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Switching from iPad to Tab 10.1?

sergey

Android Enthusiast
Mar 16, 2009
421
29
NYC
I have an iPad and while it's OK, I was at costco the other day and really liked honeycomb on the tablet. The widgets are great on the phone, but with the big screen, it really makes a big difference. So I'm planning to sell my iPad on ebay and get the wifi Tab 10.1. I have a few questions about it and Android.

1) Any issues with wifi? I thought I read that some store stopped selling the Asus Transformer Primes because they were a bit buggy, esp. in this area. This cannot be. I need wifi to work flawlessly.

2) How does netflix, wall street journal, and new york times work on the tab? Aside from internet browsing, I NEED these three apps to work otherwise, I'm not returning to Android. Oh and a PDF reader.

3) Flash- does it work like it does on my laptop? I had an original Droid and the big hoopla over flash turned out to be hype- it really didn't work well on my Droid.

4) Are there tablet-optimized apps on the android market?

5) Any issues with speed on this?
 
1) I hear of some issues with 802.11n/5GHz, but usually its a router issue, and cleared with a channel change. I've also heard of some wifi "scanning" issues, but am not sure what this means. I've never had an issue. It scans, and connects to whatever wifi source I've ever needed.

2a) Netflix - OK. The others? No clue.
2b) Adobe has an app for android for .pdf files. There are other apps which can read .pdf.

3) Flash in browsers works fine.

4) Yes.

5) Speed.. compared to what? It's middle of the road for android tables based on what I've seen in different reviews. There are was to increase speed by rooting, and adding a new kernel which allows you to overclock the processor.

Personally, when stock, the touch screen laggy as hell; it's nearly useless for handwriting or drawing. Again, rooting and installing an app improves the responsiveness quite a bit.
 
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Hi sergey, welcome to the Android world :). Personally (no flame please), I think WiFi version of any mobile device is really pointless. It defeats the purpose of having a mobile device. Please be aware that public WiFi is not safe. It is a hackers' haven. Just ask anyone who has attended Black Hat or Defcon. They usually trashed the computers they have used on-site after the conference to avoid any backdoor.

I have the 4G version and I absolutely love it. And I think you should consider that. :)
 
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Hi sergey, welcome to the Android world :). Personally (no flame please), I think WiFi version of any mobile device is really pointless. It defeats the purpose of having a mobile device. Please be aware that public WiFi is not safe. It is a hackers' haven. Just ask anyone who has attended Black Hat or Defcon. They usually trashed the computers they have used on-site after the conference to avoid any backdoor.

I agree with you in principle. But I am NOT going to pay to access the internet 3 times. I pay for home internet, a data plan on my phone, and to pay for mobile internet again? It just irritates me. So I see the tablet as a laptop replacement. Really 90% of the time it will be used at home and at work. And then I try to use my iPhone (no flame please) when I'm out on the 3G network.

Anyways, I just came back from Costco- it was $450 there over the weekend. I really went there to play with the display model. But it was gone. So I was kind of pissed and was about to walk away. Then I noticed something else was missing from the display- $60 off the price. Costco has this great deal now- 16gb wifi with the official pouch for $389.99. And with a 90 day return policy, well I figure I would just buy it, try it out for a week and then decide if I want to return it or sell the iPad.

I set it up and fooled around with it for a bit. Tonight I'm gonna see how netflix and the other apps stack up. But it looks like the iPad is going on ebay.
 
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I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and it's more desirable to me than an iPad, since I just love Android. But, I can't wait for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to come on it. Right now, the hottest tablet is the Asus Transformer Prime. Yes, there have been reported wifi issues, but they just pushed out a firmware update that's supposed to help with that. And the Prime has Ice Cream Sandwich right now. So, if I were buying a tablet right now, I'd go with the Prime. But, my next tablet will be Samsung's next monster tab with 2560x1600 resolution.
 
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Meh... Some would say that's what tethering is for.
I was using tethering with the TF101, but then it killed both the tablet and the phone batteries. I switched to the 3G Tab PT7500 and I get about 3x the battery life on standby without having to tether. I believe the battery life is about 1.5x when being used. All those extra ports on the TF101 essentially went unused, so it was a no brainer to switch to the Tab for me.
 
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I agree with you in principle. But I am NOT going to pay to access the internet 3 times. I pay for home internet, a data plan on my phone, and to pay for mobile internet again? It just irritates me. So I see the tablet as a laptop replacement. Really 90% of the time it will be used at home and at work. And then I try to use my iPhone (no flame please) when I'm out on the 3G network.
You could always check with your carrier to see if they have a sharing plan. My carrier has a feature where I can add a secondary device to my 6gig data plan for $10/month. This lets me use my data plan on the 3G Tab and I'm always connected.
 
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I have an iPad and while it's OK, I was at costco the other day and really liked honeycomb on the tablet. The widgets are great on the phone, but with the big screen, it really makes a big difference. So I'm planning to sell my iPad on ebay and get the wifi Tab 10.1. I have a few questions about it and Android.

