So what Android tablet are you getting?!?

00sully

so you have your new android phone and you are in love and a slew of new devices are coming out to rival the IPad so you know you're gonna indulge!! so whats it gonna be??! IFA had a fair few to show off :pac:

for me it looks like the archo 10 http://www.archos.com/products/ta/archos_101it/design.html?country=us&lang=en

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWrNvIQHms0

thin (12mm)
cheap (€300 :eek:)
powerful (Arm cortex)
Video (.264, divx/xvid hdmi OUT!)
Froyo (score)
USB host
Kickstand (awesome)
I reckon it ticks all the boxes for a couch/bed browser/ereader.

Venom

The Toshibha Folio 100 is a 10.1 screen sized tablet running Froyo 2.2 on a dual cpu chipset, due November and looking to be around €400.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wPhHm7XTo4&feature=related

mik_da_man

Think I'll get both

Ah they look class in fairness, will depend on price, but the toshiba built quality may be better....

Mitch Connor

For me the battle between iPad and Android tabs is going to come down to applications, and the iPad has better app development.

THough the Androids potentially being more competent home media devices (look to be easier to hook up to TVs) is a big plus side for them at the moment.

justsomebloke

Mitch Connor wrote: »

For me the battle between iPad and Android tabs is going to come down to applications

what like flash?;):D

Mitch Connor

Joe the Santa wrote: »

what like flash?;):D

it is a good point, Flash is important for a tablet - as the 'full' internet should be available on it.

I'm coming more from a business and functionality standpoint though.

Was having a look at my brother's iPad the other day and the business centric apps he has on it for P/L, forecasting, trending , workflow etc and the apps were great in both form and function. I have not seen anything of similar quality for Android devices. Maybe the apps are there too - but for the iPad it seems a lot more readily available.

hardCopy

So can that archos be connected to an external hdd and used as a media player for my tv?

If it can then I want one for christmas

00sully

hardCopy wrote: »

So can that archos be connected to an external hdd and used as a media player for my tv?

If it can then I want one for christmas

it looks like it might since it has USB Host - thats a great feature coupled with HDMI out

Atomic Pineapple

Mitch Connor wrote: »

it is a good point, Flash is important for a tablet - as the 'full' internet should be available on it.

I'm coming more from a business and functionality standpoint though.

Was having a look at my brother's iPad the other day and the business centric apps he has on it for P/L, forecasting, trending , workflow etc and the apps were great in both form and function. I have not seen anything of similar quality for Android devices. Maybe the apps are there too - but for the iPad it seems a lot more readily available.

Its unfair to compare at this stage, developement of Iphone/Ipad apps has been going on long before Android even showed its face, Android is still in its infancy where IOS is mature and has a solid base of apps, whereas Android is just finding its feet and beginning to become viable for the type of apps you mentioned.

evolutionqy7

and android wont have that till gingerbread is brought out. When strict standards will be set in place to what a minimum standard should be

Mitch Connor

draffodx wrote: »

Its unfair to compare at this stage, developement of Iphone/Ipad apps has been going on long before Android even showed its face, Android is still in its infancy where IOS is mature and has a solid base of apps, whereas Android is just finding its feet and beginning to become viable for the type of apps you mentioned.

I know - but for people buying a tablet now, in terms of applications the Apple (and Windows based - I assume there are some) would be far ahead of what Android can offer - and it will probably remain that way for the near future too.

In terms of business usage, I think the iPad is way ahead. For home usage (internat and media connectivity, Android would be better imo)

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

and android wont have that till gingerbread is brought out. When strict standards will be set in place to what a minimum standard should be

True, which again points to the next gen of Android tablets, not this gen.

jimmycrackcorm

Amazon have a slew of android tablets at really good prices starting from £89. There's one worth a pretty good spec for about £180 iirc

mickoneill30

At the moment the Archos 101 is probably going to get my cash.

