News - Android tablet shipments look to overtake the iPad this year

[HEXUS]

Apple has dominated the market since the launch of the first iPad in 2010.

Read more.

[crossy]

The growing throng of Android tablets has been successful in chipping away at the Apple iPad’s dominance. Research house International Data Corp (IDC) has predicted that this year will be the first that Android tablet shipments will overtake those of Apple iPads since the launch of the first iPad in 2010.

Good! Although the Apple fanz are going to argue - possibly with some justification - that some of those numbers are due to these Chinese barely-usable devices running highly restricted or elderly versions of the OS.

What I'd like to see though is some decent Windows8 running stuff come along and take market share from both Apple and Android, since a three-way split strikes me as a lot healthier market than a duopoly.

With a bit more cash in the pot there are also Android tablet solutions that are arguably better than Apple’s iPad offerings, with features such as pressure sensitive stylus input or ruggedness/waterproofing and so on. These are still mostly cheaper than the Apple iPad range.

Asus, Amazon and Samsung - I thank you. (LOL). Actually my Note 10.1 is unarguably more capable than a iPad, yet was considerably cheaper. Sure the iPad has it's "Retina" display, but against that the Note has expandable memory and it's stylus.

Looking forward, as analysts like to do, the signs are not so good for Apple. A Wall Street analyst is quoted by Reuters, comparing Apple to BlackBerry in terms of how the iPhone is now falling out of favour and Samsung are on the ascendancy.

Apple is the new Blackberry - ouch, that's got to hurt.

Going out on a limb I'm going to predict that Samsung won't be able to maintain their commanding lead in Android. There's an increasing amount of disquiet with the amount of control their market position might generate. Plus, and this is important for me, the successes of Samsung have forced others in Android to up their game - e.g. the HTC One X is arguably a match for the S3, and Sony now seem to be quietly gaining word-of-mouth approval. And Asus are still doing some interesting products.

Plus, hopefully Nokia can continue to deliver some nice looking kit at decent prices, in which case I can perhaps see me defecting from Android to Windows Phone.

[3dcandy]

My only problem with HTC and Sony is that whilst out shopping for a friend recently I was warned off both of them by people for various reasons. Sony because of very high failure rates (software being the prime example) and HTC because of lingering doubts over hardware failures. This is the main reason that I see Samsung doing so well...

[capt_cornflake]

Plus, and this is important for me, the successes of Samsung have forced others in Android to up their game - e.g. the HTC One X is arguably a match for the S3

Except for no SD slot or replaceable battery and locked bootloader...

There's a whole raft of Android tablets in the £150-£200 bracket now which are perfectly serviceable, even the Acer Ikonia B1 at £99 doesn't look too bad (certainly not for that money, although it's a bit stingy on memory)

[3dcandy]

Except for no SD slot or replaceable battery and locked bootloader...

There's a whole raft of Android tablets in the £150-£200 bracket now which are perfectly serviceable, even the Acer Ikonia B1 at £99 doesn't look too bad (certainly not for that money, although it's a bit stingy on memory)

Don't think everybody looks to them as much, but yeah I don't think it is a match. Battery life is supposed to be disappointing too, and with no replaceable battery you'd better have some way to recharge it every day without fail with some reviewers finding it won't even last a working day. That is a big no-no and with a 2300m/ah battery a serious failing.

[nacasatu]

Waiting on my THL W8 Android phablet to be delivered from China looking forward to getting something decent now to replace my old 3G iphone.

[crossy]

(Plus, and this is important for me, the successes of Samsung have forced others in Android to up their game - e.g. the HTC One X is arguably a match for the S3) Except for no SD slot or replaceable battery and locked bootloader...

Note the word "arguably" in there. At the risk of revisiting that acrimonious debate on XDA (look it up if you're interested), the HOX has a better screen, with much better sun glare resistance than the one in the S3. There was also - if memory serves me rightly - some compelling arguments why having the uSD slot is a bad idea, something to do with Google recommendations. Then again, no memory upgrade and fixed battery seems to have worked fine for others (including the iPhone of course).
I debated long and hard over my phone replacement before, like you, deciding that the removable battery and uSD slot (especially the latter) made the S3 more desirable. Never regretted that decision, and won't be rushing out to buy the S4, because the "old" '3 is more than good enough. And Samsung seem to be quite good (at the moment - probably won't be the case after the S4 launches) at pushing out some worthwhile OS updates - each one seeming to improve the speed/responsiveness of the device.

There's a whole raft of Android tablets in the £150-£200 bracket now which are perfectly serviceable, even the Acer Ikonia B1 at £99 doesn't look too bad (certainly not for that money, although it's a bit stingy on memory)

Agree, although I'd give Acer a wide berth. Wasn't there also supposed to be a sub £100 Asus tablet? Then again, someone was saying that CPW are pushing Kindle Fire's for less than £90 if you move quickly.

