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Why Android Tablets Aren't Selling

I am posting this from my netbook attached to a "22 monitor and KB/M. This thing is atleast as powerful as the Athlon64 3200+ i had years ago and i was doing 3D modeling on that. You don't need a Quad core to run photoshop, nor do you need 2TB to open a word document, programming is nothing more than an elaborate word processor 99% of the time.

Strongly disagree with the last statement. A modern IDE is FAR more resource intensive than a word processor. Office 2010 runs very well on my HP Slate, Visual Studio 2010 and Eclipse suck total ass and the HP Slate with an SSD is reasonably zippy for a netbook class machine.

I guess in a way you could be correct in that all you need is a text editor to write code but no one sane would do that with IDEs like Visual Studio.
 
Strongly disagree with the last statement. A modern IDE is FAR more resource intensive than a word processor. Office 2010 runs very well on my HP Slate, Visual Studio 2010 and Eclipse suck total ass and the HP Slate with an SSD is reasonably zippy for a netbook class machine.

I guess in a way you could be correct in that all you need is a text editor to write code but no one sane would do that with IDEs like Visual Studio.

Hmm... haven't tried VS2010 on it yet. But i've used it for 3D Modeling (It's how i was able to compare it to the previous rig), Photoshop, Flash development, SQL Server. I had 2008 installed on this for a short time so i can update my utilities (I abandoned it when i found out about virtual PC tho) and it was running fine on that. And i'm gonna be trying out making android applications so i'm gonna be installing eclipse on this soon.

What exactly is it in 2010 that would make your CPU go 100% while you're coding?
 
Then how come the biggest competitor to the iPad was priced at $300 more than the base model when it was released? Yea, it sure is overpriced.

Does anyone remember when Apple first announced the iPad? The biggest standout was in fact price, and no not in a good way. People were crying foul that a simple tablet started at $500 now look where we are. It seems Apple has set the bar in terms of lowest price and everyone else can't even get close to that. Motorola Xoom, are you kidding me?
 
I personally think that some of the problem is due to at least a portion of the Android tablet market requiring a cellular subscription.

Most people want a name-brand they have heard of, but when the name brand tablets require a Verizon (or other mobile carrier) contract rather than being wifi-only, that stalls the deal.

I know there are some wifi-only Android tablets, but a number of the ones I've seen aren't well-known brands to the average consumer.

I think it's this as well. Most of the people that can afford a tablet probably already have a cell phone so they don't want/need another device on their plan. I know this is what is keeping me from getting a tablet right now. All I really want in a tablet is a 10" screen and wifi, but the ones that fit that description are being offered by cell phone service providers. No, I'm not going to buy another wireless plan just for a tablet.
 
Does anyone remember when Apple first announced the iPad? The biggest standout was in fact price, and no not in a good way. People were crying foul that a simple tablet started at $500 now look where we are. It seems Apple has set the bar in terms of lowest price and everyone else can't even get close to that. Motorola Xoom, are you kidding me?

Motorola was trying to cling to the model of having a high MSRP and hoping people get the device subsidized through a 2 year service agreement for 3G service. The Apple approach ended up working out much better.
 
Does anyone remember when Apple first announced the iPad? The biggest standout was in fact price, and no not in a good way. People were crying foul that a simple tablet started at $500 now look where we are. It seems Apple has set the bar in terms of lowest price and everyone else can't even get close to that. Motorola Xoom, are you kidding me?

So it's been over a year. Where are all the high quality tablets under $500?
 
So it's been over a year. Where are all the high quality tablets under $500?

I think that's the point of this thread. There isn't any. My statement was more in regards to "gaul" that Apple would sell a giant iPod Touch at such a high price but no one is still able to come in and steal any marketshare.
 
Selling a million $100 devices isn't even remotely close to the success of selling 12 million $500+ devices.

You're desperate for an argument when you start comparing Apple products to Apple products to claim that not all Apple products are successes.