1) Any issues with wifi? I thought I read that some store stopped selling the Asus Transformer Primes because they were a bit buggy, esp. in this area. This cannot be. I need wifi to work flawlessly.

2) How does netflix, wall street journal, and new york times work on the tab? Aside from internet browsing, I NEED these three apps to work otherwise, I'm not returning to Android. Oh and a PDF reader.

3) Flash- does it work like it does on my laptop? I had an original Droid and the big hoopla over flash turned out to be hype- it really didn't work well on my Droid.

4) Are there tablet-optimized apps on the android market?

5) Any issues with speed on this?

1. None whatsoever.
2. Netflix - Great, I watch movies and TV Shows all the time.
3. Yes, flash works fine. Just download it from the market.
4. There are plenty of them. Unfortunately, there not explicitly marked. You have to find it yourself. (Not that much of a pain in my point of view.)
5. Speed wise it's good. I find that my tablet is a bit laggy sometimes, sometimes it gets bad, sometimes it's bearable. Definitely not something that drives me away from this tablet though. (Updates may improve the speed. Especially the ICS upgrade which is hopefully coming soon. I know that the last update definitely helped a bit.)

Great tablet without a doubt.
Get the Galaxy Tab 8.9 if you want a nicer/more vivid screen.
 
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Sold my 16gb iPad 1 for $300 on ebay.
And I'm keeping the tab 10.1. I love it alot despite it being buggy.

Here are my impressions of the tab 10.1 coming from an iPad (for future switchers)

Hardware- It's very light and the plastic back makes it feel like you could crack it in half. I am still treating it with kid gloves compared to the heavier and aluminium backed iPad. Other than that, it is all on par with the the iPad. The automatic screen adjuster is wonky, so I turned it off. The screen is just as good, sound is just as good, etc. Battery life is not as good as the iPad though.

Android OS- Think of iOS as a base car with no fancy options. It does its job, is reliable, but is a little boring. iOS is just a grid of icons and more reliable than Honeycomb. Honeycomb is the same car but fully loaded- start-stop, keyless entry, 7-speed automatic transmission with 3 different settings and a set of paddle shifters, and a complex iDrive. There are more options, it's more fun to play with, you can customize things just the way you want, but it's gonna be more buggy and you're gonna be lost at times. Honeycomb has widgets, flash, a nicer youtube app, live wallpapers, all kinds of settings to tweak. But you get issues. My youtube app decided to crash for a few days before it started to work again. Same thing with one of my clock widgets. The Apple experience is all minimized for ease of use- there is a certain elegance to it all and the commands are intuitive. Android is not that. You will get be confused in the beginning, but you'll have so many more options to tweak and play with. Android is the more fun OS if you are into that sort of thing.

Android Market- I used to own a droid and one of the main reasons I left was the selection of apps stunk. It's improved, but don't expect the same options as iTunes. I saw this really cool stock market app on an iPad 2 in the Apple store and first thing I thought was, "nothing like this will be on Android..." Android Market does have one big thing going for it- emulators. From what I see, there is less of the heavy-handed policing like Apple.

Overall software experience- it is a lot more fun than the iPad- the widgets on that screen really make a difference compared to the grid of icons. There are a lot of options you can play with. Android is a more fun OS to play with. But it is buggy at times. Sometimes netflix will play the video out of sync with the audio. That's another issue. The calendar is better, google maps is better (duh), google finance is better, anything google is better. The biggest annoyance is that the on screen keyboard does not hide the notification bar at the bottom of the screen. So expect to hit the bar and not the space bar when typing. You have to move your fingers up a few milimeters. But the keyboard is just as good as the iPad once you get used to it.

Yes I know the tab 2 came out, but for the price I got it at, I love my tab 10.1 and I have no regrets switching. Even with the bugs. They are annoying and I do think back to the more reliable iOS, but it's not like the thing is shutting down or factory reseting when the sun is out. It's annoying. It is so cool to have widgets again. I love turning on my tab and on one screen, I can see the 5-day weather, the date, my calendar of the day's events, new emails, stock quotes. It's more efficient. I don't need to go from app to app to get everything and don't have a mystery number telling me I have 3 new messages. I know what my messages are. And the notification bar is better. I hate the iOS notification bar. It flashes a brief message and if you forget it, there is no icon reminding you of it. I never use the damn thing on my iPhone 4.

For the record, I am not an Apple whore and I don't drink the kool-aid that the little green robot serves either. Both tablets are good- it all depends on what you like better.
 
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I was using tethering with the TF101, but then it killed both the tablet and the phone batteries. I switched to the 3G Tab PT7500 and I get about 3x the battery life on standby without having to tether. I believe the battery life is about 1.5x when being used. All those extra ports on the TF101 essentially went unused, so it was a no brainer to switch to the Tab for me.

I don't know what a TF101 is... but I have a HTC Thunderbolt (on custom ROM). Sure, I have "worse" battery life tethering than if, say, just streaming Pandora all day. Well... since I am running three radios instead of the normal two (4G, wifi, and cell versus 4g and cell) that's normal.

