> we're better off as hackers and consumers in a market with real competition
On the tablet market, the competition was decimated by the iPad, which was, objectively, overall better than any contender, and by a comfortable margin. Yes Android could potentially do stuff better than iOS, yes hardware could be non-crap, but what was going out of the door was not even in the same league at all. The only one that had real potential at some point was the WebOS based one†.
Until now.
The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.
I long for this tablet to be available outside North America.
†The Kindle Fire is completely under-specced in terms of quality. The Nexus 7 and iPad are both way better.
Now was 6+ months ago. You could get a nice fast Tegra3 tablet for a while now at a competitive price. The Nexus is really just an Asus TF201/TF300 shrunk down to 7 inches and with a hefty reduction in price.
>The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.
Or unaware of the last 2 Asus Transformer models (three now as the new one just launched) or even the budget Acer tegra3 tablet. Galaxy tablet isn't bad either, just slow to updates.
I've owned both the TF101 and the TF300 and really feel no need or want for an ipad. The Fire/Nook aren't tablets, they're appliances. If someone wants an android tablet, there are at least 2 or 3 very nice models for sale and 4 or 5 mainstream lower tier cheaper ones.
The Nexus is just a big price cut. Its the same hardware we've been using for some time. That's partly why its so cheap. The Tegra3 chipset is ancient by SoC
standards (November 9, 2011.).
The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.
Trashing Android tablets hardly qualifies as an act of critical bravery. "There is only an iPad market" has been the mantra of opinion piece on the subject for as long as I've been reading them.
The truth is that we've had non-crap Android tablets for a while now but none good enough to seriously challenge the iPad.
On the tablet market, the competition was decimated by the iPad, which was, objectively, overall better than any contender, and by a comfortable margin. Yes Android could potentially do stuff better than iOS, yes hardware could be non-crap, but what was going out of the door was not even in the same league at all. The only one that had real potential at some point was the WebOS based one†.
Until now.
The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.
I long for this tablet to be available outside North America.
†The Kindle Fire is completely under-specced in terms of quality. The Nexus 7 and iPad are both way better.