iPad vs Asus Pad

[Goober56]

So buying one or the other for the wifes Birthday. Can't decide on which. Can anyone give me the deciding factor? Give me your pros and cons for each. Apple of course you know what you are getting into, solid and no nonsense. Android is Android. But I took a chance on an Android phone over an iPhone and am happy I did.

Any advice here would be great.

PS: thinking of Asus TF300 and iPad2 at a minimum.

[djemzine]

So buying one or the other for the wifes Birthday. Can't decide on which. Can anyone give me the deciding factor? Give me your pros and cons for each. Apple of course you know what you are getting into, solid and no nonsense. Android is Android. But I took a chance on an Android phone over an iPhone and am happy I did.

Any advice here would be great.

PS: thinking of Asus TF300 and iPad2 at a minimum.

In all honesty, go for the iPad 2 since a) more app selection, b) no hiccups, c) easy for people to use/understand who are new to tablets/technology and d) if you don't care about Adobe Flash content. Even though I am an Android user, I suggest this method as it gives no hassle right off the bat.

For the Asus Tablet, despite it being a quad core and a baby version of the Prime, the only advantage it has is - if you pair it with a docking station from Asus itself, you can get a full fledged "notebook". Not sure if this can be done with an iPad 2/new iPad or not. With that being said, it gives you the option to hook up USB devices from mice to flash drives, etc. Plus you can get added storage through the full sd card slot, micro sd slot + on board 16GB. With iPads you can't increase storage capacity. The dock also adds extra battery life to your Asus tablet too.

Personally, I'd go for the Asus tablet because it gives me more options to do what I want which is a lot of customization + storing files on a memory card, browsing the web with Adobe Flash, and most importantly, I prefer the landscape viewing as opposed to the horizontal viewing of the iPad 2 (despite one can flip the iPad 2 to landscape mode).

Those are my two cents by the way. Good luck however.

[steveMR]

In all honesty, go for the iPad 2 since a) more app selection, b) no hiccups, c) easy for people to use/understand who are new to tablets/technology and d) if you don't care about Adobe Flash content. ... I suggest this method as it gives no hassle right off the bat.
I agree whole heartedly here. I own an iPad 1 and it is still performing great. My wife picked up on how to use it quickly and uses it a lot now.


Personally, I'd go for the Asus tablet because it gives me more options to do what I want which is a lot of customization + storing files on a memory card, browsing the web with Adobe Flash, and most importantly, I prefer the landscape viewing as opposed to the horizontal viewing of the iPad 2 (despite one can flip the iPad 2 to landscape mode).

I agree here too. Having expandable storage is very nice. Does the Asus have a replaceable battery too? You might be able to buy 3rd party extended cell batteries if so.

My cell phone is an Android and given a choice I'd go Android again. If you are a power user you'll appreciate it more.

[canadiankorean]

Instead of ipad 2, put in the extra $113 for the ipad 3.
It's well worth it for the retina display.

[djemzine]

I agree whole heartedly here. I own an iPad 1 and it is still performing great. My wife picked up on how to use it quickly and uses it a lot now.

Thank you

I agree here too. Having expandable storage is very nice. Does the Asus have a replaceable battery too? You might be able to buy 3rd party extended cell batteries if so.

My cell phone is an Android and given a choice I'd go Android again. If you are a power user you'll appreciate it more.

And thank you. Not sure if its expandable or replaceable. Haven't looked into it, but who knows. It might be.



Instead of ipad 2, put in the extra $113 for the ipad 3.
It's well worth it for the retina display.

Maybe OP has a budget, that's why? TF300 is around the $350 ish mark and the iPad 2 is around the same mark or slightly less depending what version.

[insync44]

Unless your wife likes to play around with an android Tablet, I would get her the ipad 2. Solid, no muss or fuss, millions of apps and no waiting for updates that never come.

[HotYaris]

Your wife will feel special with an iPad 2, especially when she brags about it to her friends and colleagues.
That is the main importance.

[Goober56]

Your wife will feel special with an iPad 2, especially when she brags about it to her friends and colleagues.
That is the main importance.

Touche...

[time space]

Your wife will feel special with an iPad 2, especially when she brags about it to her friends and colleagues.
That is the main importance.

...at least that's how HotYaris explained to his wife why she got a bottom of the line Toyota instead of a BMW.

[medalgo]

iPad 2 try to get the new version with the updated processor

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5789/the-ipad-24-review-32nm-a5-tested

[gman]

Ask your wife if she likes a Pad at all. My colleague had the same question regarding buying what to his wife. He asked me the same question. I suggested iPad but I also told him to let her try first. He took the iPad from the company home for a weekend. The result was his wife does not like it at all.

[gnuman]

I had the iPad 3 and gave it back after 4 days with it. While there's many apps, the iPad wasn't a fit for me. It's a dull product that barely changed since the days of the first iPod Touch with the bland OS.

Comparing screens iPad 3 vs Transformer Prime, the Prime wins here. I have both and despite higher res which Apple makes you believe is the best thing in the world, the pixels per inch is higher on the Prime. So if I'm saying the prime is better than the 3 it will be definitely better than the iPad 2.

