iPad vs Nexus or Fire

I know that this may set off a religious war, but ok so what.

For the last few years I have gone through two Nexus 7s and recently an Amazon Fire.

I laid the first Nexus to rest after more than a year of great service after it started locking up. A full system reset didn't solve it. Then the second Nexus' battery charging system died (tried a new battery- no go) and it was beginning to start to lock up like the first.

The Fire seems to work ok, but I haven't had it long- just three months. As it has no internal GPS so it is limited. What killed it for me was the NY Times reading app. Full of bugs that the NYT simply can't be bothered to fix. Why one Android app- the Nexus one works fine and another is crap is beyond me.

So I bit the bullet and bought an iPad mini. It cost almost double what an equivalent Nexus would cost. But so far so good. I am hoping that Apple's control of its OS and the apps it sells will make for a better experience. I have only two gripes so far: You cannot buy a book from within the Kindle app. Seems like Apple charges 30% for any app sold through the App Store and Amazon isn't going to pay that. So I have to buy through their Safari web site. 2) The other is that my favorite Android chart plotter app- MxMariner is not available. But lots of others are.

Is this experience typical. Does Apple's hardware/OS sophistication and app control really work to make it better than Google/Amazon/Android?

David

David, I get a lot of ribbing from my anything but Apple friends but have thoroughly enjoyed my iPad mini. My children knew I was too much of a tight ass to buy one so they got it and a life proof case for me. It does everything I want without all the bugs my previous tablets experienced.

Navionics does everything I wish done and was my primary chart plotter. As for books I seldom read new books electronically and am ok supporting my local B&N store. I do have a rather large collection of bibles, concordance's and various other bible study tools on my iPad and am surprised how quickly I became accustomed to the electronic formats.

Overall I'm sold Apple does a far superior job of vetting app writers thus leading to superior products. I'm certain that carries a long term price but feel whatever it is it's worth paying. There is no chance of me leaving the Apple family of products anytime soon. Hope this helps some.

Buy a Kindle book on Amazon and then read it on your iPad with the Kindle Reader App.

dwhatty said:

Buy a Kindle book on Amazon and then read it on your iPad with the Kindle Reader App.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do with the iPad. But with an Android device you can buy the book from within the Kindle Reader App

Apple requires that any purchases from one of their downloaded apps, goes through the App Store and incurs their 30% markup, which Amazon refuses to pay. So you have to buy it separately from within the Amazon web site, not the app.

That is the bad side of Apple's app control. But I can live with it. Just takes a few more steps.

David

The library system here in FL allow 20 downloads for 14 days for free.

reading or talking book same limits.

Any way to add GPS to that $49.00 FIRE ???

David, I had success with a DIY fix to my Nexus 7 charge issue. If you're inclined to open it up again check the ribbon cable connection to the charge port. It seems to be a common failure in that device and you can find how-to guides on the web.

Re Apple vs Android: I am a committed long time Android fan. Currently have a 6p and a Nexus 9. But I understand the appeal of Apple products, sort of. On my recommendation my parents and in-laws used Apple tablets. My wife and I use Android and my kids are comfortable with anything that they can have passed down to them

The apps situation is interesting. I'm always surprised at the differences in offerings and pricing between the two. I have some obscure interests like monitoring my electric and hybrid vehicles, manging VOIP services, etc. and am a techie. I've found that Android has a broader range of apps, some of them from obscure developers who have made available apps for limited audiences just for fun. Apple is a much more commercialized environment, which for me is mostly a negative, though in some cases I recognize that it leads to a better end-user experience.

I don't see a lot of appeal in the non-Nexus Android offerings like the Fire. There you have individual vendors adding layers to the core open source Android OS. My preference is for the stripped down version available on the Nexus devices. That guarantees that you always have a current OS and minimal bloatware.

Finally there are cost/value considerations. Apple generally has set the standards in terms of having beautiful design and excellent functionality for mainstream users. But their devices cost more - much more in many cases, and you're buying into an environment that will likely cost more to maintain. Apps are often more expensive, and there is lots of anecdotal evidence that you'll pay more in general for everything you do online. By using an Apple product you are self-identifying as an individual who is either not particularly price sensitive or someone who wants to be isolated from technology, or both. Don't ever think that savvy merchants don't recognize this. I'd rather present myself as a frugal techie when online

Sorry to blather on, but I find this to be an interesting subject, and come across these debates regularly.

Jeff:


I understand and totally agree with your observations. I was just tired of fighting poor hardware and software in the Android environment. I did re open my Nexus and wiggled the battery connector which didn't help.

Apples are much more expensive. Heck a Mac Air costs four times what I paid for a 32 Gig SSD Lenova 11" laptop which so far works great for me. But Nexus/Android has failed me: hardware, OS and apps, so I moved up to an iPad where I hope that Apple's superior design, manufacturing and software control will work for me.

FWIW, I have spent very little for apps, maybe $20 so far and no different from equivalent Android apps.

David

I don't mind paying for good apps, but am more comfortable with the open source ethos that Android supports.

Had an interesting experience when I was evaluating chart/plotter apps this spring. I went to install Navionics on my tablet, and was offered only the 'high res' chart package for something like $60. I installed the free evaluation copy and started playing around.

When I went to install the app on my phone I found that I had a choice of the same package or an alternate 'standard res' version for around $15. Curious about this I went online to try to find the difference between the two, and couldn't come up with anything definitive. So I bought the inexpensive version for my phone, and it then became available to load to my tablet.

After spending some time with both versions I can't see any difference between them. As near as I can tell they are identical. I feel like my diligence was rewarded by a 75% saving