Originally Posted by ClashcityRocker:
“Sounds like you aren't getting it.
Android doesn't lock you to any particular hardware or vendor. You like the Galaxy S3 this year, but want a Sony or a HTC next year? No problem, all your purchases will still be there and still work just fine. With Apple, you are permanently stuck with iTunes and Apple. The content can't be exported out of iTunes, it's a content vacuum cleaner, and it's designed to make you stay with Apple, even if you want to move to better, cheaper and more open devices.
All content has DRM these days, it's a necessary evil, but the key is the restrictions forced upon you.
Next time you record footage on your Apple product and send it to some other poor soul who has to download Quicktime that's bundled with iTunes just to view it, because that's how Apple engineered it to be. think of the Apple Virus....
I know you still won't get it, Apple owners never do. All I will say, is that just because the telly says something is great, doesn't mean it's true. The television and the internet lie quite alot. When you have as much money as Apple, Microsoft and Google, you can make the media say whatever you want them to say.”
As I mentioned before, you're still locked to the Android
platform, though. Sure, you can change from Samsung to HTC, but you (obviously) can't leave Android and take your apps elsewhere, nor take other platform-specific or DRM-protected content with you, just as you can't with iOS.
And again as I also mentioned, the lack of hardware variation, and the fact that the hardware and software are controlled by the same company, means that iOS suffers from fragmentation a lot less than Android. One manufacturer, a small range of devices, no 3rd party customisations, updates available for everyone at the same time without needing Samsung or HTC or a carrier to first make their own update...All this leads to the majority of iOS users being on the latest OS, save for those whose devices are too old. Android? The majority of users are on 2.3.3, with only 7.1% on ICS. And Android drops support for older devices just as much as Apple does, maybe more so given the 18 month update window Google promises (and even that isn't kept to by everyone).
There may be a lot more hardware choice with Android phones, but there isn't with Android tablets (and this thread is about tablets, and in the tablet forum). Aside from ASUS, who actually did something different with the Transformer thanks to the dock, all the high-end Android tablets are pretty much the same. Just look at those from the "2nd generation of tablets" that came in the same wave as the iPad 2... Tegra 2, 1GB RAM, etc. etc. Xoom, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Sony Tablet etc...the hardware is pretty much the same and they all run the same OS, the
same platform. The 3rd generation? Seem to be using the Tegra 3, and again I don't believe there's a great deal of variation between them (aside from the Transformer Prime, because of the dock).
[As for how the Transformer "easily outclasses the iPad on every front". Not true. The iPad 2's A5 SoC and the 3's A5X SoC have the same CPU as the Transformer TF101's Tegra 2 SoC, a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9, yet each have a superior GPU to the one within the TF101's Tegra 2: A dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 in the iPad 2 and a quad-core SGX543MP4 in the iPad 3. The Prime does beat the iPad in the CPU-front, as its Tegra 3 SoC has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 compared to the dual-core found in the iPad 2 & 3. However, the GPU in the iPad 3 (and even the one in the iPad 2) is superior to the one used in the Prime's Tegra 3.]
As I said before, more than once: All music purchased from iTunes is in the AAC format and free from DRM. It can be moved with you, from iTunes and the iPad or iPhone to any other platform, any other device, any other OS, so long as it can play AAC. Any music you rip from your own CDs is also of course in AAC (or MP3 if you choose), and again can be moved out of iTunes and into whatever else you want. If you subscribe to iTunes Match, and later choose to cancel your subscription (perhaps to leave iTunes and move to Android) *all* of your "Matched" music that you have downloaded is also available in the AAC format and without DRM, and can move with you wherever you want.
You cannot take apps with you, obviously, but you cannot do so if you leave Android. Sure, you can change hardware, but you are
still locked into the platform.
You previously said "you never own any of the content you buy with Apple, you have to give it all back if you want to leave." That also applies to Android regarding anything DRM protected. If you want to leave the
Android platform, you cannot take DRM protected content with you, just as you cannot if you want to leave iTunes/iOS. And you can't even buy films, only rent them (and then only so long as you have not rooted your Android device).[And, as repeatedly explained, it certainly doesn't apply to all content purchased from Apple, as you claimed, as it does not apply to music]
As for recording video on an iOS device... They record in H.264 (AVC / MPEG4 part 10), within the .mov container.
The container may be an Apple container, for Quicktime, but the content is not Apple proprietary, and you can play .mov files from an iOS device extremely easily without ever touching iTunes.
I just recorded some video on my iPhone, copied it to my PC (without iTunes), and then played it successfully in... VLC (free, non-Apple), Windows Media Player (free, non-Apple), and the DivX Plus Player (free, non-Apple). No need for Quicktime, no need for iTunes.
