Google android tablet: Beware of Versions While Purchasing
Tablet computers are making desktop computers less worthy day by day, with strong leading performance by the Google android tablet. The reason is easy to understood, a tablet can be used for doing most common tusks usually performed using a smart phone or a desktop computer. Except for very memory and processor intensive tasks, such as high-profile professional-level multimedia processing, almost all general purpose computing can be easily done with a tablet pc. And most interestingly, those jobs can be done with mobility i.e. while one is on his way to home or office. The only obstacle here is the high price, of tablet pc, that successfully is being removed gradually by the Google android tablet.
But one must be careful while purchasing a Google android tablet. Because there are some android tablets available in the market, which are not of high quality.
A tablet can be qualified officially as “android tablet” only when the complete product (hardware & android OS) is authorized by Google. And Google authorizes this upon checking the compatibility between hardware and software.
As android OS is open sourced any one can incorporate it in his/her hardware. without paying any licensing fees. This great opportunity resulted in both good and bad experience.
(1) The good side is that, different manufacturers from all over the world has come forward to utilize this OS for making great tablet PCs. Samsung, HTC, Sharp, Sony, Motorola, LG along with several other manufacturers has been creating android tablets of great quality. All these models are authorized by Google, and these are the tablets that are actually making tablets a threat to desktops.
The first Google authorized android OS version for tablet computer is the Android 3.0, which is familiar as “honeycomb”. Motorola’s Xoom was the first authorized android tablet that was built on this Honeycomb“
So one should not buy any android tablet which is incorporated with an android OS versioned less than 3.0.
(2) The bad side is that, by taking the opportunity of free Android OS, several less familiar manufacturer has been making tablets, which are not eligible to get authorized as “Google android tablet” by Google. Very high possibility is there to have unpleasant user experience from these tablets.
The 2nd category situation was first anticipated with some models of the Google android 2.2 tablet.
The first unofficial android tablet (not authorized by google), familiar as Google android 2.2 tablet, based on android 2.2 froyo, is not a successful one.
Android operating system was initially released with compatibility with smart phones. This initial version of android was not compatible with a hardware like tablet computer. And this was clearly documented and announced by Google, the authority behind android OS.
But disturbance was created by Apple. Soon after the release of iPad, the first ever tablet pc made by Apple corporation, it became a big hit. Phenomenal sales report of iPad, allured many manufacturers to release their own tablet much like the iPad. And this tusk was not much difficult as the open source android OS available to them. They just made some tweaks to the latest android OS (android 2.2 froyo) and then incorporated that with their manufactured tablet pc hardware.
The resulted android tablet, familiar as “Google android 2.2 tablet”, was not a pleasant experience to both consumers and manufacturers. Because the modifications, made by manufacturers with android OS, were unable to turn android OS compatible with a tablet like hardware. The result was poor consumer experience along with low sales volume. Also several android apps hosted on Google play site malfunctioned with these tablets.
So before rushing to market for buying an Google android tablet pc, it is very helpful and much recommended to read some review for Google android tablets to find out the best model that suite his/her requirements . One can easily find those reviews by searching with “Google android tablet review” phrase. “Precaution costs nothing”, similarly spending a few minutes on net for reading reviews on Google android tablet will not cost someone much.
Google android tablets are superb example of the capability present day information technology. No one should miss it only because of choosing wrong models. So get informed and enjoy the blessings of technology.
Read MoreAndroid: A Buzz in the Mobile Industry
Android is the most popular operating system for mobile devices available in the market. This OS is installed on most of the smart phones and tablets. It is an open source software component, specifically an operating system, which is built to be used in mobile hardware devices. When we run a pc, we need an operating system installed, such as Windows, Mac or Linux. Similarly a smart phone or tablet needs an operating system. Microsoft, Google, Apple provides this kind of Operating Systems. But Google’s one is most popular, which is known as Android. At present android is installed on most of smart phones and tablets.
Actually android is not an organic or unique operating system. It is an modified version of Linux operating system. In the making process of Android, the Linux operating system is modified in such a way so that the resulted modified version is capable of running on a hardware platform which has constrained environment in terms of memory, processor and other resource.
Android operating system provides an friendly user interface which is responses very quickly with users touch input. This enjoyable user interface is capable of sensing several types of user inputs other than conventional such as swiping, tapping, pinching by user and provides response related to that, such as sliding in the next picture on screen with swiping of fingers on the screen.
Android apps is one of the most mentionable feature with android. With all its extraordinary touch screen capability, android easily draws the attention of a great numbers of developers for making various application softwares (android apps) and widgets. Widgets are web based software designed to provide instant update on specific events such as weather, game score etc.
Android has a special supporting system for running java based application. For this reason, most of the android apps are written in java programming language, though other languages (C, C++) are also used to meet special requirement.
Google maintains a common platform for all developers and users of android devices, namely google play, formerly known as Android market. This is an online market place, where all the android compatible apps and widgets are available for download by users through payment (in case of paid android apps) or free of charge (in case of free android apps). Any developer can upload his/her app on this site upon registration for making it available to users.
An android tablet is the most appropriate hardware platform for using all the capabilities of android OS as a tablet generally consists of more hardware capabilities and wider screen than a smart phone. An android tablet is recommended for experiencing the total enjoyment of android platform. Currently Samsung, HTC and several renowned electronics giants are developing android tablets. Among them Samsung is the most successful with its “Galaxy tab”, the most selling brand.
From its inception, android has been creating a revolution among the developers and consumers of mobile devices. And now it is being treated as the most popular OS in terms of sales of devices with android installed on it. With the support of Google, huge number of developers and attraction of open source fact, it now seems very difficult for any other OS to catch up android.
