I have no idea about what these are about.

What is the difference between an ipad 2 pad the rest.
I know that ipad 2 is a computer as well but do the rest also have the same facility.

Any info or advise would be appreciated

They all do pretty much the same thing.

The best option is to go to somewhere like PC World and try them out and see which you like best.

DIffernt user experience, I personally find the quality of the apps and games to be the best on the iPad. The battery is also excellent and easily last an entire day even you you spend hours playing tiger woods and football manager

The iPad is A very solid and stable device due to apple controlling the entire us experience, I find android to be a more buggy OS in general (haven't tried 4.0).

The iPad isn't without it's flaws though, there is no flash or bit torrent clients if they are important to you.

what do you want to use it for ?

with ipad the hardware and operating system are both from apple

With android, the operating system is from google and the hardware from a number of manufactures. Android tablets are generally cheaper but the user experience is not as smooth and integrated as ipad. It can still be hit and miss about how well apps are going to work. On the plus side, because android is more open, its a lot more customisable if you want to tinker with it.

In its essence the IOS stuff fits into the console/handheld games platform category.
It usefully has its one stop shop with advantages and disadvantages.

Android is a more traditional computer where open source APPS and even firmwares are also popular. This means that stuff like VLC, full Opera, Firefox, Open Office and even torrent downloaders can be there.
IOS users claim to spend a lot more so this might bode well for their free apps being better than the equivalent free APPS on Android. Conversely, with Android being 300%+ the sales of IOS the opposite could also be said.

With Android being open malware writers just need to trick you into installing their malware. With IOS they also need to trick Apple into letting their malware into the store.
The iPad screen is good quality but on Android the screens are higher resolution ones at top end. The hardware may also offer standardised extras such as HDMI, full bluetooth and memory expansion via both micro SDHC and USB.

It is effectively 'Android tablet computer versus iPad tablet console'.

I would add that if you use a mac for your main computer then its a no brainer. iPad integration is very good. As android does not exist as a desktop O/S then you are relying on 3rd to provide functions that are built into apple environment. Not saying that there are not android apps to do this stuff, it just not as neat as one when one company does it all.

That "300%+" only applies to the smartphone market, however.

In the tablet market, the iPad totally and utterly dominates, selling far far more than all other tablets combined.

As well as the iPad having the vast majority of the tablet market, there are more iPad apps than there are Android 3.x apps, plus iOS also has more paid apps than Android.

Also, iOS users are more willing to pay for apps, and there are more apps downloaded per user on iOS than Android (2:1 IIRC).

So I wouldn't be surprised if iPad apps (paid and free) were superior to Android apps. There is a far larger market... a far larger market which is also more willing to spend money.

Are you sure?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...er-Target.html

Those stores no doubt were also allowed to reduce the price of the iPad on that day.
And apps are still apps, no matter whether tablet or mobile. Most new apps now allow for that.

High sales on Black Friday won't have wiped out Apple's massive lead just like that. Sure, the Fire will be the first device to actually make a dent in it, but even if the figures are true the iPad still has 2/3 of the market.

Still more iPads out there, still more paid apps on iOS, still more tablet-oriented apps on iOS, still more people willing to pay for apps.

Good to see the Fire do so well though. It is about time that someone actually provided some competition for the iPad. Like Apple, Amazon knows that content is king.

Would it be worth buying an iPad 2 now for Christmas or waiting until the inevitable iPad 3?

If Apple sticks to its "usual schedule", then the iPad 3 should be out in March/April.

The main thing all the rumours, tech blogs, etc. agree on is that it will (allegedly, of course) have a "Retina display" (as well as the usual spec. bump). Although there have also been rumours that there will be one minor upgrade in March, and a major one later in the year. Then again, there were also rumours we'd have a second launch this year... allegedly that didn't happen because of problems making enough of the displays to a satisfactory quality.


If you bought one now, would you be disappointed when a new one came out four months later?

I was in your position last year, and decided to wait a few more months for the iPad 2 rather than get an iPad 1.

The point being that Kindle Fire prices obviously did not change on Black Friday.

Although it does seem the Fire is easily turned into a full Android tablet, to me the iPad and Fire are extremely similar in their nature.

Reviews suggest otherwise saying the Fire feels alot slower than the iPad when using it and has alot less Apps and Games. Not to mention a reduced screen size and build quality.

The Fire is good for its price point but I don't see it as a real iPad competitor.

Alan has a point about them being similar.

Both lock you to one source of apps (iTunes App Store / Amazon Appstore), both make it very easy to acquire other content such as videos, music, and books, using their own stores for each.

Amazon, like Apple, provides and controls the entire "ecosystem".

Amazon is the first tablet manufacturer other than Apple to realise how important content is in the tablet market. Most tablet consumers probably don't give a toss about getting bombarded with tech. specs etc. ... they just want an easy way to consume content.

I agree the reviews haven't all been that glowing, but I still think it's the first serious competition for the iPad, unlike the other failures we've seen.

One should hope so.
$199 versus $499+++ With both using IPS screens build costs may be quite close too.

The 'aftersales' concept is indeed similar. Interestingly the future Sony PS4 may well be yet another proprietary tablet.

Just to avoid confusion though, if you want either the iPad or the Kindle Fire right now, then you're somewhat restricted. The Kindle Fire isn't available in the UK. You could import one from the US, but Amazon US won't sell you one directly and if you did get one the majority of services that are set up for the US on Amazon just aren't available here (App Store, Movies etc).

Hardly surprising the kindle fire sold so well on black Friday it was only released mid November compared to the iPad 2 that's been out since March. The fire has a long way to go to catch up to the iPad sales.

Its just another safe granny Pad. There is far better out there classed as a failure only because they never sold 5 million..

I agree. Comparing the Fire to an iPad is fairly pointless. It's like comparing a Ford Fiesta with a Rolls Royce - totally different machines but each with a lot of positives for the respective markets. If you only ever drive to the shops then a Rolls is a fairly silly purchase.

If the Fire is available in the UK for less than £200 then it's going to be a huge success even if it is smaller, slower and not as pretty as an iPad and lacking in many features (camera, GPS etc)

Exactly why the £200 higher resolution Archos 80 G9 is a better all rounder than the Fire.
Not as good as the £500 iPad you mentioned but not so lacking either.

News on the iPad 3 and Fire 2:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...d-to-head.html

What would really shake the market up would be an "iPad mini". Steve Jobs always vetoed the idea of a smaller iPad but with him not being around any more things could change, especially as the rest of the market seem to be settling on smaller form factor devices.

While the iPad may me a fantastic device, I still think it's far too big (and expensive) to carry around with you all day.

It seems a bit ridiculous to have a new Kindle Fire 3-5 months after the first one was released.

HTC and Samsung do it all the time.

Samsung Galaxy S2 - May 2011
Samsung Galaxy Nexus - November 2011

For Example.

Bought a 16gig iPad 2 wifi last week as a pressie for Mrs Q at £399. It's an excellent piece of kit. It was an act of desperation on my part but we've both been very impressed.

Not when you think of a vast and often strange array of devices Archos sells.

Just increasing the size probably won't cost more than $10.
And the new Quad Core CPUs only add another $5 to the cost.
Amazon could make decent profit at $250.

What I find incredible is how old the Xbox 360 and PS3 are. And the xbox sold a million last week!