Is that a Galaxy Tab 10.1 in this iPad podcaster's pocket?
Frequent iPad Live podcast co-host and general gadget bon vivant Seth Clifford recently purchased a Galaxy Tab 10.1 for development purposes, and has written up a blog post detailing his experience buying and using it.
I asked the sales guy for the 10.1 and the first thing he said was "What are you buying it for?" When I replied, "development", he said "Ok, because this thing isn't going to replace a laptop for you". No problem, I assured him, we're app devs, and we know what we're doing. Then, the manager came over to verify the coupon I had and asked the same question again. Again I replied "development" and he asked "Of what?" rather indignantly.
"Uh, Android apps?" I replied incredulously.
"Oh, ok, because we're selling a lot of these things, and we get a LOT of them back. People buy them thinking they're getting rid of a laptop, and they all come back returning them."
That doesn't seem to be happening with iPads, because I think people's expectations are set accordingly when they buy them. These are not full computing devices; they're not built to be - and yet when you watch the commercials, what do you hear? The "full" internet. Flash. Do it all. Why wouldn't people be disappointed when they can't actually replace a computer with a device that promised they could?
I won't ruin the exciting conclusion of this particular hero's journey so make sure you tap (or click) the link below to see just how Seth fared with his new Galaxy Tab 10.1. (I'll save my questions for the show next Sunday.)
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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I had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 before I returned it for th iPad. It's a reLly solid device, but it lacks so much important apps and the browsing experience was a bit buggy. Hope Google pushes it more, but till then, the iPad is probably the best purchase I've made,
Dont let the boys over at droid-life see you post this. You'll lose all credibility with them...
So me gushing about the hardware and OS itself isn't enough to offset the truth about the availability of Android tablet apps and the difficulties normal people would need to go through in order to find them?
Seth you know their is a tablet category in the Android market, right? Well, not a category but it is segmented on the Android Market when you open it. It isn't that hard to find tablet specific apps/games but def' could be better.
Yup, that's where I was. But it was "Featured for Tablets" and not a "tablet" section, per se. So unfortunately, that's about 125 apps, primarily games. Hardly impressive.
@Seth lol. I wasn't defending it as impressive or complete.
It needs work for sure [namely from devs] but almost all of the apps I use are optimized for Honeycomb.
Wow, that's an interesting point I hadn't thought of. I can see why folks get confused.
This goes back to the piece on Apple's marketing wheel from a few days ago. No one does it better.
Seth should've said "Umm... Do you know who I am?"
It's pretty bad when the sales guy has to try to talk you out of buying his product...
Great story Seth. This sums up the whole Android world:
If your flagship app looks like a development test with some gradients thrown on, you're doing something wrong.
Google-land. Land of perpetual beta software.
Thanks Sock. Glad you liked it.
@fastlane I totally blew it - I could have done my Ron Burgundy "I'm kind of a big deal".
Perfect.
My sister never use here laptop anymore since she got an iPad 2. I never use my laptop anymore after I got the first iPad, I unlike my sister have a desktop computer though so the iPad isn't exactly my main device, but it is for her.
A credit to Apple's marketing? Sure. I have no problem giving credit where it's due. But... I think this is a bigger credit to the absolute stupidity of most people buying tech products. If you go to a Verizon or AT&T store and look at a Samsung phone thinking it's an iPhone, then you are stupid. Back away from the display and buy a prepaid flip phone please for the love of God and all things holy!!! Same can be said for those that believe that a tablet is going to replace a laptop. They are not designed for that purpose you idiots!!!
Pick a category you're not familiar with then put yourself in the "idiot" position. We are tech saavy but may not be when it comes to buying parts for a car or about the silk screening process.
My point is...you're an "idiot" [by your definition] in some fashion too. Learn compassion.
Because researching a category before making a purchase is so hard in this day and age....
I'll claim the "idiot" title for cars! But I still make very well informed decisions on car parts by doing actual research before purchasing.
I get it. I really do but know that not everyone "gets it" or can think beyond their own nose. It isn't as simple as research.
I teach computer classes [mostly 50+] and you'd be shocked at the levels of some people I've taught. It doesn't come natural for most.
I do user support sometimes at work. I've already seen it all. Still not an excuse for not doing research, even if that research is asking someone that actually knows about this stuff. We've actually had a couple of employees approach us asking for similar advice.
@Orion I agree. Research including asking someone more knowledgeable is a must. It helps until the person you ask is clueless [more inclined than you but not a good resource].
I'm that person for my family. My mom can install RAM, HDDs, etc but she still calls me for computer purchases.
And who knows...the people returning the product probably did research.
Too many variables to outright label them an idiot, to get back to my point.
Oh good idea! I'll remember the compassion bit next time a dumb ass politician says something like oh I don't know... "We need to raise America's debt ceiling to cover money we have already spent (read: wasted) and haven't told you about. Now go vote for me little troll." Or how about this; "I didn't know the coffee at McDonald's would be so hot that it would burn me if I was stupid enough to spill it in my lap while driving a car so I'm going to sue them for $30 million dollars!" Right... I'm all over the compassion bit as a continued excuse for not being responsible for your own actions/choices.
