Whether it’s a Google-centric tablet like the Pixel Tablet line or a Samsung ecosystem oriented tablet like any of Galaxy tablets (I currently have a Galaxy Tab A9+ WiFi only), or OnePlus and generics… I’m just tired of the Android experience. So, I’m getting an iPad Pro M4 11" with WiFi/cellular.
Yeah, I know. Apple is “the Devil” in much the same way Microsoft or Google is. But, unless a truly usable Linux tablet becomes available, choices are limited. So, iPad Pro it is. I’m getting the 256GB version. A good friend has the 13" variant. It’s just too big, at least for me. Quite possibly the best screen I’ve seen on any device. I am in the Apple ecosystem to an extent. My MacMini is now an Endeavour Mini, I had an iPhone and I still have an Apple TV 4K box. It’s fantastic. So I’ll adjust quite nicely as I’m super familiar with MacOS, iOS and iPadOS.
I’m hoping for a tablet that will run Arch/Endeavour one day. But, until then… I’ll deal with the Devil.
I’ve personally never felt the need for a tablet. I guess some want one, though. I haven’t heard about any Android tablet being good either. It’s basically only Apple here, which kind of blows.
I’ve had 3 in my life and none of them ever lasted long as I found I didn’t really have a need for them. The longest 1 ever lasted was when I was waiting for surgery on my leg and didn’t have a laptop at the time.
As a Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 user who uses his tablet for art, writing, light gaming (because I bought it for art, not as a plaything - it can handle higher-end games), file management, and reading, I can say that it performs very well and has everything I need, especially if I don’t disable the Play Store and restrict it to only open source apps.
The only thing I don’t like about it is the fact that there is no headphone jack.
Android Tablets have a bad reputation based on the past, but in the last few years, Samsung especially, has caught up and the only thing people get by buying an iPad is more speed and brighter screens…
Too bad some citizens and the countries they have influenced don’t know how to demand respect from companies. ← Looking at pretty much every other region in the world.
From a simple Google search, I would say that OP’s experience seems to suffer from most other Android vs Apple posts. According to Samsung’s website the tablet OP listed is a little over $200 bucks while Amazon says that that particular model ipad is about $1000.
So to me this reads as I had a bad experience with a cheap device and decided to buy one five times the price. Then later on we get a post saying. I had a much better experience with a much more expensive device.
Literally everyone’s reaction: “Hmmm, you don’t say?”
P.S.
I’m also the owner of a Samsung S8 Ultra and think it is just as good as any other tablet I have used and I don’t see much difference between brands these days.
P.S.S.
Also can’t wait for linux tablets and smart phones to become viable. Then I will just use linux everywhere.
I’m getting the Apple iPad Pro M4 11" factory refurbished from Apple at $749. Minus $150 for selling my Galaxy A9+ via Craigslist (sold this evening).
Net price after refurbished discount and selling the A9+ is $599. Yes, still more expensive than the $229 I originally paid for the A9+.
As I said previously… I do exist in the Apple Ecosystem, though not to the level of those who use Apple products exclusively. And while I don’t have any “love” for Apple in general, I can’t deny that in the case of tablets, their hardware is far superior to that of any Android tablet (Samsung flagships a very close second). I’ve just lost all interest in Android, whether it’s Google-centric Pixel tablets or Samsung ecosystems. And the iPad Pro M4 is a super solid tablet, both in hardware and software.
That is great that you are getting a discount, but that doesn’t change the fact that one is still a much more expensive machine. I could by a million dollar computer and sell it to you for a $1. That doesn’t change the fact that it probably has million dollar components in it which will likely lead to a better experience.
I got a Minisforum v3, cost £930, but have to say Linux (and Windows) are not great OSes for a tablet, the experience is basic to say the least, especially the onscreen keyboards, which I would generously say are pants.
