1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,440 Looks like an iPad, right? 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,640 Got the flat edge, the rounded liquid retina corners, 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,100 smart connector, four sets of speaker grills, 4 00:00:11,100 --> 00:00:16,680 but it's not an iPad. It's a Samsung Galaxy Tab S8. 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,760 On a Mac channel? Yes, because I've often long wondered 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,440 why people buy Android tablets. Sure, there are many options available, 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,880 especially at lower prices, but from what I've read in tech publications 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,960 and reviews, Android is just nowhere near iPadOS in the tablet space. 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:40,880 And yet, one of my best friends has been an Android tablet faithful for years. 10 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:45,560 And real recently, my dad made me help him find a suitable Android tablet, 11 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,080 despite my mother and I insisting on an iPad. 12 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:53,000 They may not be many, but people are buying Android tablets. 13 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,960 And I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe Android is worth some attention. 14 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,720 So, I used this one for 10 days to find out. 15 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,040 Can I get a white mocha? 16 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:17,680 At Google's latest I.O., they announced an upcoming Pixel tablet. 17 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,160 And that might actually bode well for this guy, because it means that Google's putting effort 18 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,360 into making Android work for tablets. 19 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:34,160 The thing is, they've tried this before, many times in fact. 20 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,120 Let me rewind. A year after the launch of the iPad, Google released Android version three, 21 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:45,680 Honeycomb, made exclusively for tablets. It featured a two-pane UI for email and contacts, 22 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,880 browser Windows with tabs, and a larger keyboard for larger screens. 23 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:54,960 The hope was that developers would write tablet apps like they were doing for iOS, but they didn't. 24 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,520 So, what we ended up getting is just very wide phone apps. 25 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,560 The Nexus 7 released a year later was more reasonable. 26 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,720 Basically, a big phone before phones got really big. 27 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,240 The extra real estate made it nicer for watching and reading, 28 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,560 but didn't push the capability. And because it was only $200, 29 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,560 people didn't have huge expectations for it either. 30 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,200 Apple dutifully and incrementally worked away at their iPad in that time, 31 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,640 making it more useful through some multitasking, new features, and accessories. 32 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:35,640 This evolution was a test of patience, but it's quite staggering how much more capable 33 00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:39,280 the iPad is than its predecessor or its competitors. 34 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:41,640 Oh, right, the Samsung. 35 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:51,240 Sales-wise, Samsung is the only game around in the Android tablet space. 36 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,320 And this, their brand new Galaxy Tab S8 is the flagship model. 37 00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:00,720 It's available in three sizes and many prices. This is the smallest and provides the closest competitor 38 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:05,960 to the recently updated iPad Air. I'll happily admit that it's a decent tablet. 39 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:10,040 Performance is snappy and the high refresh rate screen looks nice. 40 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:15,000 It's a pleasant departure from the experience I had with the Samsung Galaxy A53. 41 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,120 And it even has many compelling features that the iPad doesn't even offer. 42 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,200 The webcam is in the correct place on the long side. 43 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,760 There's a fingerprint reader and face recognition. And perhaps the feature I'm most envious of 44 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:31,720 is the micro SD card slot for expansion. Handy if you wanna back up photos taken 45 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:37,080 with a non-mobile phone camera, or just expand storage without shelling out hundreds of dollars. 46 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,680 This is what made the iPad a non-starter for my dad. 47 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,040 So yes, it has an SD card slot, but look at it. 48 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,240 It's not centered. Neither is the USB-C port either. 49 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,240 Okay, so this is pedantic hardware niggles. 50 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:57,400 But take a look at this. If I have to continue to type on this on-screen keyboard, 51 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:02,000 I'm going to pull a phalange. These wide buttons are just ridiculous. 52 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,240 Apple and their wisdom kept their on-screen keyboard proportional. 53 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:10,120 Samsung isn't even that bad. Look at Google's. I swear their Honeycomb keyboard was better. 54 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:15,920 Unfortunately, there are some great tablet apps that I use regularly that aren't even available on Android. 55 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,880 Craigslist and Procreate to name a few. And most of the ones that are available 56 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,360 are just so much worse on Android. It's not even close. 57 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:29,240 Here, take a look at this. On iPad, Twitter takes thoughtful advantage 58 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,320 of portrait and landscape orientations. Whereas on Android, it doesn't. 59 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:37,760 Look at my tweets. They span the whole width. This is too big. 60 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,640 Some apps like Auto Trader or Kijiji won't even rotate to landscape. 61 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,600 Same with Instagram. Wait, what? You can get Instagram on a tablet? 62 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,920 That's it, I'm buying Android. Figuring out multitasking 63 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:56,120 has been a pain point on the iPad for a while now. But on the Galaxy, whoa, is it ever an intuitive? 64 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,440 You wanna go into split screen? You have to tap on an app icon in the app switcher. 