You can't compare a keyboard for an iPad vs the prime dock. It doesn't compare the dock also extends the battery life of the prime as it has a battery in there.

Sadly your wife will probably prefer the iPad not because of the stuff I mentioned above but because they are the Lululemon of the tech world.

[Goober56]

This is my thinking. The iPad because its the "cool" thing, or go with the Transformer (Thinking TF300 here) as a more customizable type deal. My issue with the Asus brand tablets are everything read confuses me more and more. Like the 101 is better than the 201, the 301 is the next gen 101. Any enlightenment here would be great. And while I am on top of most things techie, I have not kept up to date with the latest and greatest.

Thanks for all the input gang, its mucho appreciated.

[medalgo]

I have both and despite higher res which Apple makes you believe is the best thing in the world, the pixels per inch is higher on the Prime.

Hmm really? Mind explaining that a bit?

[gnuman]

Woops my mistake. Got the numbers mixed up. The new iPad has the higher ppi and res but when it comes to text, I found the Prime had a crisper text compared to the new iPad. If she wants flash then she'll be out of luck with the iPad.

Another thing I found is when I browse with my Prime I don't get the mobile sites but the full blown desktop site which is nice compared to surfing here on a mobile version of RFD.

OS wise, I felt restricted on the iPad but there are pretty good apps there but knowing that she probably wants to have an iPad compared to an Android tablet.

To get the new iPad 2,4 it will be very difficult and the only way to know is through the iOS version that it comes with off the bat.

[tng]

I went for the Asus myself. I bought mine mostly for travel and as such a few features made the ASUS the winner for me.

(1) Expandable Memory. You'd be surprised how fast you can fill 32 gigs of storage with music and movies. I use the HDMI out so I can watch movies on hotel tvs from my Transformer so I like to keep my shows pretty high def which means 5 6 gigs a shot, just music alone I have 8 gigs.
(2) USB input if locked into the dock. This is great to furthur expand the memory beyond the 32 gigs my micro sd card holds + 16 of internal memory, with a portable harddrive. This way I dont have to pick movies before I go and can take my whole collection of Movies and TV shows. Its also great for charging my phone or powering my external speakers if I dont feel like using headphones such as when i'm listening to music in my room.
(3) With the dock the battrey life is ridiculous, the Tablet itself has a battery that lasts about 9 hours with the dock thats up to 18, great for long trips. And again with teh USB port I can steal some of that battery life to charge my phone.

[djemzine]

Your wife will feel special with an iPad 2, especially when she brags about it to her friends and colleagues.
That is the main importance.

Seriously? Bragging rights factors in or weighs more than any other reason lol?


I went for the Asus myself. I bought mine mostly for travel and as such a few features made the ASUS the winner for me.

(1) Expandable Memory. You'd be surprised how fast you can fill 32 gigs of storage with music and movies. I use the HDMI out so I can watch movies on hotel tvs from my Transformer so I like to keep my shows pretty high def which means 5 6 gigs a shot, just music alone I have 8 gigs.
(2) USB input if locked into the dock. This is great to furthur expand the memory beyond the 32 gigs my micro sd card holds + 16 of internal memory, with a portable harddrive. This way I dont have to pick movies before I go and can take my whole collection of Movies and TV shows. Its also great for charging my phone or powering my external speakers if I dont feel like using headphones such as when i'm listening to music in my room.
(3) With the dock the battrey life is ridiculous, the Tablet itself has a battery that lasts about 9 hours with the dock thats up to 18, great for long trips. And again with teh USB port I can steal some of that battery life to charge my phone.

Yup, very true and valid points.

[gnuman]

This is my thinking. The iPad because its the "cool" thing, or go with the Transformer (Thinking TF300 here) as a more customizable type deal. My issue with the Asus brand tablets are everything read confuses me more and more. Like the 101 is better than the 201, the 301 is the next gen 101. Any enlightenment here would be great. And while I am on top of most things techie, I have not kept up to date with the latest and greatest.

Thanks for all the input gang, its mucho appreciated.

They indicated that the original one was better due to the fact that the GPS and wifi had better distances vs the Prime which has lousy reception of GPS and wifi due to the metal casing they used in it. The TF300 addressed the issue but it is slower than the prime but hence the casing is platic it will not have the issues with poor reception

[Goober56]

They indicated that the original one was better due to the fact that the GPS and wifi had better distances vs the Prime which has lousy reception of GPS and wifi due to the metal casing they used in it. The TF300 addressed the issue but it is slower than the prime but hence the casing is platic it will not have the issues with poor reception

Thanks for the explanation, clears it up for me.

[djemzine]

Good luck with the decision OP and keep us posted.

[Beradon]

So buying one or the other for the wifes Birthday. Can't decide on which. Can anyone give me the deciding factor? Give me your pros and cons for each. Apple of course you know what you are getting into, solid and no nonsense. Android is Android. But I took a chance on an Android phone over an iPhone and am happy I did.

Any advice here would be great.

PS: thinking of Asus TF300 and iPad2 at a minimum.

Android hands down and no contest.

If you do go with the iPad don't complain when you feel limited by its features and functions.

[mepatrick]

I'm waiting to see how the Transformer Infinity stacks up against the iPad3.