Styrofoamsoup

The holiday season is upon us (I have already seen Christmas trees in stores!) and many people are considering a tablet.

There are many options in the tablet space, with the iPad 2 being the most known.  This article isn’t meant to go at length into the $500+ iPad since you either use iOS or you don’t.  If you don’t use it yet (iPod, iPhone etc), I hope I’ve already convinced you not to, unless you’re in one of Apple’s niche markets (mostly Prius drivers).

On the other side of the market we have the android OS.  With tablets starting under $100 and going up well over $500.  I’m here to talk about “The next $400″ or the gap in pricing from the base android (2.x) to android honeycomb (3.x) and why its probably not worth the extra $400.

First off, in the android “tablet” space there are more options than just the “base” 2.x tablets and the “premium” 3.x tablets.  Android is the underlying system for many other well known and unknown tablets (like DOS or UNIX sits under many other systems).

Two well known tablets with “android inside” are the Barnes & Noble nook color and the Amazon Kindle Fire (which I talk a bit about here: http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/tech/amazon-kindle-fire-to-apple-and-google-game-set-match/).  Both have highly customized interfaces running on top of android.  Both to the power user can run a host of android apps, but both are designed to run special apps for their own interface.

For those looking for more of “stock” android we’re back to the two “branches” of the OS.  The 2.x and 3.x (honeycomb) versions.  Don’t let Google confuse you into thinking 3.x is better.  Currently all smartphones run a version of android OS 2 (with the newest release being 2.3) and some costly tablets (like the Motorola Xoom) run a version of 3.

The “bargain” android tablets run the “phone” OS.  And now we will talk about the difference and why you might just want to pocket the $400 or buy a $100-150 tablet for you and one for your spouse and one for your kids!

Honeycomb (3.0 and up) is what Google wants to see its tablets running and the reason is simple, they want them to be competitive with the iPad.  But the $500+ tablet isn’t what the average user likely needs.  The specs (processor, screen, etc) needed to run Honeycomb are much higher and therefore more expensive than those needed to run the base android OS.

What do you get for the extra $400?  You get a super snappy state of the art iPad killer that unless you need to show up people in your IT department would be like the average joe Ford driver buying a Ferrari.

The average bargain tablet might not be iPad commercial snappy (of course notice that “Screen images simulated” disclaimer on the bottom, wonder if that means there faking the responsiveness).  It will do the web and email and basic tablet functions (similar to those of a phone http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/uncategorized/the-four-functions-of-a-phone-and-the-other-four-2011/ ) just fine.

Sure some of the bargain android tablets have a different screen technology (resisitive instead of capacitive) which means you won’t be gesturing around like on that commercial, but then again until two years ago that’s what all touchscreens used and there are some benefits to it over the new technology (remember when you could use anything you found as a cheap stylus).

While some bargain tablets are a little too underpowered, a quick search of the internet can help you find a few with ok USER ratings.  Its important to NOT look for tech site reviews because that’s like a Road & Track reviewer getting behind the wheel of a Fiesta.  Somehow they forget they’re in a daily driver for the average Joe and not a weekend track car for the professional racer.

I don’t have any specific recommendations as the pricing and players in the bargain android game are always changing, but a quick trip to Best Buy or Walmart or Target will give you the opportunity to “touch” the players side by side and help you decide for yourself if you would rather pocket the next $400.

I have typical taken an anti-Apple stance.  This is not because I don’t respect them as a company or their founder, Steve Jobs as a man.  I truly feel they have contributed greatly to the modern world.

I intentionally avoided the knee jerk article about Steve Jobs as I knew there were other media sources better positioned to give a fitting commentary.

As I have mentioned before, I have never owned an Apple product (my fiancee has an iPod Touch that’s as close as I have gotten) but that doesn’t mean I am not thankful for what Apple has done.

Without Apple many technologies such as the MP3 player, smartphone and tablet would have never hit mainstream and would have been relegated to techies and road warriors.

So I would just like to briefly say thank you to Steve Jobs for his contributions to bringing big tech ideas to the mainstream.

If you have been keeping up on my blog lately you have heard what seems like rant after rant attacking android OS.  I think it is perhaps the slickest most customizable mobile OS ever and I’m happy to join the revolution.

Where I think android misses the boat in failing to understand what I have coined “The Four Functions of a Phone”.  Now this is not your Ma Bell phone circa 1984, but a modern smartphone circa 2011.  On that phone, Mainstream Joe wants to do four things: Phone calls, text messages, email and facebook.

Right about now you’re saying “I do other things on my phone”.  Sure, we all do, I use mine as an alarm clock, but really the four things the Average Joe smartphone user uses most are probably those.

After that the next two are likely images and audio.  I say that so vaguely because it might be taking picture or watching YouTube.  And it might be playing music off the device or streaming from Pandora, but those are likely next.

After that is apps/games at number 7.  Maybe its an RSS Newsreader, or your playing Duck Carnage (or more likely Angry Birds).

Finally… the full Web Browser.  For those things you can’t do in the seven previous ways.  Its a last ditch way of finding the info you need, its a backup parachute, its the full web, that you’d rather not experience on your phone.

This is where Google needs to realize the differences between 4 inches and 7-10in.  The road and the couch.  The phone and the tablet.  The tablet is for “surfing” a term which used to mean flipping channels and now means trying to find the latest blog.  The tablet is for surfing, the phone for fast info.  So while its nice to have them both run the same OS, its not needed.  More importantly when I boot my phone the things I need FAST ACCESS to are those things, in that order.  I know I can rearrange my apps to my heart’s desire, but out of the box its like Google forgot what a phone was for.

This is another reason I think Amazon got it with the Kindle Fire.  The tablet unlike the phone is for surfing and media consumption.  Which as Amazon made abundantly clear it is going to do, out of the box, better than anyone.  The new interface is Media-centric and the new Amazon Silk browser is slicker than sin.

