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Google quits selling tablets

techcrunch.com

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Re: Google quits selling tablets

#11

Post by zdw »

The mid level tablet market died in a race to the bottom.

Looking on aliexpress or taobao, you'll find dozens upon dozens of cheap tablets with CPU's from allwinner or rockchip, a few gigs of ram/flash and a not that great 8-10" screen for Completing against these are a few Samsung models that have their highly customized variant of Android, and Apple holding the premium ground with iOS/HW quality/price/performance, and MS selling the Surface with Windows for similar prices.

The best we can hope for is for low end tablets to improve over the next few years.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#12

Post by __sr__ »

Good riddance! It’s not like they have actively been developing Android to support tablets. In fact, it is the other way around. The older versions had better support for tablets. Even Nexus 9 was a half hearted attempt at best — and the rest is history. Google’s lack of interest in nowhere more evident than their own apps — many of them were just scaled versions of phone apps. And if Google is not bothering to optimise their apps for tablets, what motivation do third party developers have?

Strictly speaking, Android tablets never even competed in the same arena as the iPad. Samsung is an exception, but they don’t control the ecosystem — which makes things much harder for them — even if we ignore their atrocious software.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#13

Post by gruez »

sliken wrote: post #4

I loved my nexus-7, and the 2nd gen nexus-7 even more. Inexpensive, pure android, decent hardware spec, and a usefully larger display than a phone. Anyone know of a current table that avoids the adware, crapware, and 3d contact managers where each card flies around in 3D? I just want android with the current security updates and 7-9" display.

go over to https://download.lineageos.org/ and find a supported tablet.

pros: no crapware (nearly stock android), weekly updates

cons: needs unlocked bootloader, not the newest and greatest (manufacturers take their sweet time to release kernel sources), weekly rolling release

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#14

Post by FussyZeus »

kelnos wrote: post #9

> ... few people see any reason to upgrade a device that was originally sold for its simplicity and ease of use, not its specs. I, for one, have been using the third-gen (1st Retina) iPad since its release approximately 500 years ago and have never felt any compulsion whatsoever to get a new one. This seems a little weird to me. Don't tablets age in a similar way that smartphones age? As in, the battery gets weaker o…

Anecdotal: my iPads have never aged the way my iPhones do. As to the reasons, I suspect the primary is just where and how it's used: I beat the piss out of my iphones, dropping them, using them out of good areas, on the go, in the car, while eating, etc. where my iPads have a comparatively nice existence largely in my home. The most strenuous environment I use my tablets in is my porch.

But yeah, I just recently upgraded from an Air to the iPad Pro, mostly for the bigger screen and pencil. I had no reason to replace the current one other than having no reason to have two; 5 years on, it was kicking just as hard as ever.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#16

Post by freehunter »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #2

My favorite tablet ever made is discontinued and I never got to buy it[0] and it had a design that made complete sense to me. It is the only tablet where the speakers are facing you and they're on the top and bottom (idk any other tablet doing this...) and they're really loud. My fiance has one because I recommended it to her, and her parents got it for her as a graduation present. It has it's funky moments, but I'm…

>the speakers are facing you and they're on the top and bottom

This drives me crazy on my iPad. My phone came out in 2016 and has stereo speakers. My iPad came out in 2017 and despite being massive in comparison with tons of available space (and weirdly, a headphone jack) it only has one speaker.

Yet I never watch movies on my phone and I do it all the time on my iPad, where it makes way more sense to have stereo speakers. Get your shit together Apple.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#17

Post by drak0n1c »

zdw wrote: post #11

The mid level tablet market died in a race to the bottom. Looking on aliexpress or taobao, you'll find dozens upon dozens of cheap tablets with CPU's from allwinner or rockchip, a few gigs of ram/flash and a not that great 8-10" screen for Completing against these are a few Samsung models that have their highly customized variant of Android, and Apple holding the premium ground with iOS/HW quality/price/performance,…

Apple's newest full form-factor iPad is only $300, and often is available on sale for ~$270. I think that's made a big difference.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#18

Post by freehunter »

crooked-v wrote: post #10
giancarlostoro wrote: post #2

My favorite tablet ever made is discontinued and I never got to buy it[0] and it had a design that made complete sense to me. It is the only tablet where the speakers are facing you and they're on the top and bottom (idk any other tablet doing this...) and they're really loud. My fiance has one because I recommended it to her, and her parents got it for her as a graduation present. It has it's funky moments, but I'm…

From what I understand, the Nintendo Switch is pretty much a (newer) Shield reference system implementation with a different OS. There's also a working exploit to run Ubuntu on the Switch right now: https://gbatemp.net/threads/quick-tuto-how-to-boot-linux-on-...

I would love to be able to stream games from my PC onto my Switch like you could with the Shield. It's just such a convenient system to play.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#19

Post by seanmcdirmid »

FussyZeus wrote: post #14
kelnos wrote: post #9

> ... few people see any reason to upgrade a device that was originally sold for its simplicity and ease of use, not its specs. I, for one, have been using the third-gen (1st Retina) iPad since its release approximately 500 years ago and have never felt any compulsion whatsoever to get a new one. This seems a little weird to me. Don't tablets age in a similar way that smartphones age? As in, the battery gets weaker o…

Anecdotal: my iPads have never aged the way my iPhones do. As to the reasons, I suspect the primary is just where and how it's used: I beat the piss out of my iphones, dropping them, using them out of good areas, on the go, in the car, while eating, etc. where my iPads have a comparatively nice existence largely in my home. The most strenuous environment I use my tablets in is my porch. But yeah, I just recently upgr…

My iPad Air has slown down to be almost unusable. It is ancient, and I’m guessing it’s the battery + software throttle going on, but it is still very reminiscent of an aging iPhone.

Re: Google quits selling tablets

#20

Post by shasheene »

sliken wrote: post #4

I loved my nexus-7, and the 2nd gen nexus-7 even more. Inexpensive, pure android, decent hardware spec, and a usefully larger display than a phone. Anyone know of a current table that avoids the adware, crapware, and 3d contact managers where each card flies around in 3D? I just want android with the current security updates and 7-9" display.

Samsung Chromebook Plus satisfies my needs for a tablet: mainly media consumption (web browsing, YouTube, reading long articles, and watching movies).

1. Incredibly nice screen

2. Gets security updates (ChromeOS devices are great for this compared to the dumpster fire that is Android security)

3. Haven't had any issues with Android support (I use mainly apps like RBDigital, Instapaper, Wikipedia)

4. Works well for movies (I watch in laptop mode using stock media player)

5. No bloatware

6. Really good battery life.

It also has a stylus which works well, but I've returned to paper exercise books for note taking.

I can't recommend the device enough.

My biggest gripe is I need to carry a USBC->USBA adapter to be able to charge my phone, or connect USB drives. They're cheap, but it's a bit annoying.

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