Apple sold nearly a million AppleTVs in the last quarter alone. That is a success. It's all the more a success when AppleTV is only sold as an accessory which the public neither understands or has a use for.

But, let's go with your claim that AppleTV is a failure. Why did it fail? What happened to Apple's top-notch quality?

Sorry, if you defend Apple, you're in a lose-lose situation. If you own Apple stock, then you're in a winning situation. Betting on the public being fools is a win-win. Microsoft invested 100 million dollars in Apple when Apple stock was in the toilet.
 
What exactly is it in 2010 that would make your CPU go 100% while you're coding?

CPU performance isn't the only issue. VS 2010 is large and there's potentially lots of components involved. For instance I'm doing Windows Phone development using VS 2010 Ultimate and that involves using Expression Blend and the phone emulator. I've tried using these tools on an Asus 1000H netbook with a standard mechanical hard drive as well as my HP Slate. Never again. MyEclipse was just as bad.

By comparison my HP tm2 with 8 GB of RAM is very usable with the same tools, my sig rig is considerably better even than the tm2. Deploying a Windows Phone app to the emulator on the Asus is agonizingly slow, on my sig rig its nearly instantaneous. Even if it someone would consider running VS 2010 usable (which I say is far from that) the level of productivity gained by moving to a more capable platform would be remarkable.

When you start doing Android development in Eclipse I suspect your desktop will see more action.
 
Sorry, if you defend Apple, you're in a lose-lose situation. If you own Apple stock, then you're in a winning situation. Betting on the public being fools is a win-win. Microsoft invested 100 million dollars in Apple when Apple stock was in the toilet.

I'm in a lose-lose situation? I bought my Macbook in the summer of '08, I noticed that the plastic cover attached to the battery, to make it look flush, was sticking out a little bit and causing my laptop to rock a little. No big deal. My battery life was still rockin' ~4 hours without charge but I decided to take it into the Apple store to see what they could do. I wasn't expecting much because I was way over my warranty duration. They gave me a brand new battery for my Macbook.

Another case, my iPhone 3G was getting these unusual text messages that had a bunch of jumbled letters and it was from an unknown number. Brought it to Apple and they replaced my iPhone 3G with a brand new one.

You may be right that Apple prices their products higher for less power but they make up for it in customer service 10 fold. I no longer have to deal with shitty Dell or Emachines or any company over the phone or heaven forbid AT&T for my cell phone. I just walk into the Apple store and I usually walk out something new or my problems solved.

I'm sorry but I am not like you and am cynical about everything. If someone does something good towards me then damn right I'll defend them.
 
You're desperate for an argument when you start comparing Apple products to Apple products to claim that not all Apple products are successes.

Apple sold nearly a million AppleTVs in the last quarter alone. That is a success. It's all the more a success when AppleTV is only sold as an accessory which the public neither understands or has a use for.

But, let's go with your claim that AppleTV is a failure. Why did it fail? What happened to Apple's top-notch quality?

Sorry, if you defend Apple, you're in a lose-lose situation. If you own Apple stock, then you're in a winning situation. Betting on the public being fools is a win-win. Microsoft invested 100 million dollars in Apple when Apple stock was in the toilet.

How exactly do you know that people buying an AppleTV have no idea what it's used for? Seems a bit presumptuous to make a claim like that. Maybe people are buying it for a cheap netflix player? AppleTV has it's uses, but its content is lacking. I'm not defending Apple. I'm pointing out the stupidity of claiming that the reason the iPad sold is because it has an Apple logo.
 
How exactly do you know that people buying an AppleTV have no idea what it's used for? Seems a bit presumptuous to make a claim like that. Maybe people are buying it for a cheap netflix player? AppleTV has it's uses, but its content is lacking. I'm not defending Apple. I'm pointing out the stupidity of claiming that the reason the iPad sold is because it has an Apple logo.

You forgot to add that they are stupid, mindless hipsters to the end of your post.
 
