The Future is here!

[Kotok]

A couple of months ago I bought an S7 at Best Buy. Since then I have done all the mods...you know, flashed the Singapore ROM, rooted, installed the good utilities. Well, the other day I was talking to one of my professors about this forum and XDA, how enthusiastic, and fanatical everyone is about their particular table. He smiled and said, "You know, it's just like when the Altair came out. This is just the beginning. Wait until someone sets the standard and tables will have and even bigger effect on the world than the PC did."

The reason I am telling you guys this is that things are changing so fast (Moore's law) that I have a feeling we will never see 2.2 for the 7. Hell, by summer everybody and his brother will have cheap tables with Honeycomb. Not that I don't love my S7 its just that it will probably end up in my closet with that old DOS machine.

Kotok

 

[xaueious]

It will be at least August (quad-core Tegra).

And the S7 is coming out with 2.2 confirmed.

I'm not in the US, so I don't care about what type of apps content providers make for Honeycomb. Not planning to play a lot of games either. For my locale, the S7 works just fine and will continue to, Honeycomb or not. Whether or not Honeycomb will succeed remains to be seen. For now, it is clearly not headed towards success. Apple has a strong grip on what people expect from a tablet. Honeycomb fails to meet those expectations, and is not generating enough interest with the price point either. Most people who want a tablet want an iPad. I want an Android tablet because I enjoy Android. Over the months I've been here, most people who come by want to buy Android tablets because they think they should be cheaper, which is an utterly foolish notion that Motorola is thankfully smashing to bits.

I don't think the tablets can compete as anything but auxiliary devices to PCs... Yet...

 

[Triune]

I hear you about the future is here, but at the price points for the upcoming Android tablets, I am hearing the screech of brakes. For the money and the ability to do just about anything, nothing so far beats the S7, 2.2 or not.

 

[[email protected]]

I have to agree regarding being happy with the S7. I think it will be a big black mark against Huawei if they don't make the 2.2 upgrade available for all of us. I'm also waiting for T-Mobile to address allowing us to have both voice and data service available (complaint filed with the FCC and e-mail sent to T-Mobile's Chief Marketing Officer). However, I can check e-mail, read e-books, watch videos, play MP3s, and use GPS on my boat with the S7. Trying to figure out more good things I can do with it! Rob

 

[Kotok]

The ipad is a toy. The Android S7 is a real business-use device. However, most people here in the US have never heard of it, and when you tell them its made in China, the first reaction is that it must be junk.....very unfortunate because, its the best value available.

When some brand name manufacturer starts producing tables with a little better functionality (think quad-core snapdragon) and independent developers start making real business apps, instead of utilities, the market in the US will take off. I was in BrandSmart (a US retailer) the other day and the salesperson said they can't get enough of the Xooms to meet demand. So, corporate ordered a half million dollar reset just for tables in the next 60 days. Guess I'm not the only one that sees this train coming.

The only real issue I have seen is that large developers (I work for one) have tied themselves to Microsoft and personally I think MS has missed the boat.

Just my humble opinion.

Kotok

 

[pvella]

I think Android and iPad is starting to look like the old days of the Mac vs PC. Mac users used to be elitist back then as well. Their devices where more expense, only ran on Apple hardware, were difficult to program, proprietary. But they looked great, worked great and required less training. They were innovative. Mac had windows and a mouse, while PC the still had a command line and IBM and Microsoft were competing to produce a windows environment. Sound familiar at all. The one difference is the en-mass adoption of iPad and iPhone technology.

I think over time the same things that helped the PC conquer the Mac the first time will come into play again. One of those factors will be cost, although personally I would pay more for an Android device, because I dislike closed systems.

1) Prices will be driven down, because of the number of hardware suppliers, compared to the iPad, which has one. Economies of scale will ensure this. (just like the old PC days)
2) Development on Android will grow at an increasing rate, while development on iPad will stagnate. It is a lot harder to build apps for iPad. It costs more to develop, it is hard to get your app published, and the development community is closed. You cannot just walk up and download some stuff and start going. There rewards are there for developers, which keeps them going, but there will be an overwhelming swarm of Android development in the future. When this starts to translate into better games and more functionality, this will start to hurt Apple.
3) Google vs Apple. Google can make a vast amount of functionality work better on Android than on Apple devices. I don't think they have exploited this much yet, but I imagine the time will come when certain features in the Google Cloud will work better on Android. I am talking about Maps, Docs, Navigation, Storage, Mail, Calendar etc...

Anyway that is my take on it. For now, I am happy with this little device, which seems to do most things I want. The battery life is probably the biggest problem that I see with the S7, and I doubt that any Android upgrades are going to fix that.

 

[Woodfiend]

In addition to all the functionality of the S7 and the low price point.... one thing I am happy to see being developed on the android apps are the whole house automation ones. The potential for tablets to be much more than portable web devices is great. I already control my lighting,computer,av rack and much more with my harmony remote...... can't wait to control it with the s7. (and control it while I am away from the house as well).

