What features do new Android devices need in order to stay ahead of Apple?

[Rachel Z]

The iPad is getting pretty old now and for some time we Android users have been able to snigger at its lack of memory expansion, USB port etc.

But iPad 2 is coming and the next iPhone probably won't be far behind, so what features do you think Android and Android devices need to adopt to stay ahead of the game?

 

[TozyJay]

Not to sound like a fanboy but from what I've seen of the iPhone, Apple could probably adopt more from Android than the other way around.

Given new Android devices are coming out every month, they should have no problem staying ahead. Apple's operating system is exclusive to it's own devices so there is only a hardware refresh on an annual basis.

Not that Apple products are bad by any means. I'm just saying that Android only needs to keep doing what it's already doing to stay in the game for the foreseeable future. Google's books and music store should definitely help level the playing field.

 

[HKM]

Lets be honest ourselves here Apple hit gold mine with "normal" users only reason due to them having to lock it down and not giving them control as they are danger to the device themselves.

That being said iPhone price remains almost same while our device changes. I mean with so many vendor's (HTC, Moto) its not like iOS which is device specific as we have a lot off different SoC's that has to be allocated and has to work with current Android lib.

Last thing iPhone needs is to try to take ideas from Android much less anyone they have done very successful job providing walgarden based PPC. Never used iPhone and never will far as most Android fanboys goes been using PPC long before 90% of the kids even knew what smartphone was much less Android much less *nix platform as been using it for 12+ years.

 

[novox77]

Features that would make Android tablets outshine iPad2

1) USB Host mode. Meaning you could theoretically plug in a keyboard (or other HID) into a standard USB port on the tablet and use it automatically

2) tablet becomes a USB mass storage device when plugged into a PC. Android phones already work this way, so it's likely tablets will do the same. This is such an easy way to transfer files to/from the tablet. Apple forces you to use iTunes, and there's way more stuff I want to transfer outside of music and photos.

3) Better processor, more memory. The hardware in iPhone4 already pales in comparison to the latest Android phones.

4) comparable battery life to ipad2. This is Android's challenge. When a machine does more, it uses more juice. Apple's products are known for good battery life at the expense of threaded multitasking.

5) have features other than being a slab that runs apps. I think devices like the Atrix are evolving in the right direction. That tablet could serve as a monitor for a laptop (Lenovo has something like this) with a dual-boot OS: Android when used solely as tablet; other OS when docked as laptop. This solves the "lack of productivity" problems seen with just a tablet. Files between OS need to be commonly accessible.

That's my quick list