I'm in a lose-lose situation? I bought my Macbook in the summer of '08, I noticed that the plastic cover attached to the battery, to make it look flush, was sticking out a little bit and causing my laptop to rock a little. No big deal.

Apple customers are happy with Apple's service. But, they're paying a lot of money for that service, and giving up a lot. If the Apple iPhone is 5% of phone sales, but 55% of profits, that shows how much extra Apple customers are paying. I don't buy store "extended warranties" (which are 90% profit or used to cover minor things a customer could fixed himself without cost) because if I want to spend more, I'll buy an upgraded product. Else, I count my savings on everything I buy without extra coverage to provide for future repairs or replacements.

By going with Apple, the Apple's customer's only choice is the one iPhone (iPhone 4). Someone might want a mechanical keyboard, Apple doesn't sell any different models, so no keyboard. If they skip apple, they'll have several models with keyboards to choose from. I want to get what most suits me in the market, rather than being so limited in choice. And, usually there is someone offering more features or performance than anything Apple is selling.

You may be right that Apple prices their products higher for less power but they make up for it in customer service 10 fold. I no longer have to deal with shitty Dell or Emachines or any company over the phone or heaven forbid AT&T for my cell phone. I just walk into the Apple store and I usually walk out something new or my problems solved.

If you buy a major brand PC, you don't have to deal with that company for repairs. You can walk into any local authorized service center. There's a local one I recommend for friends and family needing warranty work, they usually have a 24-hour turn around for parts replacement. If all you needed were a battery cover replacement, if they had an extra one laying around, they'd probably give it to you even if you were out of warranty (in hopes of gaining future business from you, but I doubt they'd have any spare that would fit). And, something like a defective cell phone is going to be replaced rather than repaired. (Computer components typically have a three year warranty, and manufacture exchanges are very easy to do yourself, even if a bit slow.)

Apple has a big advantage with their own local shops (if you happen to live where they have one). It would be insane of Apple not to do at least as much with their stores as a good independent shop would do on their behalf. (Best Buys and other retail PC stores don't have in-store authorized service shops, which is one reason for consumer service dissatisfaction with PC brands. I don't know why Best Buy works this way.)

I'm sorry but I am not like you and am cynical about everything. If someone does something good towards me then damn right I'll defend them.

I'm sorry, too. I'm happy that the only money Apple customers waste is their own. But, Apple customers are morbidly fascinating to me.
 
People have different needs.

A 13' laptop may be better than a 10.1' netbook, but for me the netbook wins. It's smaller, weight a lot less, I can carry it on my backpack when cruising around on my motorcycle without getting tired. I don't want a bigger notebook AT ALL. The small 10.1 Atom-powered netbook gives me solid 8 hours of battery with wireless off, and 6 hours with wireless on. It does everything I need and doesn't hurt my back when I'm carrying it around. I don't want a tablet too because I want to type stuff fast when I'm on class, and touch screen sucks for that.

On the other hand, I'm sure my wife would be happy with a Tablet. She likes to read laying on the bed, doesn't type a lot, mostly surf the web and read. For her, a tablet would be sweet. Unfortunately due to price she's using an my old 15' laptop. Not ideal, but better than using desktops for her (she doesn't like to sit on a chair for long periods).

I end up using my netbook 95% of the time, and just turn on my Desktop when I need something more comfortable and/or powerful. But that's almost never, as I haven't had the time to stay at home for long periods to enjoy my good old PC.

That said, I see tons of people wanting iPads for the "cool" factor. Nothing wrong with that, but to see people that want to type long essays while on the go getting a tablet for that... not really the best tool I think.
 
Price was the factor for me. The Xoom @ $600 was too much for a tablet form factor. I was starting to look for a color nook to root when the transformer came out. $400 for a tablet with similar specs to the Xoom and iPad2 was my threshold. Credit card whipped out the moment I could find a shop to place my order.

