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"Increased locations for use means more use, and more use means more enjoyment. Cheapness is a feature. Cheapness enhances mobility."

Couldn't be said any better!

I see the iPad Mini gaining widespread adoption among the educational market and consumers alike. I don't, however see Android tablets gaining any significant market share. Android is great on smartphones, but it's less than impressive on tablets and has little brand loyalty. The only Android tablet to be remotely successful was the Kindle Fire, which ran a proprietary Amazon-made version of Android.

The real threat to the iPad is Microsoft. With a plethora of gadgets running the same, slick OS, Windows 8 tablets will sell like hotcakes. Microsoft will have a whole unified ecosystem: Windows on the desktop, Microsoft Surface, Windows Phone 8 (which looks pretty good so far), XBOX, Zune Pass, and Skydrive.I see tablets being dominated by the iPad and Windows (the mini tablets will come, complete with Bing as the default search engine).

Anyone else agree? Or do you think I'm crazy for saying that Microsoft will ever crack the tablet market?

The ommission of one of the best 7" tablets on the market again leads a simple mind to wonder about "media bias." The Blackberry Playbook pioneered this size and for my money is one if not the top tablet on the market - period.

Since when dod we let Indian holy men tell us what was trending in the computer world.
I'd rather get my advice and reviews by guys like Mike Elgan.

This reality has led pundits to believe that

Already have a Kindle Fire and a Samsung 10.1 tab -- Am waiting to see what is available the end of 2012 and I reasonably sure I will get one of the 7" tabs.

I can't see people carrying a 7 inch tablet everywhere when they have a phone capable of all the mobile things listed. Price could be the main advantage for a 7 inch tablet, but how much more utility does it have than the smartphone I'm already carrying? I don't want to carry 2 devices unless they both offer advantages, and a 7 inch tablet just doesn't have enough advantages over a smartphone.

I think the 10 inch tablet is much better suited to educational use, also, since having roughly twice the area as a 7 inch tablet is a distinct advantage when displaying more than text. The big education revolution will happen when the larger tablets are cheaper.

Extremist, on 07 July 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

I think your crazy for thinking android is not suitable on a tablet, but hey we will have to see, when jelly bean or the final reiteration of 4.x comes out that gets mass adoption ( wireless carriers are lazy and only want to update when they have to so the final reiteration of 4.x will be the one the wireless carriers would upgrade devices to) personally i have and android tablet (acer a500) and my brother has an ipad 2, the apple works great for him, but my android would work for him as well, the other way around is not true, to be able to use my devices as a mass storage device if im with out a memory stick is what really does it for me, a true file system, it's great. apple will always have a decent following, but i believe it's market share will drop over time as people become more tech savvy and realize the limitations that apple's iOS that is run on these machines, and as the mass want a tablet on the cheap. It was that crowd that that moved the fire to success, though to say it was the only remotely successful tablet, i would have to disagree. Compared to ipad they are further back, but if you look at the acer a500 ( and other rebrands of it hewlett packard, gateway ) it has sold over 1 million units, and looking forward i will definatley be picking up the a700 with 1080 p screen. not quite as high res as ipad 2, but it's not far off. not to meantion when watching a movie, since mine is the right aspect ratio, it probably would have more pixels displaying the movie instead of wasting my retina display with 30 % of the screen as black bars

I do not have and I have no desire for a cell phone. Shock Horror Gasp. I have been waiting for a 7" tablet that I can use as a reader and a GPS. No one seems to be concerned about the GPS feature of this tablet but I will checking all of the up coming reviews to see how the gps shakes out. I do agree that google missed the mark slightly with this tablet, as it needs more memory and a card slot. The comments about WIN 8's ecosystem has some merit and it will be interesting to watch this all play out. I also wonder when one of these main stream tablets will have a Pixel QI screen. The military bought quite a few for gps units I believe. I guess it is important to see the screen in the sun..........Tom C retired mechanic

This post has been edited by TomCarvalho: 07 July 2012 - 12:51 PM

I think that Android has a vast future in the market, since the companies that manufacture Android devices can be quick to make modifications as quickly as possible to get more business. I am going to buy an Android ASUS TF700 tablet as soon as it is released. Android tablets will always be priced lower than comparable i pads. It will be a dog eat dog world on small tablets for a long time, and getting newer devices to market may make the Android devices more marketable. Remember Apple got a jump on this market and their Store has helped to make it the most popular tablet out there, but now that the ELITE has bought their i Pads, the unwashed masses will be looking to join the club, but they will certainly prefer paying less to get this capability. This is a forever market and it's direction is not preordained. I personally want to buy an Android to be able to have more freedom to not have to depend on what Apple wants to do.

Extremist, on 07 July 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

I think Apple could easily lock up the education market with a 7" tablet. Apple has the education applications. Android is missing the polish to make education awesome. It's not a warm and friendly as the iPad and the Apple eco system. Google really ought to think about education and make that a priority. It's always been a great way to ensure customers now and into the future.

That being said I think Google, at least for phones, is considered hip and trendy. Google may find itself on the wave of those with spendable income. It might do better to push itself into social applications which it seems to be doing well in for now.

As I have experienced what ARM 32-bit CPU have to offer (iPhone 3G, Blackberry Bold, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Blackberry Playbook) my next tablet is definitely not going to be based on an underpowered 'battery sipping' ARM CPU.

Basically, I don't want to use a one cylinder moped to do the job required by a 180 MPH capable superbike.

Yes my next tablet will be a Microsoft Surface device using an Industry Compatible 64-bit CPU. Why? Well compatibility and performance of course!

Size wise, I don't mind larger tablets, but prefer smaller portable ones. This Post-PC era is pure BS as I see all these ARM based devices as complementary, in addition to the real workhorse, but they can never replace a real PC. I prefer full HD 1920x1080 as this native display doesn't require any transcoding for all true HD media sources. And the resolution is ample (as my Dell Latitude E6520 is also 1920x1080) for doing developer work.

Since I carry around my notebook for professional reasons, I would hardly downgrade to a tablet form factor for doing real work. I do carry consumption devices, such as my Samsung Galaxy Nexus everywhere, as it is convenient enough. As a matter of fact I might even go to a Samsung Galaxy Note, the new, larger one as well. Kudos to Android!

I think smaller tablet will be more popular than larger ones, because many people already have PCs with 28" or larger displays.

Complementary is the keyword. Post-PC is pure self-serving BS IMHO.

Well at least, the Microsoft Surface 64-bit will be a real PC in tablet form.