65 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,840 But instead of that going next to the app you already have open, 66 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:07,960 it asks what you wanna fill the other space with. The app I had open. 67 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,080 Another option is to drag over this little nub, 68 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,520 which conceals a dock from where you can drag apps out. 69 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,920 And there's more. You can make apps free-floating, 70 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:22,080 a bit like slide over with some more flexibility at the cost of usability. 71 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,320 And if you go back home, they become a little bobble that groups together 72 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:30,280 if you have multiple floating Windows. Which reminds me of Samsung's DeX feature, 73 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:34,640 which turns your Android tablet into a desktop computer ready for a mouse and keyboard. 74 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:40,200 It looks like a big Samsung phone. Some people got mad at Riley for ignoring DeX 75 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,440 in his ShortCircuit Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra unboxing. 76 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,840 But there's really nothing to see here. On a small screen like this, 77 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:53,080 it's really more of a hassle to be managing and moving around all these Windows that are even smaller. 78 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,920 If you think that this is going to be a suitable computer replacement, well, good luck to you. 79 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,000 This is the opposite of how the iPad works. 80 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:10,080 Since Apple assumes you probably have multiples of their devices, they've given us universal control. 81 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:15,360 So instead of extending your tablet into a computer, the iPad becomes an extension of your Mac. 82 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:20,200 But with iPad OS 16, Apple appears to be going in Samsung's direction 83 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,960 with stage manager. It allows for the sort of app windowing 84 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:28,320 people have been pining for. This, however, is not a desktop. 85 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:33,280 Windows can be grouped, resized and moved, but not to anywhere on the screen. 86 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:38,680 And we're still in beta, so we'll have to find out how it works later on. 87 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,520 Though this seems like the iPad is getting closer to DeX, 88 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:49,000 Apple is taking the approach of trickling concepts from the desktop to the tablet in an intentional way, 89 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:55,840 instead of just dragging the platform, picking and screaming with existing desktop paradigms. 90 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:59,920 So this year, we've been working hard to make Android tablets amazing. 91 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:03,040 With their tablet announcement, Google showed the progress they made 92 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,520 on their tablet interface for Android 13, and they updated apps to take advantage 93 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,000 of the larger screen. Sound familiar? 94 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:18,480 I have the beta installed on this Lenovo, and yeah, there are some good ideas in here. 95 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,520 They're so good, I swear I've used them before. 96 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,240 Hmm. It's neat to see Android make sense in this form factor. 97 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,600 It's taken long enough. Though we might actually see some progress this time around. 98 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:34,560 Though they're gonna have to act fast. Because as folding phones become more viable, 99 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,160 developers are going to want to make sure their apps work well on them, 100 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,120 and folding them is a good way to do it. Apps work well on them, 101 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,880 and folding phones are just small tablets. 102 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:55,920 That's a long ways off, but what about now? Well, if you have an iPhone, then you should get an iPad. 103 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:00,040 And if you have an Android phone, well, you should probably still get an iPad. 104 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,240 And if you want even a decent Android tablet, you're not even gonna save all that much. 105 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:09,360 This starts at $700. This iPad Air is $100 less. 106 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:14,880 Sure, it's missing half the Samsung storage, but the Samsung is missing so much more. 107 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,680 I missed GarageBand. I missed Universal Control. I missed the snappy app switching. 108 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,760 I missed the square more flexible aspect ratio. I missed Slideover. 109 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,960 I missed all the tablet optimized apps. I missed iMessage. 110 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:40,040 I always debate people from our sister channel LTT about the iPad. 111 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:45,160 They don't really understand how a focused tablet-like device can be useful. 112 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,920 Why am I paying for two devices when I can get one foldable laptop that does it all? 113 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,920 Well, maybe this mindset is present at Google too. 114 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,920 I mean, they still do sell Chrome OS tablets for some reason, 115 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,640 but it's the form factor, stupid. And if you don't get it, you won't commit to it, 116 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:07,520 which is why after 11 years, Google is starting all over again with Android. 117 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,920 I wish them luck. And maybe in a decade, I'll give it another go. 118 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:15,400 Thanks for tapping into this Mac Address. If you like the iPad more than Android, 119 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,880 give this video a like. And if you have an Android tablet, looking enviously at us with iPads, 120 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,680 then you must subscribe. Now, when I wrote this script, 121 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:29,360 I didn't know about Apple unveiling state manager and the windowing mode in the iPad OS. 122 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,480 So it sort of changes the perspective just a little bit from what I initially thought. 123 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,480 But I'm curious how you feel about the iPad 124 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:41,080 becoming a little bit more desktop-like. Does it make it even better than an Android tablet? 125 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,280 Or a little bit more like an Android tablet?