WHAT HAPPENED TO ANDROID TABLETS | THE TECHNOBYTE |

WHAT HAPPENED TO ANDROID TABLETS | THE TECHNOBYTE |

          

              Around 5 to 6 years ago, almost every top brand had a tablet series beside their smartphone line up. But today hardly a couple of brands still retain their tablet line up in the Android segment. Whereas in the iOS segment, Apple constantly update their iPad line up. Compared to Android, the iPad has always been a successful line up for Apple. Every year, along with their iPhone they keep launching a new version of iPad.

Android tablets remain unnoticed. What is the reason?

 

             When Apple released their first iPad in 2010, It was received positively by everyone. Everyone liked its form factor and design. This led to the release of the first Android tablet, the Galaxy tab. Even before that, there were many Chinese slates that were so-called tablets. This was the first non-chinese tab. The build and design was good for a seven-inch tablet. But the software optimization was terrible.

             Android Ginger bread was designed only for smartphones. It was not designed for a tablet experience. Widgets were not re-sizable in those days. 

 

              So Google took the initiative to launch android Honeycomb. An android version designed specifically for tablets. It had features like re sizable widgets and it was better than the previous version. At this time, brands like Amazon, Motorola, started making their own tablets.

 

            But the problem was, they were overpriced. Eventhough the Amazon fire tablet was selling for half the price of Galaxy Tab, it was more like an e-reader. Motorola Xoom retailed for $500. With the release of the next version of android ice cream sandwich, Google released their own tablet.

   

          The Nexus 7 was a 7 inch tablet. Since it had a 7 inch  display compared to the 10 inch tablets at that time, apps did not seem to be comically disproportionate. It was a bit stretched but usable and the pricing was fine.

 

           It was released for $200 which was great and it did not have any bloatware unlike the Chinese tablets. Ice cream sandwich was designed for both tablets and smartphones. But after honeycomb, no other version of android was truly optimized for tablet experience. 

 

           Even though android is capable of adjusting the app size to the screen size, generally it would have white bars on the sides that looked awful.

What Apple did right ?

 

           The reason why iPad was successful is because it received constant updates from Apple. IPads always came with the current generation flagship processor as in the iPhone while Android tablets were running in midrange processor. Developers took advantage of this lucrative hardware and developed apps specifically for the iPad.  The biggest reason is, iOS was exceptionally optimized for the iPad experience.

 What happened to Android tablets ?

            When the tablets were first introduced, the maximum screen size of a smartphone was below 4 inches. This made tablets stand apart. But as technology evolved, the screen size of smartphones also evolved. It kept on increasing, there by reducing the difference between a smartphone and a tablet. Now as the screen size of the smartphone is bigger, the need for a tablet felt unnecessary.

          So people stopped buying tablets and so brands stopped making tablets. As of 2020,  the iPad still remains a successful line up for Apple. Only Samsung and a few other brands retained their tablet line up and still release tablets time to time.

Fun fact:

            Even I had a tablet back in 2014. It was from AOC and it had 1 GB RAM and 2 GB of internal storage, which was more than enough. I used it for nearly 3 years and I liked it very much. It was my first tablet. Let me know in the comments section, what was your first tablet?

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