PS: There are NO 64-bit ARM CPUs in existence. Alas they are only 32-bit.

~~~~~~~~~~
The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
~ B. F. Skinner, 1904-1990, American Psychologist and Author

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.
~ Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

This post has been edited by WinTard: 07 July 2012 - 02:15 PM

WinTard, on 07 July 2012 - 02:09 PM, said:

I'll check one out. Might even buy it. But it just sounds like a laptop wearing the clothes of a tablet. In which case, why not just get an Ultrabook? The weight sounds good, which is supposed to be just 2 lbs I believe. Like that keyboard too. Metro might be just the thing for such a device. Let me know what you think when you do get one.

Found this funny video on YouTube of an actual voice command test done between Android and iOS. Seriously funny.



I think voice command is the future. I also want to chime in that I never had this much trouble with Siri as they show. It worked very well for me. I never asked it the questions they did. I get jellybean on my Nexus next week, and I still own an iPhone 4S so I could test this myself in the near future.

I raise this because I think voice command and education will be closely tied together. Being able to ask your Android and iOS devices questions is going to be a big deal.

usercgwb, on 07 July 2012 - 12:37 PM, said:

I said Android tablets were "less than impressive" because most of them (not all of them) have been. There have also been some great ones like the Asus Transformer Prime and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I will say that Android is less "crippled" than iOS, having a real filesystem, actual USB ports, and the ability to sideload apps. Unfortunately that's not what the average consumer is looking for. The biggest factor in Android's popularity on smartphones is a MUCH lower average price than the iPhone. In the tablet market, the iPad's pricing is pretty competitive, starting at $399, and the iPad Mini will be even cheaper.

Apple and Microsoft both have a secret weapon. For Apple, it's its popularity with the younger generation, specifically high school and college students, and consequently the Bring Your Own Device phenomenon which will (and already is) lead to more business development for iOS.

For Microsoft, it's the 2 billion+ Windows install base and the trust of business and IT professionals worldwide that will help it capture a healthy share of the tablet market.

This post has been edited by Extremist: 07 July 2012 - 02:41 PM

Extremist, on 07 July 2012 - 02:40 PM, said:

There are lower priced Android's available, yes, but the really big sellers, like the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy S, SII and SIII and so on are the same price at check out as the iPhone for a 16GB vs 16GB model. My own personal opinion, I think Android does well in the phone space because it updates hardware often. There is a sense of newness. On the iPhone, it mostly looks like it did 5 years ago. Under the hood there are good changes but Android hardware takes on radical change often.

To start with, I'd like to dispel a few misconceptions (yeah, there are some who will disagree, but I'm used to that).

First, "the masses" will never become tech savvy; just as the masses never became car savvy (after more than a hundred years). Being comfortable with something doesn't make you savvy. If you want to test that theory, walk up to 50 people pumping gas and find out how many have ever changed a flat tire or their own oil. It's the reason roadside assistance and quick oil change businesses are so successful. As such, tech savvy will never have anything to do with whether a particular tablet form factor becomes popular.

Second, the masses don't have pockets big enough to hold a 7" tablet. Geeks do. But no company ever got rich marketing their product solely to geeks; there simply aren't enough of them (us) out there to affect the market. Women carry purses and 7" tablets fit a purse quite easily but so do 10" tablets. Both sizes also fit briefcases, backpacks, and satchels equally well. Smartphones fit pockets. Even the over-sized 5" Galaxy Note will fit a big pocket. But not a 7" tablet.

What will determine the next "great" thing will be marketing. It's what the "masses" pay attention to. They don't care about features, they don't care about portability. They see commercials, look at what their friends have, and look at price. Then they make a buying decision. That's it. Whoever wins the marketing war will determine which form factor will ultimately become successful and the rest of us will have to do one of two things; keep what we already have or buy whatever is left.

HankRearden, on 07 July 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

If total market share is what determines "big sellers" none of the Galaxy tablets meet muster. That title goes to the Kindle Fire which sells for a dollar shy of two hundred, has only 8 GB of memory, no expansion, and runs a 2.x version of Android. Price and name recognition (everybody and his mother already knew what a Kindle was before the Fire was released; much the way that everybody knew what an iPod was before the advent of the iPhone and iPad) became the primary selling points for the Fire. Once again, when it comes to the masses, never expect them to make buying decisions based on what's best. Geeks, yes; masses, no. And to use the car analogy again, auto makers (with a few exceptions) release a new model only once a year. It's become a workable model for more than a hundred years. To be certain, tablet makers can bring new hardware to market every month if that's what they want to do, but unlike phones that are price subsidized by telecom carriers, tablet buyers must bear the full purchase price for their devices. Once again, "the masses" aren't going to buy new tablet hardware at the same frequency that they buy new phones. They'll keep what they have one, two, three or more years so long as it continues to give them what they bought it for. Unless the cost of tablets suddenly and miraculously drops to within the $50 range, that will more than likely remain true for quite a while.

Hi Mike,

I strongly agree with you; and I've been 'promoting' the use of 'larger than 5 inch tablets' for the past 2 years (ever since I first owned my Dell Streak 5 'mini-tablet.

I believe it will be useful to add a few more arguments to add to your 'case'.

Anyone who uses a 7 inch tablet to make phone calls would be advised to use an 'earpiece/mic' for the purpose. The calls are simple to manage; and the tablet can remain out of sight in a pocket.

A tablet with a stylus and a good note making app far exceeds all other means of making notes 'on the hoof' as we say in the UK. It is a major application for the tablet.

A 7 inch tablet in a leather 'folio' case that includes a 'bluetooth' or a USB cable connection is a 'magic office assistant' working environment.

You mention tablets work well in the 'social networking; space. #

I agree ... but ... that almost certainly excludes the Google Nexus 7 since it DOES NOT HAVE A REAR FACING CAMERA !!!

THAT ONE OMISSION ALMOST CERTAINLY PRECLUDES IT FROM A KEY PART OF THE 'SOCIAL NETWORKING' APPLICATION.

I had been planning to change to a NEXUS 7 for my next device. But I'm afraid Google has excluded the NEXUS 7 mrom the frame.

I think that single poor decision will dramatically affect Google's plans for the product.

Happily, there is a very wide range of alternatives - and growing almost every week - and I can wait until Christmas before I need to make my choice.

Personally, I'm beginning to think that the HUAWEI MemoPad 7 will fill the bill very nicely !