Over the past few weeks we have come across a few articles describing the Pros and Cons of buying an Android Tablet vs. an iPad. The arguments usually discuss the benefits of buying the costlier Apple tablet over the much more affordable Android alternatives.
We donât agree however and here’s why!
Argument for Apple:
âIf I buy an Apple iPad I am guaranteed firmware updates.â
Fact:
No, you are not. I have a perfectly good iPhone, but am I able to update it to 4.2.1? No, I am not, because Apple has dropped support for it.
Argument For Apple:
âI have a 2nd generation iPod Touch and I can run the latest Apple firmware updateâ
Fact:
Congratulations! you have old hardware running a bloated modern firmware, which really needs current generation CPU and RAM to run at its full potential. Donât believe us? Try opening a large email inbox on a 2G iPod running iOS 4.0+, and while you wait make yourself a coffee and have a shower!
Argument For Apple:
âSome Android tablets come with an old firmware that cannot be updatedâ
Fact:
This is true, but lets take a look at two things here.
- Most Apple updates are only made to prevent Jailbreaking, which is something Google and Android donât have to worry about. So, most updates bring very little benefit to the system.
- A tablet running Android 1.6 is optimized for 1.6. If you update it to 2.1 you are going to spoil your user experience. However, if youâre on 2.1 chances are you CAN update to 2.2 or even 2.3.
Argument For Apple:
âApple products always ship with the latest firmwareâ
Fact:
Again not true. iPad owners had to wait months for a 4.2 update on their iPads, while iPhone and iPod users got it from day one!
Argument For Apple:
âApple products have custom made components and a purpose built OS making the package run flawlesslyâ
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Fact:
Most of the components for the iPad are sourced from Samsung. Now, take a look at the majority of current Android tablets and you will find Samsung CPUâs based on the same ARM Cortex A8 architecture the Apple chip is.
In fact, most Android CPUâs are based on the Cortex A8 regardless of who makes them!
As for the O.S, manufacturers choose the version of Android which fits the specifications of the tablet. If you get something cheaper with lower level equipment you get an older OS which will be more stable on the hardware, newer tablets get better specs and newer Android OS, how is that different from Apple? Buy a cheap iPhone 3G and youâll get a different O.S to the more expensive iPhone 4. Sure they have the same version numbers, but they are in fact different operating systems.
Argument for Apple:
âWhen buying an Apple product I get the best specification availableâ
Fact:
Really? The last time we checked the iPad has 256mb of RAM where as most Android Tablets get 512Mb. The iPad is limited to internal storage, where as Android tablets get SD card expansion. The CPU in the (current) iPad is 1Ghz, as are the majority of CPUâs in Android tablets. The screen on the iPad is a 9.7â capacitive screen, same as the Android alternatives. The iPad only gets a 30-pin dock connector, but most Android Tablets get USBâs and HDMI out.
Argument for Apple:
âI can get quality applications from the App Storeâ
Fact:
All of the popular Applications for iOS are also available in the Android Market! Android tablets arenât limited to using just the Android market though, as youâre free to download from other sites without any hacking or modification. Try doing that on your iPad and see what happens to your warranty!
I could go on for hours, but I think Iâve proved my point.
In the end however it comes down to personal preference, and you will end up buying what you prefer, but at least now you have a better idea of the Android side of things.
And before you start shouting âfan boyâ Iâm writing this on a Mac, with my Android phone next to me. My kids are on the iPad while my wife is browsing the web on an Android tablet (while also checking her email and using Gtalk, try doing that on the iPad!)
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“And before you start shouting âfan boyâ Iâm writing this on a Mac, with my Android phone next to me. My kids are on the iPad while my wife is browsing the web on an Android tablet (while also checking her email and using Gtalk, try doing that on the iPad!)”… just because you own and your family owns other devices and uses other services doesn’t mean you aren’t a ‘fan boy’. What you use/have does not define you as a fan boy. The very fact that you wrote this article shows that you are a fanboy based on the definition of a fan given at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_(person). Being a fanboy about something doesn’t necessarily mean its bad. Im a fan of many things!
Hours? you barely lasted a 5 minute read… sorry.
BTW… here are some painful truths for Android enthusiasts.
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2011/02/19/apples-iphone-and-the-curious-world-of-android-enthusiasts/
TBH… I think some of your “apple arguments” are made up to prove your point. For instance:
âApple products have custom made components and a purpose built OS making the package run flawlesslyâ
You are assuming the entire product is custom made. If you reworded the phrase to “Apple products are made entirely from custom made components…” then you would have a point. Also, I think another point to be made here is that this follows apple’s ‘just works’ motto. It requires little to no configuration to get it working out of the box and with other apple and non apple components/devices.
âWhen buying an Apple product I get the best specification availableâ
Ill grant you this one because you could not have been aware of the iPad 2 yet (Dual core, 512 RAM, and has HDMI adapter which makes it comparable to the other tablets that came out AFTER the iPad 1). Specs also should include the form factor and materials which apple has greatly researched to get it ‘right’.
And use the word fact less… it’s annoying. If your facts are true, they do not need more emphasis.
Some of your points are true, some are not. I have personally experienced some of them. However, I think the bigger point here is that they GENERALLY provide a good experience (notice I didn’t say better). No experience is going to be perfect. It is up to the user of the device and software to decide if it is better (or not).
Wow I’m glad you found my post so convincing you had to write a lengthy reply!
Awesome!
None of what you mentioned are true benefits. To be fair I haven’t found any other sites that do that. Still thanks for furthering the discussion I’m sure we’ll get there collectively
I have used both ios and android. The bottom line is… all the apps that I want are on apple. I’d love to buy the less expensive android tablet, but apple is superior in the fact that more developers produce apps for the ipad.
Perhaps this is not true in all genres, but specifically when it comes to music production/synth/drum machine type stuff. The moog apps rule, and are simply not developed for android.
wow.. most of what’s stated as facts are utterly incorrect. Of course, some older hardware will not be supported with latest firmware, but that is different from buying latest hardware and not supported with firmware updates at all. This article is full of errors and heavily biased toward Android.
People want to see real facts, not biased articles like this.
Did you see when this article was originally posted?