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Hey Fellas,
I'm currently an iPad 2 user. I have a Galaxy S phone (which I love) and won't give it up for an iPhone. I was considering buying a Tab... but I didn't have much of a choice when the iPad 2 came out.
Today I ran into a Galaxy Tab 10.1 (it was AMAZING) and I'm thinking about returning my iPad 2.
Would anyone recommend this?
I love the Android OS. I chose the iOS because of the amount of useful school/work apps it has. [IT field].
Another question is... does anyone here own both [or tried both the iPad 2 AND the G Tab]? I have to say that the iPad 2 keyboard was much smoother than the Galaxy Tab.
I tried it quick.. I didn't have much time to play with it. I thought the keyboard wasn't as fast.
How about school/IT apps?
Thanks in advance!
My mom have the iPad 2 and I love Honeycomb but when compared to iOS its missing a whole lot, especially on apps.
Honeycomb is a new OS for tablets and I see it growing in the future and apps are slowly being ported and optimized for Honeycomb tablets. iOS has been in the market for a while and honeycomb has got some catching up to do.
Buy a tablet for what it is now instead of expecting something out of it and just getting frustrated waiting for an app. I bout a zune HD thinking it will go toe to toe with the iPod touch but was just disappointed and ended up selling it and buying the iPod touch.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
Other than the infamous lag when typing in forums, keyboard speed is fine in every application I've used so far. For some the forum thing is a big deal, and I've worked around it for now by using a remote desktop app if I really feel the need to post an essay using the tab, but obviously that isn't ideal.
As for the keyboard itself, there are plenty to choose from. Swiftkey, Thumb Keyboard and Swype are all excellent alternatives if you don't like the stock HC keyboard or the Samsung one.
The tab comes with Quick Office pre-installed and that will do the job if you want to take notes and read documents. There are about a half dozen office suites and each have their pro's and con's, if you want to learn more about them there is a good comparison thread over at the Asus Transformer forums. They all have a ways to go though before they're suitable for real work with documents however.
For IT, I imagine apps like LogMeIn, Wyse Pocket Cloud, Overlook Fing, andSMB, SharesFinder, ASProxy, Connect Bot, etc would be useful.
to give you an honest answer stick with the Ipad. Everyone on here will try to give you a reach around about why the TAB is so great. But quite frankly in its current state its not. I'm typing this on my tab right now and am getting pissed that my words are showing up well after I press the keys. There are NO USEFULL ANDROID TABLET APPS available at this time. You want proof. Go to the marketplace and see if you van even tell the difference between what is a table app and what isn't. Some tablet apps even have disclaimers stating they aren't even compatible with the GT yet. I purchased my tab because I'm believing in the Modding community will one day provide me with the goodies I crave for use on what is a very (hardware) capable device. But if you want somethingthat just works right now... get an IPAD.
I am still so much on the fence about the GT 10.1 I have a hard time even trying to formulate a reply to this. As I think I go back and forth every 5 minutes.
GT 10.1
+ Android is open, open file system, third party app stores/markets.
+ Wide screen display, higher resolution, and stereo speakers great for videos.
+ Highly customizable with widgets.
+ XDA community usually does great job with custom ROMs.
+ Google apps and Amazon CloudDrive and App Store are great.
- Android 3 is a rush job, screen response not great (not bad either), keyboard lag.
- App crashes and random reboots rare, but happen more than they should.
- Tablet app select still small, and Android app versions sometimes inferior to iOS.
- Uncertainty when Samsung might push the Android 4.0 update, they've been ver slow in the past.
- No Netflix
iPad 2 (I own an iPad 1, so this is mostly about iOS)
+ Over a year head start in tablets, lots of quality apps.
+ iOS versions of some apps are better, Tweetdeck, Tune In Radio, Taptu, etc.
+ Netflix, Hulu Plus (don't care for Hulu, but really miss Netflix on my GT 10.1)
+ iOS very responsive and smooth.
+ Square screen ratio nice for browsing, ebooks.
+ Apple makes software and hardware, so dependable updates.
- No file system access, must use iTunes (usually) to transfer files.
- Google, YouTube apps sucks on iOS.
- No third party application markets (no good Jailbreak for iPad 2, so no Cydia).
- Lower res display, 512MB of RAM.
HG! said:
Hey Fellas,
I'm currently an iPad 2 user. I have a Galaxy S phone (which I love) and won't give it up for an iPhone. I was considering buying a Tab... but I didn't have much of a choice when the iPad 2 came out.
Today I ran into a Galaxy Tab 10.1 (it was AMAZING) and I'm thinking about returning my iPad 2.
Would anyone recommend this?
I love the Android OS. I chose the iOS because of the amount of useful school/work apps it has. [IT field].
Another question is... does anyone here own both [or tried both the iPad 2 AND the G Tab]? I have to say that the iPad 2 keyboard was much smoother than the Galaxy Tab.
I tried it quick.. I didn't have much time to play with it. I thought the keyboard wasn't as fast.
How about school/IT apps?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello!
My friend owns the iPad/iPad 2 and I use them regularly when I'm at his house as he has multiple. I own a Galaxy Tab 7" and 10.1 myself. Here's my personal opinion:
The iPad had a significant build quality difference between it and the 7" Tab. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 corrects this, but it's still very difficult to beat a uniform metal structure versus a plastic one. This will boil down to whether you prefer a higher build quality, or a lighter device. The 10.1 is way lighter, the iPad 2's build quality is better.
As far as applications go... iOS tablet-centric apps blows Android out of the water. There is no denying this. You can still get any application you need on both platforms, but the higher resolution ones on the iPad are way more numerous. Here's to hoping this changes soon for Honeycomb.
As far as operating systems go... Honeycomb is ages beyond iOS in terms of a more desktop-like feel on a Tablet and less of a phone-like feel. iOS 5 does little to correct this. You will find the OS itself much more pleasant on a Honeycomb tablet.
Hardware: The processor in the iPad 2 is fast. The processor in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is fast. I don't see any speed differences between the two, except for the browser. The lead Google put in Android 2.2 shows heavily with the UI optimized for Tablets. Also, the Tegra 2 processor is the first processor I can say having Flash is a definitive advantage. I can stream HD videos from Flash sources on the web (ABC, Crunchyroll, etc) with very little to no stuttering. Props to NVidia here. I could probably do a video for you, if you were interested.
The back camera on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is far superior, though I don't think you'll be using it very often when cameras on phones are smaller and easier to use. Just my opinion.
Last but not least: I really dislike the iPad (iOS 4) and Google's default keyboard on Tablets. They are extremely hard to use while handling the device. I use Swiftkey Tablet X on my 7" and 10.1" Tab and LOVE it. If you keep your iPad 2 I really suggest you get iOS 5 on it to take advantage of the split keyboard effect. It makes typing far easier. If you do go back and get a Google-based Tab, drop their crappy keyboard and get Swiftkey X. It's in beta - I can send you the apk if you do end up going that route. Just PM me.
[Edit] Quick edit after reading Ravynmagi's post - not having Netflix is a HUGE HUGE bummer. There's no word on it coming to Honeycomb either, so don't hold your breath[/Edit]
I've had both. the iTampon 2 is riddled with screen problems. I wouldn't pay 500 bucks for it. It does have more apps... but let's be honest..... how many apps do you really need?
bbeelzebub said:
I've had both. the iTampon 2 is riddled with screen problems. I wouldn't pay 500 bucks for it. It does have more apps... but let's be honest..... how many apps do you really need?
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Click to collapse
That was the earlier batches though. I'm of the impression that has been resolved, hasn't it?
Ravynmagi said:
That was the earlier batches though. I'm of the impression that has been resolved, hasn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the support forums at the Apple site. Sure hasn't.
I don't like Ipads. It feels like you are stuck into the app drawer forever.
Sure, there are tons of apps for tablets but everything else is below 10.1 standards.
It starts with the homescreen, over to multitasking abilities and ends in hardware.
And a 4:3 screen is a no go. Every media is made for 16:9 or 16:10, have fun watching movies on that. Ipad2 feels like an ancient TV.
And web without flash? Seriously? That also means no browser games which all are high resolution and made for PC !
Ipads are just for the fancy glamour aspect. The apps look better, for example ebook readers are nicer animated. But I am a purist, I don't want animations around my text, I want a nice and huge display. Why buy 10.1 if half of your screen is used up by showing virutal pages?
The fact that Honeycomb doesn't have many good apps and Tegra 2 seems pretty poor overall (poor video/codec playing, maybe be an OS issue though) I would get an iPad. It will just be a smoother/better experience.
When people say that the IPad has more apps, I kind of laugh at this.....
Its the quality of the apps, not the number of them. If Android has the apps that I want and are of good quality, than I am happy.
I was debating between these 2 devices and in the end I chose the IPAD2. I really wanted to go with Android, but right now its just not ready for "primetime" just yet. I may revisit this when ICS comes out and the Android Tablets and Apps have become more mature. Much like when Android came out, you are goign to ahve to do a lot fo work to get it to do what you want to do. I think the GTAB has great potential, its the OS that holds it back. App conversion\creation has been very slow so far, which is another drawback.
