Tablet Market

Paul,

I listen to quite a few podcasts, material, all about android, FRD, etc. I know you have said many times over the past week “you should never buy any other tablet besides an iPad” and I agree I just got a iPad Air recently. I have tried may different Android tablets and they stink. So my questions are.

Why do Android tablets stink compared to Android Phones?

Where does the surface pro/go fall into on the tablet market?

Conversation 19 comments

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    11 May, 2021 - 12:23 pm

    <p>It’s a chicken and egg thing. There has never been an Andriod tablet that has sold well so the app developers don’t do anything special for them. Because the apps aren’t up to snuff the tablets don’t sell well.</p><p><br></p><p>As for the Surface tablets I don’t think the majority of tablet buyers want something as complicated as Windows. Those that do though buy them and a great many are happy with their purchase.</p>

    • helix2301

      Premium Member
      11 May, 2021 - 1:07 pm

      <p>I see a lot of prosumers buying surface tablets</p>

      • jimchamplin

        Premium Member
        11 May, 2021 - 7:22 pm

        <p>I think that’s a pretty special market that MS has handily captured there. People who want PC power when they need it, a handheld device for convenience, and are completely fine with Windows’ touch UI.</p>

        • vladimir

          Premium Member
          11 May, 2021 - 7:33 pm

          <p>the last feature makes the market very tiny :-)</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        12 May, 2021 - 11:41 am

        Like in a vision of some kind? 🙂

        • helix2301

          Premium Member
          13 May, 2021 - 7:31 am

          <p>Again like I said small market for surface lol.</p><p><br></p><p>But why do you think Android tablets stink so bad? Is it hardware? Is it because its open source?</p>

          • Paul Thurrott

            Premium Member
            13 May, 2021 - 9:42 am

            I don’t think it’s that Android tablets stink per se, but rather that iPads are so good. And there are many reasons for that, but key among them for this discussion is the aggressive way in which iOS/iPadOS developers have customized their apps to take advantage of the form factor. On Android, a lot of apps are just designed for phones or are only partially adapted for tablets. So the quality suffers.

            Getting developers to line up for something like the iPad is a unique Apple strength and it’s really paid off here.

  • earlster

    Premium Member
    11 May, 2021 - 1:33 pm

    <p>Surface tablets fit a different niche, compared to Android tablets, or iPads. They are a full blown PC, running all the business and productivity apps that PC users require, while at the same time they are light enough to be easily carried around, and do just fine as a movie player while traveling. It’s a PC, that’s also a tablet.</p><p>The tablet functionality is pretty sad compared to iPads, or even Android tablets, but it’s a usage mode that is probably pretty small compared to the PC mode.</p><p>My SP4 spends most of it’s time on my desktop, connect to the dock and monitor. But it’s easy to grab it and use around the house, or bring on a plane to watch a movie. It’s great for that use case, but it is NOT a tablet first, that’s also a PC.</p><p><br></p><p>That said, my replacement won’t be a Surface again. My current use case would be better served with a x360 type laptop. Light, convertible when needed, but also with better thermals, a more powerful processor, ideally even a mid level GPU and batteries that are user replaceable/serviceable, without having to remove the whole glued in display.</p>

    • helix2301

      Premium Member
      11 May, 2021 - 1:52 pm

      <p>my iPad air replaced my mac mini which replaced my surface 3 </p>

  • james.h.robinson

    11 May, 2021 - 1:53 pm

    <p>Big phones killed small tablets in the Android space. Chrome OS made large Android tablets somewhat unnecessary.</p><p><br></p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      11 May, 2021 - 8:58 pm

      <p>Indeed. Chrome OS is the best way currently to run multiple Android apps simultaneously. When there are more Chromebooks with touch screens OR more tablets running Chrome OS (there are some already). TBH, other than limited use commercial settings, I can’t see any value to Android tablets. Chrome OS may be a far better fit, potentially providing better multitasking than iOS while remaining a lot lighter than Windows AND being able to run Android apps, full Chrome browser AND offline Chrome OS apps like Caret (text editor) and PWAs.</p>

  • StevenLayton

    11 May, 2021 - 2:01 pm

    <p>With a little money to spend (for the first time,) I’m tempted with a new 13” iPad Pro with a Logitech keyboard to act as my main mobile device. It has all the apps I need, and will last a while. Thoughts and comments welcome….</p>

    • dstrauss

      11 May, 2021 - 2:52 pm

      <p>An interesting choice, but as a user of Surface Pro, Surface Go 2, and iPads galore, spring for a keyboard/case that fits your needs. A separate keyboard just seems to miss the backpack/carry bag at the worst times.</p>

    • timewash902

      11 May, 2021 - 3:15 pm

      <p>Go for it, it’s your money. </p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      11 May, 2021 - 7:27 pm

      <p>Exactly what I do. I have a small Thinkpad and an Acer Nitro gaming laptop for long trips, but for short trips, I have two lightweight Bluetooth keyboards by Logitech and a BT mouse. I just find popping that on a table to be easier for most stuff at home unless I’m working on development stuff. Even then, I’m doing CBM BASIC and 6502 machine language (I’m not actually that good at ml) so I can easily type it on the iPad and then transfer it into VICE or onto a floppy to try in the Commodore.</p><p><br></p><p>I typed way too much to say “I do that too!”</p>

    • vladimir

      Premium Member
      11 May, 2021 - 7:40 pm

      <p>I have a pro 12.9 inch and I love it but it doesnt substitute a laptop. There are still a few quirks that make it a diminished experience, especially for productivity. My top 3 are:</p><p>1) the file system is still lacking in comparison with a desktop OS. Apps still try to save in their own place. Finding and transferring files between apps is tricky</p><p>2) with split screen you get two apps running at the same time, provided they support split screen. If you need ore than two, it’s a mess. The always full-screen experience is problematic. For example, if while you are writing an e-mail you want to consult another one, you can’t do it. You have to close the e-mail you are writing, save it as draft, go to the other one and then open the draft again. It’s clumsy, time consuming and rapidly annoying</p><p>3) the audio system. the iPad doesn’t have a built-in mixer as windows or macos. If you are watching a video and at the same time another app makes a sound, the video will stop. </p><p><br></p><p>If this things don’t bother you, i find the ipad to be a great device for most other activities.</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    11 May, 2021 - 8:49 pm

    <p>Very few Windows tablets are used primarily as tablets rather than as tablet PCs. Windows is simply to big and complex to be an ideal tablet OS.</p><p><br></p><p>A very large number of technically Android tablets are Amazon Kindle Fires. They’re their own thing. An even larger number of Android tablets are biught by businesses to be used by their customers in limited commercial settings, e.g., on the backs of airline seats as food and drink menus, possibly for entertainment, and flight maps. They’re locked down and only meant to run a very limited number of in-house apps.</p><p><br></p><p>Which leaves a relatively small number of Android tablets, smaller the the number of iPads.</p>

  • j5

    Premium Member
    11 May, 2021 - 10:33 pm

    <p>I think this is one of the ways Apple’s closed ecosystem works. They are the only chef in the kitchen working on iPad. They have years to develop the same product and the same tablet os. And they iPad builds hardware wise are just flat out better, sure you’re paying for it but you get a premium build NO MATTER what iteration you purchase. </p><p><br></p><p>Android there’s tons of chefs in the kitchen, companies pushing out "kid" and "low end" tablets. They’re cheap and they know it. They don’t build them with the idea that they’re going to support it for more than a couple years. </p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC