So for the last few years while being converted into an Appleboy (the linux and windows days are only vage memories, but I'm still proud of them), the inner nerd was continually kept happy with a steady succession of cool, wow, some laughable items, fancy adpaters, remotes, mice, touch pads and money was put aside for special projects and arguments were prepared to be given when the time was right. But that was the past. Over are the simple days and many dangers surface, the most prominent being Android.
Android awareness beware.
You are continuously fed information about the android world as beating the hell out of Apple's kingdom, lengthy articles comparing, glaring, hershey chocolate flavored reports.
But all of this has no impact, that has always been the case.
So happy you are and some family member buys the new headphones, buys an iPod touch with the slim new look, buys the white Apple not TV box, iphone 5 we don't even mention, because that's basic survival, for most this is now more important than the TV.
An iPad mini is bought. All looks well everything is shining bright and all are happy as ever.
No, some things have changed.
Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10", Google Nexus 7 (for some the Kindle Fire HD, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7") were introduced along with the plenty. The tables of non apple devices are crowded, dozens of other vendors boxes lie around, some devices have power most of them don't, some they have in stock some others they don't, nobody really cares, the models are not really nicely put on the tables, the different security things glued to whatever part they deem worthwhile, nobody really cares. It's more like a cattle stand, almost daily they have new items appear and some old disappear and nobody really cares. It's a cow today, it's going to be a cow tomorrow. Some are more black than others, some have some spots, some are really special but in a way that you don't really remember them anyway. Out with the old, in with the new and still nobody cares.
interlude: Business users flee Blackberry, albeit it is still the best business communicator, iDevices are all the big hit, Android devices are on the list and are getting somewhere but not really. Nitro Desk to the rescue. (one of the reasons I wanted to look at android devices, meaning "needing one, owning one to actually do something with it")
But still there is a noticeable change, there are plenty of people actually leaving and going home with one or the other cow and many of them are not the ones you would actually really want and saved all the money for cause they all look like a cow. Feel like a cow, work like a cow. They still glance over to the bright and shiny, but that part feels more like the shrine of a church now usually staffed with the high priest in his black t-shirt with a white logo on. Maybe it looks to them like the slaughterhouse, clean white walls, clean white floor, all nicely stacked up and filled, arranged to the spot. They are getting nervous, it's not as inviting as it used to be. Many flock there, most that are there stay longer than those at the cow market tables, you actually see how it makes them happy, but many don't take them home anymore.
So what is it that made all this change possible.
All of the devices look almost the same, work almost the same, come with the same functions; a bike is a bike, a car is a car, a book is a book, a pc is a pc.
We have reached a point where people don't really see the big difference between the products, they just came out of the last period of time where they needed help to go from telephone to smartphone, most people really did not care. Basic requirements of life were a PC and a mobile phone, texting was the communication, and for the kids it was a game console and a handheld. People need things the easy way and accessible it must be.
So the last 5 years we were all being trained what it really means, comparable to learning what a bike is, how to drive one, to learn how we could make use of it; the car is the same and now we are into Touch and Ultimate connectivity, albeit missing the future implants that are being developed.
We don't really see the difference of a Mazda, Ford, Lexus, Infinity, Ferrari and all the others, it's a car. Even my favorite car the Tesla Model S. You can do the same, it works the same, it behaves the same. The flying cars being developed look like evolutionary mishaps. Certainly going to die sooner than later.
For me we are almost there where the Smartphone and the Tablet are anchored into our all being but at a breakneck pace.
So what's the deciding factor for most, what is it that actually leads to many people go the Android way, spend money on something they would have saved to buy from the promised land:
Price.
That's all what is now necessary to actually break in, come through the established walls of i-ism. Since most of the functionality can be considered to be on par.
It didn't take me completely unprepared but the first Android device that broke down our barriers was the google nexus 7. It's actually a research project into what can android really deliver, what are the Androiders talking about, what are they so excited about even fight for, what is the impact on the business side, will it really really really become the business enabler device?
Again, price, price, price.
Will the 4 billion people buy a bike at $1'000 dollar or at $199. Most of them will want to buy the $1'000 but are eying the $199 one with maybe a multiple classes higher but below the $1'000 one. There are people buying it at $10'000 or even higher, the same goes for a car.
So for me it was like I really am interested in the iPad mini, they solved a couple of issues and made a hell of a product at $329, but hey I just spent money on the iPhone and my iPad 3 is also considered to be in the right category, since the iPad 4 is just nothing and the iPad 2 is still sold and supported for $399. The times are also changing since more and more people are considered almost out of a job, job security for most people gone (it has been gone for a long time but people change very very slowly), world economic outlook not really going strong.
