IPAD or Android Tablet

[Bugs]

Hi All,

My wife had a go on a IPAD 1 and I thought this would be a good xmas/birthday pressie. I know IPAD's are dropping in price because of the new version being released, but they are still on the pricy side for me.

I wanted to know how they compare to the Android alternatives which are 3 times less price wise.

Thanks

[FN-GM]

Have a look at this:

ASDA Slashes Galaxy Tab Price to £300

[Theblacksheep]

Asus transformer 'apparently' out tomorrow. Android 3.0 tablet with 1280x800. dual core with 1gb ram. Attachable keyboard unit to turn it into a laptop, longer battery life, hdmi out and usb connectivity.

Motorola xoom out 9th april. Another android 3 tablet with 1280x800. another dualcore with 1gb ram.

Most of the current android tablets now out are very, very poor and are rushed out to try and grab a piece of the market while they develop proper tablets. You'd be wasting your money IMHO on the sub £300 tablets. Only my opinion, but personally I'd pay extra not to use the apple tether iTunes.

[Bugs]

Still a bit pricey TBH, I have been looking at some of the £100 Tablets my wife would mostly be using it for browsing via a 3g mobile broadband stick, playing the odd game, but (this might be the killer) she writes alot (using Word at the moment) and she is writing a book, plus she needs to be able edit office documents she currently has saved. The laptop she currently has is well past its sell by date so i`m looking for possible replacment. if not a tablet then I think i`m looking at a Netbook.

anyone have any thoughts or opinions?

[dhicks]

The laptop she currently has is well past its sell by date

In what way? I don't think a sub-£100 tablet is going to be any use to you, you might do better to put the money towards upgrading your laptop a bit. How old is it? Does it need a new battery? Does it just run slow - would more RAM help? A wipe-and-reinstall of Windows (or Linux) would probably help. I don't know if most tablets will work with USB broadband dongles (and the iPad doesn't have USB), but I know Ubuntu works just fine with my Vodafone dongle.

[sted]

Asus transformer 'apparently' out tomorrow. Android 3.0 tablet with 1280x800. dual core with 1gb ram. Attachable keyboard unit to turn it into a laptop, longer battery life, hdmi out and usb connectivity.

Most of the current android tablets now out are very, very poor and are rushed out to try and grab a piece of the market while they develop proper tablets. You'd be wasting your money IMHO on the sub £300 tablets. Only my opinion, but personally I'd pay extra not to use the apple tether iTunes.

i have an eepad transformer on order so i can do a quick review when it turns up.

[Theblacksheep]

i have an eepad transformer on order so i can do a quick review when it turns up.

Same here

[MK-2]

i have an eepad transformer on order so i can do a quick review when it turns up.

Same here

see you both in june then?

[sted]

see you both in june then?

unfortunately yes grrrr

how does it lose 6 weeks one week before shipping? my guess they have all gone to the states what a f up

[Theblacksheep]

see you both in june then?

I've my transformer since the 7th

Too early in the morning to actually read things like "on order".

Not the keyboard, it doesn't transform just the tablet. Optimus Prime without the trailer. Hardly put it down on my week off.

[JaSauders]

This may be biasness speaking, but I avoid Apple like the plague due to their closed minded unintuitive business model.

My vote leans to the far right - Android.

[jamesfed]

Personaly I'm holding fast on the tablet PC world until Windows 8 comes out with its surposed ARM processors and Windows Phone 7 like elements. Bought a Windows Vista tablet some time ago that I am selling now on eBay which I found more than useful in my college days all of which happened long before the iPad and Microsoft was working on something called the 'Ultra mobile PC'.

So my 2c is wait (if you can) for Windows 8 to come out and get a tablet PC that can run every Windows program in the book and not only does flash but Silverilght, HTML5 and every other bit of gubbins that runs the web.

[sted]

Personaly I'm holding fast on the tablet PC world until Windows 8 comes out with its surposed ARM processors and Windows Phone 7 like elements. Bought a Windows Vista tablet some time ago that I am selling now on eBay which I found more than useful in my college days all of which happened long before the iPad and Microsoft was working on something called the 'Ultra mobile PC'.

So my 2c is wait (if you can) for Windows 8 to come out and get a tablet PC that can run every Windows program in the book and not only does flash but Silverilght, HTML5 and every other bit of gubbins that runs the web.

depends what you want to DO with a tablet win8 might be worth waiting for if you want a full pc but if you just want something to type quick messages on and surf the net then a honeycomb/ios device may be the way to go

[superfletch]

she writes alot (using Word at the moment) and she is writing a book... ....if not a tablet then I think i`m looking at a Netbook.

As someone who writes a lot myself I wouldn't really want a tablet or a netbook - I want a decent keyboard, not a small one or an on-screen one.

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works.

For me the iPad beats all the others simply for the app store, it's beautiful looks and quality of build. If she isn't going to be using loads of apps and storing lots of music / movies then I'd look at one of the lower spec iPads.