As for me being in the category of "idiot" then guilty as charged. Like Orion says below I'm not going to a car dealer claiming superior knowledge of their product. But I research my buying decisions before I spend my hard earned money.
Anyways...I'm not going to antagonize you. You feel strongly about this and are wayyyyy off topic but you should know: The woman sued only to have McDonald's do better with their coffee, right? She wanted the heat reduced and better lids. The jury gave her 30M.
Looks like you don't research all the time.
Touche... No need to research stupidity. And fear not you can't antagonize me. My opinion is just as valid as yours.
Oh and if me staying on topic is a problem when making a cross comparison (with your idea of compassion) for irresponsibility, perhaps you should teach that. From this article it's patently obvious that far too many consumers buy something having no clue what it is or why they need it.
@anarchy Sensationalism at its best. No need to continue this convo. Enjoy.
Funny the guy at my local Best Buy says the opposite. People are loving the Tab and he now recommends it over the ipad.
I may be trading mine for the iPad tonight.
I'm curious what store this happened at. Very interesting.
TipB is the only Smartphone Experts site that that spends time trying to degrade the competition. What's the purpose? To feel better about yourself? to up your douche factor? Every other site is a professional fan site. TiPB is a professional fanboy site. Embarrassing.
Wow your 110% wrong. And must not read the other sites to often. Android Central bashes ios along with other so called "professional" websites all the time. And naturally android, win phone, palm web os, nokia and BB blog sites are going to favor their own.
I disagree. Android Central is very straight about calling out Google and whoever. They don't go out of their way to continuously talk about other platforms. I blogged about how this very topic last week and shortly after they posted this: http://www.androidcentral.com/editorial-my-dogs-better-your-dog-only-me
Targeting is one thing. Discussing is another.
For the record I see no issue w/ this post because it links to a review of the Tab with good comments versus just pointing out a terrible review.
You are absolutely correct John. I read AC, PreCentral, Crackberry and the Windows Phone site religiously. You would be hard pressed to even find mentions of other platforms by the writers/editors, let alone articles which the main intent is to bash. They are more concerned with how to make their respective platforms better for the users, not bashing the competition. This article would have been cool, but instead of focusing on Seth's impression of the 10.1 in the preview, we get a blurb focusing on some worker at Costco, with the intent of bashing Andoid. It was a small and unimportant aspect of the piece. Seriously, I can go down to any electronics retail store find a Fandroid worker who will give me his spin on things and walk away thinking Android is the absolute creme de le creme and iOS is in it's death bed. Any good techie knows that advice, opinions and info from these types is typically useless and untrustworthy. Here at TiPB, it becomes the focus of an article. I've seen the same thing when some no name analyst writes an article that's critical of the competition and in support of iOS, but then absolutey nothing written when the trusted names like NPD, Comscore or Neilsen post up monthly or quarterly data completely refuting what was claimed in the article. TipB religiously ignores news based on those sources even though it comes out every month and is reported on pretty much every other tech site. Why?
True. They did pull a Gruber here: take a poor piece of the article and reference that.
I haven't figured out a practical use for any kind of tablet in my own life, but i can honestly see how frustrating it would be purchasing ANY platform that had virtually no support for the things one would want to do with it. The fact of the matter is Android has a very long way to go to catch up in the Apple dominated tablet market. I dont know what i would do with an ipad or an android tablet if i had one, they just seem like cool fun toys. I do appreciate this post however because not once did I feel like mr. clifford was aiming to degrade any aspect of an obvious competitor of his preffered platform. He was merely speaking the truth that frustrates fans of that competitor like myself.
Why the heck does that tab have a Cartoon Network app?
my thoughts exactly ... at 10 feet away a shitload of products are going to look like their competitors
this so called test proves nothing
why do tech blogs post this crap as if it actually means anything.
Apple Bias ???
my thoughts exactly ... at 10 feet away a shitload of products are going to look like their competitors
this so called test proves nothing
why do tech blogs post this crap as if it actually means anything.
Apple Bias ???
I also heard that only one of the lawyers could not differentate the tablets from a distance. Another one could and did. This report is thus rather misleading.
Personally, I find it difficult to identify some phones and tablets from a distance and I'm a bit of a geek so what chance does a lawyer have.
It's about time these patent wars ceased - the lawyers profit and the consumer loses.
This might be one of the best brings up of this subject I have seen in a long time. It is apparent that the understanding of the subject is actually deep which designed for a very fascinating study.
I'm waiting for Apple to be sued by the makers of etch-a-sketch. After all the iPads large flat screen with curved edges is a blatant copy of their design. :-p
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has captured the market like a storm.i already use ipad but the galaxy tab 10.1 satisfied me.