Twice in December, on two separate occasions, I bought and paid for a 16GB model of the Archos 101. This was to be one small step for a Scotsman, towards e-reading, and I hoped it would open doors not only to e-books, but also to digitised comics.
It was not to be. Neither of the companies I made my orders with came through in a reasonable time frame, despite assurances to the contrary. And with the lattermost of them, I had to wait a full month for my £300 refund. This did not make me happy.
But I'm kind of glad to have been put through the wringer, now. Because this just happened:
"Made for tablets, by tablets."
Or something.
I'm not usually one to get all excited for firmware, but to hell with the Archos 101 and its half-assed Android 2.1/2 OS: Honeycomb looks to be the true future of e-reading - at least it does from my vantage point. Because I want pictures, as well as words. Perhaps even moving pictures... a big ask, I know! :P
No idea as yet which of the next wave of 10" tablets sporting Honeycomb I'll drop the big bucks on - nor, indeed, do I have any clue when we can expect to see them start hitting store shelves - but when the dust of CES has settled, I mean to see where the chips have fallen and get a pre-order for my favoured device in quick smart.
And then... then The Walking Dead. And Locke and Key. And Ex Machina.
At long god-damn last, am I right?
Or something.
I'm not usually one to get all excited for firmware, but to hell with the Archos 101 and its half-assed Android 2.1/2 OS: Honeycomb looks to be the true future of e-reading - at least it does from my vantage point. Because I want pictures, as well as words. Perhaps even moving pictures... a big ask, I know! :P
No idea as yet which of the next wave of 10" tablets sporting Honeycomb I'll drop the big bucks on - nor, indeed, do I have any clue when we can expect to see them start hitting store shelves - but when the dust of CES has settled, I mean to see where the chips have fallen and get a pre-order for my favoured device in quick smart.
And then... then The Walking Dead. And Locke and Key. And Ex Machina.
At long god-damn last, am I right?
I gave up waiting for quality Android tablets to hit the market in any reliable form. So many tablets have been announced but trying to find any for sale, or in stock, or even with a firm date is a game I got bored of playing.
ReplyDeleteBought myself an iPad which was far too expensive, and I still have some issues with Apple and the choices they make. It does however do exactly what I need, and it is available now, and there is software designed for it.
I'll still probably get an android tablet at some point in the future but I'll wait too for a proper tablet version of Android plus some software designed for those tablets.
Jay
And lots of software. You're right, Jay. It's an iPad I want, at the root of it; certainly it was the iPad that spurred this tablet fever of mine along, but I disagree with Apple products on so many levels. Is it so much to ask, that I might be able to expand my memory some? Watch something on the BBC iPlayer or plug in an external HDD?
ReplyDeleteSteve Jobs says yes.
Good on the guy, I guess, for helping to make Apple a going concern again, but I've always plunked my money down on the dark horse, the underdog, and from the looks of Honeycomb at this early stage, my patience (although I've hardly been patient, truth be told) looks to be paying dividends already.
Can't wait! :D
It's the first Apple thing I've bought, I'm usually the same I'll always go for the dark horse. I've always had non-ipod mp3 players, my e-ink reader is a brand most people wouldn't have heard of and runs open source firmware, I strip the DRM from everything I buy. I am pretty much the sort of person who doesn't buy iAnythings. You won't find me talking about the iPad's 'magicalness' or inexplicably spelling Microsoft with a $.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what I do now have is a device for consuming media which is well built, has a good battery life and most importantly has a huge weight of developers behind it creating apps. I've just given in to impatience, Android will get there, and I think it will ultimately be the best choice. It will certainly give you the most choices when it comes to hardware. Software is playing catch up but that'll get there too and probably overtake.
Anyway, I'd be interested to hear your experience once you get something. I very nearly bought the Advent Vega which looks like a great choice for the money.
Oh and BBC iPlayer works. :)