So we have the crave, the need, the want but hey I have heard, seen and touched those Android devices and they seem to actually work now, they weigh also not really a ton and have some proclaimed x hours of battery life. And hey I have now about 65 different models from different brands with some slight variation almost in 3rd generation and some of them start to sell at $89 or $75.
Say what!!!!!!
For $89 you get a good 7" tablet.
The $75 is quite crappy but actually also works.
Say again!!!
For $89 you get a good, decent 7" tablet running some version of Android above version 4!
Ok, sure, the battery is dead within one hour, the screen is almost non readable, no connectivity right!, still to heavy, feeling like a rip off, must be fake.
What, no. I has all that actually make it to be a tablet, that actually deserves the name table, is part of the class tablet. It has one or some other version of Android 4 and that's also not going to change through it's whole life span, well actually I don't care it works out of the box it's a tablet. It has only got 4Gb of flash, but aha, you can use micro SD card to increase, well done. Most will be streamed in the future anyway, who doesn't listen in on spotify or uses some kind of netflix, maybe some TB Disk with some form of DNLA and you have some form of MiFi router, or, or, or. The list of things it provides is far longer than the list of special needs, or nice to haves or whatever to not consider buying one of these.
The question is $329 or $89. Which one shall I spend now and be happy about it.
Most don't see a difference anymore. Even the color white does not really change the reflection in ones mind. A white cow and a black cow. Great.
But this is the actuall thing many people really consider:
$329
vs
$89
It's numbers but for many people they feel different, send different alert signals to their brains, your protection mechanism reacts differently. It's getting hard to actually list everything to come up to the $329. For $329 you also have not reached heaven, you'd need at least 32GB flash and nowadays a 4G connectivity and that plays in a very different league. Please consider that the iPad mini for most a shrunken iPad2 and not something of MagiK (retina display to the rescue?).
The 7" segment is really something that apple came late and people buy in droves, but what about the old 10" segment.
This is really bad, since the iPad2 is still sold at an unbelievable high price of $399 and it smells already old for such a long time. Somehow they cannot kill the product.
To my horror I found out that the 10" segment is actually the same. The prices for the galaxy tab2 and other models are to be found around $100 to $150 less than the iPad 2. But you'll find a decent enough 10" model for $149. Yes, that's $149 in total.
Ok, there are other models available at about the same price but these mpman do the trick of actually making you feel like you own a cow.
Since this has settled in the brain a couple of weeks ago in my mind as well as in others, the challenge became for me to judge what to deem worthy of a flirt with Android.
It was quite interesting because some process kicked in and not only with me to handle this as some kind of spontaneous purchase, which will have bad smell afterwards anyway, but just go and do it. Just remember it's only $89 and you can do it.
Some research into Android helped me out of this and relieved me of the ultimate pressure to must have, must buy now.
These devices will actually never run anything newer than what they actually have as an OS. Yes applications will get updated etc. But I want to be able to run the new without hacking my way in, which is currently not possible and would require a development or customization effort, that I could not think of doing anyway. And worst of all you would have to hack your way in from the start as these mpman devices do not run the google play store.
Ok, but these 2 shortcommings on a $89 purchase, what the heck go for it. Or shall we invest a little more to be closer to the real thing? Let's see.
Ok, here they just started selling the newer version of a tablet at $149, it's from Jan 2013 and seems to be even faster as some of the mighty, comes with the features you deemed standard anyway, which were not there on the $89, but heck, most of the days and people don't need those anyway. Android is free and open and everything is always possible, no?
From research and from experiences other circles it was clear that the ultimate Android device needs to be a Google Nexus device. You'll get software updates as you would with our beloved precious. And the SD card? No you'll find ways around that issue in time. But back to the prices
So $89 or $149 or $199
What $199, was that not the price you would have jumped anyway to buy the iPad mini, maybe even at $250 you would have swum through the amazon and taken a big beating by your family. That way the whole Android experiment would have stayed a developing story and you'd be in safe havens for some time, but no.
Google Nexus 7 at $199 is a must, so I say?
Call home, say that it's now the time that the purchase needs to be done, otherwise you'll loose your edge and won't be able to actually talk cowish to the all the others. You'll loose and advantage which is utmost important to secure the future for all of our family. The argument has been prepared months in advance, now everything comes into play and the purchase is a done deal.
Here you go. Leave the iDevice world behind and open up the box of Android spend countless hours doing basic experiments and broaden your wisdom of whatever you say knowledge you need to have to survive the age of tablets.
Or should I have gone for the $89 or waited a little longer .......
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