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« on: April 29, 2013, 07:06:49 am »
Personally I'm waiting for a functional windows-based tablet because I use too much software that isn't and probably won't be available for either android or iOS.
My wife bought the Samsung Note II as a replacement for her laptop because she doesn't do much on her home computer and when she needs to type long documents or put music on her ipod she can either use my laptop, her work laptop, or an old laptop we keep as a backup. She really likes the Note II and from playing with it a little myself it's a very fast and very stable system. It's on the higher end of the tablet market (but still cheaper than an equivalent ipad) but it's a 10" screen and runs very fast. I think Samsung products are all generally very good and there are some Samsung tablets with a lower price point. Bluetooth keyboards are widely available for the tablets, both built into cases and free-standing.
To answer Nateo's question, I don't think Office is available for either format yet but I can only imagine it will be a matter of time before that changes because the absence of Office is a key reason why a lot of people have not replaced their laptops with tablets. However, there are some decent options available for android. I believe Polaris Office is included on all android products. I don't like it on my phone but it's fairly comparable to Office on my wife's tablet and saves/loads Office formats. On my phone I use Documents To Go Pro, which is $15 and also works with Office formats and pulls documents from the device and Google Drive, which is a huge plus because I use Google Drive to store a lot of work documents. It's not as robust in functions as Polaris but works more efficiently on the phone and I really only need it for word processing. You can always access Google Drive online and use their tools. Same goes for OpenOffice.
We're not completely anti-Apple in my house but I am not in love with their products. I have an ipod I use at the gym and it is fine for that purpose. My wife also has an ipod and an iphone. She likes her phone but it's a 3 and Apple has decided it won't update the OS on older models so when her apps update they don't always work, so the phone is losing a lot of functionality. That's the whole problem I have with Apple. They design all products so you never have a complete product, so you feel like you always have to buy the new product, and when you have a product it eventually becomes irrelevant due to Apple's control over all the software. Personally I also think the products are designed to force users into simplistic functionality and I don't like that. Otherwise they are great devices and there are plenty of good reasons to go with the ipad if it's a good fit for your needs and preferences.
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