

Why This Apple Fan is Getting an Android Tablet and Not Another iPad - ruswick
http://danr.us/post/26471035478/why-im-getting-an-android-tablet-and-not-another-ipad

======
phaus
If someone had never owned a tablet before, I'm sure they would be delighted
with Google's Nexus 7. Unfortunately, the author already has an original iPad,
so there's a good chance he will be disappointed with it solely because 7"
tablets are in many cases, too small to be useful.

I've owned a Kindle Fire, an iPad 3, and an Asus EEE Slate. What I've learned
from these devices is that reading a PDF, browsing the web, or using any sort
of productivity program is a rather unpleasant experience on a 7" device.

The browsing and reading experience on the 12" EEE Slate was wonderful, but
the device's weight (over 2 lbs) makes it less than ideal.

While the iPad can't compete with the EEE slate in terms of productivity, the
retina screen and the lower weight of the device end up making it by far the
best way to read PDFs.

While IOS was nice, I'd wager that any 9"+ android tablet that's running
Android 4 or higher would provide a similar experience. I just don't think
that anything with a smaller screen is ever going to be sufficient.

------
briandear
I love it when people compare stuff that's been shipping for almost a year to
products that haven't shipped yet. By the time the ill-named Jelly Bean is
actually shipping and in consumers' hands, Apple will be on to iOS 6. Vapor
ware comparisons are so easy. The author's personal preference away from
textured, simu-analog graphics is fair enough, but let's get down to what
really counts: performance, security, quality. I would much rather debate
those issues than silly things like simulated paper in iBooks. I haven't used
ice-jelly-honey-creame-pie-sandwich or whatever it's called, but I'm also not
writing about how awesome it is (or isn't.)

~~~
malandrew
I've owned more Apple products and been responsible for more purchases of
Apple products by other people than anyone I know, but this weekend when my
friend came over with his jelly bean nexus, my immediate reaction was "Whoa!
This is a legit competitor to iOS and the iPad"

I've always been super disappointed with Android and it's inconsistencies, but
Matias Duarte is doing a hell of a job since taking over. Seriously, go get a
new Nexus and play with it. It's not quite at iOS quality in all areas, but
where it isn't quite there it is at least close and in some respects it is
surpassing iOS in ways that didn't matter much before but will matter more and
more in the future. I think the biggest thing that is going to hold back iOS
and what will give Android and Web Apps the upper hand is Intents.

FYI: Apple's URL Schemes are the closest it has to Intents and but it isn't as
embraced as Intents on Android. (ref:
[http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#featuredarticles/iPh...](http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#featuredarticles/iPhoneURLScheme_Reference/Introduction/Introduction.html)
)

That all being said, I think the author's complete dismissal of affordances
because of egregious skeuomorphisms committed by Apple to be a case of
throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Affordances are important for
usability, especially for people who are older or getting their first serious
computing device and using it for more than just email. Affordances help you
learn new interfaces faster.

