Why Ice Cream Sandwich won’t rescue Android tablets from the discount bin

“For the last day, I’ve been tinkering around with Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.3 OS on my Motorola XOOM,” Jason Perlow reports for ZDNet.

“I’ve actually managed to try three separate ICS builds for the XOOM, just to get a sense of what stage the code is currently in,” Perlow reports. “The software runs considerably faster, the user interface is more responsive overall and the browser renders pages more fluidly, which has always been one of my major complaints about the OS.”

Perlow reports, “However, while existing Honeycomb tablet owners will see this software as a welcome improvement to what they were using before, I don’t see Ice Cream Sandwich as being some sort of magic bullet that is suddenly going to propel Android tablets into major market share territory… With the exception of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, I still think all Android tablets are seriously overpriced… At least one major Android tablet manufacturer that I know of is due to release an 8GB 10.1 inch device in the next several days in the sub-$330.00 range. I think that’s a good start, but it’s not enough.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]

38 Comments

  1. No first-mover advantage with Verizon and minimal (if any) carrier subsidies means Google has to compete with Apple based on *gasp* their actual product.

    The biggest maroons in this whole fiasco are the manufacturers. How many tablets are they going to faceplant – how many man-years of attorneys’ fees will they burn – before they realize they have no hope?

    1. “How many tablets are they going to faceplant – how many man-years of attorneys’ fees will they burn – before they realize they have no hope?”

      Hopefully a few more years for the consumers sake. It’s nice to be able to get a tablet at a bargain basement price. I picked up a 7″ HTC Evo View 4G (1 Gig RAM, 32 Gig storage) last month for $229 with no data plan commitment. It’s a very nice tablet. It can do most of the things my iPad 2 can do, but in a more portable format. That’s less than half the price I paid for the iPad 2! So, I say, “Let ’em continue to faceplant, and I’ll say thanks for the deal!”

    1. Android versions:
      1.0 – Astro
      1.1 – Bender
      1.5 – Cupcake
      1.6 – Donut
      2.1 – Eclair
      2.2 – FroYo (Frozen yogurt)
      2.3 – Gingerbread
      3.0 – Honeycomb
      4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich

      After first two, they changed to desserts. As for names themselves, the convention?

  2. Why do they give such stupid long names? Oh for the brainless and the easily amused. The only people they be fooling are the retarded ones… who wants an ice cream sandwich? yes you do, yes you do, who’s a stupid idiot, yes you are awwee

    1. It’s Google, the mischief makers. They make faces. They natter and jape. They bid truncated transcendentals for grab-bags of patents. They trot mechanical creatures in and out of secret laboratories. Whatever will they do next? Tune in next time to the Truman Show.

  3. Let’s not forget that these operating systems are built for manufacturers, wireless carriers first as an ad platform, and secondarily for neck bearded geeks.

    The end customer tho purchases an android device (phone or tablet) is not customer of Google, they are the product that Google sells to advertisers.

    That alone should keep any sane, rational person far away from Android.

  4. You guys are real tools on this site. ICS is a great OS. I have been using on my Galaxy Nexus for the past month and its fast, very responsive, and quite smooth. Now before you call me a android fanboy, I have a iMac(bought Sep 2010) and a Macbook Air(bought Dec 2011). I love my Macs and I will never buy a microsoft pc again. I just prefer my android phone.

    1. Brian, there’s nothing really wrong with being an android fanboy. Really! You don’t need to pretend to own and love Apple products to gain credibility.

      You might feel the need to dissemble in, say, a gathering of Hells Angels, by insisting that you love only Harley-Davidsons. But not here. We won’t emasculate you.

  5. With the exception of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, I still think all Android tablets are seriously overpriced

    Ahem. Considering that Amazon sells the Kindle Fire AT A LOSS, this perception is unrealistic. Obviously tablet technology currently costs a lot more than Jason Perlow understands. Then note that the Kindle Fire is using a FREE operating system.

    As is typically the case: The cheaper the technology, the crappier the technology. Open Source is a remarkable human creation with remarkable results. However, there is no better incentive for quality than personal reward for work well done, with financial rewards still being preferable to the alternatives.

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