Computing advice for the human being.

The point of this post, is to give my perspective, and opinion on Android Tablets, and hopefully give some insight to a potential buyer of android devices and tablets. If you’re looking for a comparison with Apple’s iPad, you’re in the wrong place. For me, Apple’s business strategy is transparent, you give them your money, then they tell you how you can use the device you now own (or do you?). Anyway, enough about Apple. Android is open-source, you do with it as you please. if something isn’t available as standard, you can bet someone has written some code to make it happen.

If you’re reading this you have probably looked into Android Tablets and are looking to decide which one to go with or whether or not you should buy one. If you want the short answer it is: Yes, buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab.  It is by far the best Android Tablet available to date. As an Android user, and developer, I have used several devices, and seen the progression of the OS from the start. The point of this article is to give you some key points that you can use in making a decision on buying an Android device, not necessarily just a tablet.

Before I begin, I would like to cover some of the boring background stuff that I feel is important to understanding the reasons for the points I make. It all starts with the birth of Android. Later I will cover some of the important points like screen type, hardware manufacturer and Android Market.

Read on to get the low-down on how to decide on which android device to choose.

The Android OS:

The Android Operating System, is just that, it is an operating system, a piece of software. Although it is often used as a term to describe devices, it is not necessarily true. Just like you would not call a PC a “Windows”, mobile phones that run Android are simply pieces of technology that the manufacturers decided would do well to run the “Android” software. Android, as you may or may not know, if the brain child of Google Inc, yes, the Internet search giant. How does that fit? Well, Google deal in information, and you can be sure that Android powered mobile devices deal in information just as much as the search engine does. The phone becomes a web of interconnected services, an amalgamation of your email with your social with your entertainment. You can search anywhere and everywhere with the touch of a button. It does of course have its downsides as a consumer, since it also opens you up to the world of targeted advertising based on your location (should you allow it), your usage habits and your choice of music. but these are minor points, and of course they have solutions, but more on that later. Android, being based in part on the Linux operating system is open source, meaning, with the necessary skills and tools you can build your own android OS from the freely available code and install it on a compatible device.

Android Tablet Hardware:

OK, so how does this apply to Android Tablets and why am I telling you this? OK, so lets look at the last few lines: “with the necessary skills and tools you can build your own android OS from the freely available code and install it on a compatible device“. This means that any manufacturer of devices out there can go get this code, and make some hardware to run it, and sell this new device to the general public under the tag of an “Android” device.

Thinking about this, it means one thing, that vigilance must be used when looking for Android devices. you can not see something labelled such and expect a certain level of quality from the hardware it is powering as you could from other brands of mobile devices. Just like a 400MHz Pentium 1 from 10 years ago probably won’t give you the user experience you would expect from Microsoft’s latest offering with Windows 7, which I can tell you, given the right hardware, is an incredibly amazing operating system.

So, Android Tablets, there are a lot of them these days, and many more to come. The important point here is to look at the manufacturer behind the hardware. Samsung, Motorola, Dell, these are companies with well established, quality brands. Worldwide companies that you can rely on to offer the support for quality constructed products. This comes with a price. I would not dare to expect the same quality, nor level of service or support from a cheap tablet I bought for £99 from eBay or amazon. It simply isn’t reasonable to expect so.

Android + Tablet, Good or Bad?:

I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab every day, I develop Android software using it, and for it. I would first of all say this, don’t believe for a moment what people say (as i have just today read in a respected PC magazine) that developers are not focusing on optimizing for Tablets. As one of those developers I can honestly say that Tablets, Android, and even Apple iPad, are a major focus, at least for the work we do at the company I work for. Some say that the current Android OS is not optimized for Tablets. In my opinion, it doesn’t need to be, it is designed for touch screen devices that use fingers for input, on the tablet it is nothing but a nicer, larger version of what is already a fantastic experience on Android Phones.

*Important* – Screens:

An absolutely key part of choosing an Android Tablet is that you choose one with a “Capacitive Touch Screen“. Take my word from it that the user experience is worlds apart when it comes to using a capacitive touch screen as opposed to a “Resistive Touch Screen“. Although they sound similar, and their technical names don’t really help explain the difference, I’d like to explain a little further because this is the most important point in my opinion:

Capacitive:

Capacitive Touch is the technology used in the leading touch screen devices such as Apple’s iPhones and iPad, most (all?) Android phones from quality, respectable manufacturers, as well as many high end touch screen devices. Capacitive Touch works in such a way that it detects electrical current from the tips of your fingers (which is why you can’t use them with gloves on, and they don’t work with a stylus (pen type object) unless it’s a specially made one. These screens do not require you to press the screen at all. In fact, you can have these screens respond just by barely touching it with your finger, so lightly that you can’t even feel that you have touched it. These are the screens that give silky smooth touch response, and make the whole user experience just what it was intended to be. Make sure the device you buy does have this screen technology.

Resistive:

Resistive hails back to the days of Windows Mobile PDAs, although not necessarily the same technologies, the cheaper devices use a completely different method of recognising touch compared to Capacitive mentioned above. These screens are much cheaper to make, and give a terrible user experience, most require the use of a stylus to operate and all require some level of pressure to be applied before the screen will respond to a touch (less so on the higher quality versions). Either way, these screens make for a horrible experience on touch screen devices, especially on touch screen optimised OSs like Android.

How to tell:

If you are buying online, Capacitive Touch devices will usually show off the fact they have CT (Capacitive Touch) screens as a feature, and it is one to be proud of. If a device has a stylus it’s likely not a CT screen. Also, in terms of Android Tablets, the cheaper ones are highly unlikely to be CT, as these screens are expensive. Trust me, the lower end devices that have these screens will likely come with more problems than just the screen and are not worth your money at any price, in my opinion. If buying in-store as the clerks, try it yourself, it’s immediately obvious the moment you try the device if it’s CT or RT (Resistive Touch).

Market:

Android Market is a good deciding factor on whether or not to buy an Android Tablet. Google imposes restrictions that hardware manufacturers must meet in order to use the Android Market on their devices. They must meet certain requirements to ensure the perfect user experience and this is a fantastic thing. Most of the cheap devices will not meet the requirements and so most will not have access to the Android Market, what does this mean to a potential buyer? Well it means no access to the huge, and growing database and wealth of applications available on the Android Market, thousands of which are available for free. These cheaper devices will come with a manufacturers own “Market” or App Store likely with very few applications and which pretty much make the device useless beyond the core application list that is part of the OS.

Conclusion:

Make sure you choose a device from a respected manufacturer, ensure it has a capacitive touch screen and access to the official android market. Expect to pay a premium price for one of these devices. My advice is that if you can’t afford one of these higher end devices, not to buy one at all, the poor quality and lack of support from the cheaper device manufacturers are nothing but a tainting of the Android user experience and do not represent the possibilities, capabilities and overall silky experience the Android OS can present.

I’m sorry about how long this post is but I feel that the information here is all important and is certainly something i would like to familiarise myself with before spending out several hundred pounds on a device.