Perhaps the brand differences aren’t as wide as they once were. Particularly between Samsung’s flagship “Ultra” tablets and Apple’s “Pro” iPads. I still give the nod to Apple for build quality and hardware in general. But Samsung is a very close second, IMHO.
As mentioned a few post up, it really does just boil down to personal preference. I would venture to say that most who use Arch (and/or EndeavourOS) as their daily driver do so because they feel comfortable with the Arch way of doing things, and I’m one of those people. Nothing against Debian, openSUSE, or Fedora… I just don’t feel “at home” in those environments. The same way I just no longer feel “at home” with Android. A I have an Apple TV 4K and had an iPhone 13 Pro Max, it just makes sense to me to ditch my last Android device.
I don’t blame you. I’m tired of Android, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Tiktok … you name it! I’ve never owned or used an apple product. Might be something I also try some day.
I could get behind iPads as very nice tablet devices if Apple weren’t hellbent on not letting you just slap a microSD card in there instead of paying them 10x the price of an sd card to have the equivalent onboard storage instead.
I don’t care so much about the OS on my tablets being locked down or secure because I don’t use them for anything remotely ‘private’, not even web browsing-
I have two 10” Fire HD devices (both jailbroken to sideload apk’s, the only thing I’d miss besides all the extra cash I’d be out if I moved to Apple I guess ) , one that’s solely for streaming videos from my NAS when we’re in bed and one that I play around with doodling, read comic books and refer to PDFs of RPG sourcebooks when I’m playing tabletop stuff.
The latter device isn’t even on my network 99% of the time, it lives in airplane mode because I just don’t need it online and the battery lasts forever.
They are Internet connected, and in the case of Apple devices at least, always online (even when off). They sport multiple exceptional cameras front and back and multiple microphones, and location aware hardware.
If such a device is used within a private space, such as an office, a home or a bedroom, and we can guess how many people like to take one into the “reading room”, privacy concerns are as much about where it’s used, as what it’s used for.
I’ve got already a Samsung tablet which runs on LineageOS 21 (Android 14) that I use for casual web browsing, watching one or other YT videos, listening to online radios and the like.
However, if I were to shop for a tablet, it would be a Pixel tablet on which GrapheneOS would be installed right after unboxing.
Yeah, I would still be dealing with the devil but it would be a lesser devil, I think
I have a Samsung tablet, and use it almost exclusively for handwritten notetaking and reading PDFs. I did consider buying an iPad, but decided against it when I found out that it doesn’t support Syncthing. (Syncthing is a must.) iPads have pretty good hardware, and are great for art, but that’s mostly it. They don’t work well with any of my workflows.
I’m one of those people who uses Linux for computers but for mobiles I have always used apple. I’m not very interested in smartphones compared to computers so funnily enough I stick with Apple as everything is set up and required no tinkering, I work in IT and find everyone here uses Apple for phones and tablets as they just want something that stays out of their way for a change.
I would like to use Android but I trust Google less than Apple, and my trust for Apple isn’t high either but it’s the lesser evil of the two. Not only that but some android devices have bloat and advertising on them in my experience which affects how smoothly they could perform. I do wish I had more control with Apple such as uninstalling some software but I don’t really care about smartphones so this is fine. Kind of unrelated considering you are talking about tablets and not phones but iOS is almost the same on both. Performance wise some higher cost android devices work very well though and comparable to apple devices in the comparable price brackets.
I admit I could be an odd one out with phones and tablets though, I am currently 27, and I never had a mobile until I was aged 21, and only bought that was so I could look for jobs initially, so I admit I am a bit of an outlier for my generation when it comes to phones or tablets, I buy them outright used/refurbished and don’t buy a new one until they are permanently broken and I can’t fix them, for my previous phone iPhone 6s I replaced the screen, battery, and camera myself for that one as an example.
← Looking at pretty much every other region in the world.
) , one that’s solely for streaming videos from my NAS when we’re in bed and one that I play around with doodling, read comic books and refer to PDFs of RPG sourcebooks when I’m playing tabletop stuff.