The Android Tablet fans have been waiting for (Acer A500) (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

I really question Google's championing of the Tegra 2 if, as it's been reported, that it cannot handle even 720p video at high bitrates. For all the talk of dual core chips and OS support, the Galaxy Tab smokes the Xoom in video playback.

 

[DaveF]

Its benchmarks are worse than the Xoom's and the Xoom was last reported to be more akin to the iPad 1 than iPad 2. Given Android's reputation for inexact response, that doesn't bode well for the Acer.


I'm being hypocritical, again, since I think benchmarks for these devices are basically pretty silly, since it's about the experience. But it still seems strange -- based on what little comparison data there is -- that new Android hotness is competing against last year's product. (which matters because if there's no tablet competition to the iPad, Apple will dominate, then stagnate, and then we'll might be stuck with another Mac System 9 or Windows 98 era)


As Matt says, Motorola are no longer the manufacturing powerhouses they once were (or perhaps they are the same powerhouses they were in the 80s and 90s, and Apple has surpassed them). But Acer is supposed to be such a titan, but here they are putting out slower kit than Motorola?


Or perhaps, as with iOS devices, simple benchmarks don't tell the story, and these devices have the all-important "feel". The Xoom felt pretty good to me, in my brief demo, but I'm waiting to hear more as these are bought and used over longer terms.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF
which matters because if there's no tablet competition to the iPad, Apple will dominate, then stagnate, and then we'll might be stuck with another Mac System 9 or Windows 98 era)

Mac OS 9 was hardly the product of stagnation due to dominance on Apple's part -- it was stagnation due to incompetence. Apple simply failed to deliver a modern OS failing via Taligent, Copeland, Rhapsody etc. and were only saved by the acquisition of NeXTstep/Jobs 2.


Competition is always good for the consumer (although fragmentation sometimes isn't), but the Apple of 2011 seems to compete against itself, and seems to be ready to sacrifice very successful products for the next big thing. The iPod Touch has no competition but gets regular bleeding edge updates. The iPod Classic doesn't have competition either these days, and there Apple has stagnated, but in my view mostly because the iPod Classic isn't very successful these days -- Apple clearly sees the future is with the Touch/iPhone and they are not wrong in that regard -- the only thing keeping the Classic afloat are an extra 100GB of storage, which Flash memory will hopefully catch up with sooner rather than later.


Tablet competition doesn't really matter to keep Apple from pushing all possible resources into iPad development -- after all, Steve Jobs and co. clearly see the iPad the future of ALL computing and in their minds are competing with Windows and it's 90% PC share.


Speaking of the Xoom:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/25/analyst-15000-to-120000-xooms-sold-motorolas-survival-at-risk/

Ouch...