Tablet Platform Comparison

Richard Fieldhouse, May 16 2011

Background

In the beginning there was Windows, and Bill looked out and saw that it was good...

Well, it was.

Five years ago, there wasn't so much of a debate on Operating Systems: if you bought a PC, it would run Windows  XP, because they all did; and if you bought a mobile phone, you wouldn’t really care what it ran because you didn’t ask it to do many complicated things.

Oh, for the certainties of the antique world?  Well, not really.  

With a virtual monopoly, Microsoft could charge plenty for Windows and make all sorts of decisions where the users - especially the more technical ones - might have preferred to make their own choices.  Some disaffected techies started writing viruses and the rest of us ended up paying, not just for Windows itself, but for the antivirus package to protect it and the power to run the antivirus as well as the basic operating system (OS).

Apple, with their own OS and a tiny market share were not so hated as Microsoft and Apple's OS for their Mac Computers (MacOS) did not attract so many virus writers.  However, despite pretty graphics, the close and exclusive bond between the "special" MacOS and the "special" Mac processor meant a lot of work for Apple.

* * *

Change has come to the OS landscape since Apple decided to rewrite their OS from scratch and to create a separate OS for their new iPod and iPhone.

For one thing, the OS is now often known as the "platform", and for another, Apple lets us buy “Apps” from an App Store.  These Apps (applications) can be installed to run on the iPhones more or less effortlessly.  It felt like a big change.  Quick and painless installation was a big step for casual users.  We learnt how handy it felt to have Facebook on your phone's screen - or the current temperature in Weymouth.

While Apple supply their OS on their own hardware only, Google responded with a mobile phone platform (Android) which is open source and can be installed by any manufacturer.  Android comes with its own App Store called the Android Market and while this still does not have as many Apps as Apple, the Android user base is now growing more quickly.

In April 2010, to follow up on the huge success of the iPhone, Apple launched a tablet, called the iPad.  It has a variant of the iPhone platform and users have access to the App Store.  The iPad too has been a runaway success and, after a pause for thought, other tablets followed in time for Christmas, led by the Samsung Galaxy Tab which runs the Froyo version of Google's Android platform - still ostensibly targeted at mobile phones.

A year after the introduction of the iPad, Google responded with a version of Android designed specifically for tablets - touchscreen computers, not fixed to a keyboard and bigger than a mobile phone.

Where are we now?

So now we have a question, where previously there was none: which operating system should we choose?  

1. Should we go with Apple's iOS

2. Or with another tablet manufacturer trying to stretch the older Android phone platform from mobile phones to tablets. There are some areas that "Android phone" does not yet cater for (e.g. most USB peripherals, like printers and cameras).

3. Or, we could use the new tablet version of Android - called Honeycomb

4. Or perhaps we should stick with Windows and try and squeeze its power hungry form - designed for use with a mouse - into the smaller tablet.

5. Or then again, could one of the other manufacturers have an alternative platform of their own that would fit the bill better still.

There are a number of options and below we present the pros and cons of each. The outline contains some assertions about the relative popularity of each platform which are discussed in more detail by CNN Money.

Intro and Background| Apple iOS | Android | Windows | Alternatives