Tablet Pricing structures

[Guest rferrett]

Much as though I love my Vega I am aware that I shall probably move on at some point. For the price it is a great bit of kit but as with any "early adopter" stuff, spesh budget early adopter it is flawed in some ways.

However I am perfectly happy with it for the time being i'll keep looking and eventually there will be a top quality Android pad at a price point that seems enticing.... Or so I thought.

I mean look at this:-

http://www.eurodroid.com/2011/04/lg-optimu...-flop-hard-799/

Really what are the manufacturers thinking about, most of these pads are just costing silly money, I really dont know who they expect to be buying this kit. If something costs north of 500 dabs it is always going to be very, very niche.

Wonder when DSG will annouce the Vega 2? :mellow:

Ralph

[Guest Vansphone]

Much as though I love my Vega I am aware that I shall probably move on at some point. For the price it is a great bit of kit but as with any "early adopter" stuff, spesh budget early adopter it is flawed in some ways.

However I am perfectly happy with it for the time being i'll keep looking and eventually there will be a top quality Android pad at a price point that seems enticing.... Or so I thought.

I mean look at this:-

http://www.eurodroid.com/2011/04/lg-optimu...-flop-hard-799/

Really what are the manufacturers thinking about, most of these pads are just costing silly money, I really dont know who they expect to be buying this kit. If something costs north of 500 dabs it is always going to be very, very niche.

Wonder when DSG will annouce the Vega 2? :mellow:

Ralph

I understand where you are coming from on this. I will also be looking to replace my Vega, but I am going to wait until towards the end of the year before I start to look seriously.

A week or so ago I read a short article that basically said that sales of the Zoom have been very slow due to its high price. I later read that the Transformer has sold out. There is certainly a Honeycomb bandwagon and the companies that will make the most money are the ones that get the pricing right.

My other thought is I never buy a Windows OS until the first service pack has been issued. It takes that long for the basic bugs to be worked out. I am wondering if I should do the same for Honeycomb? Not buy a Honeycomb tablet until a few of the bugs have been worked out?

[Guest peter a]

I understand where you are coming from on this. I will also be looking to replace my Vega, but I am going to wait until towards the end of the year before I start to look seriously.

A week or so ago I read a short article that basically said that sales of the Zoom have been very slow due to its high price. I later read that the Transformer has sold out. There is certainly a Honeycomb bandwagon and the companies that will make the most money are the ones that get the pricing right.

My other thought is I never buy a Windows OS until the first service pack has been issued. It takes that long for the basic bugs to be worked out. I am wondering if I should do the same for Honeycomb? Not buy a Honeycomb tablet until a few of the bugs have been worked out?

I`m looking to replace my advent vega , but at a price I wish to pay.

The laptop / notebook market is so cut throat right now and there is so little margins to work with, this has brought the price to down due to even one is competing for your money.

Now they think that the android tablets are a new market and they can increase their profit margins by asking silly prices and that people will just pay them.

Just think about the price of most android phones and think about how much profit there must be compared to the laptop market.

Edited May 1, 2011 by peter a

[Guest rferrett]

There has been quite a lot of research into the "sweet" spot price range that will allow such tech to get "crossover" appeal.

I think that at the moment Tabvlets are still a niche device and a toy. They are not really a replacement for Laptops and so on and so forth yet. Becuase of this they are basically a toy and pricing them at half as much again as the price of a pretty decent Gaming PC is ridiculous.

[Guest Bobby Elliott]

The Vega is ideal for this point in time. But it will be no-one's final destination in the tablet area. But, right now? It's perfect. Very open, great for modding, HALF THE PRICE of the nearest comparable pproduct, and a great way to get the tablet form factor into your life. If you use it to see out the next six months, wait until you see what's available then.

[Guest Vansphone]

There has been quite a lot of research into the "sweet" spot price range that will allow such tech to get "crossover" appeal.

I think that at the moment Tabvlets are still a niche device and a toy. They are not really a replacement for Laptops and so on and so forth yet. Becuase of this they are basically a toy and pricing them at half as much again as the price of a pretty decent Gaming PC is ridiculous.

