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Why did you pick ipad but not android tablet?
- Thread starter j2ee
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Tell us why!?
Did you see the JD Power survey re the Surface vs iPad (or other tablets = iPad)?
I certainly don't want one (Surface), but I can see some of the appeal. At least when you disregard the major shortcomings like pitiful 5-6 hours battery life and strange software/hardware problems.
Personally, I find it hard to justify (to myself!) an iPad Pro vs an actual laptop. Despite the weight, shorter battery life, etc.
Thin and light, so extremely portable while being pretty powerful. It goes everywhere with me and if I don't need it, there's not much worry about stowing it away.
And application support plus the general OS is second to none for a tablet, but of course there is always room for improvement. Android was never stellar on tablets and Windows is way too desktop-y for what I use tablets for, and of course the required effort to achieve the continuity of iCloud.
And application support plus the general OS is second to none for a tablet, but of course there is always room for improvement. Android was never stellar on tablets and Windows is way too desktop-y for what I use tablets for, and of course the required effort to achieve the continuity of iCloud.
I agree but I am already tied entirely into Apple ecosystem and for what I do my iPad Air 2 does fine let alone a iPad Pro. So for my mobile computing it is by far the best option for me but that varies based on what you do. I can understand why a iPad Pro isn't a option for everyone. Even if I need a real computer I'd be buying a new MacBook Pro because it allows me to do all of that stuff without compromising on things I like about a iPad, mainly battery life and performance without stupid glitches. With Microsoft I find you sacrifice too much in exchange for too little.
Yah it works so nicelySame here. Everything simply plays well together, all the time.
Aside from the problem with updates and security patches being so random and unreliable, until Google changes their business model of allowing third parties access to all my data (even if it isn't technically "sold"- if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck) I will stick to Apple and it's progeny. Love my ipads and iPhones; smooth, reliable and always updated!
I opted for iPad over Android for the simple fact I'm in Apple's ecosystem too.
My iPhone can be upstairs charging (for example) and someone makes a call-which'll then come through to iPad. The same with iMessages/SMS too.
Not only that but most Apple devices receive updates for a couple of years at least; I've seen some Android tablets running quite old versions i.e. KitKat and/or Lollipop with the manufacturers planning on no updates.
My iPhone can be upstairs charging (for example) and someone makes a call-which'll then come through to iPad. The same with iMessages/SMS too.
Not only that but most Apple devices receive updates for a couple of years at least; I've seen some Android tablets running quite old versions i.e. KitKat and/or Lollipop with the manufacturers planning on no updates.
Also the fact that there really haven't been any decent android tablets released. Nothing beats the price point of the new iPad at $330.
A few reasons.
I've used android tablets in the past. They had good hardware but the software support was lacking. Even worse than android phones. They only got one update and that would usually be at least a year after I purchased it (excluding nexus devices). Most of the android tablets I bought had bugs out of the box which could have been fixed with a software update but of course that didn't wouldn't come for ages. Even the twi nexus 7's I had had annoying bugs.
Apps were poorly optimised for tablets
Standby battery life was appalling.
Those were the reasons why I didn't get an android tablet.
These are the reasons why I bought an iPad
I bought my iPad because I already had an iPhone and an Apple TV at that point so I wanted another Apple product. I had used iPads in the past and had been very happy with their performance, battery life and future software updates. Now I have a MacBook Air an Apple Watch another Apple TV and airpods so I'm even more enveloped within the Apple ecosystem. Everything works so well together that when I buy my next tablet it will be an iPad.
I've used android tablets in the past. They had good hardware but the software support was lacking. Even worse than android phones. They only got one update and that would usually be at least a year after I purchased it (excluding nexus devices). Most of the android tablets I bought had bugs out of the box which could have been fixed with a software update but of course that didn't wouldn't come for ages. Even the twi nexus 7's I had had annoying bugs.
Apps were poorly optimised for tablets
Standby battery life was appalling.
Those were the reasons why I didn't get an android tablet.
These are the reasons why I bought an iPad
I bought my iPad because I already had an iPhone and an Apple TV at that point so I wanted another Apple product. I had used iPads in the past and had been very happy with their performance, battery life and future software updates. Now I have a MacBook Air an Apple Watch another Apple TV and airpods so I'm even more enveloped within the Apple ecosystem. Everything works so well together that when I buy my next tablet it will be an iPad.
I have no love for Apple, and I couldn't care less about their ecosystem (I'm more embedded in Google, but not too deep). I find myself reluctantly purchasing an Apple tablet purely because there's nothing better.
