[Mikes]

Linux is a fully featured desktop OS. Android is a very limited mobile device OS. The two should not be lumped together.

Now this is just silly.

That Android is based on Linux in no way or form changes the fact that Android is stunted and limited in comparison.

Linux distros have their own issues... but being a cut down mobile OS isn't one of them.

[The E]

In what way is Android "cut down"? Sure, unlike the original mainline kernel, it is heavily optimized for embedded systems, but there is no fundamental difference between android and every other operating system out there.
The only thing that is limited is the range of available input mechanisms (an issue notably missing in android-based tablets), everything else is an issue with missing applications, which isn't really android's fault.

[karajorma]

everything else is an issue with missing applications, which isn't really android's fault.

True, but Mikes main point (and the one several people seem to be doing their damnedest to ignore) is that since MS are making a tablet running Windows, they aren't as likely to suffer from this issue as iOS and Android. The point he's making is that despite claims from some people that netbooks would be replaced by tablets, they haven't been (I seem to remember Jobs or someone else at Apple made this claim when the iPad appeared).

People still buy netbooks. Why? Cause you can do more with them than you can with any tablet currently on the market. You don't need to find an Android or iOS or BB application that can do the same thing as the one you already know. You can take the applications off the PC that you already know and are used to, and use them on the road. Sure there are other reasons (HD space, greater connectivity, better keyboards, etc) but are they truly the reason? Or is it just the apps?

So while the Android itself isn't cut down, what you can do with it certainly is even compared with Linux (let alone Windows!).


Now I'm not going to say that a Win 8 tablet is going to wipe out Apple or Google but given the massive advantage MS have when it comes to app development, it could happen.

[The E]

I guess so, but that depends entirely on the x86 ultrabook format (which the big tablet is probably based on) getting a lot cheaper than it currently is.

[Mikes]

In what way is Android "cut down"? Sure, unlike the original mainline kernel, it is heavily optimized for embedded systems, but there is no fundamental difference between android and every other operating system out there.
The only thing that is limited is the range of available input mechanisms (an issue notably missing in android-based tablets), everything else is an issue with missing applications, which isn't really android's fault.

Oh in theory you would be correct.... in practice, as Kajorama pointed out, not so much.

... the optimization for the tablet platform with all its limitation is at once Androids (and iOS) greatest strenght and ultimately greatest weakness. With keyboards and mouses and extra monitors, printers, all being "nonstandard/unusual/or in same cases impossible" to use with a tablet, with the way the app market is set up and with the pricepoints that it accomodates the whole thing is simple dead on arrival when you consider it from the perspective for a professional software developer who has been selling enterprise software or creative sotware suites.

As I said before... Android and iOS tablets are fledgling childs that - of course - can not compete with the Windows platforms hardware flexibility on the one hand and the wealth of "grown up" software suites on the other.


I mean, don't take me wrong here....  I truly loved my Galaxy 10.1 as I first got it... I loved the size and form factor...  and I literally tried to do everything with it...  and got more and more frustrated, then acknowledged that it is simply unsuited for certain tasks... then admitted that I could do most things easier, quicker, better, and with less frustration on my PC (keep in mind I do have a 12" Win7 Wacom tablet - which, while not *quite* as portable as a 10" tablet,  is lightyears ahead of Android/iOS in productivity when used as a mobile device for work)... and ultimately...   left it next to my bed to occasionally use as an E-reader or browse the web while laying down.

I'm thinking of getting a Kindle though (hugely more battery life, more portable and less strain on the eyes when reading due to e-ink)...   so the one useful thing the Android tab can propably do is go to Ebay.

In summary... I can truly see the potential of the size and form factor... but I experienced Android as a platform that is either completely unsuited for most tasks in my workflow or everyday life and at best "worse" than my pc. (and iOS with its ridiculous restrictions and file system limitations would be worse).

The form factor is the only thing these devices have going for it in my eyes... and now Microsoft is offering that. If their marketing department can get that point across (which is another big if admittedly ) ... then Game Over for the "toy tablets" ... except maybe as actual kids toys or a niche in the ultra low end / low price segment. (Android talets could propably survive there... Apple not so much.)

[pecenipicek]

To heck with CyanogenMod "For devices that are beefy enough"...... Put that **** on just about any phone that'll take it. I'm running CyanogenMod 7.2 on an HTC Legend, one of the most bottom end ARM v6 based phones that doesn't even have an official Gingerbread ROM, and even there it takes a frustratingly laggy phone with a lackluster, heavily locked-down stock 2.2 ROM, and adds in a stable 200 Mhz overclock, full DSP stack, smooths out the interface and makes it easy to throw out the nigh-uncustomizable HTC Sense. I had more or less given up on the phone and switched over to a Blackberry 9780 I had given to me when I decided to go ahead and give rooting the thing a try.

i will just point out that if you have old as **** phones around, then no, CM isnt the best option. the one i've had horrid experience rooting, putting CWRecovery on and yaddayadda is a T-com Pulse, also known as Huawei u8220. supposedly "offficially supported with CM7". guess what, it aint. or at least there isnt a single ****ing rom to dl on their site. i had to track down a CM6 image to even get it barely useable again, since in all my infinite wisdom, i didnt backup the original 1.5 rom.

btw, how does my phone compare to the androids anyhow?

in short, apple sucks, and you and your wife really should've known better?

I blame my wife's sister.  And her boyfriend.  We are all on the same plan to save money, and he wanted an iPhone cause she just loved her 3GS, so they got 4Ses.  Then my wife wanted one - it was either that or Android, but I will say this: the iPhone has a very slick interface.  Just woe to those who dare try to customize it (at the very least, Apple will not do you any favors when they release updates).  Apple has a very good product and complete asshole control freaks in charge of it, who hide behind the guise of "preserving the Apple experience" - oh, you mean like your retarded one-button mouse that you finally saw fit to improve?  Which stubborn old geezer finally died/retired to let that decision through?

The thing I hate the most about Apple is .. I guess it goes like this: (relevant part in italics)

There was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed,
With nobody by for to hinder;
She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,
And drummed her little heels against the winder.

Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic,
She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,
And spanked her, most emphatic.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

heheheheh
i know i laughed my ass off when my sister was showing off her 3G or GS, whichever, and was asking me how does she put ringtones on, and it turned out that she had to go through itunes. now, she's a diehard mac user, but even she hates itunes

i will agree however, the interface was silky smooth on it.

[Mongoose]

I don't know how iTunes manages on Macs, but it is an absolute cluster**** of a program on Windows.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

It works well on a Mac 99.9% of the time. 0.1% of the time, it doesn't.

And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

This does indeed sum up the workmanship of any Apple product. If it was made well, it will last years. If it wasn't, it falls apart in less than half a year from the purchase date. I was fortunate enough to get a MacBook that still runs, complete with a charger that is as durable as an Ares.