I think that is changing. I work in a industry that has been using poratble touchscreens for a while. A tablet pc is a little to heavy and the battery life a little to short. PDA's too small. So i can see that 10" tablets will really take off once they are stable and a little more rugged.

[Guest rferrett]

Well to be slightly hazy mind the Vega, and all the Tablets released with Froyo or before are what I'd call "1st Gen Tablets" no one really knew what the market was about, the OS not properly optimised, folks not really sure what kit they need to have in. For me the Vega is the best (taking into account price vs performance).

All the new higher end native 3.0 tablets coming out now are 2nd Gen android tablets. THe market is maturing and we know a bit more what we expect form these toys, but they still have the "Wanker Factor" of the price point for early adopters.

I suspect in time for Xmas, and posibly with a brand new iteration of Android there will be a 3rd Gen coming out later in the year, at which point you will probably be able to pick up 2nd Gen Android Tabs cheap. And if the "scene" does what it normally does will be able to vastly improve them.

That is what I hope. 350 dabs is probably about the upper limit on what I am ever going to be able to spend on a toy TBH. So unless (until?) they become proper productivity devices that can effective replace me having to have a computer when I am at home then I am not going to be able to get a high end one.

Ralph

[Guest Vansphone]

Well to be slightly hazy mind the Vega, and all the Tablets released with Froyo or before are what I'd call "1st Gen Tablets" no one really knew what the market was about, the OS not properly optimised, folks not really sure what kit they need to have in. For me the Vega is the best (taking into account price vs performance).

All the new higher end native 3.0 tablets coming out now are 2nd Gen android tablets. THe market is maturing and we know a bit more what we expect form these toys, but they still have the "Wanker Factor" of the price point for early adopters.

I suspect in time for Xmas, and posibly with a brand new iteration of Android there will be a 3rd Gen coming out later in the year, at which point you will probably be able to pick up 2nd Gen Android Tabs cheap. And if the "scene" does what it normally does will be able to vastly improve them.

That is what I hope. 350 dabs is probably about the upper limit on what I am ever going to be able to spend on a toy TBH. So unless (until?) they become proper productivity devices that can effective replace me having to have a computer when I am at home then I am not going to be able to get a high end one.

Ralph

For me a tablet it is already a productive device. I have a company laptop with a 3G card. But for long trips where I am taking a lot of stuff I have for some time replaced that with an ipad. It picks up my company email via Exchange, I have work documents synced using Dropbox and I can do simple editing of Word documents and reply to emails. It is not yet a replacement for the laptop but it works well enough in short bursts and is a fraction of the weight. It is also perfect for overnight hotel stops on a business trip. I no longer have to carry reading books, plus a Netbook and a PSP.

[Guest peter a]

Well to be slightly hazy mind the Vega, and all the Tablets released with Froyo or before are what I'd call "1st Gen Tablets" no one really knew what the market was about, the OS not properly optimised, folks not really sure what kit they need to have in. For me the Vega is the best (taking into account price vs performance).

All the new higher end native 3.0 tablets coming out now are 2nd Gen android tablets. THe market is maturing and we know a bit more what we expect form these toys, but they still have the "Wanker Factor" of the price point for early adopters.

I suspect in time for Xmas, and posibly with a brand new iteration of Android there will be a 3rd Gen coming out later in the year, at which point you will probably be able to pick up 2nd Gen Android Tabs cheap. And if the "scene" does what it normally does will be able to vastly improve them.

That is what I hope. 350 dabs is probably about the upper limit on what I am ever going to be able to spend on a toy TBH. So unless (until?) they become proper productivity devices that can effective replace me having to have a computer when I am at home then I am not going to be able to get a high end one.

Ralph

+1, on the £350 price point.

[Guest Bobby Elliott]

+1, on the £350 price point.

