Alternative to iPad

[Silver78]

Does an android tablet offer better movie experience than an ipad?
I think all codecs etc. (Ac3 also)

So far I have only owned apple tablets.
I now use my tablet for most stuff and only use laptop for photoshop, piracy and watching movies.

Sure there is some nice ios apps but I rarely use most of them.
I have given up on nice Ios games because 99% really suck and there is too much fremium going on in app store and far from enough quality games.
I would rather pay a fixed price for a game like x-com than in app purchase games that are made with the purchase as main skeleton.
The fact that some games like hayday offers stuff in their game that would cost more than 500$ In real money to buy makes me puke. Kids games on ipad reminds me more of slot machines for kids.

My experience with ipad is that only with a computer running itunes and movies compatible with itunes does the movie experience run without problems.

Movie apps on ios really suck and i dont want to use power running a computer to run a movie on ipad.

Now i use filebrowser and some movies i stream in movie apps like movieplayer, avplayer vlc and so on... The movie playback depending on movie and sound codec really vary.

Was waiting for the new ipad mini but really been wanting to break free from the apple enviroment and I hope an android tablet does internet searching just as good and also plays movies better than ipad.

I dont want to press play and prey anymore. I feel like apple has become a company that favors app developers and movie companys and not the user.

 

[Naramis]

Playing movies is one of the few things Android tablets do better than the iPad.
They can run a lot more codecs out of the box, and it's much simpler to just drag and drop the movie from your computer.
Also, the 16:10 aspect ratio of Android is better for movies (and worse for everything else).

For me, though, it's iPad, since I have absolutely no plans to watch movies on a tablet.

 

[Scarpad]

I would say the Nexus 10 was last generations equivalent to an ipad there's a ew one due soon

 

[Count Blah]

I bought my son a Hisense sero 7 pro. It's at walmart of all places, but it's the same I needs as the 2012 nexus 7, but it also has the microSD and HMDI out. The battery is fantastic. It was at 100% battery when I left for a work trip on Sunday, I got back late last night(son didn't use it while I was gone) and it was still at 86%.

It's fantastic for a REALLY good price. For a kid who has a high probability of not treating it perfectly, there is no way I would feel comfortable with handing off an iPad to him.

You can buy three of these instead of an iPad 2

 

[bartp]

Samsung galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition has alot going for it. Higher dpi screen ,3 gb memory, fast(er) processor, slightly bigger. Pen(wacom), extra sd slot up to 64 gb.
I am really on the fence.

 

[marmiteturkey]

Samsung galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition has alot going for it. Higher dpi screen ,3 gb memory, fast(er) processor, slightly bigger. Pen(wacom), extra sd slot up to 64 gb.
I am really on the fence.

I was, but a lot of the reviews state that it's stuttery and still feels cheap. I'm an android fan, and I love my Nexus 7 (2013) - it's a better tablet for my needs than my old iPad mini - but I can't find a 10in Android tablet that I'd rather own than the new iPad Air or even an iPad 4. The new Nexus 10 might just get there.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I was, but a lot of the reviews state that it's stuttery and still feels cheap. I'm an android fan, and I love my Nexus 7 (2013) - it's a better tablet for my needs than my old iPad mini - but I can't find a 10in Android tablet that I'd rather own than the new iPad Air or even an iPad 4. The new Nexus 10 might just get there.

If you like the nexus 7 why not try the nexus 10 or even the new one. The 2012 version got good reviews, has
a great screen and will be just as smooth as your nexus 7.

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Back to the op's question. Android tablets are superb for watching movies/ videos due to the aspect ratio, compatibility with a wide range of formats and the ability to manage your files helps a lot too.

 

[apolloa]

Better than an iPad Mini, the Nexus 7 both last year and this year, more powerful and better screen and way cheaper.

As for the full size iPad, hmm I would say the Sony Xperia Z is a great tablet, nice design, and Sony doesn't put bloatware on it's devices or heavily skin it's Android devices. Otherwise the Nexus 10 but wait for the new one. But full size Android tablets are in the same price range as an iPad Air so whether they are better or not kinda depends on what you want to do with them?

 

[MRU]

Better than an iPad Mini, the Nexus 7 both last year and this year, more powerful and better screen and way cheaper.

As for the full size iPad, hmm I would say the Sony Xperia Z is a great tablet, nice design, and Sony doesn't put bloatware on it's devices or heavily skin it's Android devices. Otherwise the Nexus 10 but wait for the new one. But full size Android tablets are in the same price range as an iPad Air so whether they are better or not kinda depends on what you want to do with them?

