that stuff will seriously decrease the battery life.

Not necessarily, more features and power does NOT automatically mean less battery life.

 

[freebirdforever]

Thanks to a nice tax return, I will be picking up both the ipad 2 and Xoom on launch days. Its going to be a good year

 

[donka]

I had planned to get the iPad 2 but will now probably opt for a G3 tablet and compare with my existing iPad and iPad 2 reviews before deciding where my tablet future lies.

 

[thekarens]

I have an android phone and love android, but iOS gets most of the app love so I decided on the current iPad instead of any of the upcoming android tablets. I'm happy with my choice.

 

[Thphilli]

Scattered Best Buy's around the US are reporting a February 24th release date for the Xoom. I'm probably going to get it, but I'm still going to wait it out a couple months to see the LG and Asus tablets as well as the others slated for release soon.

The LG tablet looks ridiculous with the 3d camera array on the back and the 3d screen.

 

[Thphilli]

I'm thinking more about typing while in landscape though - posting in forums for example - you have very little screen left to see what you are typing or in reply to.

There will be at minimum a dozen different keyboards that you can choose from. That is the allure of an open platform.

 

[freebirdforever]

The LG tablet looks ridiculous with the 3d camera array on the back and the 3d screen.

Have to agree there.

 

[maryjudith123]

I think Apple will hit between 40 to 50 million tablets while the rest will be doing good to hit between 5 to 10 million combined. Apple can definitely plan on selling 10s of millions of tablets while the other OEMs will all be fighting over the same small slice of the the slate pie. Apple will continue to be able to leverage huge economies of scale compared to everyone else and continue to produce the highest quality slate for a lower price than everyone else.

 

[Superbike81]

Lower price?? Which tablet is the iPad cheaper than?

 

[thekarens]

iPad is cheaper than a lot of Android tablets . Xoom is expected to be 700, Galaxy Tab is 500 (you can get an iPad for 420) I would almost be willing to bet most of the new Android tablets will be over 500.

 

[DaveSt]

iPad is cheaper than a lot of Android tablets . Xoom is expected to be 700, Galaxy Tab is 500 (you can get an iPad for 420) I would almost be willing to bet most of the new Android tablets will be over 500.

Yes, but to make a fair comparison you need to compare similar (and new) products. The Xoom has 32GB of storage + 3G, so the comparable device would be the iPad 32GB + 3G which runs for $729. That puts the Xoom right in line with Apple pricing. Personally, I think all tablets are overpriced considering that they are basically netbook hardware with upgraded screens but then again the manufacturers aren't asking me!

 

[thekarens]

If we have to compare new products then we would have to compare to ipad2. iPad came out a year ago and unfortunately we don't know what iPad 2 will cost.

 

[Superbike81]

Well, since Apple hasn't released any official word on specs or pricing for the iPad 2 we have to base it off of the price of the current iPad.

Didn't Apple announce the iPad last year at the MWC? Or did they have their own event? MWC 2011 is coming up in a week where we will get full specs on the LG tablet and probably some others. Maybe the iPad 2 will make an appearance?