As others have said though, take account of what you want to do with the tablet and what apps you will use. Then go through both tablets and see what will suit your needs. You cant go wrong with either as both have their negative and positive attributes. Whichever is going to fit your needs the best is the one to get, everyone has different needs and wants, so everyone will have a differing opinion.
I can say though that I have not been disappointed with my decision. I still come here and lurk to see what the current state of the GTAB is though as it still sparks my interest and I want it to succeed.
SR45 said:
When people say that the IPad has more apps, I kind of laugh at this.....
Its the quality of the apps, not the number of them. If Android has the apps that I want and are of good quality, than I am happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience is quality has usually been lower on the Android side. Either the Android version has fewer features or is less stable or not even compatible with your device. Fragmentation is a real ***** on Android right now and quality is suffering because of it.
I really don't see an argument for Android having an advantage on the app side. That's going to be the iPad's strong point for quite some time.
But I do agree, plenty of people can find good quality apps that suit their needs and be completely happy.
honeycomb really suck balls! i have to have 3 different browsers installed to do what a normal browser does
firefox to download stuff (if u disagree, try using some other browser to download from filesonic/hotfiles)
skyfire to view flash sites
and the ever temperamental stock browser
why am i able to do the above with any browser froyo/gingerbread but not honeycomb?
typing in username/password is a nightmare, tap a key --> wait for the character to appear --> type the next key.. honestly if u want to try out android, get yourself an android phone, avoid honeycomb tablets for the time being
SR45 said:
When people say that the IPad has more apps, I kind of laugh at this.....
Its the quality of the apps, not the number of them. If Android has the apps that I want and are of good quality, than I am happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ipad has a lot of useful and quality apps compared to the less than a hundred apps that honeycomb offer.
I'm not talking about games because the tablet optimized games that honeycomb/tegra have are awesome but when it comes to apps for specific tasks they have very limited selection and not a lot of them are comparable to the ipad app counterpart.
I'm talking about finance apps like iReconcile for iPad and portfolio apps for photographers.
I have not seen one portfolio app for honeycomb and ipad have a color calibration app made by datacolor called SpyderGallery but non existent on the honeycomb.
I'm just saying that honeycomb might be good for someone that want to do basic stuff on their tablet but if you want a task specific app, the ipad has them and honeycomb desn't have them but doesn't mean they're not going to have them in the future.
I think that we're going to see a lot of apps ported to honeycomb by the end of the year.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
I've played with the ipad & currently own a GT 10.1. For me (& I think Rayvnmagi summed it all up nicely), the two greatest advantages of Honeycomb are media (ability to play Flash & higher resolution video) and the mod-ability (I just bought an Epic 4G -- $30 on Amazon! -- and I haven't stopped playing with ROMs since; something I could never do with my iphone 3GS).
Yes, the apps are decidedly not there. Yes, the keyboard lag is awful when typing in forums, etc. I'm willing to put up with that for now because I know two things: 1) the fellas here at xda are awesome & will most likely come out with a fix in the near future & 2) Google handed out GT 10.1 developer editions to everyone at its developer conference. That can only be a good thing in terms of app development for the GT 10.1.
All that being said, I actually recommended my dad (NOT a techie) get an ipad 2. He's not as tech-savvy, and he's of the mindset that things should just work. The ipad has established itself as a very stable platform that works (usually) without a hitch & I have a feeling if he'd gotten a GT 10.1, he would have had several headaches & never used it.
So, I feel like in the end, it really depends on your usage preference--do you want an established tech with a little bit lower specs or do you want the newer tech with more bugs but better specs?
My problem with the tab right now has nothing to do with apps etc etc. That stuff will eventually come, just a little time.
My problem is with lag, video playback issues, and the fact that samsung does not like to update their products to push you to buy new ones. Even if google fixes all the issues currently with the tablets, there is no guarantee samsung will give us that update.
Samsung's flagship phone (galaxy s) has yet to get the ota froyo update. If you send your phone back in for a warranty repair, yes you will receive a refurbed one with froyo or you can get it through kies if you are aware of it's existence. Yet the new $70 samsung exhibit is just a replay of the vibrant but with gingerbread!
I don't know about the other manufacturers, but I don't expect the tab to improve much more than it has now. There will most likely be a new tablet from samsung in the fall to winter season sporting icecream sandwich...if that happens, forget updates!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
SR45 said:
When people say that the IPad has more apps, I kind of laugh at this.....
Its the quality of the apps, not the number of them. If Android has the apps that I want and are of good quality, than I am happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I laugh at this comment because androids tablets apps are lacking in BOTH QUALITY and QUANTITY. Seriously dude you set ursrlf up for that.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
The problem with the iPad is that once you buy into the Apple infrastructure if you buy a decent quality of apps you're locked into them forever unless you want to start over again. Personally I love the flexibility of Android and will never go back to having an iPhone (which I used to have).
When Exchange didn't work with my corporate server with my iPhone I was out of luck. With my Droid X I had the same problem but was able to download Touchdown which works fine. To me, that flexibility makes it more worthwhile to stay with Android and lose out on the over abundance of "fart apps" in the Apple app store.
I've been trying to figure out how many apps there are for Android tablets and it has been really hard to find out, which in itself hints that it ain't good. But the best estimates I could find online pin it at around 1000-2000 apps. Didn't iPad 1 release with more than that? What is wrong with Android? I sincerely believe that this OS is better with its Widgets and customizations and all. But does it not bother you that after a whole year we have so few apps? I may as well go for an iPad at this rate. I mean i have all the apps i need now, but still some apps are meant for the phone, like Facebook.... still I feel it is worth investing in a device that actually has proper support... you are paying $500, shouldn't you expect more then just thousands of apps? And don't argue that the new iPad with its hi res display will have few apps. That is only temporary... it too will soon surpass the android tablet app tally...
Took me 5 seconds to google that-
http://phandroid.com/2011/03/14/android-app-count-rapidly-gaining-on-ios-chart/
and its year old, so the number is bigger by now.
Android still has plenty of great apps. ICS is the merging of phone and tablet apps. So there won't be a need for either. Instead it'll be a universal app that would work on wither and if its tablet, then it'll take advantage of it.
I have over 200 apps on my Ipad. I have just as many on my prime and have found majority of my Ipad apps n AAndroid and have them on my prime now. So there's still slot of apps out there. Tablet only apps, yes Android has less but its steadily growing. Phone apps already caught up to apples.
Plus you won't catch many here wanting to switch to IOS over apps. Especially not me. I've already did the Ipad experience for 2 years n glad I came to android. I'm satisfied with what's available. It isn't like you can install all of them at once. Android has great apps n always could use more. But Android users generally know the deal when it comes to the apps. Apple needs apps to do things android does out the box by itself. My Ipad has alot of really good apps on it but I have them all ln my prime also. Majority being better on Android. So expect your poll to show love for Android and its ecosystem. Most try to stay away from limited features n capabilities of Ipad. Depends on what floats your boat the best.
That is Android Market on the whole. I've been talking about tablet optimized apps.
demandarin said:
Android still has plenty of great apps. ICS is the merging of phone and tablet apps. So there won't be a need for either. Instead it'll be a universal app that would work on wither and if its tablet, then it'll take advantage of it.
I have over 200 apps on my Ipad. I have just as many on my prime and have found majority of my Ipad apps n AAndroid and have them on my prime now. So there's still slot of apps out there. Tablet only apps, yes Android has less but its steadily growing. Phone apps already caught up to apples.
Plus you won't catch many here wanting to switch to IOS over apps. Especially not me. I've already did the Ipad experience for 2 years n glad I came to android. I'm satisfied with what's available. It isn't like you can install all of them at once. Android has great apps n always could use more. But Android users generally know the deal when it comes to the apps. Apple needs apps to do things android does out the box by itself. My Ipad has alot of really good apps on it but I have them all ln my prime also. Majority being better on Android. So expect your poll to show love for Android and its ecosystem. Most try to stay away from limited features n capabilities of Ipad. Depends on what floats your boat the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All in all, it would be comforting to see a good recent estimate regarding android "tablet" Apps. As of now, I have apps to watch movies, socialize, a great browser, to read PDFs and eBooks and to take notes. I still feel that quality is lacking and I hope what you said about ICS unifying things will help devs dev more. But it bugs me that say Facebook has no tablet app, etc. Thankfully I don't game a lot though!
READ up on Ice Cream Sandwich Android version and see what its supposed to mean. Soon there will be no more need for tablet optimized apps as all will be optimized for whatever device its being used on.
If you want to get an Ipad that's cool, but I hope you didn't think most here would vote in favor of getting one. You will see soon most are happy with Android. Yes it could always get better but still love it regardless. I'd never switch back to Ipad. Seen so much more with Android now. Going back to IOS would be moving backwards in features and capabilities of a tablet.
