Quote Originally Posted by Ajani
But you do raise a good point. I only mentioned Apple being expensive, but the lack of freedom to do what you want is a turn off to many persons... It's why I'm more interested in upcoming Android Tablets (like the Motorola Xoom) than the iPad....
I'm glad that you actually addressed this issue correctly. Much of the blathering I read about Android goes on and on about "freedom" primarily in the context of its roots as an "open" OS.

The thing to remember about Apple is that they don't follow the typical techie obsession with spec sheets and feature checklists. They'd rather leave a feature out than include a half-assed implementation just to add another line to a checklist. Fueling feature creep was Microsoft's MO (and probably still is). It got them kudos from jaded tech reviewers, but it also made their software ever more convoluted, illogical, resource-hogging, and buggy.

Whether you agree with him or not, Steve Jobs has in the past said that he's just as proud of what Apple chooses to leave out as what they include. In a way, that's a very important angle that they're playing in the consumer market. They focus on getting a limited set of features right (at least right in their view), than trying to shoehorn every conceivable feature into a device even if many of the implementations are mediocre.

With Android, I get the impression that they're heading down the same path as MS -- focus more on packing more stuff than getting all that stuff right before it goes out. And the "freedom" in that platform does not always benefit consumers, as evidenced by the lack of a consistent upgrade path across the entire platform (rooting and installing hacked firmware does not count), the increasing control exercised by carriers, and huge number of spyware apps that have been posted onto the Android Marketplace.

As far as Android tablets announced at CES, all but the Motorola Xoom will come with 2.2, the version that not even Google recommends using for tablets. This leaves a fair amount of uncertainty as to which Android tablets will support version 3.0 when it comes out later this year.