This should come at no surprise. This article reports that Samsung is forging ahead despite the iPad2, and without change.


http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/05/s...-ipad-2-be-dar

And they should. My experiences would indicate that there are many points of differentiation between Android and iOS devices.

Last night I got a chance to play with an iPhone4 as well as an Xperia (Android 1.6) device. I also got a chance to view a Galaxy S and that undeniably gorgeous SAMOLED display -- good gracious that screen is beautiful.

IMHO, the Android 1.6 device had the far better experience. The iPhone4 had mostly smooth scrolling (it was choppy at certain points, but this was rare), but the Android device did as well -- it wasn't as smooth, but it was still quite good. The Android device had a better 'feel' to me; the ramblings of a techo-bard perhaps, but the device felt less constrained, less boring.

The iPhone4 felt as though the apps were little islands of functionality, wheras the Android device felt as though the apps were interlinked with one another -- eg. they could call on one another and where tied together with a rich desktop. I also preferred the slideIT keyboard (think swype-esque) on the android device and the web browser. Interestingly the device had no multi-touch, though this didn't hurt usability as much as I would have expected.

Both were nice devices, but I'm scratching my head as to why the iPhone is so hyped. Blogs like Engadget gush about it's functionality, but after generous use it seems somewhat limited to the App. The other user-facing aspects of the OS are restricted to a grid of icons and a scant settings menu. Moreover, the experience is almost exactly like my 1st generation iPod touch. Perhaps I was expecting more after 4 generations...

As I understand, the iPad functionality is again pretty much exactly like this on a larger scale. I can tell you that I would tire of such a device in around 10 minutes. The book reading/movie watching/music listening/game playing aspects of the system, though would keep me entertained for longer. However these features hardly make iOS unique and (aside from the games) are arguably better done on Android.

I'm now interested in Gingerbread and Honeycomb. Has the experience changed significantly?