Last year I researched Windows tablets, and concluded that there was nothing worth consideration outside of the Surface lineup, but even those were buggy, had a high incidence of unacceptable backlight bleed, and the battery life didn't impress me. I'm also not a fan of Windows 10, but even crippled Windows is still infinitely more capable than these mobile OSes for my usage. I find Android frustratingly limiting, and IOS downright stifling. But in the absence of decent Windows hardware, those are my choices.
So with Android I wrote off everything that wasn't Nexus/Pixel (or maybe Samsung*) because of the abysmal state of update support/security in third party Android devices. Most Android users don't seem to appreciate what an advantage iOS has in this respect. *Samsung recently said something about taking updates more seriously, but IIRC they made the same promises in 2015, and even if they did get their act together on that front, I still wouldn't be buying their tablets. Why? They insist on using OLED, and Pentile OLED. As vehemently as I loathe LCD, I there's just no question that my tablet usage patterns are a recipe for OLED burn-in, and supposing a miracle was to happen and the oft-repeated cries of "burn-in is no longer an issue with this gen" were actually founded for once, I still wouldn't bite because I hate the Pentile sub-pixel array.
Nexus is gone, so for Android that leaves (or rather left) one device: the Pixel C, which looked like a decent device on paper. Ipad/Surface-like construction, increased pixel density etc. There seemed to be some software issues, but I never got to experience them because the tablet turned out to have crippling wifi issues (well reported on the Google forum, and by Anandtech), as well as some common QC issues like the "popping" screen. Now it looks like you can't buy Pixel Cs anymore (in my country at least).
Apple it is then. There's no iPad that really suits me. I wish they would ramp up the pixel density on the larger tabs. The Air 2's 260PPI is not transparent to my eyes. I could have sworn the "retina" spec was originally ~300PPI, so I'm not sure why they use that branding on these 9.7" devices, and even the 300PPI was based on 20/20 vision. There are plenty of people with >20/20 vision. Also what's the deal with the resurrection of these daft aspect ratios? I foundd 16:10 to be the perfect middle-ground. The restrictive OS drives me up the wall, but i'd sooner this than some insecure/out of date implementation of Android.
Last year I researched Windows tablets, and concluded that there was nothing worth consideration outside of the Surface lineup, but even those were buggy, had a high incidence of unacceptable backlight bleed, and the battery life didn't impress me. I'm also not a fan of Windows 10, but even crippled Windows is still infinitely more capable than these mobile OSes for my usage. I find Android frustratingly limiting, and IOS downright stifling. But in the absence of decent Windows hardware, those are my choices.
So with Android I wrote off everything that wasn't Nexus/Pixel (or maybe Samsung*) because of the abysmal state of update support/security in third party Android devices. Most Android users don't seem to appreciate what an advantage iOS has in this respect. *Samsung recently said something about taking updates more seriously, but IIRC they made the same promises in 2015, and even if they did get their act together on that front, I still wouldn't be buying their tablets. Why? They insist on using OLED, and Pentile OLED. As vehemently as I loathe LCD, I there's just no question that my tablet usage patterns are a recipe for OLED burn-in, and supposing a miracle was to happen and the oft-repeated cries of "burn-in is no longer an issue with this gen" were actually founded for once, I still wouldn't bite because I hate the Pentile sub-pixel array.
Nexus is gone, so for Android that leaves (or rather left) one device: the Pixel C, which looked like a decent device on paper. Ipad/Surface-like construction, increased pixel density etc. There seemed to be some software issues, but I never got to experience them because the tablet turned out to have crippling wifi issues (well reported on the Google forum, and by Anandtech), as well as some common QC issues like the "popping" screen. Now it looks like you can't buy Pixel Cs anymore (in my country at least).
Apple it is then. There's no iPad that really suits me. I wish they would ramp up the pixel density on the larger tabs. The Air 2's 260PPI is not transparent to my eyes. I could have sworn the "retina" spec was originally ~300PPI, so I'm not sure why they use that branding on these 9.7" devices, and even the 300PPI was based on 20/20 vision. There are plenty of people with >20/20 vision. Also what's the deal with the resurrection of these daft aspect ratios? I foundd 16:10 to be the perfect middle-ground. The restrictive OS drives me up the wall, but i'd sooner this than some insecure/out of date implementation of Android.
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Thanks for the detailed response. Just for contrast, I am embedded in the Apple ecosystem, so an iPad makes the most sense for me. Nevertheless, the software limitations of iOS do bother me very much, so I have explored purchasing a tablet outside of the Apple ecosystem.
After much research reading many reviews, user forums, and such, I came to the same conclusion as you: the MS Surface sounds excellent on paper -- but the reality is unacceptably short battery life (at 5 hours, why bother to call it a tablet?! a base function should be portability...and requiring power mains undoes that), many software and some hardware bugs which took MS a long time to address, and then there is for me the drawback of using Windows. Which I would have done if at least the battery life had been a REAL 10 hours or more.