---------- Post added at 01:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------
litetaker said:
All in all, it would be comforting to see a good recent estimate regarding android "tablet" Apps. As of now, I have apps to watch movies, socialize, a great browser, to read PDFs and eBooks and to take notes. I still feel that quality is lacking and I hope what you said about ICS unifying things will help devs dev more. But it bugs me that say Facebook has no tablet app, etc. Thankfully I don't game a lot though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always see people complain about Facebook on android. Why? I have it and works great for me. I have like 3-4 different Facebook apps on my Ipad. Plus here is a reality check. The official Facebook app on Ipad isn't even the best one. It took them so long to bring it out that the 3rd party ones are the best now. The official app sux on Ipad and is buggy still. I have it and other ones on Ipad. You just have to search more. I have tons of great tablet apps on prime.
Here's a tip. If you want to look for android tablet app only marketplace, look for an app called Tablified. Its an marketplace that showcases all tablet only or optimized apps for Android. Its really good and apps must pass strict guidelines to be considered to be viewed in that app. Its a free app. A MEMBER here actually created it. It has a great look to it also.
demandarin said:
Android still has plenty of great apps. ICS is the merging of phone and tablet apps. So there won't be a need for either. Instead it'll be a universal app that would work on wither and if its tablet, then it'll take advantage of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, until we see many more ICS devices, developers won't focus on it and thus we'll not see apps that make good use of tablets because of it. It's true that right now the number of really good tablet apps is low, and it's frustrating. I'd think that 5-10 million Honeycomb or ICS tablets in the wild would be enough to generate more developer interest.
I honestly think developers are gun shy about spending the time on tablet apps because the press on the Android tablet market has been so universally horrible (and the hype on the iPad so universally and nauseatingly high). Those developers who've made tablet-optimized apps have done a great job with it, but really the iPad has a HUGE, HUGE advantage here. Even I find myself sometimes wanting to switch because of all the excellent iPad apps, and I can't stand Apple.
You can find a good tablet app for a most typical uses, and in many cases the phone apps work fine (because they scale better in many cases than iPhone apps scale to the iPad), but it remains a limitation. It's also another area where Google has done a bad job, either of making it easy to make tablet-optimized apps (I don't know either way) or of providing incentives for developers to make them.
I really don't get the fascination and need for all these "apps". I hate that word too, sounds so gay.
Give me a good browser, some good media players and you're pretty much good to go.
There is no need for a Facebook program at all. No need for XDA program, a Twitter program. You don't use them on your Windows desktop do you? The browser is all you need for all that.
I just don't get it. I don't even have one homescreen filled on my tablet.
litetaker said:
That is Android Market on the whole. I've been talking about tablet optimized apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android doesn't longer have seperate Apps. Since ICS and fragments well written Apps will deliver an optimized layout for phones, tablets as well as Google TV. One App for all, that was the approach of Android and that's why the Google Play / Market doesn't have an extra Tablet section (beside the editors choice for tablets).
In the last years there was really a lack of good apps for tablets, but most of the new Apps make use of this new fragments and offer a great tablet ui.
New 8track app, tweetcaster, new official TED app, Astrid since their last update - just to mention a few.
In my opinion this will be the first serious year for Android Tablets and Apps which was also the reason for me to finally buy the Prime.
MysteriousDiary said:
Android doesn't longer have seperate Apps. Since ICS and fragments well written Apps will deliver an optimized layout for phones, tablets as well as Google TV. One App for all, that was the approach of Android and that's why the Google Play / Market doesn't have an extra Tablet section (beside the editors choice for tablets).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One think I've always wondered is: do fragments work on Android versions previous to ICS? Because if they do, then I wonder why more developers aren't using them. If they only work with ICS, then it makes sense--ICS is still only about 1% of the total Android population, and only on the Prime and Xoom in tablets.
And seriously, it should be MUCH easier to find tablet-optimized apps. While there are a handful of decent tablet-optimized apps, they're relatively hard to find and that fact alone contributes to the perception (real or imagined) that this is a real weakness of Android tablets.
Download Tablified Market
/thread
Here's a good reference for tablet apps...
http://www.tablified.com/
And yes, many popular apps do suck on a tablet and will continue to until ICS reaches critical mass.
litetaker said:
I mean i have all the apps i need now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the problem?
I guess the question is what do you want to do with your Prime that would be fulfilled by an app? Or somewhat sarcastically; what could you do app-wise with an iPad that you want to do with your Prime? I suggest asking if your searching has yielded nothing suitable.
While it's fun to have lots of apps available, what if they are all crap?
Bye.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Well, I got a solution. Buy an ipad 3 and a tf700 later in the year. All problems have been solved. Except for money.
jdeoxys said:
Well, I got a solution. Buy an ipad 3 and a tf700 later in the year. All problems have been solved. Except for money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got banned? Just recently?
Developer here...
Even with older OS versions the only difference between a phone and tablet app is the layout. Android already has some pretty killer tools for handling that. ICS makes it easier with some new tools (fragments), but by no means is it necessary. Few devs will target ICS for awhile. There are just too many older devices.
So... the biggest inhibitor is time. It takes a great deal of work to develop an app that makes both screen sizes happy. It also takes some practice. Since Android is behind compared to iOS, and the Android tablet market is smaller, we just have to wait. People have to learn how to take advantage of all this extra space.
By the way, its not really any easier to develop an iOS tablet app. In fact, even using the older versions of Android, its easier to deal with different layouts than on iOS.
I think as long as theres fragmentation most app devs are not gonna put as much effort with android. Why when there are so many ipad users and they only have to develop for 1 single platform and can concentrate on making it better rather than concentrating on making it more compatible across every different android devices. ICS was supposed to be the answer but not all ICS compatible app will work on all ICS devices. Then google is supposedly now gonna come out with jelly bean? Whats gonna happen then? So if i was a dev right now I wouldnt want to develop even for ICS not knowing what road block jelly bean will bring when apple is more guaranteed. The return profit is just not as good on android tablets right now. Until we match apples ecosystem I dont think we will ever have the benifits that ipad users have.
demandarin said:
You got banned? Just recently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, why?
10char
facepalm...
Do you remember when blueray players first came out, you could only get a handfull of movies for it? and now you can get damn near everything in blueray.
Remember a year or so ago when there was like, maybe 5 tablets total on the market? and now you cant turn the corner without finding yet another manufacturer of them?
Tablets are the fastest growing consumer trend in north america giving Apple a good run for their money. Considering this boom in the last year or so, developers are scrambling to try to support everything and find standards for how graphics will be displayed, etc. (which is why theres so many different versions of the same gameloft games)
Give it a few more months if you cant find what your looking for, it will be here then.
Also considering that ICS is still relatively new and developers need to make sure their apps work well on it before they release it, test, etc. its not surprising that there is limited support for ICS. If you want something thats tried, tested, and true then get the TF101. If you want to live on the edge like with the 201 then you have to expect some bugs along the way.
Give it time, it will come. Guaranteed.
Disclaimer: As I was reading over my post, I felt that I was really critical against Android/TFP users. But the only reason I am writing this whole comparison is because I want you guys to have the best experience. I didn't sit here and type this whole thing up trying to bash you guys or show off or anything. End/
So I know I'm gonna get a lot of hate for doing this cause of all the Android fanboy vs iOS fanboy debates. But guess what, I have used Android and have been on XDA for years now and I now have an iPad, no hard feelings. Don't be fanboys of companies, be fanboys of good products.
Anyways, I'm gonna compare the TFP and the iPad 3 since I have owned both. PS, this is gonna be pro iPad so cover your eyes if you can't take my opinion.
These arguments are mostly gonna be Android vs iOS but since the TFP is the best Android tablet IMO and the iPad 3 is the best iOS, I will use them for reference.
App Availability
This is the biggest and most important difference. I still use an android phone because the apps on it are still ok. Not as good and polished as iOS apps but still manageable. However, tablets are a whole different story. Maybe just me telling you won't do any good. Just download iTunes and see for yourself. The number of tablet apps on iOS is amazing. They aren't blown up apps like the Android "tablet" apps. They really make good use of the bigger screen. I think that there are probably more retina ready apps (retina iPad came out 4 days ago) than there are tablet apps in android.
The problem is and will continue to be the fragmentation on Android. I suggest you to read about MikaMobile, creators of Battleheart, ZombieVille, etc halting android support. Basically, they said that it takes them way too much time and money to support Android due to all the different OS versions, screen sizes, hardware, etc. And until this is fixed, iOS will continue to get all the good apps which would in turn attract more customers, and this greater app support and the cycle repeats.
Smoothness
The iPad is really smooth as butter. While the TFP boasts all the hardware, I always had little lags here and there (scrolling in browser, reading large PDFs, moving between apps, etc). Again, there is no point in me telling you. Go to a store and try out the iPad. Almost never had any lag or stutters.
Sad to say but Android tablets aren't even close to what iOS tablets have to offer. I really cant see any reason why you would want an Android tablet over the iPad.
Reasons You Want Android Over iOS
1) Customization. Probably the most common argument Android users use.
-Widgets: Sure I miss them a bit but I will take good apps over widgets any day. Perhaps you spend too much time on your home screen staring at all your widgets and custom icons because you don't have any good apps.
