Android Honeycomb Tablet OS is official. This does not suck! (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

I've compared my Evo pictures to someone's iPhone 4 pictures, and on first glance they're comparable. But if you really examine the color reproduction and detail, the iPhone produces better images. For me, this difference isn't huge, but pretty much every review holds up the iPhone 4 camera as the one to beat. The Droid camera has it's fans, but others prefer the Evo. Other than the Sprint Epic, the Galaxy S phones do not have LED flash. The Galaxy Tab camera is terrible, IMO. Not only is there terrible shutter lag, but the pictures are grainy and push very blue.

I've picked up my Canon P&S two or three times since I got the Evo in July. It's basically my primary camera now.

 

[DaveF]

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/05/ipad-2-xoom-fight/# The first 5 min is on the iPad and the next 5 min is a mini review of Xoom. I don't know Kincaid's bias (if any), but I take it he's generally an android fan. But it's surprisingly negative comments. In short: Honeycomb is buggy Apps scale poorly can't easily find Xoom optimized apps

 

[Sam Posten]

Ars' in dept review.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/reviews/2011/03/ars-reviews-the-motorola-xoom.ars


Still reading it, no sign of a maps review yet =)

Edit: Confirmed! There are FIVE PAGES of App impressions in this review and not a single mention of Maps!

 

[DaveF]

In my queue to read. The opening paragraphs aren't highly encouraging: they start by noting the rushed hardware and buggy software.


Presumably these quirks will be fixed in due time. We'll get an interesting set of re-reviews this summer.

 

[Sam Posten]

Agreed. Remember how fast the iterations came on the phones, and where they are now. It still wouldn't be my choice, but it a world where Apple didn't exist I'd take an Android phone over a feature phone any day. i expect the tablets will do the same, I just expected too much for the first rev given the maturity of the phone ecosystem.

 

[DaveF]

These bugs are not something you see in a 30 minute demo, either. I had no sense of this bugginess from my playing in the store. It felt quirky, but that was a matter of UI conventions, not software problems I was seeing.


We also see the difficulty in a major leap in functionality. Google made a huge jump in the UI, functionality, and feature set from 2.x to 3.0. And it seems every they can't overcome practical development realities of the bugs from such a major jump.


Compare to Apple: they are criticized strongly for not significantly changing the look and feel of iOS for four years (even I have some concerns about its continued use on tablets). But with a seemingly conservative approach to adding features, they've maintained a fair reputation for quality. (though not blameless, as with the debacle of 4.0 on iPhone 3G models.)

 

[Sam Posten]

Agreed, and I think it's too early to count Android out just yet. Right now it looks bleak (read this from a cross platform dev who says that essentially all non Apple tabs are effed: http://iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2011/03/ipad-2-rant.html) but what Android has in its favor is that ONLY ONE Honeycomb tablet is on the market, and it may be the best one today but a flood of others are coming and they have all seen what iPad2 has to offer. And Apple won't iterate for AT LEAST 6 months (if Gruber is to be believed and 2 revs are possible this year) or more likely a full 9-12 months. Can those other manufacturers turn on a dime in time to counter? It's just too early to tell but it will either be an interesting year or a total runaway race for Apple.

 

[DaveF]

Read the Ars review and the first page of comments. My sense remains: On March 11, there's no reason to buy anything but an iPad 2.


(And I say that in the way that I say there's no reason to buy an ereader besides the Kindle. It's equal or better to its competitors and has the dominant market position for both readers and eBooks. Some will still have reasons to get a Nook or whatever. But for the great masses of us, Kindle is the clear choice for now.)


More disappointing, coming from the Xoom reviews, is the pervasive sense of its sloppiness. It shipped with three marquee features inoperable (4G, micro-SD, Flash). And every aspect of the device seems second rate. Higher price. Lower quality screen. Worse choice of aspect ratio. Buggier OS. A mere handful of optimized apps. And Android phone apps can't be trusted to scale well, or usably, on the Xoom. It's competent, but in all regards second rate.


Perplexing to me is that a strong differentiator in Honeycomb compared to iOS 4 is the active "home" screens. It suggests a powerful system; a Windows-Phone-7-esque notion of "get in, get out". You can active clocks and widgets and bookmarks and etc. It promises a potent new way to use a tablet, more efficient and potent than iOS's screens-of-icons.


Every review ignores this. Sure, they explain how it works, and walk through the long-touch and dragging widgets onto the screen. But no one explains why it's actually useful, what these widgets do that can't be accomplished in iOS. Maybe we need the reviews in next year's Android tablet, after everyone's had time to use a Xoom in daily life and figure out the power of this alternate UI design. But for now, I infer from the reviews that the Xoom's approach is no better than iOS, and perhaps worse because it complicates the basic tablet usage.



When buying a gadget, my greatest fear is making the wrong choice; buying Beta over VHS, HD-DVD over Blu-ray, or Atari ST over Amiga (I did one of those three ). And so it's satisfying to know my choice for Apple's products is still affirmed.


But at the same time, as I want to see this new computing paradigm improve, I want to see Google (or MS or HP) come out with that system that makes me look at my iDevice and start calculating how much it's going to cost me to switch systems. I want to see that Google system that knocks it out of the park and puts Apple on notice that they've got step it up.



I'm not sure it's possible, not for a few years. Apple's vertical integration and exquisite sense of design will keep them in the lead. They can launch a device whose OS and hardware are married to each other, and can also ensure it launches with amazing apps equally integrated into the system.


