New Toy, New Toy!!

[jimnyc]

My wife bought herself a new Ipad 3 and saw my sad face when I explained how badly I wanted one. She wouldn't spring for the Apple, so I got this which was much cheaper:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/iconia-tab-a/iconiataba200

Certainly not as good as the Ipad, but more than good enough for what I want. It's VERY fast surfing the 'net and the 10.1" screen plays movies at 1280 and looks awesome. This one has a USB port which the Ipad does not. This way I can copy movies and such to a stick, and watch them on the fly. It's only Wi-Fi and no 4g or any of that crap, but I wouldn't use it with a data plan anyway. It also runs the Android OS and I need to use that marketplace instead of Itunes. Overall it's a good deal for $299, while my wife is getting the Wi-Fi only Ipad 3 for $599.

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/news/Acer_Iconia.jpg

[logroller]

That's cool. Down with the man (apple)! 6 bills$ for an ipad, does it make you better looking? Cuz I might be persuaded:laugh:
Seriously though, it sucks I've been with apple so long; cause now if I was to switch to a diff platform, I'd lose all those games, apps and, especially, music. Guess music's not as important on a tablet though; or is there an itunes app for android...there should be, or I smell a monopoly suit. :poke:

[jimnyc]

No Itunes app as all the apps there are designed for the apple OS, while this device uses Google's OS called "Android", and therefore you need to use the Android Market which is now called "Google Play".

[logroller]

No Itunes app as all the apps there are designed for the apple OS, while this device uses Google's OS called "Android", and therefore you need to use the Android Market which is now called "Google Play".
Does it play songs from itunes...iirc aac format?

[jimnyc]

Does it play songs from itunes...iirc aac format?

Good question! It'll play all your standard media files, although I've only tested a few so far (Wmv, mkv, avi, mp3...). I know it will play aac files, and there are quite a few good media players to download and use if the device doesn't play them generically. That's why I hate Itunes though, as it's not friendly about letting you move and listen to your music elsewhere. I like plain 'ol mp3 files myself.

This device can be connected to your main computer via USB, and then you copy over whatever files you want, and use the appropriate tools/utilities to play your music or videos.

[jimnyc]

According to this article, in a quick search, it does play them - http://itunes-to-android-tablet.com/?tag=how-to-put-itunes-music-to-acer-iconia-tab-a500

[tailfins]

I'm holding out for introduction of the Windows 8 tablet. Nothing beats Wintel. Windows 8 consumer preview on a desktop machine is pretty good so far. Does anyone have an educated guess why it seems most IT people at Harvard use Macs?

You can get an Ipad 2 from Microcenter for $360 :
http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?sku_list=370502+370577&N=4294955851

Newegg sells El Cheapo Androids for $130:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858683003

[Noir]

I'm sticking with my iPad2 for now, but will probably upgrade to the next iPad when it comes out.



Seriously though, it sucks I've been with apple so long; cause now if I was to switch to a diff platform, I'd lose all those games, apps and, especially, music. Guess music's not as important on a tablet though; or is there an itunes app for android...there should be, or I smell a monopoly suit. :poke:

Why? It's called having an eco-system, something Apple has done *very* well, but its not only apple, look to gaming and Sony vs MS, should there be a monopoly suit because i can't play games downloaded for my PS3 on whatever the new XBOX is going to be?

[tailfins]

I'm sticking with my iPad2 for now, but will probably upgrade to the next iPad when it comes out.



Why? It's called having an eco-system, something Apple has done *very* well, but its not only apple, look to gaming and Sony vs MS, should there be a monopoly suit because i can't play games downloaded for my PS3 on whatever the new XBOX is going to be?


Simple solutions:
http://xbox360emulator.org/

http://playstation3emulator.com/

I haven't tested these, but it's a place to start.