Apple ipads (again)

What do you want to use it for?

You do know they are launching new 7-inch models on 23rd October? Possibly to be available from November 2nd.

And there are some very nice other tablets these days. Partner is rather taken by the Samsung Note 10.1 with its very clever stylus.

And the other big question - 3G or not 3G!

On Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:34:05 +0100, News wro= te:

Save your cash, you don't NEED an iPad, as the purchase price is just th= e =

start. Once the Apple lock-in begins, you will start hemorrhaging money= =

on content, and the more you buy, the more you are locked in.

If you really NEED a tablet, as far better media consumption device woul= d =

be something like this:

without needing to clear it thru Apple first.

The display on the iPad is its real selling point though, I have the nice Asus pad and an iPad and the Android one spends most of it's time in the cupboard because the iPad is just so pleasant to use.

Whats so special about the display, that it's got some bullshit "Retina" branding? It's just a IPS panel with a specific pixel density (264 Pixels/Inch to be exact) that many other tablets have already exceeded (for example the Samsung Galaxy Note II)

The Nexus7 is only a little behind the ipad3 pixel density (at 216 PPI), and my Xperia S smartphone (342 PPI) far exceeds it and the iPhone5's (PPI326)

HTC have a 5" 1920x1080 display that's 440dpi

I'm not sure why anyone would want an Ipad. no flash so how can it be used to stream anything? its also overpriced compared to other models from what I can see.

Brian

Really? Mine plays live TV, iPlayer etc. but of course there are some videos it won't play.

That's probably true but they are nice toys.

Tim

Thanks for all the comments. I think Tim has summarised perfectly. Wifey and son have decided 'we' need a family ipad, and I seriously doubt that Samsung or anything else will be an acceptable substitute.

Yes, I agree, it is all about marketing. An Apple ipad is the device to have, apparently. There comes a point where disagreeing with the family is beyond me - life is too short.

Make sure the same rule is applied when she wants you to have a Mondeo but you want an XK ...

Start saving because in a couple of years time, Apple will have stopped updating your iPan, family will want "that latest must have app" and your iPad will need replacing. I admit to being a "PC/Android not Apple" person but it's the deliberate obsolescence which annoys me most - perfectly good hardware unable to do anything because Apple don't support older hardware for very long.

Paul DS.

I bought an iPad about 6 months ago for similar reasons. (Family, kids etc!) I have used android tablets and (on the type I used at least) found them slow and clunky to use. I assume more recent ones are better in this respect.

I bought the 32GB 3G ipad as I figured the built-in mobile and GPS reciever would be useful.

I disagree with the comments above about having to constantly pay apple. There are very few apps I've paid for, most are free, with the occesional £2 and under one.

I thought the comment was more directed at "content" - tracks, video, etc. ? But that does not affect me - I don't pay for any!

Putting aside comsuner brainwashing, the Samsung is a better product and the cost/benefit is greater.

The problem with Android is that it's not a single product, it's a =

ecosystem. You can buy a =A359 Android tablet, or a =A3500 one, and cl= early =

the quality and performance will be worlds apart. THey will of course =

both serve the same basic function, and use the same apps, but thats it.=

What Android tablet was slow and clunky exactly, and how much did you =

pay? As clearly to make that statement a fair statement, it would have= =

had to be =A3399+ (iPad money), as anything else is comparing apples and= =

oranges.

I stand by my statement, that the Nexus7 is the best tablet on the marke= t =

today bar none. It's fantastic performance, no lag whatsoever, has a =

balanced featureset which keeps the cost and weight down. Sure it's go= t =

no 3G (but then that's what mobile tethering and wifi hotspots are for),= =

and no rear facing camera that makes you look a d*****ad when you take =

pictures with it. But it's got everything else the iPad has (GPS etc) a= nd =

more besides (NFC for example)

Don't have one but was amazed to find with a pal's one there is no easy way of printing from it. Apart from emailing to a proper computer. We found this out when wanting to print off a boarding pass.

I have Galaxy S2. It was much cheaper and superior to the i-phone - display and ease of use is better. Android is UNIX based and stable with more apps available. The Galaxy range is still superior to the i-phone range despite the new i-phone 5. The Galaxy 4 is coming out in a matter of months and promises to totally outstrip the i-phone. Samsung are very secretive about the 4.

It is true about being locked into Apple. They are vertically integrated in hardware and software. You are their mercy.

This stirs up the whole religious debate about Apple vs others, but the real question is what you want to do with it. Personally, I've always thought of the whole concept as an elegant solution looking for a problem, but would still rather like one (!) I know quite a few people with iPads (fewer with other variants) and I've never heard any of them complain about storage limitations. Many of the people I work with use them to take documents to meetings, create things on the go etc etc, but this doesn't really require much storage. If you're thinking it would be good to have a full set of music and movies on one, then you'll fill the space very quickly, but they are really designed to work alongside a host machine where the bulk of everything is stored. My gadget-boy son has an iPad and even he has never whinged about storage. He seems to use it more for web browsing though, with all his music on his iPhone. As previously mentioned, printing etc from an iPad can be a bit of a faff but then there are many WiFi printers around now.

In article , AlanD writes

V useful info, thanks (currently in similar posn). Who do you use for the UK PAYG data and how much do you find you use?

Divorce them now, before it's too late. They will bleed you dry with tastes like that.

MBQ