Sub $200 Android tablets arrives: is the iPad doomed?

http://www.tech-no-media.com/2010/03/sub-200-android-tablets-arrives-is-ipas.html

by erlik • 16 years ago

9 22 16 years ago

stcredzero• 16 years ago

The big problem for Apple is that for most common tasks such as surfing, reading eBooks or playing audio and video the Archos tablet will will perform as well as the iPad for less than half the price. The only usage scenarios where Apple dominate is mobile gaming, will that be enough to justify the price? For some people most certainly, and you can expect a lot of Apple fans to be ready to pony up the cash too, but I am afraid that the average user won't see it that way and that the iPad will stay an high end device with limited market share.

Apple can position the iPad as the "cool" device where the Archos can get the low-cost segment. It can become the "cool" thing to have on campus, just like Apple laptops were. It will be a flash in the pan unless it's actually useful to college students, however.

robotron• 16 years ago

Brand is everything.

glhaynes3• 16 years ago

Also, quality.

illumen• 16 years ago

Branding is where I think android will win.

Google is better at marketing and branding than Apple. Also Android is cooler (sorry apple people it's true). Apple is now seen as mainstream, and boring. Finally android is technically superior.

A better media player is another reason why android devices will win.

Until the Troll (tm) comes out, and eats them all up ;)

FluidDjango• 16 years ago

With a rating of 3/5 stars from 70 Amz reviewers?

[ http://www.amazon.com/Archos-32-Internet-Tablet-Android/dp/B... ]

Maybe not.

Or... maybe tech-no-media just didn't tell me about all the publisher relationships that 'droid manufacturers have been developing (à la Steve Jobs since January).

It's not just the "cool" of the hardware that Apple plans to leverage - it's the store and retail relationships.

jrockway4• 16 years ago

The 5" was a beta program that the users had to pay $400 to participate in. And oh yeah, nobody was told that before paying the $400.

Needless to say, not all the Amazon reviewers were too happy about that.

The reality is, Archos fixed the problems, and now that tablet is basically a desktop machine in terms of web browsing and video playing ability. You can connect a keyboard and mouse (for writing HN posts), if you want, and you can output and record 720p video / 5.1 channel audio. (And it plays real-world video formats, not just what Apple sells in its video store.)

Honestly, I thought Archos was quite clueless when they released the 5" device, but they are doing better now. I emailed them asking why their media player app couldn't display Japanese fonts, and the next firmware update had a Japanese font. Of course, I would have been a lot happier if I had write access to my own filesystem... then I could have added it myself. I would also like documentation / code for controlling the DSP chip, so I can write a media player app that doesn't suck. Archos has kept the same codebase on all their devices, and while the video decoding works OK now, the UI code is just horrible. I think the whole app is a bunch of if statements like "if( volume > 0 && headphones_attached && phase_of_moon == FullMoon && ... )". Sometimes they forget to cover all the conditions, and weird stuff happens.

(To be cynical, I doubt we will ever see the tools we need to write a good media player app, and that Archos will eventually be dead from buggy software and obscurity. If that happens, hopefully someone else will release a Linux-based music/video player, because I am tired of Apple dominating this market.)

Or... maybe tech-no-media just didn't tell me about all the publisher relationships that 'droid manufacturers have been developing (à la Steve Jobs since January).

Nobody is buying the iPad for the ebooks. You don't want to read a book on an LCD screen.

But oddly, it seems that Amazon is deliberately shunning Android with their Kindle app. It works on Windows, Blackberry, and iPhone... but not on Android. WTF, Amazon? How hard is it to display plain text on a screen? (My DRM-stripped Amazon ebooks work fine in the stock browser.)

DenisM• 16 years ago

I participated in another $400 beta from Archos back in 2000. I see they didn't change much since then - it all looks very familiar.

Later on someone developed an open-source firmware for the Archos mp3 player, so there is hope.

toddh• 16 years ago

The article has a list of ways it is inferior, but says that's OK because it's cheaper. That's not Apple's market.

fierarul• 16 years ago

The iPad isn't even launched and it's already doomed? Yeah right... it will sell like crazy.

allenp• 16 years ago

"The big problem for Apple is that for most common tasks such as surfing, reading eBooks or playing audio and video the Archos tablet will will perform as well as the iPad for less than half the price."

Will it perform as well? Maybe on paper but CPU doesn't mean anything if the user experience isn't tuned and Apple has a good track record there.

jrockway4• 16 years ago

How is the user experience going to be different? Step one: click picture of globe. Step two: browse Intarwebs.

glhaynes3• 16 years ago

Yep, that's all there is to it. iPhone OS took one guy about a week to write.

replicatorblog2• 16 years ago

This seems like a horrible comparison. The Android tablet has 8X less memory, at best, smaller screen, low build quality, a low power chip, no app store, no marketing or brand, but because it has Flash lite it is going to cripple the iPad?

This does not deserve to be front page on HN.

dutchflyboy• 16 years ago

Well, I must disagree on most points. As the archos has a sd card reader, the memory isn't an issue (16GB modules are quite easy to find), the chip is low power but that's not bad, as it'll have more autonomy, (that's why the iPad has the A4), and most importantly, Archos IS a brand. A quite good one at that. The build quality is excellent (well, I can't vouch for this product, but Archos is a good brand).

replicatorblog2• 16 years ago

I don't get how a lower powered chip is an upgrade. When you say autonomy do you mean side loading software?

I respectfully disagree re: Archos. Do you know many kids who asked for an "Archos Clipper" for Christmas? Does Archos do any consumer advertsing? Is there a cottage industry of bloggers who make livings reporting on the happenings at Archos. You are technically correct, it is a brand, but not a very popular one.

I think this is something many people ignore. For people who don't hang out here, the iPod goodwill goes a long way.

mikecane• 16 years ago

New Archos Mini-Tablet Challenges iPad, Kills eInk http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/new-archos-mini-tab...

maxharris• 16 years ago

I'm not going to buy this piece of garbage. I want something that just works, and has every detail (hardware and software) thought out beforehand. That's why I'm going to buy the first 3G-equipped iPad that I can get my hands on.

Sub $200 Android tablets arrives: is the iPad doomed?

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