The Asus Transformer is £378, looks like an iPad2 and runs Honeycomb right now. It is a delight to use. Tablets are not toys. For consumimg media and information, they are unrivalled. But, boy, do I like getting back to my laptop. Tablets are the ideal Apple device... passive, consumer, uncreative. I am more productive in 15 minutes on my laptop than I am in a day on my tablet. So it's the ideal device for 99% of people. :-)

Edited May 1, 2011 by Bobby Elliott

[Guest warriorscot]

My tablet is definately not a toy. The Vega is still the best pick although the xoom rrp is actually good value. Honestly its going to be a year before I look for something new and even then the Vega is still going to be used.

[Guest Bobby Elliott]

My tablet is definately not a toy. The Vega is still the best pick although the xoom rrp is actually good value. Honestly its going to be a year before I look for something new and even then the Vega is still going to be used.

No question that we will all still be using our Vegas next year. It will eventually get Honeycomb and it will find a home somewhere. But I suspect everyone on this forum will have moved on to better devices by that time. I plan to get an Asus and use the Vega for business.

[Guest GabbaGabbaHey]

Tablets are the ideal Apple device... passive, consumer, uncreative. I am more productive in 15 minutes on my laptop than I am in a day on my tablet. So it's the ideal device for 99% of people. :-)

Much as I dislike Apple's products, attitude and lack of concern for their customers' security and privacy, they have managed to completely corner the tablet market, and Android is playing a game of catch-up. People on this forum, by definition, will know more but to the man in the street, "tablet" = "iPad", in the same way that trade marks like Hoover and Biro have come to be commonly used for any manufacturers' products.

I also agree that the Tablet is primarily a device for consuming (surfing the web, watching videos, reading books), whereas a laptop/netbook/PC is really required to be productive (write a book, create a film, produce a business report...)

[Guest Vansphone]

Much as I dislike Apple's products, attitude and lack of concern for their customers' security and privacy, they have managed to completely corner the tablet market, and Android is playing a game of catch-up. People on this forum, by definition, will know more but to the man in the street, "tablet" = "iPad", in the same way that trade marks like Hoover and Biro have come to be commonly used for any manufacturers' products.

I also agree that the Tablet is primarily a device for consuming (surfing the web, watching videos, reading books), whereas a laptop/netbook/PC is really required to be productive (write a book, create a film, produce a business report...)

I hadn't thought of it that way before, but yes thinking about it I agree, tablets are for consuming not creating.

[Guest Bobby Elliott]

Much as I dislike Apple's products, attitude and lack of concern for their customers' security and privacy, they have managed to completely corner the tablet market, and Android is playing a game of catch-up.)

Android was playing catch up. Not now. Five minutes on a tablet running Honeycomb and you would not touch an iPad. The minute I touched an iPad I realised how much better it was than anything else. I had the same feeling with Honeycomb. Honeycomb will do to iPad what Android did to iPhone.

[Guest rferrett]

When I say "productive" and talk about it replacing my PC at home I think what I mean is in the not too distant future Tabs will have suffucicent ram, processor and GPU power to be able to plug into a dock, monitor, eternal hard drive etc and be a proper working PC then get disconnected and be a portable media device. When this happens it would be worth paying big bucks.

[Guest warriorscot]

When I say "productive" and talk about it replacing my PC at home I think what I mean is in the not too distant future Tabs will have suffucicent ram, processor and GPU power to be able to plug into a dock, monitor, eternal hard drive etc and be a proper working PC then get disconnected and be a portable media device. When this happens it would be worth paying big bucks.

Technically a vega would do all that. If anyone manages to work out how to get it to boot off a usb then you could even have it running ubunut on the dock and android off it.

While you don't really create much on a tablet a lot of the time you do need to consume to create and its a handy thing to have lying around for accessing and viewing data. Its much more handy and convenient for doing lots of things making creating easier. And there are things that if the vega was properly utilised could make creation easier. Things like image editing and creating especially if linked to a PC would be perfect on a tablet.

[Guest Shaizer]

The Asus transformer is definitely the most reasonably priced honeycomb tablet, although in terms of the best price range I'd say its still near the upper end, if you look at it in terms of features and compare it to laptops which are £500-£700 then tablets should be around £300 on average. Although you have to take into account the rising prices of components and demand for higher quality, so the £300-£400 range for any tablet device should be well suited.

