Just say IPad Mini? (2012 Holiday / XMas Tablet Shopping Guide)

When the IPad Mini was released, the first review I read was negative, but it seems like many prefer the Mini to the fullsize. I think it really depends on your needs. I already have a 10″ Android tablet that gets used around the house primarily for Youtube and Netflix and games. No need for another tablet here. But if I commuted daily on the train, I could see it being useful to have an LTE IPad Mini or Nexus 7.

Preference: Apple IPad Mini (Pros – LTE available, Price, weight, size=>easier to fit in purses, jacket pockets, etc) Businessweek ZDNET The Wirecutter NY Times

Preference: Apple IPad “3″ (and current “4″ w/ faster A6X Graphics) (Pros — LTE and Retina Screen) Dave Winer/Scripting News/Gizmodo, article 2

Background on the Apple IPad Mini

Marco.org

Vs Androd / Nexus 7 / Amazon Fire HD (Pros – price!)

Apple displays are better color wise but the Android 7″ displays hae higher resolution

Bottom line

Overall? IPad Mini or Android 7″ tablet (Google Nexus 7, Amazon Fire HD). I think this really comes down to whether you know there are Apple/iOS only apps or games you want/need. If not, you might be happier with Android because of price and screen resolution.

Price? Android 7″ tablet (Google Nexus 7, Amazon Fire HD)

Games? Apps? IPad Mini

Eyesight/reading? IPad 4 or 7″ Android tablets (all are “Retina”)

Second iPad: IPad Mini

School/Work: Apple Macbook Air / Thinkpad T430 or Dell Laptop!

Wait for Retina IPad Mini? This will take quite a while. Don’t wait.

“Enough with the apps already”

I think Dave Winer will be proven right on this. Apps will die. The web will live. Why? Because of linking. LINK

And perhaps the ease of making mobile-friendly web pages and “responsive web design”, even websites which act just like a native app on the iPhones or Androids of the world — have you seen nytimes.com/chrome/ in a Chrome browser?

Just about the only thing which will stay apps are video games since linking is not (or at least, less) important in a game since games are usually self-contained universes. And even there I might be a little wrong.

“There are no apps in this category that are compatible with your device.”

You are checking out the “Amazon Appstore for Android” and you see this message. (For example, when I click on “Newspapers” or “Sports” on my Android tablet I see it at the moment). I suspect that many of the categories have “Kindle Fire” only apps at this point. I assume this will change someday.

Learning what a tablet might be useful for. Entertainment mostly at the moment for most people it seems. Web-browsing. This might be proven naive soon enough. Even most of the flash-based games the kiddo likes on the netbook won’t work here since they require a mouse and arrow keys. Flash itself works fine in android… but these games were designed for different input and will need retooling.

Who wrote “Here’s to the crazy ones…” ?

In case you see lots of “Here’s to the crazy ones” quotes today. That’s not Steve Jobs. That’s an Apple ad campaign. Come on people!

Overall story:
LINK1

Who specifically wrote it? (Ken Segall, of TBWA/Chiat/Day)
LINK2

His 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford
LINK3

(Reminder to self: Time to buy a tablet. But probably not an iPad2.)

VS: Erik’s Ipad vs Xoom Review

You’re trying to decide between a Apple iPad 2 and a Motorola Xoom running Android 3.0 (“Gingerbread”)

My summary is that if there are specific apps or games that you know you want or if you are an app-aholic, get an iPad. Otherwise get a Xoom since all the basics — web brower, google apps, dropbox, netflix, etc work just great on a Xoom. And flash works!

Buy an iPad 2 at Amazon
Buy a Xoom at Amazon

Here are the issues:

1. Price. Advantage Xoom. At Amazon at least!
2. Battery life. equal. But Xoom is probably replaceable. Advantage Xoom.
3. Weight: iPad is lighter
4. Screen Format: Xoom is 16:9 (nearly. 16:10 actually), iPad is 4:3
5. Screen Resolution: About the same but Xoom is higher res and some say easier to read.
6. Flash support. Advantage Xoom. Lots of wesbites still use Flash, not HTML5.
7. 3g/4g: Xoom is 4G upgradeable in Sept 2011 via Verizon
8. Generally, if you care about “special” apps: Advantage iPad. A number of apps are iPad only at the moment — like the NewYorker, Flipboard, etc. And the Apple App Store is a better environment for evaluating and finding apps. Though word on the street is that the Amazon Android App Store is the up-and-coming solution to this on the Android side.
9. Google Docs. Either is fine. Works great either way.
10. If you care about Web: Advantage Xoom (see #5 flash support)
11. Need Minecraft? Advantage Xoom. Android can run Minedroid nicely
12. Cheap Keyboard? Advantage Xoom. A USB keyboard will usually “just work”. The iPad can use the Apple Wireless Keyboard (Xoom too), but that costs more than nothing. Well, you’ll need a $3 micro adapter from Amazon. Search on “Micro USB Male to USB A Female Adapter”
    LINK

13. Video Out. Both have HDMI. The Xoom just needs a $6 micro-HDMI cable from Amazon. No dock needed. That’s misinformation.

OK, that’s my list as of 9/9/2011. I’ll check back in a few months and see if I still agree!