New iPad vs. Cheap Android Tablet

OK, you have to give it to the Apple, they really introduced the brightest, clearest and highest resolution display that you can find today. Only... Do you really need 2048 x 1536 screen resolution?

Cheap Android tablets with 9.7” or 10.2” displays usually boast the resolution of 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 800. For playing 720P HD videos or watching YouTube clips, that’s more than enough. If you really want to watch full 1080P HD videos, you will probably use your 52” LED LCD TV with full 7.1 sound system.

A lot of 7” cheap Android tablets also have the same resolution and they are much more practical to carry around than larger tablets. If you really need big portable display, why not buy a laptop and solve your troubles with a full-fledged PC?

Most of the cheap Android tablets will have camera that is only usable for video chat. You will definitely not be able to use them to capture high-resolution images or record HD videos.

However, I find it difficult to imagine holding up a 9.7” monster and saying “cheese.” The new iPad is roughly four times the size of a DSLR camera, not to mention any ordinary point and shoot. With any cheap point and shoot camera, you can take perfect 14 mega-pixels images using optical zoom that will leave any photo you take using the new iPad looking like cheap video surveillance shot.

Cheap android tablets have camera that is used for tablet functions (video chat). Having much better camera can hardly justify the price.

While Apple demonstrated some software for the new iPad, it is not anything revolutionary. New iPhoto allows you to do all sorts of photo editing tasks like adjusting exposure, coloring, making repairs and similar. Well, so do many Android apps.

If you are willing to spend some time on Android market, you can find tablet alternative of almost any desktop application you are used to having on your PC. Big names in mobile applications development will always create applications for both iPad and Android. Although you will not spend too much money on your cheap Android tablet, you will never have to fear of not being able to run some new game or production application.

To conclude, think hard before you spend too much money on something you might not use as much as you hope to. Sometimes cheap alternative does not necessarily mean worse option.

So, what do you think?