For more on my Kindle Fire rants check here: http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/tech/amazon-kindle-fire-to-apple-and-google-game-set-match/

I recently (Monday) switched from HP (Palm) webOS on an original Pre (read June 2009) to android.  Of course after two years with a phone I wasn’t about to enter android lightly so I opted for the Motorola Photon 4G, essentially the Droid Bionic or whatever the top of the line Moto is for Verizon etc.

Having used webOS for over two years, and Palm OS for… ever.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about going to Google.  I have a fair amount of experience on the iOS as well as my dog bought my fiancee an iPod Touch for Mothers Day a year and a half ago (what?  I’m not going to flaw my perfect record of never buying an Apple product!).  I had never spent more than 5 minutes on an android device before signing a new 2 year with one.

After nearly 20 minutes (or a day whichever) using “Linux Mobile” aka android… I have some impressions.

Hype, its something that surrounds James Cameron movies and Apple announcements.  Why?  Letdown after letdown has yet to teach us one simple lesson… hype leads to letdown.

Gizmodo columnist Mat Honan put together an interesting op-ed piece about his personal letdown after the iPhone 5 er 4S announcement today.

(Original article here: http://gizmodo.com/5846563/iphone-4s-i-am-disappoint)

I wanted to do a Mystery Science Theater 3000 side by side commentary of it.

“Straight up: I’m a little disappointed with the new iPhone 4S. I was hoping for more. My expectations were higher. I wanted something extra special, largely because I’ve been waiting for it for So. Very. Long.”

“What was I hoping for that I didn’t get? A new form factor, for starters. Design matters. And Apple has always been a design-oriented company. When it pushed back the iPhone 4S rollout to the Fall, it just increased expectations that there might be a great new look coming along. Instead, it’s essentially identical to last year’s model.”

“I was hoping for something bold and interesting looking. The iPhone 4 was just that when it shipped. So too were the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. If I’m going to buy a new phone, of course I want it to look new. Because of course we care about having novel designs. If we didn’t we’d all be lugging around some 10-inch thick brick with a 12 day battery life.”

“But we do care about design. We do want things that look new and different and notable. Yet if you buy the iPhone 4S, you’re committing to an old design for two more years (unless you pay a premium to upgrade early). Because Apple didn’t upgrade the phone’s design, that means that by the time you’re off-contract, your phone’s design will be three and a half years old. That’s a lifetime in gadget years. Consider that the original iPhone itself only began shipping a little over four years ago”

“And then there’s the network issue. I also was hoping against reason that it would support LTE. I know, I know. I’m well-versed in Apple’s history and understand why it wouldn’t want to roll out an LTE phone when most people couldn’t take advantage of it, thus making a case against its expense and performance hits. But if I’m going to hang onto this phone for another two years, I’d like it to be 4G.”

“It’s already been more than two years since I last got a new iPhone. I held off on the iPhone 4 because I wanted to get out from under my AT&T contract. By the time the hoary old iPhone 4 (like my grandpa used to have!) finally did come to Verizon, I wasn’t going to get it.And so I waited for the iPhone 5. And waited. And waited. And instead I got the iPhone 4S. Wait, what‽”

“Look, there’s a lot of cool new stuff in the iPhone 4S. That 8MP camera is going to make my otherwise boring mealtime shots of future poo look fantastic. As a new parent, I’m super excited for the faster shutter speeds that move at the speed of children. That 1080p video appeals to me like boobs to a teenage boy. I’m psyched for the CDMA and GSM antennas because I do travel. And I’m also sold on the A5 processor.

But it isn’t what I was hoping for.”

I thought Steve left saying we don’t sell Apple on specs but oh well.  While we’re on the topic of specs… an upgraded camera and the renaming of a Samsung processor is a major spec upgrade for 15 months in cellphone time?

“Siri? That looks like the most amazing thing I’ll never use. Like Facetime, which sits in the sad panda corner of my iPad 2 hoping one day that I’ll touch it. Reminders are great, especially with the geofencing. But I’ve been able to set location-specific reminders with Android phones since the G1 way back in ’08. Yeah, iCloud seems relatively cool, but I’m also confident in Apple’s ability to fuck up anything related to the Internet. (Apple: Internet apps :: Google : Social apps).

And besides. That’s all software. Sure, it may be hardware-dependent software, but it’s still software. I have a hard time getting crazy excited about software.”

As you said, all that is software, which will all be available through an OS upgrade to other iOS devices.  As you also said… android has done that for years… at least you came down off your Apple high for a minute!

“Make no mistake, Apple is going to sell a gazillion of these. Hell, I’m going to buy one. No question. But I’m going to do so reluctantly. For the first time in recent memory, I’m walking away from an Apple hardware rollout unexcited and uninspired. And while I guess the iPhone 4S’ day has arrived, I’m already looking forward to tomorrow.”

The whole “Apple will sell a gazillion because they’re apple” paradigm is shifting.  Apple has and likely always will have a niche (schools, video people, Prius drivers, etc).  Apple has never been the mainstream player Google et all let them become.  I say “let” on purpose because android is a mainstream OS, without easy of purchase (one form factor, manufacturer, etc) and ease of use like iOS.  This new Amazon Kindle Fire interface has the potential of blending the ease of iOS on top of android, and more importantly… A COST that is sensitive to the mainstream buyer.

Selling a gazillion is a mainstream consumer idea and Apple may have ended its foray into that market space and may be returning to its niche(s) very soon.

For a bit more on my thoughts on the Amazon Kindle Fire and how it changes everything in the mobile computing sphere check here: http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/tech/amazon-kindle-fire-to-apple-and-google-game-set-match/