My interest was largely around the device as a development target. The tablet replaced my x61s in my airplane travel bag very quickly. Never realized how nice portrait mode works as an eReader for books and comix till I had one. Movies, music both work well. The email was good enough - most of the time I'm in read only mode when on the tablet, or firing back quick notes. All in all, the thing was pretty intuitive and polished. I was also surprised how many apps were available in the app store. Battery life is fantastic.

I see this market taking off as more devices hit the $100-350 price point. Folks ask about it every time I take it out.
 
Some people just want to get things done and have the money to pay for that. Apple offers that. It's closed, you have to get things from the app store, not much liberty on that platform, but for most people they're willing to pay more for that because they want to be sure that whatever they want to do with their shiny new gadget, it will work. Apple delivers that. It's easy enough for everyone to understand and operate, and it works flawlessly. Their touchscreen proves that, it's just smooth.

And yes, personally I don't buy Apple, their products don't appeal to me as I want to "tweak" with stuff I get. But I can totally "get" why people happily pay the "Apple tax".
 
I was starting to look for a color nook to root when the transformer came out. $400 for a tablet with similar specs to the Xoom and iPad2 was my threshold. Credit card whipped out the moment I could find a shop to place my order.

You want an Asus Transformer? Why pay an extra $100 for the iPad? So you won't be bothered with Flash video? So, you get a lower-resolution Hulu experience with black bars that feels normal to you? Because you don't know how to use a second, high resolution camera? Because you don't want a real keyboard docking option, especially one that gives you 16 hours of battery life and extra ports? Because the most you'll ever tinker with your OS is making a new folder?

Only the iPad which will give you the warm, fuzzy feeling of paying more for less.
 
You want an Asus Transformer? Why pay an extra $100 for the iPad? So you won't be bothered with Flash video? So, you get a lower-resolution Hulu experience with black bars that feels normal to you? Because you don't know how to use a second, high resolution camera? Because you don't want a real keyboard docking option, especially one that gives you 16 hours of battery life and extra ports? Because the most you'll ever tinker with your OS is making a new folder?

Only the iPad which will give you the warm, fuzzy feeling of paying more for less.

Maybe he actually wants a platform with some software available.
 
You want an Asus Transformer? Why pay an extra $100 for the iPad? So you won't be bothered with Flash video? So, you get a lower-resolution Hulu experience with black bars that feels normal to you? Because you don't know how to use a second, high resolution camera? Because you don't want a real keyboard docking option, especially one that gives you 16 hours of battery life and extra ports? Because the most you'll ever tinker with your OS is making a new folder?

Only the iPad which will give you the warm, fuzzy feeling of paying more for less.

Try $75 more, not $100. Honeycomb's app availability isn't up there with Apple's. That's the number one reason iPads are still selling like hotcakes besides brand recognition. I hope you're aware that ASUS's keyboard dock cost another $333 bringing the cost of the Transformer to $833 for the 16gb and $933 for the 32gb.

Let's just agree that you have a massive hard-on for dissing Apple products and users and leave it at that.
 
Maybe he actually wants a platform with some software available.

If software is such a big deal, why do people buy Apple's OSX computers? You pay more for less, and less includes a lot less software.

What software for iPad's is important but not available for Android? Is anything less than 61 flatulence simulators just not enough?

What will you argue in August (current projection) when Android app market becomes larger than the iOS app market?
 
If software is such a big deal, why do people buy Apple's OSX computers? You pay more for less, and less includes a lot less software.

What software for iPad's is important but not available for Android? Is anything less than 61 flatulence simulators just not enough?

What will you argue in August (current projection) when Android app market becomes larger than the iOS app market?

More people buy PC than Apple. More people buy iPad than Android tablet.

You're going all over the place. Try and stay on track.
 
If software is such a big deal, why do people buy Apple's OSX computers? You pay more for less, and less includes a lot less software.

What software for iPad's is important but not available for Android? Is anything less than 61 flatulence simulators just not enough?

What will you argue in August (current projection) when Android app market becomes larger than the iOS app market?