-Custom roms/Tweaks: Can't really talk about custom roms since I have not tried any on the TFP. But I doubt it would be any faster than iOS. If you jailbreak your iPad, the customization isn't that bad, I would say better than Android actually. There are a lot of useful tweaks in Cydia that Android doesn't offer. IE, pull down in Safari to refresh page, Moving multiple icons at a time, No gravity on home screen, etc. I'm sure a rooted/unlocked Android could have those tweaks too but too bad there arent enough Android tablet users/devs.
2) Multitasking
This is actually one of the only advantages of Android. Android offers true multitasking while the iPad has pretty poor multitasking. Not much to say about that.
3) Price
This is the TFP forum so they should be about the same price. But i guess if you are getting something like the Kindle then the price is a deciding factor.
4) Keyboard + Ports
Yes, the killer feature of the Prime. Another one of the only reasons you would get TFP. However, you can check out Clamcase for iPads and it is actually better than the TFP dock in many ways minus the ports. If USB and sd ports are really that important and you dont want to use the ipad dongles then I guess this is another deciding factor.
5) Drag n Drop over iTunes
Advantage of TFP
I will be happy to respond to the typical "walled garden", "no customization", "no flash", "crappy hardware", "Android/Apple fanboy" comments.
Remember, don't be fanboys of companies, be fanboys of good products.
After playing the new Mass Effect, Sky Gamblers, Updated Real Racing 2 & Updated Infinity Blade 2....I can honestly say that my new iPad smokes the Prime and Infinity Pad. The graphics are amazing!!!!
You might want to do a bit more reading into the MikaMobile situation.
It's not they aren't making money on Google market/play, nor is it porting or various hardware problem in later interview with the dev.
Returning briefly to what took up the majority of that 20% of their time dedicated to Android development, it was not related to fragmentation as some have asserted. The two activities that required the most time were the initial porting process (not shocking) and simple customer service (download and payment problems). The latter seemed to be a particular thorn in their side and of course is made all the more exasperating by the fact that those are in fact areas in Google’s control and not really something a developer should be dealing with at all. It’s hardly the first time I’ve heard that complaint from a developer and it is a subject worthy of discussion on its own at some point.
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http://androidandme.com/2012/03/app...figures-in-their-first-six-months-on-android/
And there are successful game dev that focus solely on Android platform.
ill comment on your Ipad customization claim-
I've had an Ipad over 2yrs. jailbroken. so I know cydia and the other places very well. while cydia does have some cool tweaks to make Ipad more useful, its chump change compared to Android mods n tweaks after rooting.
Ipad has:
-no Overclocking
-no custom roms
-no memory tweaks
-no Widgets
-no undervolting for even better battery life with overclocking
-no Linux or Ubuntu can be loaded on it
-no way to make backup of the whole system on device itself
-no real customization or personalization lmfao device. all Ipad can do is change wallpaper. then if you jailbreak you can use the crappy icons or themes in there. even with those it still looks the same.
-no downloading file in stock browser, Safari
-no uploading files in stock safari
-no access to flash content. skyfire on Ipad blows. puffin browser decent bit slow as a mofo. I know, I have these apps. and Crash is a joke
-no great custom keyboards like android has.
- all apple keyboards blows. clamshell one is NOT better than transformer dock. how can you even claim that when it doesn't even have a built in battery. no USB ports. no full size SD card slot...apple peripherals blows hard. its no contest Prime has the superior keyboard. alot more functionality than apple keyboards can even dream of.
-no USB host capabilities on Ipad itself or dock. Prime can use mouse, a separate keyboard, external hard drives, etc... even apple adapter sux. all it allows you to do is access pictures. it doesn't even accept most forms of thumb drives because apple crippled the voltage output. therefore it won't even recognize devices if its not apple made. you can't even hook your phone up to Ipad and transfer files through USB adapter. it doesn't even recognize phone because it says it draws too much power.
-no ability to download attachments in native email app. you can't even create a new email, within email app, and add files or pictures to it. have to be jailbroken to partially do this. android does this out the box.
- crippled stock media player. apple only allows you to play mp4 out the box. you have to get other apps to play other formats. android/Prime plays most formats out the box.
-no real multitasking. On my prime I can use overskreen browser and surf the web while another app is opened. or like stick it media player. I can be surfing the web and watch movie at the same time with no issues. plus I float those apps anywhere on the screen I want.
-no native out the box file explorer. you have to jailbrake and get ifiles. android does this out the box.
-no optimized aspect ratio for watching movies. 4:3 aspect ratio is ratio of old a$$ television sets. you try to watch a movie and go fullscreen, it cuts off the image very badly and zooms up movie image and not as sharp and clear anymore. prime has perfect movie theatre aspect ratio. Far superior for watching movies and videos.
-safari browser not able to change user agent. most of the time it loads up mobile version of sites.
-no way to enjoy using device outdoors in the sun. its display isn't bright at all. even on highest brightness setting its hard to view outdoors. prime has no issue at all having ips+ technology. easily viewed outdoors on the brightest days.
-no developer support
-app non tablet apps look horrible resized. android does a way better job at resizing and still keeping clarity n detail of app.
-Ipad apps cost more than android version. I already compared since I have both units and over 150-200 apps on both devices.
-video conferencing far superior on Android. Android Skype, tango, fring, o'clock are better versions and perform better than IOS counterparts. I have all this apps on both devices. although my ipad1 doesn't have a cam, I'm still able to use the video chat and see the other person. I'm more so comparing quality of the video stream coming in. facetime blows because only enables chat to other IOS devices.
-NO CONTROLLER SUPPORT FOR GAMES. this is huge since Ipad tries to focus on gaming. this is what happens in locked down OS where they don't give you USB or BT host capabilities.
-Ipad apps actually crash quite frequently. instead of saying FC or would you like to close, it just crashes back to homescreen.
-new Ipad no longer has the thin and light form factor like the price. its just as thick and as heavy as the first Ipad. major step backwards for apple. especially how ipad2 was advertised by apple so much for being thin and light.
-not able to create apps and developement on the device itself. Android now has this ability and apps to develop for other android devices on the tablet itself.
-not able to go to most movie and videos sites and watch. doesn't support flash.
-Ipad YouTube app is far inferior to android one.
-no system monitor apps on Ipad. no real ones to let you monitor CPU usage, memory usage, etc..
-very large PDF files load up and turn pages very slowly on Ipad. my prime with same large PDF file plows through it easily. example: I have the complete Service manual for my dogs magnum. same manual service center uses. PDF file is over 300mb and several thousand pages long. I can use it easier and faster on my prime as I put it on both devices.
-Ipad doesn't even recognize all forms of photos/pictures. especially ones coming from android phones. apple has their own specific formats it'll only recognize. prime recognizes all picture formats.
-less than a handful of processor optimized apps and games. 99% of apps n games look and perform just as good on my ipad1 as they do with ipad2 or new Ipad. developers makes the apps n games for all generations. none hardly take advantage. so Android version of the same games end up looking better on Prime. more visual effects, details, etc.. not our fault apple or its developers too dumb not to optimize at least some apps for newer processors ipad2 and new Ipad has.
-no way to play another opponent over local wifi network like Android. on apple you can only play online. no local network playing support.
-apple has to use iTunes to transfer media, movies, make backup,etc...android can do all of thieving device itself.
I own both devices. for me, the negatives outweigh ipads positive. Ipad a straight up consumption device. Android is more productive and do things apple can only dream of out the box or jailbroken. Ipad gets no love here. This Android country. Prime territory. so if you expect people to give you props for your new Ipad, you are mistaken. now that you have Ipad, you might as well join ipadforums and forget about xda. there is no support or help here for apple products. any talk of apple or ipads will always be greeted with beef up here. no way around it. xda not for Ipad users. might as well ditch your android phone also and get an iPhone. so you can become a full blown apple fanboy..lmfao.
As you see Ipad/IOS has a very long list of negatives that I wasn't even done with yet. My negatives for ipad is far numerous than your positive points. i could've easily doubled that negatives list in size if i felt like continuing to list negatives. plus your comparison wasn't unbiased or even attempted to be. so expect the heat to come and thread probably shut down eventually. the ones like this always do. Mass effect coming also to android and will be tegra3 optimized. meaning we will have better looking and playing version. just like shadowgun and Riptide.
you already made a similar thread before n got flamed. this one will be no different. why not just go in peace and live in ipadlandforums..lol you only bringing the heat to yourself and coming off as trolling. even if you don't mean to be. honestly no one hear cares about Ipad. so its a failed mission on apple propaganda.
There's nothing wrong with you preceding IOS or Ipad over Android and prime. The problem is when you come into an Android/Prime dedicated forum and spew Ipad/Apple propaganda. Do you expect us to be like OK, he is right, Android and Prime does suck. now I want an Ipad..lol.
don't take the apple fanboy comment personal. comes with the territory. I am a fan of great products also. So based on my list of negatives for Ipad/IOS, I'd say I made a great decision sticking with Android and Prime. Me and alot of others don't easily fall for the me 2 hype. Ipad is a great device and the graphics are killer. For me though, Prime and Android is more well rounded. ill take far superior CPU and computational power anyday over just a focus in graphics. Life is not all about games you know.