I want a big screen to read PDFs on, the price is reasonable and the HDMI out is a great option. Pop on RockPlayer and it's a handy device for travelling.

conor.hogan.2

Until I get qualified with a good job - no tablet. (macbook and g1 do the job).

but no tablet currently available beside the ipad looks worth buying unless I was loaded and bored.

flash with a flash block option is needed for any tablet along with hdmi out etc even if rarely used.

mickoneill30

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

flash with a flash block option is needed for any tablet

Yep all Android machines after 2.2 have that as standard

ozz

Venom wrote: »

The Toshibha Folio 100 is a 10.1 screen sized tablet running Froyo 2.2 on a dual cpu chipset, due November and looking to be around €400.]

Seems to be a problem with compatibility of 10.1 screens and froyo leading to a less than desirable android experience.

"Here’s the catch. For whatever reason – Toshiba says it’s due to the 10.1-inch screen size and higher resolution – Google didn’t allow the Toshiba Folio 100 to work with official Google apps. That means you don’t get access to the Android Market, or the apps that come with it. That also means you don’t get Adobe Flash 10.1 Player. Toshiba has done a good job customizing the interface to be all kinds of swipe-friendly and easy on the eyes, but they’ve had to include something called the “Toshiba Market Place” to substitute for Google’s official Market. The Toshiba Market Place is not an apples-for-apples replacement. That’s a big strike against the tablet, in our book."
taken from http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/04/hands-on-toshiba-folio-100-android-tablet/

jeromeof

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Yep all Android machines after 2.2 have that as standard

The version of Flash 10.1 that Adobe released for stock 2.2 Android does have the option to have Flash "on demand", but I believe not all custom Android builds expose this capability (for some reason) so some people will be stuck with Flash always on.

Personally I don't Android Tablets are worth it until Gingerbread is available and developers have had a few months to perfect applications to take advantage of a tablet. So, early next year, mid next year should see tons of capable android tablets. I imagine the chinese will also start producing decent android tablets at amazing prices with some decent components rather than the cheap crap coming out now.

One question but I am not sure if it is true was that I heard that Google only licence their applications and the Marketplace to tablets which "have phone capabilities". If this is true it seems a shame as a Wifi only tablet is probably all most people need. I imagine this is easy to fix but it seemed to have driven up the cost of say the Samsung Galaxy Tab (as Samsung only seem to be able to sell ones with 3G + Wifi for now).

mickoneill30

jeromeof wrote: »

The version of Flash 10.1 that Adobe released for stock 2.2 Android does have the option to have Flash "on demand", but I believe not all custom Android builds expose this capability (for some reason) so some people will be stuck with Flash always on.

I'm not sure if that's a huge problem. I know it is to some people but it's never been a problem for me or anybody I know what have these phones.

The 10.1" issue that Ozz pointed out is a bit more important for me.

jeromeof wrote: »

One question but I am not sure if it is true was that I heard that Google only licence their applications and the Marketplace to tablets which "have phone capabilities".

I've no idea if this is true. Apparently the older Archos tablets don't come with the Android Marketplace (I had assumed this was an Archos decision) but according to people who use them the Marketplace is easy to install. You don't need Marketplace to install apps on Android and there are several alternative markets, although admittedly I'd imagine most standard users won't know that (but any Boards user wouldn't have a problem).

Inquitus

Official Market access is only granted to Devices which can act as a Phone, like the Galaxy Tab, but not like the Archos. Indeed it's pretty easy to get round for anyone tech savvy, but it will be an impediment to the vast majority of Joe Public.

omahaid

Whats the story with all these cheap android tablets I see on ebay? E.g. this one

http://cgi.ebay.ie/10-2-Android-2-1-Apad-Epad-UK-STOCK-/290473497233?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43a191d291#ht_1862wt_1137

This one seems excellent but I have a sneaking suspicion it comes from certain countries who are known for making dirt cheap knock offs which are no way good. Is my suspicion right?

conor.hogan.2

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Yep all Android machines after 2.2 have that as standard

Can you click to enable flash? or at least block all flash and only enable when you want it?

all official 2.2 and official 2.2 that have the specs have it yes but not all.

jimmycrackcorm

omahaid wrote: »

Whats the story with all these cheap android tablets I see on ebay? E.g. this one

http://cgi.ebay.ie/10-2-Android-2-1-Apad-Epad-UK-STOCK-/290473497233?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43a191d291#ht_1862wt_1137

This one seems excellent but I have a sneaking suspicion it comes from certain countries who are known for making dirt cheap knock offs which are no way good. Is my suspicion right?

Loops OK for web browsing and reading pdf files.
They will have resistive screens so the experience won't be quite as good but art the price it's hard to argue against.

mickoneill30

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Can you click to enable flash? or at least block all flash and only enable when you want it?

all official 2.2 and official 2.2 that have the specs have it yes but not all.

I've no idea about the tablets. Probably have to wait until they're released.

Venom

ozz wrote: »

Seems to be a problem with compatibility of 10.1 screens and froyo leading to a less than desirable android experience.

"Here’s the catch. For whatever reason – Toshiba says it’s due to the 10.1-inch screen size and higher resolution – Google didn’t allow the Toshiba Folio 100 to work with official Google apps. That means you don’t get access to the Android Market, or the apps that come with it. That also means you don’t get Adobe Flash 10.1 Player. Toshiba has done a good job customizing the interface to be all kinds of swipe-friendly and easy on the eyes, but they’ve had to include something called the “Toshiba Market Place” to substitute for Google’s official Market. The Toshiba Market Place is not an apples-for-apples replacement. That’s a big strike against the tablet, in our book."
taken from http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/04/hands-on-toshiba-folio-100-android-tablet/

That sounds more like Toshiba wanted to have their own app market place rather than something from Google imho. Either way no access to full app market = a no purchase from me.

Inquitus

Venom wrote: »

That sounds more like Toshiba wanted to have their own app market place rather than something from Google imho. Either way no access to full app market = a no purchase from me.

Google will not allow the market on any device which cannot function as a phone, this is part of their current Market Policy. This Toshiba is not a phone, ergo it can't be supplied with the Android Market.

thehomeofDob

An interesting statement from google.

Froyo not designed for tablets...

imitation

thehomeofDob wrote: »

An interesting statement from google.

Froyo not designed for tablets...

Thats the reason I'll be waiting a while before I buy an android tablet, or any tablet for the fact, they need a bit more time to mature, a tablet needs to be every bit as good as a PC for browsing the web, and needs to be swish at that.

mickoneill30

imitation wrote: »

Thats the reason I'll be waiting a while before I buy an android tablet, or any tablet for the fact, they need a bit more time to mature, a tablet needs to be every bit as good as a PC for browsing the web, and needs to be swish at that.

The browsing on my Android phone is close enought to browsing on my PC. If only it had a bigger screen ....
It'll never be as good as the PC due to the lack of a keyboard. I can type much faster on a PC than I could on a screen.

For me I've 3 criteria.
1: Browsing must be as good as on my phone (I'm pretty sure they can manage that).
2: I've a pile of PDF books that I'm always referencing. I'd like easily read those on the device (remains to be seen).
3: Playing video using something like Rockplayer on a TV should work (I don't see why that won't work).

If it meets those for me then the $300 for the Archos 101 seems worth it for me.

Edit: Actually the video here shows the web browsing (using 2.1) but it looks fine for me.

thehomeofDob

For all the devices not officially supported by Google, a simple root would open the market to them. I'm just wary of apps not supporting odd resolutions.

mickoneill30

thehomeofDob wrote: »

For all the devices not officially supported by Google, a simple root would open the market to them. I'm just wary of apps not supporting odd resolutions.

The apps running in the higher resolutions is my main concern too.

I don't think a root even needs to be done for the market though. For the Archos devices it was just run the apk and you get the market. I suppose this is something Google or the manufacturers could block (if they really wanted, I suspect it's more to say we won't support you if you have a problem with the market though.)

TheDoc

Have to say I'll probably pick one up myself, have zero itnerest in ipda at its sutpid price and I dont like apple products, but an android tablet would be awesome.

Vicious rumours about a HTC designed google tablet coming for christmas, and absolutely no denial from members of Googles hierarchy when questioned by the new york times. The responses are very much un officially confirming its coming.

So I'll probably be after that one