You should take another look at the markets, because its the Android market that is filling up with crap and clones right now.
 
I'd think the cool factor, marketing, and other things are probably more likely the #1 cause. I don't disagree that there are more apps, and that it is a nice setup. I just say that from my personal experiences, which would probably include 30 people at most in my personal life. Most of the owners I know aren't even aware that Android makes a tablet, or doesn't have a clue how many apps area available. Most just bought it because they thought I-pads were cool..

I do know many more at the school system I work at that use them, and several of them aren't tech savvy. There are a few who bought them for the capability, but the majority of them bought them because they saw someone else using them and thought I-pad meant cool.

These same types also owned Ipods. They didn't know what an mp3 player was, but they know what Ipod is. They want to buy one for their kids and family for christmas, and they probably bought theirs because they saw one of their friends/family owned one. So they bragged about it at work. If you walk in with a sandisk, it's an i-pod.. if you walk in with a zune.. it's an Ipod.. Ipod was synonymous with music player. Sorta like people used to call every portable disc player a walkman.
 
Try $75 more, not $100. Honeycomb's app availability isn't up there with Apple's. That's the number one reason iPads are still selling like hotcakes besides brand recognition. I hope you're aware that ASUS's keyboard dock cost another $333 bringing the cost of the Transformer to $833 for the 16gb and $933 for the 32gb.

Where in the alternative Bizarro Apple universe do you get those numbers?

Let's just agree that you have a massive hard-on for dissing Apple products and users and leave it at that.

An Apple product is like a woman, not too smart, but pretty to look at. Heh? :D
 
I have an iPad 2 and an Acer Iconia Tab A500. On the Acer, since I got it, I've done nothing but chase bugs. Transcoded videos dont' work right unless you do this and use that, you can't get to the internal microSD slot, GPS and Wifi are weak.

No bugs to chase on iPad 2.
 
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If software is such a big deal, why do people buy Apple's OSX computers? You pay more for less, and less includes a lot less software.

What software for iPad's is important but not available for Android? Is anything less than 61 flatulence simulators just not enough?

What will you argue in August (current projection) when Android app market becomes larger than the iOS app market?

The Android phone app market is pretty damn close to the Apple app store. The Android tablet app market is really far behind the Apple tablet app store. Using phone apps on both Android and Apple tablets sucks.

Also, wtf about OSX. I never even mentioned it nor would dream of defending the platform.
 
All prices are gotten from Amazon.com

16GB Eee Pad Transformer - $524.99

We learned one thing, don't buy this from Amazon. At Best Buy and many other places, the Transformer is $399. The docking keyboard is $149, but it does extend the battery life to 16 hours and provides more ports, and works as a handy screen protector when not in use.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
You don't buy one of these things because, for the things you want to do with it, it will "work fine". You want things to work much better than "fine".

By "works fine" I meant "works as well as an app specifically designed for a tablet."
 
I have an iPad 2 and an Acer Iconia Tab A500. On the Acer, since I got it, I've done nothing but chase bugs. Transcoded videos dont' work right unless you do this and use that, you can't get to the internal microSD slot, GPS and Wifi are weak.

No bugs to chase on iPad 2.

It does seem like at lot of the Android tablet folks seem to spend a lot of time getting very basic stuff to work like video playback.
 
The Android phone app market is pretty damn close to the Apple app store. The Android tablet app market is really far behind the Apple tablet app store. Using phone apps on both Android and Apple tablets sucks.

Also, wtf about OSX. I never even mentioned it nor would dream of defending the platform.

Android phone apps work great on tablets. Any decent, popular app scales perfectly. Hell my facebook app is better than my wife who has the fuzzy ipod app double scaled up (apparently there is no first party facebook app for the ipad?? Crazyness)

The only apps that don't scale well are some games and cheapy free crap.

Yes, not all of my Hello Kitty Puzzle apps scale correctly on my Nook Color (for my little girl). OMG!!
 
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