Wow demandarin, must feel good getting that of your chest ;-)
Agree with your points though..
I don't get the point about the Apps.
I'm using right now OverSkreen - and this is a killer app. It changed the way i can use my Prime while browsing. Watching a stream in one and browsing in another window? That's magic.
I can use vPlayer and let the video play in the background. Download stuff? Access my NAS without hacks and tricks? Watching every Video (besides 10bit) on this planet? Hey, i can even watch a straight blu-ray rip with DicePlayer.
I don't need Millions of apps. Give me Apps which are awesome and gamechanging. Who cares about "garage band"? I think people will be blast when they see that Android user can use the inet in a PC-style.
In reply to xgary..... i own both an ipad 2 and TFP. Sorry i dont have an ipad3 yet but have read many official reviews that its a tiny bit faster than ipad2, sharper, better camera/video capture, and high resolution. In my opinion, I dont see the point of very high resolution on a small 9` inch screen. A 1080x720 would be plenty enough. A resolution like the ipad3 belongs on a 60` hdtv screen , not on a small screen. Seems like a marketing strategy by apple that serves no real purpose. The cpu is a modded a5 or core2 duo to accomodate the quadcore graphic chip.
Ipad3 beats tfp in the graphics department, but tfp definitly beats ipad3 in the cpu performance. Dont believe me.... go read about the benchmark. Xgary you should really try rooting your tfp and flash the rom to virtuous prime . I just did it yesterday and can honestly say what a big improvementt with the browsing experience and swiping between pages. The webpages are opening up much faster, more responsive, and feels a lot smoother. I played with tfp tablet for a total of 7 hours today to make sure i wasnt dreaming. Xda developers did an awesome job and they werent lieing when they said the rom will maker your tablet run faster and smoother.
xGary said:
I really cant see any reason why you would want an Android tablet over the iPad.
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Mmmh i see many many hehe
What about general functionality? smoothness and beauty are nice to have features to maximize the user experience but functionality is the must-have base ... I don´t own an Ipad, only read articles about it and look some review and test videos to build my own opinion. If i then compare this information with this thread, 2 totally different images of the same product can be seen.
I mean sure there are lots of high-quality tablet apps and games for iOS and everything is very smooth, but to be honest, thats the only really positive thing about the new Ipad. I saw several reviews showing crashes of system apps, for example app store, game center and so one ... There are retina games available, which seems to cause heat problems and frame dropping after playing this ones for longer times ... In general there is an unbiased study available, that iOS apps crashes more often then Android apps.
One big task a tablet should be able to offer in perfection and mostly unindependant is browsing the web, in my opinion, a tablet should be able to raplace a desktop pc in matter of browsing! While Android tablets offer flash support, good working html5 and javascript, the new ipad is far away from that. No flash at all and many bugs in html5 and java script, for example try to post a comment on the youtube website in desktop view so html5 is used. it will be impossible, it will be impossible to do anything on the site, buttons are only place holders lol while the iOS youtube app is very ****ty compared to ICS one ... (as intended from google ...) For me a multimedia tablet really is useless if i only can work with some parts of the web ...
the ipad misses a stand-alone concept in general, that starts with the fact that you are not able to use your new Ipad without having a PC with itunes to activate that ...
You also underrated the port-topic regarding to the new Ipad. If i read all the opinions it seems that gaming is a really huge topic if it comes to iOS, so the lack of generic usb host feature that allows to connect input methods to controle the amazingly-looking games is a big FAIL, epic graphic engine is useless if the games must be controlled with emulated touch controls ... in most cases ...
Then there is that huge amount of limitation on iOS, if i get it right i´m even not able to use a .zip attachement received by mail (in the build in email app), thats just absurd, same with the fact that i would not be able to free copy and paste text between several apps, for me that are real must-have features to be able to do some work on that things ...
Then the form factor, funny idea of apple to choose a format which is not able to play 95% of the multimedia content for which it is build for in native aspect ratio (without black bars).
Then the usual standards that could be expected in multimedia tablets, like generic hdmi and the ability to just clone the screen, again try it with your ipad that way ...
And i really could continue, pls don´t get me wrong, i don´t say that iPad is a bad product, but in my opinion it is not "more perfect" than an android tablet and in my situation, the disadvantages of an Abdroid tablet(like a milisecond of lag every 30 minutes, or that i have to wait until 100+ hd games are available for android tablets and so one) are much more compensatable than the major feature lack of iOS ...
I'm just curious to why these posts keep popping up? I guess I just thought anyone on a developer forum would already know what ios has to offer. I mean for me yes, apple makes pretty nice hardware but I cant stand ios. Also I find it funny that everyone claims no bias when there clearly is bias one way or another, and yes I read the edit. These apple posts need to die. I almost miss all the *****ing, at least that was relevant to the product people own. Maybe I'm just confused on what this thread is trying to accomplish.
Sent from my Droid Razr using Tapatalk
benefit14snake said:
I'm just curious to why these posts keep popping up? I guess I just thought anyone on a developer forum would already know what ios has to offer. I mean for me yes, apple makes pretty nice hardware but I cant stand ios. Also I find it funny that everyone claims no bias when there clearly is bias one way or another, and yes I read the edit. These apple posts need to die. I almost miss all the *****ing, at least that was relevant to the product people own. Maybe I'm just confused on what this thread is trying to accomplish.
Sent from my Droid Razr using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possible competitor paid advertisor here to troll.
Aka. Professional trolls
If anyone hasn't heard, apparently the iPad 3 may have some serious overheating issues. It's on many sites this morning, and the Apple Forums are full of complaints.
xGary said:
Smoothness
The iPad is really smooth as butter. While the TFP boasts all the hardware, I always had little lags here and there (scrolling in browser, reading large PDFs, moving between apps, etc). Again, there is no point in me telling you. Go to a store and try out the iPad. Almost never had any lag or stutters.
Sad to say but Android tablets aren't even close to what iOS tablets have to offer. I really cant see any reason why you would want an Android tablet over the iPad.
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Actually I didn't want to waste any time on answering, since I wasted enough reading the post already...
But in relation to the Smoothness this sounds interesting:
http://gizmodo.com/5893970/ipad-test-notes-speed-versus-tegra-3
Extract from the update at the end:
The iPad with its A5X chip scored a very respectable 757. Then the Transformer Prime pretty much curb-stomped it, scoring 1438. That means it performed complex calculations almost twice as fast as the iPad and quite a bit faster than a G5, too! This translates into fast day-to-day use, opening apps, and within apps and games. Visuals will be smoother on the iPad, but in most cases, it won't be faster.
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bluewr said:
Possible competitor paid advertisor here to troll.
Aka. Professional trolls
Click to expand...
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This. Plus 1.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
sontin said:
I don't get the point about the Apps.
I'm using right now OverSkreen - and this is a killer app. It changed the way i can use my Prime while browsing. Watching a stream in one and browsing in another window? That's magic.
I can use vPlayer and let the video play in the background. Download stuff? Access my NAS without hacks and tricks? Watching every Video (besides 10bit) on this planet? Hey, i can even watch a straight blu-ray rip with DicePlayer.
I don't need Millions of apps. Give me Apps which are awesome and gamechanging. Who cares about "garage band"? I think people will be blast when they see that Android user can use the inet in a PC-style.
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Depends. I don't need millions of apps either. but find me Android apps that are as good as Notability for note taking, Safari for browsing, iBooks for PDFs, Flipbook for news, Tweetbot for Twitter, etc. Then what about all the good games that are almost always available on iOS first? All the game loft games (I didn't have to beg game loft to support my iPad like we had to for TFP , mass effect, Fruit ninja online, Infinity blade, Temple Run (I waited for months for them to release on android) ZombieVille 2.
strandeduser said:
In reply to xgary..... i own both an ipad 2 and TFP. Sorry i dont have an ipad3 yet but have read many official reviews that its a tiny bit faster than ipad2, sharper, better camera/video capture, and high resolution. In my opinion, I dont see the point of very high resolution on a small 9` inch screen. A 1080x720 would be plenty enough. A resolution like the ipad3 belongs on a 60` hdtv screen , not on a small screen. Seems like a marketing strategy by apple that serves no real purpose. The cpu is a modded a5 or core2 duo to accomodate the quadcore graphic chip.
Ipad3 beats tfp in the graphics department, but tfp definitly beats ipad3 in the cpu performance. Dont believe me.... go read about the benchmark. Xgary you should really try rooting your tfp and flash the rom to virtuous prime . I just did it yesterday and can honestly say what a big improvementt with the browsing experience and swiping between pages. The webpages are opening up much faster, more responsive, and feels a lot smoother. I played with tfp tablet for a total of 7 hours today to make sure i wasnt dreaming. Xda developers did an awesome job and they werent lieing when they said the rom will maker your tablet run faster and smoother.
