Tablet Review - which tablet is the best?

For testing/dev purposes, I purchased several tablets/web devices in the past 6 months.  Here they are in no particular order:

Windows SurfaceRT w/integrated keyboard
iPad 2, 3, 4 and Mini
Samsung Galaxy Note
Blackberry ?
iPod 5, iPod 3, iPod 2, iPod 4

I also have a macbook air, a desktop PC, and an XBox.

3 months later Here is what I'm still using and how:
Samsung Galaxy Note -
This is my phone, and I use it for all the tablet functions. Its fast, zippy, good UI.  Big screen, impressive as a phone and really handy as a tablet.  Its the only "pocket sized tablet" and I think the form factor and device are essentially perfect.  Its the most used device I have.

Macbook Air

I use this all the time, in fact, I'm typing on it right now.  Its light, but I can do graphics, video editing, sound editing, print/press stuff, coding, interactive design, powerpoints, excel stuff, word stuff...and the form factor is elegant and wonderful.  I think its the best PC I have ever owned.  I love how I can barely tell if its in my laptop case, the smoothness, the thinness, yet has a great keyboard for touchtyping and feels really solid.

XBox 

Its really, really easy to use.  As a PC gamer I miss the graphics quality a bit and the cheat codes,  but the tradeoff for cost and now that I know how to use the controller I find it much more efficient than the keyboard and mouse.  I have a few complaints but overall I think its a great console and I enjoy using it.

old iPod 4 (chrome back)

I stuck with my old iPod as my "bedside computer" because the chrome back just feels better than the new form factor.  I can access email, games, and get the iOS experience on it.  Plus moving to a new one is a bit of a pain thanks to the incomprehensible labyrinth of "iTunes" universe.  In spite of rendering their old devices "obselete" , Apple does make the upgrade process VERY difficult in my opinion, particularly on the iOS devices.

Desktop PC

If I have really intensive layout, coding, or complex projects that my Macbook Air simply cant handle, I tend to default to my old backup PC.  Windows 8 ruined it, and I cant stress enough to people to NOT upgrade to windows 8 unless you have to.  Stick with Windows 7...it was fantastic and I miss it terribly.  I dont tend to "surf the web" on my Desktop much, its mainly a workhorse.  Also its the hub of my data/media storage and archiving.  Regardless of the "mobile world" I will likely always have a desktop PC somewhere unless Mobile devices are eventually able to connect to massive data storage that is cheap, as well as any resolution display device...wirelessly.

Gathering Dust:

iPad 2,3,4

 I like the look of the iPads, but I honestly find them too heavy to deal with, I actually hate picking it up...its a chore. They are also fragile and easy to drop due to their heft.  iPad 3 - if I didnt need it for testing, I would have felt it was a huge ripoff considering the crappy video rendering...particularly when the iPad4 came out along with the mini.  The iPad 4 has really impressive processing power, and if I could run office on it I *might* consider using it with a third party keyboard, BUT, the AIR still kicks butt.

iPad Mini

MUCH better form factor than the other iPads, but still too big.  Its the wideness.  I'm spoiled with my galaxy note.  The device is beautiful and interesting, but I cant see having a use for it if you already have a smart phone and a nice laptop like the AIR.

Microsoft Surface RT

I Really wanted to like this device.  There was a promise of flash support, basically a full PC experience in a tablet with a really lean and mean keyboard.  The kick stand is really cool.  Its lighter even with the keyboard than the macbook air.  BUT....alas, the OS killed me.  Windows 8 entirely blows.  Putting that useless "metro" thing on it but shunting you to the desktop every time you needed any of the most common apps like all the office ones was really really disappointing.  Also the flash support was *only* for a handful of sites whitelisted by microsoft...again...a total burn.  I loved being able to type AND sweep the screen depending on what I needed to do and the little flappy keyboard was cool...but one of the things I really like about my PC is the fact that I can run any PC application on it.  The surface really couldnt.  I was planning to "upgrade" to the Surface RT pro, but the primary advantage of "lightness" goes away with that one, and its bulkier than my AIR too.  So, no go.  Surface sits collecting dust.



Blackberry Playbook

Honestly I had to google "blackberry tablet" to even get the name for this abysmal piece of junk.  The OS reminded me of a $149 GPS no name device I purchased a long time ago...clunky, incomprehensible, and full of pointless junk.  Its small but heavy, has a huge wide frame around the screen that is "touch sensitive" for some odd reason...as if that somehow adds value. It was so bad I only used it to bring up my test websites but its barely been on at all. 

Were I to recommend a purchase to a fledgling geek, I would strongly recommend:
Galaxy Note as phone, Macbook AIR, iPod.  You also get to be aware of everything on all devices.  I'd recommend a nice big and configurable desktop PC if you can fit it somewhere in your house, and use it for media server etc as well so you can keep most of your big files there.

