Android on the Way

I ordered myself a Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it will arrive on Wednesday. I pretend I bought it as my birthday present to myself, to negate the guilt for buying another gadget I don't really need.

I had previously told myself that I would hold out for a bit longer For the next full version of Android/Honeycomb, to find out if the rumors of an "official" Nexus Tablet were going to pan out... to just generally get to the next generation of the Android tablets.

In the end, I decided opting for the polished end of the first generation would work for me. I had to convince myself it would be okay to upgrade later, should a more ideal device come along. In this case, I am willing to take the hit on selling a device used in order to have one sooner. I also tell myself I could try developing for it.

I went into this year planning to buy no less than three tablet devices. One, the ASUS Eee Slate is a Windows-based tablet with Wacom pen input. I bought that specifically to play with Photoshop and a pen.  The second was an ASUS Eee Note... a non-backlit grayscale LCD device with pen input, specifically for note taking. See, I love the idea of pen-based input, at least for things you'd usually use a pen for: notes, drawing, etc. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't really gotten it right and the Eee Note is given up as a no-show in the US. So... I'm one for three.

The third tablet was always going to be an Android tablet, I just wasn't sure which one. The iPad is still the best-in-breed for this type of device, but I just have no interest to step into that ecosystem; I deal with enough companies fighting to pull me into their exclusive environment already.

So... tablet two of the threatened three arrives this week. We'll see how I integrate it into my day. Unfortunately, I let one of my criteria slip and learned only recently that this device doesn't yet support the Netflix app. Oops. Well, if it's not supported by the end of the year, there just might be a device that convinces me to upgrade, and I'll feel no guilt for it.