Moving to The Dark Side.... thinking of getting an IPAD, but have reservations.

[HappyPelican]

As far as tweaking the iPad, once a Jailbreak is released, you'll be able to truly make your iPad yours...so to speak. Good luck and welcome to the forums!

 

[Mickeylittle]

Danny, I'm a TF Prime and new iPad owner and I've chosen the new iPad over the Prime for 2 basic reasons. 1) The iPad is just more fluid as my Prime will scroll web pages very nice and then there will be these unexplained lags, minor but noticeable to me! 2) Apps, the iPad has the apps that I need and on the Android Market I've spend day afterday of seeking the perfect replacement app for my iPad apps that I have grown to love but I always come up short and have to compromise.

And yes I really gave it a shot since I also purchased the original Transformer back in early May 2011. But one thing maybe you haven't considered is posibably waiting for the new TF 700 infinity which is due in June/July as it supposedly will have a screen similar to the iPad 1920 X 1280 and they are also bumping up the quad core speed from 1.3 ghz to 1.6 ghz!

 

[Tassiecelt]

If I had an android and then saw the new iPad, I would smash it also

I cannot speak more highly of the iPad, I had and ipad2 for a year and still believe the upgrade was worthwhile. I use the iPad all day everyday, at work, at home, at church, on the road, on holiday.....everywhere.

 

[skallal]

I also have an Asus Transformer TF101. But I haven't smashed it yet. But I am on my second dock keyboard. I spilled a large glass of fine Martinelli's apple juice on the first one. And the dock is what makes the Asus transformer shine.

But like MickeyLittle, I prefer the new iPad. Android just doesn't have the apps the iPad has. I bought the transformer after having owned the first generation iPad. Now my transformer since there without getting much use these days.

 

[HappyPelican]

Did you take the plunge?

 

[DannyDroid]

32gb arrives today. i also have the transformer prime with a 2 week cooling off period, so plan to put them head to head ! The looser gets returned.

 

[milkmilklemonade]

32gb arrives today. i also have the transformer prime with a 2 week cooling off period, so plan to put them head to head ! The looser gets returned.

Haha, I'm another android guy who switched.

I've owned the tf101 and prime as well - ended up selling both after trying the new iPad.

The quality of apps and number of them not available on android (hello music notation apps!), ability to actually use a stylus fluidly (great for notes in class), and speed over the prime, is what did it. This was after three years with android. And having them there to compare.

There are flash browsers by the way like iswifter, but I generally do remote access to my desktop to get to the few sites that don't work so well on the iPad

Theres a learning curve, but it put the death blow to android for me.

One of my first purchases was The Daily subscription, also iTunes university is great.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[dhevans_6]

iOS takes some getting used to. Hang in there at the lack of dedicated back buttons, and randomly pressing the screen to find actually where the save button is hiding, etc. I personally also don't like the auto correct and notifications are still a little intrusive..

I wanted a tablet early last year for my photography. At the time the IPS panel of the ipad2 swung it for me. The photography support I believe is better. Still watch my mates with android tabs having to either do workarounds or it just not work at all. That's no good for me in front of a client.

I've had android phones for 3 years or so, a google nexus ordered straight from the states, and now a galaxy s2. The s2 is currently at a sammy repair centre after the debacle Samsung uk have made of the ICS update. ICS aside, it's a phone I'm happy with. Since getting the ipad2 and now a 3 (ran out of room on the 16gb 2), I use the phone for as a phone more and more..


In terms of streaming, I've been looking at flex player and media connect. These together will stream a wide variety of files from a nas. Streamed one movie onto the tv using the hdmi connector absolutely fine, although I'm no cinema buff, these were just for the kids, and the sound was in sync!

 

[bassman99]

I've never had an Android, but after some *very* careful shopping, I went Apple. Since the iPad apps are written in Objective-C, vs. a Java derivative on the Android, it was a "no-brainer" for me. I always thought Java was a good concept, but was executed horribly. Android is moving away from their Java derivative, I think, but Android still seems clusy compared with iOS.

I'm still "Mad as Hornets" that I can't connect a USB/SD drive/stick to transfer files without WiFi or iTunes, but other than that, I'm happy...
...until Windows 8 comes out, that is. I wanted the "touch-pad experience", including the ability to "kick-back", without a clumsy hinge system and horrible battery-life. Today, I say iPad is the best, and I didn't want to get the first batch of Windoze 8 touchpads. Things will start to change this fall when Windows 8 comes out. While I can bash Micro$oft with the best of them, I can only do so much with a bunch of dumbed-down apps, and remote access to a "real" computer (possible only when I'm in-range of WiFi). I can't afford twice the cost for a MacBook over Wintel (I need lots of HD, CPU and screen-resolution).

 

[DannyDroid]

My main objection to Apple products has always been this "intentional crippling". Not having a microSD slot isnt really showing any respect to your customer. I wouldn't ever go back to an Iphone from my android phone (Galaxy S2). I love having expandable storage, and the fact that I can carry a spare battery with me when I know Im not going to be able to re-charge for an extended length of time. However, from what many tell me, for the most part IOS provides a more refined tablet experience. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for all the comments. Much appreciated.

 

[AQ_OC]

I don't know why people obsess over these matters. There are plenty of android tablets that have ports...Acer just released the A510...and Asus just release the TF300.

It doesn't bother me a bit that the iPad doesn't have all these ports. Ports either make the tablet thicker or, on the thinner ones, the ports can be problematic as the thin slide where they are insert can cause problems. Just go check out MobileTech's review of the Transformer Prime. Lisa comments on how the microSD card sticks out slightly on the thin edge...whereas on the Acer there is no problem...but the acer is thicker and heavier.