The rest I would "pasadena" including all the iPads.  If you can ONLY have one device and that one device CANT be a phone for some reason, the iPad mini would be a nice thing to have, particularly for a child or older person new to computers.  Otherwise get a Galaxy Note.  It really is the "everything device" and is by far the most important device in my collection if you go by use...closely followed by the AIR, and I dont leave home without either of them.

Flash finally dies.

I was recently asked this: "...does iPad/Tablet delivery have a significant importance to your company plans?"


My posts have been all about flash up to now, but in the past 6 months I've experienced a shift and moved to "the dark side" of HTML for a number of reasons.




It started with a number of website examples demonstrating what HTML/Ajax/Javascript are capable of now, particularly when coupled with WebGL.  It wasnt at the level of flash, but the differences were subtle. 

THE SQUEEZE

Client / Server Communication
Ajax in particular was an eye opener for me, the ability to communicate subtly between a client and server without impacting the user experience was always a deal breaker for me and HTML, and Flash is particularly adept at it.  Once I really got to understand Ajax, it became clear that Flash's primary technical advantage was quickly leaving.


3d rendering
Flash is still a great 3d tool, but the technology is coming under fire for licencing fees that occur after 50K users, so its "light and flexible" smallness suddenly developed a big looming wart.  Conversely WebGL is getting better and better, as well as canvas 3d, CSS, and other alternatives are looking really good and getting increasing access to hardware support.


Developer tools/workflow
Flash's key strength has always been the ease of development - from idea to working prototype.  The iDE (integrated developer environment) tools for 10 years were without match, but Adobe has quickly moved to build on that and move into HTML/Javascript based technology as it quickly becomes capable.  Now we have Edge, Edge Reflow, and many non-Adobe based developer tools that collectively kick butt.

iOS
I had always thought flash vs html was about a rivalry between Steve Jobs and Adobe, and that could very well have been the case.   But blocking flash on iOS really accelerated the demise of flash on mobile, and eventually instead of fighting, Adobe rolled over and killed the player on Android. 




App Stores - Temporary Reprieve?
App stores provided a reprieve for flash in a philosophical sense, as one could still use it to build apps as well as desktop.  BUT, the App stores presented a plethora of difficulties for any serious development.  App stores simply have too much arbitrary power and no accountability to developers, and the fear (warranted or not) has disillusioned them.  The "long tail" of developers simply cant make enough money off the app given the massive dev cycle, red tape to wander through, and the chance your app will be summarily "denied" for some violation of a clause in the interminable and constantly changing Apple Developer Agreement.  This shows up less on the Android side, but so do the users.   Long story short, App stores are not a long term, sustainable market for developers.  They are a stop-gap (make hey while the sun shines)

Meanwhile, the model for charging for things on the web has changed too.  App stores tried to "control the flow of money" but thus, if you bought an app/service on one device, you couldnt use it on another.  Microsoft's answer was to try to own all the surfaces/devices...and this is quickly materializing as a case of doing everything badly instead of one thing well.  I'd sum up windows 8 that way after having owned an XBox, PC, MS SurfaceRT, and a windows phone and trying to get them to interoperate.   My PC now is much harder to use (thanks windows 8), my surfaceRT is collecting dust - as are all my tablets thanks to the Android Galaxy II phone I have.  So, as a business, I'm coming to realize that money/distribution of product or service flow needs to be controlled by the company/portal, not some third party, or they cant assume the risk of doing business...its a fundamental truth that will essentially kill the app stores.   

Finally there is facebook.  Id wager the little webbrowser integrated in the facebook app on mobile is an increasingly common means of browsing the web.  If you could dial your phone, access your contacts, and browse the web(as you can now) with facebook's app, all a phone would need is the facebook app.  Facebook doesnt need to have a phone, they could simply *be* every phone.  And is any phone on earth not going to support facebook?  I doubt it.  HTML thus works inside facebook's browser and means if you are building HTML based apps, services, or experiences, people don't need to leave facebook at all.  Since any site that allows login supports facebook login (except google and microsoft of course),  Facebook rules the web.  While google is wasting time ignoring facebook and making yet another dumb thing in their list of dumb things..."glass".  Lets see..."wave", "plus" , "buzz", "glass" etc. prove that Google simply doesnt get the web anymore.  Its not about a giant dewey decimal system, its about connections between human beings and their collective wisdom.  But I digress...

So Flash and really app stores, and every closed market/technology is literally getting squeezed from every conceivable direction by pure technological evolution - in almost every way.

As I've always said, if a technology came along that "did flash" better than flash, I'd jump on it.  In the past 12 months I think its come to pass, and so I've jumped. 

Flash was king, now its HTML/Javascript/Ajax.


I admit it, but I was right before, HTML wasnt ready.  Now it is, and I'm not an idiot. :)