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Lol benchmarks again. I always looked at benchmarks too. Then I played with an iPad and switched over right away. You know, the reviewers don't all praise the iPad because theyre fanboys, it actually is the leader. Besides, I doubt the custom rom runs as fast as my iPad but let's say it does. Why do I have to void my warranty and then have to flash a rom to get a smooth device?
bluewr said:
Possible competitor paid advertisor here to troll.
Aka. Professional trolls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from someone with 80 posts. Are you paid by ASUS to defend their product? I'm sure they invested all this time into me posing as a fake xda member and posting for years and on the TFP forums way before it was even out so that one day I could bash the product. Yep, Apple is genius. They also pay every single reviewer, iPad user in the world. That is why they praise the product, not because it is good.
chrihuc said:
Actually I didn't want to waste any time on answering, since I wasted enough reading the post already...
But in relation to the Smoothness this sounds interesting:
http://gizmodo.com/5893970/ipad-test-notes-speed-versus-tegra-3
Extract from the update at the end:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I care about benchmarks because? I wish I had my TFP with me so I could show you how I get little lags here and there and how reading my 1000 page PDF textbooks lag everytime I scroll to the next page even tho I tried adobepdf, ezpdf, and repligo.
just lou said:
If anyone hasn't heard, apparently the iPad 3 may have some serious overheating issues. It's on many sites this morning, and the Apple Forums are full of complaints.
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Click to collapse
I don't think they are as "full" of complaints as the TFP did with Bluetooth, wifi, gps, screen problems, etc. The iPad has a huge userbase so it is expected to see complaints. But guess what? Got a problem with your iPad? Go to an apple store and they will give you a new one. What about TFP? RMA and wait a few weeks.
xGary said:
I don't think they are as "full" of complaints as the TFP did with Bluetooth, wifi, gps, screen problems, etc. The iPad has a huge userbase so it is expected to see complaints. But guess what? Got a problem with your iPad? Go to an apple store and they will give you a new one. What about TFP? RMA and get an email saying it was damaged by the user and you can pay $150 if you want it back damaged.
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Fixed this for you
bluewr said:
You might want to do a bit more reading into the MikaMobile situation.
It's not they aren't making money on Google market/play, nor is it porting or various hardware problem in later interview with the dev.
http://androidandme.com/2012/03/app...figures-in-their-first-six-months-on-android/
And there are successful game dev that focus solely on Android platform.
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Click to collapse
Yea name me some. i have all of the Gameloft games, Infinity blade (how is your bladeslinger or whatever, newest Angry bird, fruit ninja, temple run, a ton of ea games. Name me some good games on android that I can get on iOS.
I received my Asus Prime on Saturday. My first impressions were excellent, but very, very quickly it became clear how many issues the device has.
Wifi signal is just awful. I have an AEBS and while sat no more than 6 feet away, it can't manage full signal. Instead I end up with between two and three bars.
Actual wifi throughput is unpredictable at best. Sometimes it seems ok, but on a regular basis internet browsing seems ridiculously sluggish for a supposedly powerful device. Flash regularly crashes completely. On a few occasions a minor web site crash has resulted in a complete loss of any wifi throughput and my having to completely reboot the device.
I get zero GPS indoors. I occasionally get 1 or 2 satellite locks while outdoors. GPS is basicially unuseable.
Since the latest update, my wifi uses up as much battery life as the screen. Insane. I'd almost forgive it, if I had a good wifi signal. I do not.
The single speaker is a dreadful design flaw, with an atrocious maximum volume.
Plugging in headphones - you get various bizarre pops and crackles during use. This in a premium device? Really... just not good enough, Asus.
I have a Galaxy S2 phone which uses Android and really like that. I like it because it was designed properly, and it works.
I am not an Apple fanboy. Just a very, very disappointed customer.
This is being returned for a refund.
Just such a shame we don't have a genuine Android tablet competitor. I hope one arrives soon, then maybe I'll give this tablet malarkey another bash.
cool story bro
Yeah that's too bad that you had a tablet with that many issues.
Tempie007 said:
cool story bro
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I know... it was a crap story, and I apologise. Just needed to vent my disappointment.
lol
Tempie007 said:
cool story bro
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I came here just to wait for this
But seriously Dude, you had bad luck. Wifi and headphone quality are completly fine on mine. Take your prime back and get another one if you like the device. Most primes dont have the issues you describe, except GPS which isnt an official feature of the prime anymore. Its now just a bonus.
Stuff like speaker volume can be fixed with apps.
Or just get the ipad, its magical.
MRCANNADY said:
Yeah that's too bad that you had a tablet with that many issues.
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Click to collapse
Presumably the next Prime has been fast-tracked to fix the problems with this one. Hopefully it'll be a success and we'll get the killer device we're all after.
EVERY electronic device I've used from many companies these days always have at least one issue to deal with, so I doubt it.
Deckard79 said:
I received my Asus Prime on Saturday. My first impressions were excellent, but very, very quickly it became clear how many issues the device has.
Wifi signal is just awful. I have an AEBS and while sat no more than 6 feet away, it can't manage full signal. Instead I end up with between two and three bars.
Actual wifi throughput is unpredictable at best. Sometimes it seems ok, but on a regular basis internet browsing seems ridiculously sluggish for a supposedly powerful device. Flash regularly crashes completely. On a few occasions a minor web site crash has resulted in a complete loss of any wifi throughput and my having to completely reboot the device.
I get zero GPS indoors. I occasionally get 1 or 2 satellite locks while outdoors. GPS is basicially unuseable.
Since the latest update, my wifi uses up as much battery life as the screen. Insane. I'd almost forgive it, if I had a good wifi signal. I do not.
The single speaker is a dreadful design flaw, with an atrocious maximum volume.
Plugging in headphones - you get various bizarre pops and crackles during use. This in a premium device? Really... just not good enough, Asus.
I have a Galaxy S2 phone which uses Android and really like that. I like it because it was designed properly, and it works.
I am not an Apple fanboy. Just a very, very disappointed customer.
This is being returned for a refund.
Just such a shame we don't have a genuine Android tablet competitor. I hope one arrives soon, then maybe I'll give this tablet malarkey another bash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you, unfortunately you'll get flamed on here for voicing you disappointment with the device. Not sure why people feel so vexed about people posting negative experiences about the product they paid the same amount of money for.
I've had my prime for about a week now and I'm not entirely happy with my purchase, it just feels like the thing has been shipped out with little to no testing. The Asus software keyboard is a perfect example, it's just unusabe in landscape mode as the keys on the centre of the keyboard are impossible to reach without major strain on your hands and wrists. It has a Swype mode which is laggy, inaccurate and doesn't play well with the screen as your finger doesn't swipe across with ease.
You then have complete system pauses when anything is being written to the /data partition, something my two year old HTC Desire use to suffer from but not my Galaxy Nexus or my Gingerbread driven Galaxy SII.
Web browsing is plagued by "Connection to the server has timed out" messages and if it isn't that I'm getting the "Browser isn't responding message", all of this on web pages that my Galaxy Nexus eats for breakfast. Thankfully I'm not too bothered about GPS and have not tested my units GPS performance and WiFi has been fine but then again, I've only used it around the house and I don't really use Bluetooth.
I love Android, especially ice cream sandwich and my Nexus but Android on tablet just doesn't compare to the iPad experience that I've seen as my housemate has the iPad3. I mean majority of the apps on my Nexus do not have a tablet interface and I do not see this improving. Even pro Android blogs are reporting that developers struggle to make 25% of the income they get from iOS, on Android; it's no wonder they choose to put more resource behind iOS.
I fully expect to be flamed for my opinions, I really want to love the Transformer Prime but I feel disappointment in my purchase. I also really want Android to compete well in the tablet market as I use Google services and love Android on phones, it makes sense to use an Android tablet but it just doesn't offer a great experience right now.
No intention of flaming now.
You cant say the device is bad because of some apps that are preinstalled i think. I mean yeah the keyboard sucks, so i got thumb keyboard and that is awesome. Problem solved.
There are many awesome browsers as well, if you like the stock one but want an improved version just get ICS+ browser its even free in the market If you want the fastest one get Opera.
Thats like saying Windows is bad because Internet Explorer sucks. Because you know the first thing you're gonna install is Firefox anyway.
The fact that you can install customized parts of the OS like the keyboard is actually a strength of this device and Android in general. On iOS that is simply not possible, even 3rd party browsers are based on Safari because of the way apple locks up stuff...
And concerning app revenue, its true that devs make less money on the Google play store than with iOS, but they actually do very well with the Amazon app store. But i have to agree, there is room for improvement with alot of apps. Anyway i'm an optimist and things will only get better from here.
Deckard79 said:
I received my Asus Prime on Saturday. My first impressions were excellent, but very, very quickly it became clear how many issues the device has.
Wifi signal is just awful. I have an AEBS and while sat no more than 6 feet away, it can't manage full signal. Instead I end up with between two and three bars.
Actual wifi throughput is unpredictable at best. Sometimes it seems ok, but on a regular basis internet browsing seems ridiculously sluggish for a supposedly powerful device. Flash regularly crashes completely. On a few occasions a minor web site crash has resulted in a complete loss of any wifi throughput and my having to completely reboot the device.
