Tablet computersaren’t new . In fact , they ’ve been around for about 20 year , but nobody much was buy them until April 2010 , when Apple shook up the consumer electronics market place with theiPad . Perhaps because it bear a hard resemblance to Apple ’s already wildly popular iPhone – it even runs the same operating system of rules – the iPad caught fire now with the populace and turned tablet computers into a major product category . And why should n’t they be ? Tablet information processing system are the ultimate in electronic simmpleness . extremely portable , with few built - in mastery except for a savourless touch - screen interface , tablet computers are attractive , easy to apply and just manifestly coolheaded .
Competition was n’t long in coming . Googlehad already released an unresolved - source operating scheme for impudent phone visit Android and it was easy to scale it up for lozenge computers the way Apple had scaled up its iOS operating system for the iPad . The Android 3.0 operating system , codenamed " Honeycomb , " was the first variation intended for lozenge use and in February 2011Motorolareleased the first Android pad of paper : the Xoom .
Like the iPad , Android tabletshave a touch - screen interface , which allows the user to trigger off icons with the rap of a finger or move object around and scroll silver screen with a swiping gesture of their hands . Both Apple and the various Android maker bid an on-line market place where programs – sleep together as apps in nomadic computing idiom – can be purchased and downloaded straightaway to the machine . In fact , Android tablets are enough like iPads that at a casual glance a user unfamiliar with the two types of tablet might slip one for the other .
So which is the sound lozenge ? That ’s a ruffianly interrogation . It ’s not so much like compare apple ( or Apples ) with oranges as it ’s like equate one or two Malus pumila with a whole basketful of orange . Only Apple make the iPad and there are only two versions : the iPad and the iPad 2 . On the other hand , any company that ’s able to manufacture computer hardware that will bear Google ’s operating system can make an Android tab and inevitably some company are croak to do a better job of it than others . Some companies even mask their Android pad as something else . ( The Barnes & Noble Nook e - book reader is an android tablet with a limited range of features and a small subset of uncommitted Android apps . ) But it ’s potential to liken the iPad against some representative Android tablets .
When the Xoom hit the marketplace , Motorola knew that it would have to beat the iPad ’s specs , so it shipped with a dual essence central processing unit , potentially allowing package to run twice as fast as on the iPad , and two built - in cameras , a 5 - megapixel camera facing forward and a 2 - megapixel photographic camera facing backward toward the user to allow video chatting . This was exciting for the many masses who had been annoyed that Apple had n’t gotten around to include a camera in its first iPad . The Xoom ’s screen , at 10.1 inches , was slightly larger than the iPad ’s , and its 1280x800 display offered marginally higher nontextual matter resolution . The Xoom comes with 32 gibibyte of storage , but its remembering can be expanded using MicroSD ( Secure Digital ) cards .
But Apple still had the advantage for most users . Why ? Because programmers had been developing apps for the iPad for nearly a year before the Xoom appear and the Apple App Store was bursting with thousands of programs while the Android app storage was near empty . And Apple quickly struck a Modern bump in the hardware war when it replaced the original iPad with the iPad 2 . We ’ll look at the iPad 2 and take a closer look at iPad apps vs. Android apps on the next page .
Android Tablets vs. iPad 2
TheiPad 2was released in March 2011 , only a calendar month after the Xoom appear , and its raise hardware neatly egest the chief advantages that Motorola ’s equipment had over Apple ’s . Like the Xoom , the iPad 2 has front- and rear - facing video tv camera that support Apple ’s FaceTime video schmooze software . It also has a dual core processor and comes in a slimmer , lighter showcase than the first iPad , a feature that Apple like to stress in its advertising .
But other Android tablet are attain the storage every few workweek , each prove to outmaneuver the iPad 2 in some fashion . Some compete on price , with models like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer ( which with an optional keyboard can convince to a notebook computer computer ) undercut the iPad 2 by about $ 200 ; some contend on size , with theSamsung Galaxy Tabboth slimmer and lighter ( and a footling cheaper ) than the iPad 2 ; and some just attempt to look coolheaded , though Apple has always been a hard company to beat when it come to stylish - looking devices . One area where Androids are still unambiguously beating the iPad 2 is video solvent , with most endure at 1,280 x 800 pixels compared to the 1,024 x768 pixels on both iPads . humanoid also tend to be more user upgradeable than iPads , with Apple mostly restricting the feature to the single that amount in the standard model . And unlike some Androids , Apple does n’t support USB connectors . An surface area where Androids seem to be suffer is barrage fire life : Most reviewer agree that the iPad 2 turn tail longer without recharge .
In the all - crucial area of apps , the iPad 2 is still onwards – way forward . There are now over 100,000 apps uncommitted through the Apple App Store . ( This routine gets even larger when you take into invoice the roughly 500,000 apps for the iPhone , most of which will also run on the iPad 2 , though they wo n’t necessarily take vantage of its with child sieve sizing . ) It ’s harder to determine the number of Android apps because Google does n’t make that figure public , buta July 2011 New York Times blogestimated the number at a surprisingly paltry 232 . Of naturally , that does n’t count Android phone apps that also run on Android tablets and there are additional Android tablet apps that are specific to a individual brand of tab , such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab or the Motorola Xoom . But even taking all of that into account , Apple is still winning the app war . yet some apps , such as the democratic games Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies , are available for both iPad and Android .
There is , however , a pregnant deviation between the way that Apple handles apps and Android tablets handle apps . Apple only allows apps to be sold through its on-line App Store and must sanction every app before it can go on sale . Android devices practice a more open manikin , where anyone can release an Android app and nobody has to get a stamp of approval for it first . accord , this deviation is more meaning to programmer than to user , but it provides an incentive for programmers to move to Android development and may conduct to the handiness of significantly more Android apps in the futurity .
In the end , whether you buy an iPad 2 or an Android may come down to which you consider more important : the hardware , the software or the price . If hardware specification matter , you ’ll need to liken the specs for the iPad2 with the glasses for each Android tablet on the market , a intimidating task . ( Seethese CNET reviewsfor the rundown on some specific models . ) If software matter , you ’ll believably want to go with the iPad 2 , which is far more likely than an Android tablet to have exactly the apps that you want . And if price matter – well , bear in mind that unless you go with a modified Android pad like the Barnes & Noble Nook ( which savvy exploiter can reportedly modify to carry more like a full - fledged Android pad ) , you ’re improbable to undercut Apple ’s price by more than about $ 200 . But if that $ 200 makes the difference of opinion , then a low - cost Android pad of paper like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer may be what you ’re count for .
For more information about the iPad and other technical school - related topics , follow the golf links on the next varlet .
