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Tablets computer are not new despite
their recent popularity. In fact, they've been around for about 20 years, but
nobody much was buying them until April 2010, when Apple shook up the consumer
electronics marketplace with the iPads.
Perhaps because it bore a strong resemblance to Apple's already wildly popular
iPhone – it even runs the same operating system – the iPad caught fire
immediately with the public and turned tablet computers into a major product
category. And why shouldn't they be? Tablet computers are the ultimate in
electronic simplicity. Highly portable, with few built-in controls except for a
flat touch-screen interface, tablet computers are attractive, easy to use and
just plain cool.
Competition wasn't long in coming. Google
had already released an open-source operating system for smart phones called
Android and it was easy to scale it up for tablet computers the way Apple had
scaled up its iOS operating system for the iPad. The Android 3.0 operating
system, codenamed "Honeycomb," was the first version intended for
tablet use and in February 2011 Motorola released the first Android tablet: the
Xoom.
Like the iPad, Android Tablets have a touch-screen
interface, which allows the user to activate icons with the tap of a finger or
move objects around and scroll screens with a swiping gesture of their hands.
Both Apple and the various Android manufacturers offer an online marketplace
where programs – known as apps in mobile computing parlance – can be purchased
and downloaded directly to the device. In fact, Android tablets are enough like
iPads that at a casual glance a user unfamiliar with the two types of tablet
might mistake one for the other.
So which is the better tablet? That's
a tough question. It's not so much like comparing apples (or Apples) with
oranges as it's like comparing one or two apples with a whole basketful of
oranges. Only Apple makes the iPad and there are only two versions: the iPad
and the iPad 2. On the other hand, any company that's able to manufacture
hardware that will support Google's operating system can make an Android tablet
and inevitably some companies are going to do a better job of it than others.
Some companies even disguise their Android tablets as something else. (The
Barnes & Noble Nook e-book reader is an android tablet with a limited range
of features and a small subset of available Android apps.) But it's possible to
compare the iPad against some representative Android tablets.
The iPad 2 was
released in March 2011, only a month after the Xoom appeared, and its upgraded
hardware neatly eliminated the main advantages that Motorola's device had over
Apple's. Like the Xoom, the iPad 2 has front- and rear-facing video cameras
that support Apple's FaceTime video chat software. It also has a dual core
processor and comes in a slimmer, lighter case than the first iPad, a feature
that Apple likes to emphasize in its advertising.
But other Android tablets are hitting
the stores every few weeks, each trying to outmaneuver the iPad 2 in some
fashion. Some compete on price, with models like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer
(which with an optional keyboard can convert to a notebook computer)
undercutting the iPad 2 by about $200; some compete on size, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab both slimmer and lighter (and a little
cheaper) than the iPad 2; and some just try to look cooler, though Apple has
always been a hard company to beat when it comes to stylish-looking devices.
One area where Androids are still unequivocally beating the iPad 2 is video
resolution, with most running at 1,280 x 800 pixels compared to the 1,024 x768
pixels on both iPads. Androids also tend to be more user upgradeable than
iPads, with Apple mostly restricting the features to the ones that come in the
standard model. And unlike some Androids, Apple doesn't support USB connectors.
An area where Androids seem to be losing is battery life: Most reviewers agree
that the iPad 2 runs longer without recharging.
There is, however, a
significant difference between the way that Apple handles apps and Android
tablets handle apps. Apple only allows apps to be sold through its online App
Store and must approve every app before it can go on sale. Android devices use
a more open model, where anyone can release an Android app and nobody has to
get a stamp of approval for it first. Granted, this difference is more
significant to programmers than to users, but it provides an incentive for
programmers to move to Android development and now leading to the availability
of significantly more Android apps.