I get zero GPS indoors. I occasionally get 1 or 2 satellite locks while outdoors. GPS is basicially unuseable.
Since the latest update, my wifi uses up as much battery life as the screen. Insane. I'd almost forgive it, if I had a good wifi signal. I do not.
The single speaker is a dreadful design flaw, with an atrocious maximum volume.
Plugging in headphones - you get various bizarre pops and crackles during use. This in a premium device? Really... just not good enough, Asus.
I have a Galaxy S2 phone which uses Android and really like that. I like it because it was designed properly, and it works.
I am not an Apple fanboy. Just a very, very disappointed customer.
This is being returned for a refund.
Just such a shame we don't have a genuine Android tablet competitor. I hope one arrives soon, then maybe I'll give this tablet malarkey another bash.
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Join the club.
---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------
Mekrel said:
I completely agree with you, unfortunately you'll get flamed on here for voicing you disappointment with the device. Not sure why people feel so vexed about people posting negative experiences about the product they paid the same amount of money for.
I've had my prime for about a week now and I'm not entirely happy with my purchase, it just feels like the thing has been shipped out with little to no testing. The Asus software keyboard is a perfect example, it's just unusabe in landscape mode as the keys on the centre of the keyboard are impossible to reach without major strain on your hands and wrists. It has a Swype mode which is laggy, inaccurate and doesn't play well with the screen as your finger doesn't swipe across with ease.
You then have complete system pauses when anything is being written to the /data partition, something my two year old HTC Desire use to suffer from but not my Galaxy Nexus or my Gingerbread driven Galaxy SII.
Web browsing is plagued by "Connection to the server has timed out" messages and if it isn't that I'm getting the "Browser isn't responding message", all of this on web pages that my Galaxy Nexus eats for breakfast. Thankfully I'm not too bothered about GPS and have not tested my units GPS performance and WiFi has been fine but then again, I've only used it around the house and I don't really use Bluetooth.
I love Android, especially ice cream sandwich and my Nexus but Android on tablet just doesn't compare to the iPad experience that I've seen as my housemate has the iPad3. I mean majority of the apps on my Nexus do not have a tablet interface and I do not see this improving. Even pro Android blogs are reporting that developers struggle to make 25% of the income they get from iOS, on Android; it's no wonder they choose to put more resource behind iOS.
I fully expect to be flamed for my opinions, I really want to love the Transformer Prime but I feel disappointment in my purchase. I also really want Android to compete well in the tablet market as I use Google services and love Android on phones, it makes sense to use an Android tablet but it just doesn't offer a great experience right now.
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Well said. Now that you have called out the regular flamers they will try a different flaming approach.
Not the first time I read the Prime feels slow compared to the Galaxy S II(I got both too) but what ever secret sauce Samsung has, Asus clearly doesn't.
clouds5 said:
No intention of flaming now.
You cant say the device is bad because of some apps that are preinstalled i think. I mean yeah the keyboard sucks, so i got thumb keyboard and that is awesome. Problem solved.
There are many awesome browsers as well, if you like the stock one but want an improved version just get ICS+ browser its even free in the market If you want the fastest one get Opera.
Thats like saying Windows is bad because Internet Explorer sucks. Because you know the first thing you're gonna install is Firefox anyway.
The fact that you can install customized parts of the OS like the keyboard is actually a strength of this device and Android in general. On iOS that is simply not possible, even 3rd party browsers are based on Safari because of the way apple locks up stuff...
And concerning app revenue, its true that devs make less money on the Google play store than with iOS, but they actually do very well with the Amazon app store. But i have to agree, there is room for improvement with alot of apps. Anyway i'm an optimist and things will only get better from here.
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I've owned Thumb keyboard since owning my Samsung Galaxy SII, so I'm using it now but it's a paid solution that I shouldn't have to rely on or turn to. If the product had been tested enough, the keyboard would have been flagged as being not very ergonomic. All Asus have done is slapped a custom software keyboard onto the device and ticked a box. Someone gets paid to design these products and they're supposed to be professionals with good understanding of when something is good enough for the consumer market. If I can tell that the software keyboard is poor within a week, it should have been picked up in the months of testing this thing should have been through.
In regards to the browser, 3rd party applications are not a solution seeing as I use Chrome on my desktop and this syncs with the stock WebKit browser just fine. Chrome for Android is in beta and doesn't support flash, Opera means I lose my Chrome sync and Firefox is slow unless you use a nightly with native Android UI support and again, I lose my Chrome sync. The WebKit browser in 4.0.2 on my Nexus works completely fine so again, what has Asus done to make it work so poorly on the Transformer? I've tried ICS+ but again, this suffers from the same poor responsiveness on pages like The Verge, unsurprising as it's built off the WebKit source and only really adds features, rather than improving performance.
It's not like saying Windows sucks because of Internet Explorer at all, as I've not said the Prime's downfall is purely due to web browsing. The fact the system comes to a complete halt when applications are being written to /data is also very poor, considering that again, this is something the technically inferior Nexus doesn't suffer from. As per usual, I've mentioned this in another thread and have been told it can be fixed by changing the I/O scheduler but the default scheduler on the Prime is noop, which is the same as the scheduler on the Nexus. Noop and deadline schedulers are also reported to be the best for solid state flash storage too, so not sure what else I would change the scheduler to as it's already set to the best.
I don't even have root anyway as I'm on .21, so it's a moot point anyway.
Yes customisation on Android is great, it's one of the reasons I like the platform apart from being a massive consumer of Google services but third party applications shouldn't be viewed as a way excuse manufacturers releasing devices with inexcusable problems.
Anyway, I'm not exactly short of money so I'll keep the Prime for now as there's noting else Android tablet wise worth switching to. I'll wait until Samsung come out with an Exynos 5 based tablet as both my last two Samsung phones have always been very snappy and hopefully it will also have a metal back like the Tab 7.7.
I hear you, there are some (imho) small things that totally annoy you about the Prime. And they are potential deal breakers for you, thats fine with me.
The prime isnt perfect. I'm not trying to say that. But it has so many awesome aspects and fills most of my needs so good that i'm willing to overlook a 2-3 second lag when i install an application, or the fact that i have to pay 2 bucks or something for a very nice feature filled soft keyboard (Honestly you'd probably use Thumbkeyboard on your Samsung tablet as well or not?). And as you said there is nothing better on the market right now
Just a small thing i want to add theverge.com desktop version actually runs better on my prime (ICS+ browser) than on my Desktop PC (PhenomII X4 @3.5ghz, Radeon4870, 4gb ram win7 64bit, Firefox)^^ If i click the middle mouse button to get continuous scrolling it lags on my PC. On the prime its completely smooth. Both systems have adblock and flash/java always enabled.
clouds5 said:
I hear you, there are some (imho) small things that totally annoy you about the Prime. And they are potential deal breakers for you, thats fine with me.
The prime isnt perfect. I'm not trying to say that. But it has so many awesome aspects and fills most of my needs so good that i'm willing to overlook a 2-3 second lag when i install an application, or the fact that i have to pay 2 bucks or something for a very nice feature filled soft keyboard (Honestly you'd probably use Thumbkeyboard on your Samsung tablet as well or not?). And as you said there is nothing better on the market right now
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I would use Thumb Keyboard if the Samsung keyboard was also poor but I would really love SwiftKey to have a tablet version of their latest version 3 beta. It's very good and using it on my Nexus right now. I actually really like the stock Android keyboard as the voice input is very good, shame it doesn't have a split keyboard layout for tablets.
You're right about the lag and Web browser pauses being relatively small issues, just I was expecting flawless smoothness in these areas seeing as I've had phones with weaker specs and older versions of Android that manage better. I've read Gary is in Cali with nVidia and Google and browsing performance is on the agenda to discuss.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
The browser freeze/lag is pretty much the only issue left that annoys me on the Prime. I have found that Boat Browser is a huge improvement on the stock browser when it comes to that in the meanwhile.
Hopefully when we get 4.04, this last browser issue will be ironed out.
Oh my gato.
Mine works fine, I was outside BBQing in the backyard yesterday w/ the fam watching youtube/listening to music.
I honestly think some people just have better luck w/ their WiFi; or truth be told, it may just be the router or person itself?
I have no issues using opera mobile at all. no lags, scrolls fast and smoothly, plays flash video the best out of any browser, never throws up message do you want to wait or close. flawless
Mekrel said:
I would use Thumb Keyboard if the Samsung keyboard was also poor but I would really love SwiftKey to have a tablet version of their latest version 3 beta. It's very good and using it on my Nexus right now. I actually really like the stock Android keyboard as the voice input is very good, shame it doesn't have a split keyboard layout for tablets.
You're right about the lag and Web browser pauses being relatively small issues, just I was expecting flawless smoothness in these areas seeing as I've had phones with weaker specs and older versions of Android that manage better. I've read Gary is in Cali with nVidia and Google and browsing performance is on the agenda to discuss.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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SwiftKey does have a tablet version of beta 3. Using it right now
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
The Prime should ship soon-ish with a redesigned back panel to fix the radio issues. This is the reason their biggest non mail order retailer customer Best Buy does not have any more, or the current skus on order.