For me... I find the nexus 7 screen better but overall design much below the ipad mini. The top and bottom bezel are too elongated and the bezels on sides could be slimmer too. Likewise the fact that for some reason it forsakes Tablet layout for its android OS and is basically an oversized phone means the lack of tablet optimised experiences in comparison to the mini really is reflected in that €100 difference.

 

[apolloa]

For me... I find the nexus 7 screen better but overall design much below the ipad mini. The top and bottom bezel are too elongated and the bezels on sides could be slimmer too. Likewise the fact that for some reason it forsakes Tablet layout for its android OS and is basically an oversized phone means the lack of tablet optimised experiences in comparison to the mini really is reflected in that €100 difference.

Except the iPad mini does have expanded phone apps in some cases instead of tablet apps as I was reading on here the other day. Also the iPad min is a bigger device so the bezels don't really make much difference, they give some area to hold the device with if anything.
But with tablet pricing the iPad Air is similar in price to the larger Android tablets, with the iPad Mini its priced way more then the equivalent Android tablets.

And I just remembered another iPad alternative I think is the Asus Transformer, the new one has a Tegra 4 CPU along with the detachable keyboard with extended battery and connections.

 

[jkmlaok]

I have been using a device called iUSBport and Cinexplayer to play all my movies on hard drive to my ipad mini. It works except for a very few odd formats. I am waiting for an iUSBport update since iOS 7.0.3 though.

 

[AAPLinc]

For me... I find the nexus 7 screen better but overall design much below the ipad mini. The top and bottom bezel are too elongated and the bezels on sides could be slimmer too. Likewise the fact that for some reason it forsakes Tablet layout for its android OS and is basically an oversized phone means the lack of tablet optimized experiences in comparison to the mini really is reflected in that €100 difference.

Again, I don't know why you're saying the N7 feels like an oversized phone. It sure gives me the ultimate tablet experience. Maybe if you have a Note as a phone, then the 7" screen might not feel ample enough but in my opinion 7" tablet size is perfect. That's like saying the iPad mini just feels like an oversized iPhone. The Nexus 7 is hands down the best tablet you can buy for that price, there is no debating there. Its almost in a class of its own.

 

[Menneisyys2]

I have been using a device called iUSBport and Cinexplayer to play all my movies on hard drive to my ipad mini. It works except for a very few odd formats. I am waiting for an iUSBport update since iOS 7.0.3 though.

I don't recommend CineXPlayer, particularly if you play back MKV. It consistently delivers inferior results to, say, nPlayer. (See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1654256/ for more info in the latest review)

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Does an android tablet offer better movie experience than an ipad?
I think all codecs etc. (Ac3 also)

Yes, out of the box, the stock Android video player (as of 4.3) supports,

- the MKV container (not only mov / m4v / mp4 on iOS)
- AC3 and Vorbis audio (not only AAC / MP3 on iOS)

In addition, all third-party players have access to hardware acceleration directly, unlike on iOS. This also means proper MTS (with non-interlaced H.264) playback, unlike on iOS.

Of the third-party players, the free(!!!) MXPlayer is almost as powerful and feature-packed as the $5 nPlayer on iOS. Note: it doens't support DTS. For DTS, your only choice is (unless you remux on the desktop) is VLC, which is, as of the current version, is much worse and less reliable than MX Player.

Movie apps on ios really suck and i dont want to use power running a computer to run a movie on ipad.

You should purchase nPlayer for iOS. It's by far the best. See my review series on it (I've published many, comparing it to alternative players), of which the latest is at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1652736/

The only shortcoming it has is the lack of DTS support. For DTS playback, you will want to consider jailbreaking and using RushPlayer+. CineXPlayer and VLC, the only DTS-capable AppStore players, suck at playing back MKV's with DTS audio.

Now i use filebrowser and some movies i stream in movie apps like movieplayer, avplayer vlc and so on... The movie playback depending on movie and sound codec really vary.

Again: invest some time in keeping an eye on my multimedia article series. I explain *everything* and also widely elaborate on codec issues in there.

 

[jkmlaok]

awesome, thanks for the info. I am going to check out nPlayer. Cinexplayer has shortcomings and I had hoped to see updates but the updates haven't yielded much.

 

[Stuntman06]

I use my Android tablet for NetFlix. I don't have any issues with it. I plug my tablet into TV via the mini-HDMI port and watch it on my TV.