Android instead suffers three parents, none really caring for the holistic result. Google produces the OS, but can only hope a manufacturer creates competent hardware. And those two parties can only hope that developers will make attractive software in the coming months.


I'm looking forward to seeing what comes.

 

[DaveF]

Also of note, based on the comments, is that the author of Ars' critical review is an active Linux / Android user and fan.

 

[DaveF]

Xoom is getting ready to be ready for Flash


http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/10/motorola-xoom-update-rolling-out-tonight-brings-required-enhan/

 

[Sam Posten]

Scoblevision:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvZSe4wFmgo&feature=player_embedded

 

[DaveF]

Not sure I can trust the review of anyone who stickers up his iMac like a college kid with a Honda civic! Decent quik review. I keep hoping for more details on life with honeycomb.

 

[Sam Posten]

Oh I don't endorse scoble, I think he's an idiot. I was just posting it for the record, our honor.

 

[DaveF]

I'm going to be hypocritical for a moment I tend to think raw processor speeds and benchmarks aren't especially important in the touch device arena. The iPhone and iPad have demonstrated, compared to the Android competitors, how critical the coupling between software and hardware is to the experience.


But, it's still surprising to find that Motorola seems to be, literally, a year behind with the Xoom's hardware. Their GPU performance is closer to the iPad 1 than the iPad 2, according to AnandTech, as I understand this article.


This is strange world, where the "generic" third party products lose on both price and "speeds and feeds".


http://www.anandtech.com/show/4216/apple-ipad-2-gpu-performance-explored-powervr-sgx543mp2-benchmarked

 

[DaveF]

Hanson's complained he can't fit an iPad in his pockets. Turns out the only limitation now are his pants! "(Aside: it’s so significantly slimmer that I can, at last, fit an iPad into the back pocket of my 5.11 Tactical Pants, the Official Trousers of Major League Tech Punditry. This alone makes the iPad 2 worth my upgrade.)" http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/4396870-452/review-ipad-2-is-not-revolutionary---but-it-is-great.html

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by DaveF

I'm going to be hypocritical for a moment I tend to think raw processor speeds and benchmarks aren't especially important in the touch device arena. The iPhone and iPad have demonstrated, compared to the Android competitors, how critical the coupling between software and hardware is to the experience.


But, it's still surprising to find that Motorola seems to be, literally, a year behind with the Xoom's hardware. Their GPU performance is closer to the iPad 1 than the iPad 2, according to AnandTech, as I understand this article.


This is strange world, where the "generic" third party products lose on both price and "speeds and feeds".


http://www.anandtech.com/show/4216/apple-ipad-2-gpu-performance-explored-powervr-sgx543mp2-benchmarked

Biggest problem is that they are trying to challenge Apple playing Apple's game. That's ridiculous. I think you have to stand out as something significantly different, some major changes that you say "this is what we do that they don't". I think if you just say "we'll just be a different tablet" it's hard to catch up to Apple as their head start in that area is significant.

This is what I call the "Wii" problem. Microsoft and Sony were SOOOO far ahead of Nintendo, that Nintendo had no means of catching up and coming out with a high end hardware equipment to catch them. They didn't have the money or resources to do it. Before the Wii came out, there was talk that Nintendo was on the verge of getting bought out. So, instead of trying to compete with Microsoft and Sony on their game, they had to say: we're going to do something totally different. Same idea, but we have to be innovative and different.


It's the key problem I think Honeycomb tablets have. I think trying to catch Apple in raw numbers in one generation just isn't a viable strategy. But you have to change the discussion, alter the way people talk about your product. Pitch something totally different. Keep playing on Apple's playground and all you get is knee burns.

 

[davesmith]

I agree with Matt. I'd like to see Android tablets at a lower price. Currently, the tablets that are available on the cheap are horrid, but if they can make a decent one I'm sure it would do well. There is a difference in price between your typical windows laptop and a macbook, so I would say that this difference should be replicated in the tablet market too.

 

[DaveF]

Xoom sales estimates: 250k first month. Moto predicts 2M by end of year.

http://www.macworld.com/article/159549/2011/04/xoom_shipments.html

 

[Ted Todorov]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF

Xoom sales estimates: 250k first month. Moto predicts 2M by end of year.

http://www.macworld.com/article/159549/2011/04/xoom_shipments.html

I trust they mean 250K shipped into the sales channel -- not sold to end users. 2M for the year is certainly possible -- if they cut prices by $200 and actually ship all their advertised features (like 4G-LTE and a working SD card slot) --- IF they do those things before they get inundated with other me-too tablets.


My prediction for top Android tablet of 2011 -- the B&N Nook. Whatever its functional drawbacks, the price is right, and if nothing else it works fine as a book reader. Plus there is an actual retail chain behind it that cares about selling it.

Edit: looked at the source article -- they say "shipped", which means nothing. Actual sales could be 1/10th of that.

 

[DaveF]

Good point: you're probably right, since the article claims Moto claims "shipped" which seems to be code for "units to stores" and not "in customers' hands"


What I've not seen regarding the Nook as a tablet is how does it really perform as a tablet They say it's usable, but corners must have been cut to create a $250 eReader? Will it be a successful because people tolerate sub-standard performance to get something half the price of an iPad? Or is much better than that?