As far as 2.2..... I think it would be great. But worst case scenario mine will be a functioning wall mounted touch screen in the bedroom that controls the music and lighting in the bedroom. Then the newer tech tablet takes center stage in the main part of the house....

 

[JDubTrey]

I think Android and iPad is starting to look like the old days of the Mac vs PC. Mac users used to be elitist back then as well. Their devices where more expense, only ran on Apple hardware, were difficult to program, proprietary. But they looked great, worked great and required less training. They were innovative. Mac had windows and a mouse, while PC the still had a command line and IBM and Microsoft were competing to produce a windows environment. Sound familiar at all. The one difference is the en-mass adoption of iPad and iPhone technology.

I think over time the same things that helped the PC conquer the Mac the first time will come into play again. One of those factors will be cost, although personally I would pay more for an Android device, because I dislike closed systems.

1) Prices will be driven down, because of the number of hardware suppliers, compared to the iPad, which has one. Economies of scale will ensure this. (just like the old PC days)
2) Development on Android will grow at an increasing rate, while development on iPad will stagnate. It is a lot harder to build apps for iPad. It costs more to develop, it is hard to get your app published, and the development community is closed. You cannot just walk up and download some stuff and start going. There rewards are there for developers, which keeps them going, but there will be an overwhelming swarm of Android development in the future. When this starts to translate into better games and more functionality, this will start to hurt Apple.
3) Google vs Apple. Google can make a vast amount of functionality work better on Android than on Apple devices. I don't think they have exploited this much yet, but I imagine the time will come when certain features in the Google Cloud will work better on Android. I am talking about Maps, Docs, Navigation, Storage, Mail, Calendar etc...

Anyway that is my take on it. For now, I am happy with this little device, which seems to do most things I want. The battery life is probably the biggest problem that I see with the S7, and I doubt that any Android upgrades are going to fix that.

The difference between 1985 and now is that Apple owns a website and a chain of stores that can allow them to cut out the middle-man on retail. On the other side, since Apple has itunes it avails itself of another revenue stream post-sale. To me, Apple has plenty of room to sell the iPad with a slim margin, at-cost or even as a loss leader. Moto and Sammy pretty much have to make their profit on the sale.

What you're seeing now is that Apple is actually selling a better product FOR LESS than android tab makers can, and I'm afraid that Android won't be able to do much about it anytime soon (if ever). Other than flash, is there a reason to get a xoom over an ipad2?

...and don't even get me started on this Netflix issue and what that portends.

I love my S7 and I love Android. I'm not sure if I will keep my S7 (more because of the S7 slim coming around the corner than anything else) and I'm even less sure what the ceiling for android will really be.

If I had a dollar for every device that was supposed to be an iphone/ipad killer, I'd have enough money to buy a Xoom and an iPad.

 

[Kotok]

Tablets are not at the 1985 stage when compared to the microcomputer; Its more like 1977. The stuff that was happening at the homebrew clubs in the US back then is almost identical to what is happening on this site now. People bragging about mods they've made, posting pictures of hardware, folks getting all excited when someone gets some small issue worked out, the overall free flow of information. The parallels are almost unbelievable.

 

[Tom T]

The difference between 1985 and now is that Apple owns a website and a chain of stores that can allow them to cut out the middle-man on retail. On the other side, since Apple has itunes it avails itself of another revenue stream post-sale. To me, Apple has plenty of room to sell the iPad with a slim margin, at-cost or even as a loss leader. Moto and Sammy pretty much have to make their profit on the sale.

Actually the original iPad (16gig wifi) was sourced at about $270, maybe a little less, and they were selling it for $499. That is one heck of a margin.

 

[pedro_]

The big difference with previous OS battles was that the Mac was something like 3 years ahead of the PC. This time around android is only 6months behind the ipad and in some areas is actually in the lead (gps, storage).

It was also very difficult to convert code between the two os, now as most stuff is Java or JavaScript based, porting is often really trivial, in some cases it's just a case of different css. There is thus no reason why android cannot offer all the features provided by an ipad.

The cost of ipad and android hardware comes down to component count, similar spec and quality is gonna cost the same.

So is the ipad cheaper? I suspect that the total cost of ownership is actually much higher for the ipad, apple's 30% skim of the price of apps for a start. An example is skyfire, free on android £2 for ipads and iphones.

I can see a big future for locked android tablets for all sorts of business purposes (no market access). Low cost teaching devices, personal translators, ebooks etc. I really don't see apple going after that business, they appeal to Mac and iPhone owners, as glorified ebooks displays, but are they really so useful beyond that, I am unsure.



Pete, on the move...

 

[Tom T]

According to Slashgear the cost to build a 32gig iPad2 is about $337, this means Apple is making an enviable profit on it's hardware. Here's the link to the post -

32GB iPad 2 costs $337 to build: Touchscreen biggest expense - SlashGear

So Motorola charges $600 for the WiFi version of the Zoom, and Samsung's pricing structure would seem to be equally inflated. When I think about it the S7 is a bargain, and in a way I hope the big name companies continue to be greedy as it opens up huge opportunity for lesser know companies and greater choice for us.