The time has come to admit that my Asus Transformer Infinity (TF700) was a terrible purchase. I've put it online for sale and now I'm looking for a replacement. It's a household gadget, so it gets 4+ hours of use every single day, very often 10+ hours.
The few things that the N10 needs to provide (and TF700 fails to):
1. The tablet should be capable (in practice) to support at least 4 separate user accounts. This really needs to work. I'd love to hear from N10 owners that actually use this feature, it's simply the most important feature for our use (the family + a guest account). The TF700 is a mess in this aspect, switching takes a long time and everything is all kinds of messed up for a long while after switching. But everything is all kinds of messed up most of the time on that tablet, so multi accounts might be really simple and smooth and non-issue with other tablets.
2. The tablet should be capable of running Chrome browser with 15+ tabs at all times. Preferably across multiple user accounts. Again, I'd like N10 users to chime in on this, does the browser get more laggy with increased number of open tabs? Do the pages take longer to load? Worse scrolling performance? Browser crashing? Don't get me started on the TF700 and browsing...
3. actually... there's even not anything else, really... maybe battery capacity. And if there are any widespread problems, please list them, I've been looking for them and I haven't found anything big apart from maybe low WiFi reception? I understand the random reboots are now fixed with 4.4?
What I absolutely DON'T care about:
- benchmarks
- games
Just browsing. Good display, multiple users, loads of tabs. Good performance with browsing.
So, dear N10 users, please tell me, is this the tablet for me?
Yes, if you absolutely can't wait. The next Nexus 10 should arrive soon. It will kicks the current Nexus 10 butt.
But, still, the current Nexus 10 is a solid tablet.
SalsaForte said:
Yes, if you absolutely can't wait. The next Nexus 10 should arrive soon. It will kicks the current Nexus 10 butt.
But, still, the current Nexus 10 is a solid tablet.
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I'm really not after anything butt-kicking, just what I stated above. Thanks for the heads up though, could you maybe elaborate some more, do you have any experience with tab-heavy browsing or multi-user?
SalsaForte said:
Yes, if you absolutely can't wait. The next Nexus 10 should arrive soon. It will kicks the current Nexus 10 butt.
But, still, the current Nexus 10 is a solid tablet.
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I personally think there may be no next Nexus 10, or if there is, it's certainly not going to arrive soon.
I have the nexus 10 and I use 3 user accounts and it works great but you'll need the 32 gig version to support all of the accounts. I'm sure a fourth will work no problem. With Google chrome though I don't think you can have 15 tabs open at once. I mean you can but they'll probably have to reload when you click on them because chrome isn't very good with tablets. Other browser's might work better though chrome has improved with updates. Next browser is a good alternative.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
I agree with JasW. Maybe there will be a new Nexus 10, but I wouldn't count on it, and I wouldn't expect it until next year. Just buy a used one from someone else selling theirs in anticipation of a refresh.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda app-developers app
kokoon said:
1. The tablet should be capable (in practice) to support at least 4 separate user accounts. This really needs to work. I'd love to hear from N10 owners that actually use this feature, it's simply the most important feature for our use (the family + a guest account). The TF700 is a mess in this aspect, switching takes a long time and everything is all kinds of messed up for a long while after switching. But everything is all kinds of messed up most of the time on that tablet, so multi accounts might be really simple and smooth and non-issue with other tablets.
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The Nexus series of tablets (N7 or N10) with Jelly Bean 4.3 or the new KitKat 4.4 do an absolute fantastic job with multi-user. I share my table with my spouse and two children. Each update brings even more to the multi-user experience.
Switching is pretty quick, so your Asus tablet must have had problems or some serious bloatware.
kokoon said:
2. The tablet should be capable of running Chrome browser with 15+ tabs at all times. Preferably across multiple user accounts. Again, I'd like N10 users to chime in on this, does the browser get more laggy with increased number of open tabs? Do the pages take longer to load? Worse scrolling performance? Browser crashing? Don't get me started on the TF700 and browsing...
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Click to collapse
Hmm, Chrome Browser eh? Don't know if I can blame the TF700 for your browsing experiences. Chrome is much better with 4.4, but it's not the best browser for Android. In fact, it's been pretty junky for some time. I'd say it's finally usable as a decent browser in KitKat 4.4. Prior to that, I was a large Firefox user.
With KitKat 4.4, I'm now exclusively Chrome, and I've a number of tabs open.
So for a tab that works great for multi-user and browsing, yeah it's worth it. And even though you don't care about them, the benchmarks and games are great as well
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abdel12345 said:
I have the nexus 10 and I use 3 user accounts and it works great but you'll need the 32 gig version to support all of the accounts.
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While I agree that you should get the 32GB, Google has the multi-user configured to use the same apk files for the applications that happen to exist in each account. So there are not four copies of Chrome for example, just one with multiple settings files. Games and other apps are the same way, one copy of an application that is only available to the accounts it's licensed to in the Google play store.
Cheers, I ordered it, 32GB version.
The TF700 is such a wreck, it's not even worth writing about it. Fingers crossed N10 is the right one for me!
kokoon said:
The time has come to admit that my Asus Transformer Infinity (TF700) was a terrible purchase. I've put it online for sale and now I'm looking for a replacement. It's a household gadget, so it gets 4+ hours of use every single day, very often 10+ hours.
The few things that the N10 needs to provide (and TF700 fails to):
1. The tablet should be capable (in practice) to support at least 4 separate user accounts. This really needs to work. I'd love to hear from N10 owners that actually use this feature, it's simply the most important feature for our use (the family + a guest account). The TF700 is a mess in this aspect, switching takes a long time and everything is all kinds of messed up for a long while after switching. But everything is all kinds of messed up most of the time on that tablet, so multi accounts might be really simple and smooth and non-issue with other tablets.
2. The tablet should be capable of running Chrome browser with 15+ tabs at all times. Preferably across multiple user accounts. Again, I'd like N10 users to chime in on this, does the browser get more laggy with increased number of open tabs? Do the pages take longer to load? Worse scrolling performance? Browser crashing? Don't get me started on the TF700 and browsing...
3. actually... there's even not anything else, really... maybe battery capacity. And if there are any widespread problems, please list them, I've been looking for them and I haven't found anything big apart from maybe low WiFi reception? I understand the random reboots are now fixed with 4.4?
What I absolutely DON'T care about:
- benchmarks
- games
Just browsing. Good display, multiple users, loads of tabs. Good performance with browsing.
So, dear N10 users, please tell me, is this the tablet for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is no alternative on the market.
there are only two worthy tablets right now:
- nexus 10
- Note 10.1 2014
last one is overloaded with touchwiz from Samsung, which makes it terribly slow.
theoretically speaking you could root and install a custom rom on Note, but since it's just come out there are not many roms available.
SeaFractor said:
The Nexus series of tablets (N7 or N10) with Jelly Bean 4.3 or the new KitKat 4.4 do an absolute fantastic job with multi-user. I share my table with my spouse and two children. Each update brings even more to the multi-user experience.
Switching is pretty quick, so your Asus tablet must have had problems or some serious bloatware.
Hmm, Chrome Browser eh? Don't know if I can blame the TF700 for your browsing experiences. Chrome is much better with 4.4, but it's not the best browser for Android. In fact, it's been pretty junky for some time. I'd say it's finally usable as a decent browser in KitKat 4.4. Prior to that, I was a large Firefox user.
With KitKat 4.4, I'm now exclusively Chrome, and I've a number of tabs open.
So for a tab that works great for multi-user and browsing, yeah it's worth it. And even though you don't care about them, the benchmarks and games are great as well
---------- Post added at 09:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 PM ----------
While I agree that you should get the 32GB, Google has the multi-user configured to use the same apk files for the applications that happen to exist in each account. So there are not four copies of Chrome for example, just one with multiple settings files. Games and other apps are the same way, one copy of an application that is only available to the accounts it's licensed to in the Google play store.
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Yes but media and movies and stuff like that are only available on the account you put them on unless they use the same Google account and just stream everything. Like if they all wanted to put a movie/music on it it would only be available on one account. The others would have to put it themselves and use more memory. That's how it is for me at least.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Sure, that's how it should be!
jodvova said:
there is no alternative on the market.
there are only two worthy tablets right now:
- nexus 10
- Note 10.1 2014
last one is overloaded with touchwiz from Samsung, which makes it terribly slow.
theoretically speaking you could root and install a custom rom on Note, but since it's just come out there are not many roms available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use NOVA launcher if you don't like TouchWiz on Note 10.1 2014. It's really very fast. Mine is fast with TouchWiz but even faster with NOVA.
I feel your pain... Sold my TF700 5 months ago (and the TF201 before that...) and never looked back. If I need a keyboard, Bluetooth is my friend. I think you will be very happy with a 32gb Nexus 10, although 15 tabs in the browser is probably optimistic, at least without lag.
Concerning reboots... I'd say the tablet is 99% safe under 4.4, but the situation was never terrible in the first place.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app