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Android tablets: Going Beyond iPad
Android tablets are now the market leader in the table computer
Tablet computers dramatic journey of success started with the Apple’s iPad. iPad showed the way of replacing both the smart phones/ mobiles & the desktops with one device, namely tablet computer. But gradually the leadership got handed over to the android tablets. This “transfer of leadership to android tablets” proved the marketing theory once again concretely- “demand rises as price diminishes”.
Nobody is fool enough to buy a product with 10 cents while same product is being sold at 5 cents in nearby market.
iPad, the tablet computer by Apple Corporation, has been very expensive for mass people since its inaugural in the market. On the other hand, android tablets come with reasonable price. Tablet computers that run on Google’s android operating system are familiar as Android tablets. iPads are only manufactured by Apple, while android tablets are being manufactured by several companies all over the world.
Android tablets cannot be treated as inferior to iPad in any respect, although several android tablets from non-reputed manufacturers are not of high quality. All the features of iPad are present in each android tablet of renowned manufacturers. Android and iPad both has great software developer base, but android is more attractive to developers because of open source license of android operating system (OS) .For the same open source licensing, manufacturers are more interested towards making tablets for android OS. So with greater developer network, manufacturer support, reasonable price and iPad equivalent quality – android tablets easily captured the greater market share of tablet market.
Android tablets are generally low priced compared to iPad without sacrificing quality. But there are some very cheap android tablets, made by almost unknown/ unfamiliar manufacturer, which lacks in quality. But this does not mean that, all cheap android tablets are of inferior quality. Several efficient manufacturers with effective production facilities are making android tablets which are at the same time cheap in price and high in quality.
Quality conscious consumers bother less of price; they just want best android tablets with reasonable price. For those people, world renowned manufacturers, like Samsung, sharp, Sony, LG etc., produces android tablets with superior quality. The products from this manufacturers can be treated as best android tablets, among which Samsung’s “Galaxy Tab” is dominating in the entire tablet market.
An Android tablet gets explored with all its extraordinary capability, when it is loaded with android apps for tablets. Android apps utilize the hardware capabilities of an android phone in full extent. The camera of an android phone can be used as barcode scanner, price tag scanner, magnifying glass, face recognizer by just installing concerned android app. Several types of android apps are available on the web, especially on Google play (play.google.com), an online hub managed by Google for all kinds of android apps.
But not all android apps are compatible/ installable on tablet. Android apps are marked with the device type which they are compatible with. Some apps are compatible with both android phones and tablets, while others with only phones or tablets.
The fan of iPads hardly could found a major insufficiency with quality android tablets. But android tablets supporters can easily indicate to the high price label of iPads as a major drawback.
Read MoreAndroid tablet: Making Desktops Outdated
Probably those days are not far away, when desktop computers/PCs would be treated as outdated. This is not an absurd thinking, as the expanding sales of tablet computers, especially android tablets, suggests. (Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/25/tablet-pc-market-analysis).
The war against desktops computers by tablets got its inception since the launching of Apple Company’s iPad. This iPad introduced a new product category, namely tablet computer, in the computer market. Actually a tablet computer is a modified, reduced version of desktop computer. It is smaller in screen size, storage volume & entire product size. It consumes fewer power, memory (RAM) & processor capability. As a result of its smaller size & weight, it is easily portable like a mobile phone.
Although the winning steps for tablet started by iPad, other companies took the tablet products forward by selling more and more tablets in the market. Currently there are several renowned manufactures of tablet computers.
Tablet computers got very popular among the people with in a very short time. This popularity is achieved by tablets because of some interesting, attractive & convenient features of tablets. Such as, (1) tablets are very much portable like a mobile or smart phone, (2) they consumes very low power quite same as smart phones, (3) tablets can be used as an alternative to mobile phone as they have built-in 3G or 4G mobile device, (4) this products have all the features of Desktop computers like internet browsing, facilities for installing any new compatible softwares, utilities, add-ons etc.
So with all these excellent features, a tablet can alone do the job of both desktop & smart phone/ mobile. That is why it is very much realistic to say that in the near future tablets will make desktops outdated.
This phenomenal achievement of tablets would not be possible if only Apple kept playing in the market with their iPad. iPad from its very beginning had been very expensive compared to desktops. Still now it is hard for a middle income grouped people of Asian & African countries to own an iPad.
To entertain people with a conveniently priced tablet, Google introduced android tablets that run on android operating system (OS). Moreover, Google made this android operating system open for all, so that anyone can use this android OS on his/her hardware. As a result, having being attracted by free usability of android OS several electronic device manufactures started making tablets. Even some very little known hardware manufacturers released their own android tablets. The fierce competition among these companies brought down the price of tablets dramatically. This credit clearly goes to android tablets, tablets that run on android operating system.
Android tablets were made available in the market by Google. At that time the brand name was
“Google Nexus”. Actually this “Google Nexus” branded tablets are popularly known as “Google android tablets”.
Besides Google nexus tablets, several other manufacturers’ tablets are available in the market. Interestingly the most selling android tablet is not made by Google. It is the “Galaxy Tab” from Samsung, a renowned South Korean manufacturer. According to the sales data, Galaxy Tab is the most sold tablet brand.
To go with the majority of people and sales data, the Galaxy Tab should be considered as the best android tablet.
One of the main reasons behind the huge popularity of android tablets is the “android tablet apps”. These apps, very much like computer softwares, can be installed in any tablet that runs on android OS. Google hosts a special online market place, named Google play (play.google.com), where numerous types of android apps are available, compatible for both smart phone & tablet running on android OS. Both free and paid apps are available on this site. This android apps range from games, utilities, social networking, and office packages to even spying purpose apps.
No doubt, the desktops are very much endangered in the current scenario. If the current popularity of tablets continues, desktops are probably going to be placed in the museums.
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