Which is a point in itself - why pay the price for the iPad Mini, if you can get something just as capable, probably just as resilient, for less money?

[TooNice]

^ Already said it before (but then, it's not like my requirements for a mobile phone is going to change each time I make a new post), but that SD & Battery is a real deal maker. Now that there is a Google Maps app on the iOS, there is really nothing I would *miss* on the Android if I moved back to the iOS. That's not to say there is nothing Android has over the iOS, but there are not the ones I value. On the other hand, I still think that the iOS is a better device for those learning, Japanese and other students at the language school I attend with device on both platforms agree on this. If Samsung ever decide to drop the SD card/removable battery, I'll probably use it as an excuse to look at Win8 phones, and if none of them has those features.. then it's back to the iOS for me. On the other hand, if more manufacturers decide to bundle those features, then hurrah. Well, I find removable battery quite unlikely though, it's probably less optimal when trying to compete for the smallest phone..

Going out on a limb I'm going to predict that Samsung won't be able to maintain their commanding lead in Android.

I shall go the other way and predict that if Apple falls, Samsung will be the next behemoth that's both loved and loved to be hated.

[TooNice]

^ Already said it before (but then, it's not like my requirements for a mobile phone is going to change each time I make a new post), but that SD & Battery is a real deal maker. Now that there is a Google Maps app on the iOS, there is really nothing I would *miss* on the Android if I moved back to the iOS. That's not to say there is nothing Android has over the iOS, but there are not the ones I value. On the other hand, I still think that the iOS is a better device for those learning, Japanese and other students at the language school I attend with device on both platforms agree on this. If Samsung ever decide to drop the SD card/removable battery, I'll probably use it as an excuse to look at Win8 phones, and if none of them has those features.. then it's back to the iOS for me. On the other hand, if more manufacturers decide to bundle those features, then hurrah. Well, I find removable battery quite unlikely though, it's probably less optimal when trying to compete for the smallest phone..

Going out on a limb I'm going to predict that Samsung won't be able to maintain their commanding lead in Android.

I shall go the other way and predict that branding is the name of the game, and as Samsung's name grow, they will get customers who buy it because it is a recognised brand.

[capt_cornflake]

Agree, although I'd give Acer a wide berth. Wasn't there also supposed to be a sub £100 Asus tablet? Then again, someone was saying that CPW are pushing Kindle Fire's for less than £90 if you move quickly.

Not sure if you mean the Asus MeMo Pad 7? I think that's just out and around the £130. Mostly it looks pretty good, but saddled with a shonky single core CPU (looks worse than the Acer). Not sure I'd bother with it.

I have to say I was considering the Acer mainly to give to the kids. At less than £100 I'm not going to be that fussed if they break it (it has a plastic screen which may be less smashable?). In the end though I managed to resurrect my seemingly bricked HP Touchpad, so I'm sticking with that for now.

Kindle Fire is definitely an option for the hardware, although personally I'm not sure I'd stick with Amazons Android implementation. Early days yet, but I believe there's an unofficial CyanogenMod port available.

[crossy]

In the end though I managed to resurrect my seemingly bricked HP Touchpad, so I'm sticking with that for now.

Was that the "why the flik won't you turn on..." bricking or something else? If the former then two out of the three TP's we've got here suffered from that - strangely enough, both of the ones that dual boot with CM9. The sole webOS-only one is rock solid - so maybe LG aren't silly after all for snapping webOS up?

Kindle Fire is definitely an option for the hardware, although personally I'm not sure I'd stick with Amazons Android implementation. Early days yet, but I believe there's an unofficial CyanogenMod port available.

Yes, don't like the idea of Amazon's fork at all. Speaking of CyanogenMod, did you see this:
https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/ib5wz8jk1Jy
Yes I know it's old news, but probably still worth mentioning.

[capt_cornflake]

Was that the "why the flik won't you turn on..." bricking or something else? If the former then two out of the three TP's we've got here suffered from that - strangely enough, both of the ones that dual boot with CM9. The sole webOS-only one is rock solid - so maybe LG aren't silly after all for snapping webOS up?

Yes it had been left on in CM9 and the battery had run flat. I'd heard of similar issues with CM10 but foolishly thought CM9 was immune. I think it's pretty well known that the battery handling in CM on the touchpad isn't a patch on stock WebOS.

It showed no response to anything even after being left plugged in for 48 hours.
There's a script over on rootzwiki that sorted me out eventually. If I understand the log correctly it may have been a firmware corruption issue.

I've now set tasker to shut down at 5% battery to hopefully prevent recurrences...