I use Galaxy Task 14 ROM in my Tab, and it uses the exact same amount of battery tethering via my TB and wifi as it would if it were connected to my home wifi (which is hardly any at all). I can get about three days from my Tab on one charge.
 
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2) How does netflix, wall street journal, and new york times work on the tab? Aside from internet browsing, I NEED these three apps to work otherwise, I'm not returning to Android. Oh and a PDF reader.
I found Wall Street Journal available through Zinio. For the New York Times I found a browser based e-version quite quickly. Google "new york times e edition" (no quotes). There are a few apps as well in the marketplace so scroll through and see which one works best.

I was able to read PDFs from day one on my tab. However, there are a dozen or so in the marketplace as well.

Cheers.
 
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I'm coming from an 8.9 perspective that I bought in October. I also had a Xoom for about a month last year after they launched. My first HC experience with the Xoom was somewhere between yuck and meh. I had app crashes all the time and the Market was basically a wasteland.

Then I got the 8.9 in October because I was away from home with a buggy laptop and I needed something to Skype home with. HC had come a long way in those months with many apps receiving stability updates and the Market having many more quality apps.

Fast forward to today and the Market has only gotten that much better. The 8.9 just got the 3.2 update and things are moving much faster. I can't wait to see what ICS does for the speed of the UI.

Overall I've been a very happy Android user since I switched from my iPhone on EVO 4G launch day in 2010. It took about a year before all the apps I wanted on the EVO arrived, but they got there. It's always kinda a waiting game for Android because of the smaller install base (for tablets right now anyway). But in the end I am much happier with the freer ecosystem and the utility of the apps.

One good trick I've learned is to go to market.android.com to search for apps and you can install them to your devices straight from the browsers. It's a much better browsing experience.
 
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Hi sergey, welcome to the Android world :). Personally (no flame please), I think WiFi version of any mobile device is really pointless. It defeats the purpose of having a mobile device. Please be aware that public WiFi is not safe. It is a hackers' haven. Just ask anyone who has attended Black Hat or Defcon. They usually trashed the computers they have used on-site after the conference to avoid any backdoor.

I have the 4G version and I absolutely love it. And I think you should consider that. :)

I disagree. For those of us with a mobile hotspot, the WiFi only versions of mobile devices are perfect. There's no point in paying extra for 3G/4G versions plus getting a new contract when you don't have to.
 
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I disagree. For those of us with a mobile hotspot, the WiFi only versions of mobile devices are perfect.
If that works for you, sure. I had an ASUS TF tablet previously but sold it as it was killing my phone's battery using the WiFi hotspot feature. I bought the Tab with 3G and battery life is MUCH improved over the TF even with an active 3G connection all the time. And since the Tab has a data connection all the time, I never have to worry about connectivity - it's always on.
There's no point in paying extra for 3G/4G versions plus getting a new contract when you don't have to.
Who says you have to get a new contract or data plan? If you already have data on your phone, many carriers offer a data sharing option for ~$10 that lets you use your data on both devices.
 
Upvote 0
I have an iPad and while it's OK, I was at costco the other day and really liked honeycomb on the tablet. The widgets are great on the phone, but with the big screen, it really makes a big difference. So I'm planning to sell my iPad on ebay and get the wifi Tab 10.1. I have a few questions about it and Android.

1) Any issues with wifi? I thought I read that some store stopped selling the Asus Transformer Primes because they were a bit buggy, esp. in this area. This cannot be. I need wifi to work flawlessly.

2) How does netflix, wall street journal, and new york times work on the tab? Aside from internet browsing, I NEED these three apps to work otherwise, I'm not returning to Android. Oh and a PDF reader.

3) Flash- does it work like it does on my laptop? I had an original Droid and the big hoopla over flash turned out to be hype- it really didn't work well on my Droid.

4) Are there tablet-optimized apps on the android market?

5) Any issues with speed on this?

i have had both...and sold the ipad.....i do miss how smooth and lag-free the ipad was

the samsung is lag free as long as you don't install a ton of things on the home screens.......but that's why i wanted the android tablet...to have widgets and such on my homescreen...but having them makes it lag so bad its pointless
 
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I have an iPad 2 love it. My wife has the tmobile tab 10.1 and we both like that too.

It seems like the 10.1 is more user friendly and overall fancier than the iPad. I was 100% happy with my iPad before buying her the android tablet now I'm kind of envious of some of its customization options and browser capabilities.

Although I'm envious of her tablets cool factors I will keep my iPad cause I love its simplicity and the smart cover function. Plus when I want to use the 10.1 I can use hers.

By the way I once had the original tmobile tab and loved it. Got rid of it when I was in a money crunch, since going to bigger screen tablets and better battery life of both I am happier with both tablets we own now.

Overall the flash function is overrated by android. Comparing most sites side by side ou will see very little difference. I bought her an android because she complained that my iPad didn't have flash. I ask her if the flash makes a huge difference now and she says that the android is just easier to browse the web with. I'm just happy I don't have to share anymore.
 
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