Devices that dont' have ports means you have to plan other ways to get your stuff. Dropbox works just fine, as does using a seagate flex or an Airstash. If it bothers you to use those, then just don't get the apple. It is not disrespect to a customer to not provide slots...and the reason is because you have choices. If you don't like no ports then just don't get an iPad. Very simple solution. Frankly, I have a Kindle Fire, and iPad 3, and an Acer Iconia A500 and I think the first two are just easier to use. If I want to transfer files, I can use dropbox, the Airstash, or the iCloud or even itunes. It is simply not an issue. The clean outsides of the device outweigh, in the long term, having ports all over the place.

 

[milkmilklemonade]

My main objection to Apple products has always been this "intentional crippling". Not having a microSD slot isnt really showing any respect to your customer. I wouldn't ever go back to an Iphone from my android phone (Galaxy S2). I love having expandable storage, and the fact that I can carry a spare battery with me when I know Im not going to be able to re-charge for an extended length of time. However, from what many tell me, for the most part IOS provides a more refined tablet experience. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for all the comments. Much appreciated.

Actually I would say not aggressively going after app developers is the bigger slap in the face.

I gladly gave up expandable storage on a tablet in order to finally get use of key apps that android doesn't offer...or offers inferior versions of.

There are usually work around for going from android to apple (cloud storage, wifi hard drives, etc)...but not having a proper music notation app ( as one of the many examples) - there's no work around for.

Androids motto seems to be just toss features at the user - hdmi, sdcard, browsable file system. Those in itself aren't reasons to use the tablet - apple seems to be focused on giving you an actual reason to want to use the tablet.

I love being able to write music finally on a tablet, or connect my keyboard to it and use it as a portable DAW. Or waking up to new issues of the daily, or study a new subject with iTunes university, or take notes in class with noteshelf, etc.

Those make me want to use it - not an sdcard port or built in hdmi connector.

And I was a die hard android fan..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[AQ_OC]

Well said, milkmilklemonade!

 

[Sincity]

The lack of memory expansion/ease of file transfer was and is still a concern for me. What won me over in the end was the screen and the more organized app store that separated iPhone and iPad apps.

 

[Jyc23]

Hello,

I recently smashed my Android tablet (the original Asus Transformer) and am in the market for a new slate.

In general, I live in the Google/Android ecosystem. I have a Samsung S2, all my email and organisational aids are Google apps, so Android plays nice straight out of the box. I am, however, sorely tempted by the display of the new Ipad (as opposed to going for the Transformer Prime). I do have some worries, which perhaps someone here can help me address.

[*]Most of my video media is either XVID AVIs or MKV. I know there are IPAD apps that will play these, but do the render then natively in their full glory, or will they get re-encoded in the background, leading to weird sync issues etc....
[*]Most of this media is kept on a NAS drive which acts a DLNA server. Will I be able to access this and stream my MKVS, and AVIs ?
I can probably live with the other limitations (No flash, no sd card slot, no screen widgets etc), but not being able to catch up on The Daily Show episodes on my tablet is a deal breaker ! Also, is the WIFI reception good ? The Prime has an iffy WIFI rep, so hearing that the IPAD's WIFI is good would help swing it.

Im not looking to start a fanboy war here.... I just figure this is the best place to here the arguments "for".

Thanks !

Like you, I have a bunch of videos encoded in non-iTunes formats stored on a NAS drive attached to a router that has a built-in DLNA server. I also have some videos stored on my regular computer which doesn't have a DLNA server installed. On the iPads, after trying a ton of apps, I finally settled on OPlayer HD. It's basically just like BSPlayer (on Android) in terms of being able to play a wide variety of formats, including the ones you mentioned; also, it can stream without DLNA (via Samba ...). There's no intermediate re-encoding, so the quality is no different from playing it back on your regular computer. There's a free "lite" version which has all of the functionality, except for an annoying ad that appears on screen during playback. But it's good for seeing if the app serves your needs. The paid version is $4.99.

Regarding the wi-fi reception -- it's no worse than the reception on the Asus Transformer (one of the Android tablets I've owned). Then again, I never had reception problems with my Transformer.

Just want to throw in some unsolicited observation here ... of the things that I noticed is a huge difference between Android and iOS is file management. With Android, you could have, say, a bunch of PDFs stored on your sd card and open them with a bunch of different apps. For example, with Android, you could download a PDF via dropbox, edit that PDF with a PDF annotator, edit with yet a different PDF annotator, and have the changed PDF be synced automatically to your dropbox folder in the cloud. With iOS, there is no easy way to do this. Each app in iOS has access only to its own files on the device. So, once you download a PDF via dropbox, if you want to edit it, you would have to export it to a PDF app, which would create a copy of the file for that app. To edit it in another PDF app, you would do the same. Now you have three copies of the same file (well, not quite the same, but you know what I mean). Finally, to get the PDF back up to dropbox, you have to upload it to wherever it is supposed to be synced to. You might be wondering who the heck edits PDFs with two apps, and what that has to do with watching video. Well ... yeah. Anyway, the point is that file management is a pain in the neck in iOS because of the way that iOS apps are restricted in terms of what files they have access to.

But, all that said, the new iPad display is really quite something to behold. With movies, you probably won't notice much difference (except maybe with 1080p) but by God, with everything else ... it's pretty damn amazing.