I have a Kindle Fire HD and it's good at most things. The only problem I have with it, and it's a BIG problem is the fact that Amazon don't allow access to the Google App Store, but restrict the onwer to their own limited selection of apps.
It's very locked down. It uses a form of android although Amazon's skin is only removable if it's rooted. One of the advantages android has over Apple is the freedom to set things up in a new individual way, but with Amazon that freedom is gone.
One of the advantages android has over Apple is the freedom to set things up in a new individual way,
If that is an advantage, then I believe you can do something similar on Apple devices, it's called Jailbreaking. Apparently it allows you to use apps from non Apple sanctioned providers, which do things with your kit that Apple sanctioned apps don't allow you to do.
It's all a bit confusuing to me, I am not sure what I'd really want to do with my iPad that I can't do currently, or how I would like to set it up differently. Likewise, I am not sure what else my Google Android HTC phone can do that's different, it does emails, eBay, FB, Twitter, browsing, makes calls, does texts, etc, although, when I downloaded some alternative visual effects for it (an 'improved' keyboard), I got a load of advertising appear all over the place and had to reset the phone to factory settings to get it back to normal.
Can anyone, in a nutshell, explain just what you can do with Google to set things up in a individual way, as mentioned, that makes it stand out from iOS?, I'd love to give it a try.
Well, on an android device there is no need to 'jailbreak' in order to gain extra control. Android users can gain even more control by rooting the phone which does not always result in voiding the warranty as it does with jailbreaking an Apple device. By default though, any android phone user can install different launchers which will give a user control and choice over the whole layout of the UI. Google's launcher is catching up, but several years ago the capabilities and features that are taken for granted now such as resizable widgets, all manner of fancy transitions between screens and the ability to change the number of homescreens for example were available long before they were Google standard features. Add to that resizable app shortcuts, a multitude of ways in which one can set up folders and docks. I particularly like the scrolling dock I employ with Nova launcher. There are also tons of useful features one can employ if one so desires. There are hundreds of tweaks, big and small which can personalise your device this way. I realise that this won't appeal to everyone, and indeed can put some folks off. My brother was pretty much of the opinion 'what's the point?' But then he's not geeky and I am.
Fair enough, sounds like it's more of a geek thing as you say. I've never even thought that I'd like my device UI to look different, other than changing the wallpaper. I'm more into the useability of the apps, which seem to work just fine on both iOS or Google. What is a Launcher, is that the desktop as it were? It seems that the things you have described are more about how it looks and how you access things, rather than doing anything different. I understand there are apps available for Rooted Google devices, and for Jailbroken iOS devices, that are not available through the official Play Store or the iOS App Store, I don't know what they are as a) I am not going to Jailbreak my iPad, b) I don't know where to look for Google phone.
Any tablet in intense sun shuts down, our iPad did several times in Turkey proclaiming it was too hot.