Recently a friend asked me what tablet device she should buy for her daughter as a gift, iPad or an Android. She spoke with a gentlemen at a Best Buy and he steered her away from iPads because “they track you.” So here is my post to try and set some of that straight.
ALL companies you do business with track you. ALL of them. Its called market research and they have a captive, somewhat uninformed audience who buys their product, then comes back to them for applications, updates, new features, and on and on. They have a bunch of ways to track us, learn our habits, and preferences. Its business 101. Not saying I like it, just saying I understand it.
With Apple, you get a device that is highly controlled. Their market store is curated, Apple has to approve every app on their app store. You go to one place to buy apps. You have a method to sync those items to your iPad. Its dirt simple, they’ve done a fabulous job of making their device very simple to use and understand. The downside is, you are locked in, you can only buy apps from them, you can only use the apps they approve, you can only sync the device with their software.
With Androids, its a more open platform. You buy something from the marketplace and it syncs down to your device wirelessly, no need to hook it up to anything. BUT, if you buy music, you have to hook the device up and move your music over manually (I hate this process I find it clunky and a con to their product). Unless I’m missing something, its a manual process. Amazon might have some wireless delivery but I’m somewhat uninformed on Amazon’s stuff because I just haven’t tried it yet.
There are not as many apps out for Android devices as they have not been out as long. People are more likely to pay for Apple apps so the developers develop for Apple devices first…then Androids second. So if you are looking for use of a couple specific applications you’d want to know that the device you buy can run the applications you desire. Having said that, I expect within a year or two, Androids will be so prevalent that they will be the most popular for developers to create apps for. But in the mean time, they aren’t.
I bought an iPad2 because I was frustrated with how long other devices were taking to get to market. Now that some others are out I have tried them and think they are nice. I think the Motorolla Xoom is a great device. I think the version 2 Samsung Galaxy Tabs are great devices as well. The Asus Eee Transformer is an awesome concept. I can’t say buy one or the other because it is amazingly better than the rest, because in my opinion they aren’t. They are roughly the same technologically, accomplish the same tasks, and fulfill the same purposes. Put simply difference is the methods and ideals by which the company delivers applications to you, and the applications that are available to you on those devices.
Bottom line, if you want a device you can hack to bits and do geek things with, buy an Android. If you want a cute case, buy an iPad.