[Guest phil8715]

The HTC Flyer when released very shortly will sell for £599. And it doesn't have Honeycomb it runs Gingerbread. So it's going to be out of date before it's released, I can't see HTC selling many.

I use my Vega more than I use my netbook these days as I can do about 90% of stuff on my Vega that I can do on my netbook.

Edited May 1, 2011 by phil8715

[Guest newbe5]

The additional cost of having a 3G/GPS module is bumping up the price for a lot of the new tablets, and tbh I think it's a waste in a tab. I tether mine to my HTC Hero and it works perfectly when out and about. I'd rather have a cheaper tablet than something I'm either not going to use at all, or have to pay for a SECOND mobile contract to use...

Most tablets right now are missing the price point considerably. But the key issue here is, that they aren't MISSING it, they are attempting to SET it. If tablets initially came out at £300 as standard, and then went UP in price as new features/development costs etc arose, then they wouldn't sell any at all. They are shooting high right now to get money from early adopters and seeing where the market settles.

IMO, right now tablets are directly competing against two other products. Netbooks and Smartphones. Having a 3g module inside lets people spread the cost over monthly payments like they do with a phone, which makes it more appealing, but a lot of people won't want to be paying twice. Also the kind of people inclined to want a netbook, will probably already have one. So there needs to be a compelling reason to get a Tablet at all... Games is an obvious pull. Netbooks don't have the grunt to run even basic 3D windows games, where the Vega can effortlessly pull gfx like we see in games like Dungeon Defenders without any issue.

There is a mad panic rush right now to get a product out of the door. Once tis stage is out of the way, we should start seeing more reasonably priced tablets running the latest software. But we will ALWAYS rely on communities like this to get the most out of them.

newbe5

[Guest peter a]

The additional cost of having a 3G/GPS module is bumping up the price for a lot of the new tablets,

I don`t get how you get make a phone like the htc wildfire with 3g and gps for under £150 . and give it a 7 inch screen and want £599

where is the extra £450 been spent ?

Edited May 1, 2011 by peter a

[Guest phil8715]

I don`t get how you get make a phone like the htc wildfire with 3g and gps for under £150 . and give it a 7 inch screen and want £599

where is the extra £450 been spent ?

If you think about it three of the leading tablets are just over-sized versions of their mobile counterparts.

iPad oversized wifi only iPod Touch, 3g version iPhone 3GS, iPad2 wifi only iPod Touch, 3g iPhone 4

HTC Flyer oversized Desire

Samsung Galaxy Tab oversized Galaxy S

The Advent Vega not oversized in any department.

Edited May 2, 2011 by phil8715

[Guest Vansphone]

I agree with all the previous comments.

When Apple "invented" (if that is the right word) the tablet, what they were trying to do was to change the position/place where most people use a PC. They thought that most people use their laptops and desktops at a desk in exactly the same way as they would at work. Apple wanted to move this us to a sofa or easy chair. They were looking for a more casual use, like picking up a book or newspaper.

I think in this they succeeded, it was a brilliant idea. However, this type use is about consuming not producing data. In the short term I cannot see this changing unless the tablets get bigger and heavier which will defeat there main USP. I have hardly use my Netbook since I bought the Vega (have you noticed how cheap Netbooks are becoming?)

Currently my tablet of choice in the house is android (Vega), on long trips it is an ipad. This is simply because of battery power and for this reason my current favorite replacement for the Vega is the Transformer, with a keyboard. However, I am going to wait until towards the end of the year to see what Sony and others put on the market.

[Guest rferrett]

I think ARM are tlaking baout the next generation of mobile cores they are developing which will hit the market next year will be 4-6 cores but very low power consumption.

I think once these sort of things come out then in reality unless you want to do CAD work, or high end FPS type PC games then probably even in a high end smart phone there will be more than enough power for most peoples ordinary PC use. Will be very interesting. Funny really if oyu look at the stats for the Galaxy S2, it is probably more capable that a high end PC from only about 4 or so years ago.

I for one welcome our new mobile phone overlords!

:mellow:

[Guest rferrett]

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/qualcomm-p...ragon-50003611/