I routinely get 12 - 14 hours battery life out of my iPad (9.7 Air 1). Yes, that is due to keeping my screen at 50% or less -- but that suits me fine as long as I don't have to use the tablet outdoors (which I occasionally do). I love that I can easily go a full day, including a day of travel (airplanes, trains, cars) and not have to worry about power!
The promise of the MS Surface tablet was that (if it had a true 10 hour battery life) I could have used it in place of my Macbook Pro on trips in order to use programs like Photoshop and InDesign (and anything else incompatible with iOS; and yes, I know there is PS for iOS - it is not the same; and there's no ID, and highly unlikely ever to be an iOS version). I was really excited for the possibilities of a great Windows tablet.
As for Android, it is an ongoing parade of security failures and stagnant, outdated software due to manufacturers just not caring about being au courant with the latest iterations. Apparently they don't feel there is any financial incentive to update their software -- after all, if consumers keep purchasing Android devices, they must be ok with it, right? At least, that's how I imagine the discussions go in the boardrooms at Samsung and the others. Google does have its own product lines - which come and go without predictability - Nexus (discontinued??), Pixel (?? discontinued); and often have both significant hardware and software problems. The Pixel C looked fantastic - it was beautifully designed - but performed poorly, and I believe many problems were never addressed. No thanks! Then there are the inferior software offerings, mostly not optimized for Android tablets.
So, as much as I do appreciate that Apple needs the competition to push them to evolve the iPad into a stronger, more capable device, and iOS into something more powerful as well, so far we're only hearing hints of that happening, and I believe that is mostly due to the fact the Apple still owns the tablet market. We can discount the nameless Chinese brands as real competition - Apple will only consider true competition as products selling within the same price categories. What is the point in worrying about $200 Chinese tablets? I would not be concerned either.
I do believe that Apple will improve the iPad...slowly. There is little impetus for them to act quickly, and as I think we have seen with the most recent Apple computer releases (and lack thereof for long periods of time, until the recent laptop updates), Apple management really does seem to have trouble focusing on multiple product category improvements simultaneously. Which is amazing for a billion dollar company!
in fairness you can't compare the S3/S4 to what samsung product now...they have improved tons since those days.
Sadly people judge samsung on 5 years ago but they do the same with android.
the tab S3 looks a great product with an S pen and with samsung flow it's easier now to sync with devices that it was before I guess.
That said if you are into apple it can't be beaten in terms of how it syncs with each other.
Apple made s brilliant move with a budget iPad at $329.00. It sacrifices the Pro features, but not everyone needs/wants the Pro features. You're still receiving an iPad that will handle most media tasks with the A9 processor and is receiving positive feedback on the battery life, being it has a larger battery over the Air 2. And if course, Apple's ecosystem is involved for those who wanted an iPad, but now can afford one for half the price point.
I have an iPad Mini 2 and an iPad Pro as well as a Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 could barely ever last me two hours of screen time and one day of standby before I would have to recharge. Both of my iPads each last a month on standby alone plus at least 8+ of use over that month. Not having a sim activated prolongs that standby time. I rarely have data plans activated on the iPads and I rarely ever had a sim in the Nexus 7.
Samsung has certainly stepped up their mobile game (The Galaxy S6 was worlds better than it's plastic predecessor, in terms of both design and build quality; the S7 was well-designed as well and the S8 seems to be very promising), but their software update process is still abysmal and, from the looks of it, not bound to change any time soon, if ever. Android has been available to consumers for over 8 years and fragmentation is still a big issue.
They are suppose to be improving updates according to Samsung. Will see though
Guess it depends how important updates are to certain people. Updates likely matter to those who don't upgrade every year so really I guess it depends how often you upgrade your devices
When it comes to smartphones, my wife is a devoted Samsung user. Although they have gotten better with updates, the average rollout time is still 6-9 months from the time Google releases its version to Nexus/Pixel devices. When I was using Android phones (2008-2014; switched to the iPhone when the 6/6 Plus were released), I had a serious phone addiction and would upgrade as often as twice, sometimes three times, a year. With the iPhone, I no longer have the desire to do that. I'll definitely upgrade to the iPhone 8 (or whatever it will be called), but that's more because it seems like it'll be a game-changing device and I'm close to running out of storage on my 64GB 6s Plus. Otherwise, the phone works perfectly and will probably continue working perfectly for another couple of years.
Most of my friends use iMessage, also iCloud is pretty nice. Getting future updates and support was also a big reason I didn't get an android tablet.
