Transformer time

So I think I'm liking this android tablet.  One thing right off is that I am writing this post from it which is something I couldn't do from the Ipad.   OK, I guess I could have but the few times I tried it was grueling.  The blogger forms were spartan, the keyboard was both too large and had too few characters on each 'tab' for real typing, and I couldn't figure out how to post pictures.  With the android, the blogger interface is the same as on a PC, I installed beansoft thumb keyboard which is great, can be resized and has 'long touch' characters for numbers and punctuation, and cursor keys. Heck I can even use the blogger spellcheck.  All in all this tablet does the web better, or at least more consistantly, although not any faster (flash ads need to be banished!).

My other criteria for a tablet were Netflix, books, pdfs and comic readers and I'm happy to say this tablet can do all that.  ezPDF is not as good as Goodreader (it gets slow with big files) but it is pretty close, and Netflix and books from kindle work just the same as their iPad verions.  lt's pretty snappy playing all sorts of media and its nice to manage that media the same ways I do on my PCs.    I can keep my files in folders by type and the apps seem more integrated around the content instead of the mishmash of types and access Apple apps can have. Being able to access files from microSD cards is great too and really expands on the initial 32gb internal storage.  It came with very little bloat ware installed and I was able to stream files from my SAN right out of the box.  It was also nice that all my phone apps were available to install on the tablet and that most of them not only worked perfectly but looked great too.  Instead of blowing them up in size (although you have that option), somehow Icecream Sandwich stretches them out without distorting them.

Is it better than the iPad?  Probably not.  Its not as simple as the visually consistant iOS interface (but really they are both just touch and swipe). But it's as good as an iPad I think, and you can choose how you want to customize it, and for me I think it's a better fit.