Tablet Wars II: Attack of Android 3.0
 

Since Google has introduced version 3.0 of their Android OS, designed specifically for tablet computers, I was pondering the question:

Has Lone Wolf considered porting HL, AB, CV, RW, etc. to the Android OS, now that it's available for tablet PCs?

I would TOTALLY buy Hero Lab for the Android. I have a google tablet (2.3, I think) that I use for reading PDFs and browsing the web when I don't feel like busting out the laptop. Having the ability to work on characters on it (even if it didn't have all the combat tracking features) would be AWESOME!!!

I'd be willing to pay a full license for M&M 3E on the Android platform, if it were available.

Agreed. While I think Android tablets will take some time to come into their own, what I've read about Android has made me more inclined to get an Android tablet instead of an iPad.

It's a heck of a lot easier for me to break out a tablet on my lunch than a full-blown laptop.

Google has released v3 of the Android platform which is specifically built for Tablets (2.3 and other versions were largely meant for phones). Combined with Windows 7 Mobile tablets & the iPad2, there's going to be a lot more demand as the next six months bombards us with these devices.

As I am waiting for those devices to all come out and drive prices down, I have no opinion on platform at the moment. :)

That said, having Hero Lab available on any tablet platform would definately be a selling point for it to me.

Is there a pledge system we can start to see if there's enough money here for Lone Wolf to seriously consider the project? :)

(waves 20 bucks in the air)

^_^ Maybe they could start a Kickstarter project. It's a nice and easy way to find out what user interest is because people have to literally put their money on the line, but no one gets charged anything unless the product comes off.

Ditto. I haven't bought a tablet yet but I'm saving up for whichever uses Android, love Andriod and Herolab!

EK

We addressed this a bit in our "State of the Wolf 2011" update:

http://wolflair.com/index.php?contex..._the_wolf_2011

Cost of development is much lower on iOS, so for a small company they are far more likely to be able to afford to develop for the iPad. Not to mention the decreased cost if they first complete a MacOS X port.

Android is fragmented, with different hardware with different supported feature sets (think early Windows Direct X days with so many video cards with different hardware accelerated features that a game developer had to account for each individual video card.)

A lot of well known app developers have came out against Android, but I'm sure google will eventually solve the problem. If nothing else by required all the phone manufacturers to sell the same hardware.
Angry Birds developer

PDF support is much better on iPad compared to Android combined with the ease of syncing new files to the iPad, I think the iPad will continue to maintain the top platform for gaming (tabletop) for a long time.

First let me start by saying I appreciate your point of view, but feel that it is a bit flawed.
You said:

The argument that Android is fragmented is moot, as the core compatibility is the same across all 2.x versions, and seeing as we are talking about tablet devices, which will be running either 2.x or 3.x your assertion would be incorrect; in addition iOS is just as "fragmented" as there are multiple versions of the OS out there depending on your device (iphone vs iphone3 vs 3gs vs 4)

EDIT: A bit of Android "fragmentation" news http://developer.android.com/resourc...-versions.html


Define a lot of well known developers. You cite one and take it a bit out of context, as they never said it was hard to develop for the platform, just that not all devices are created equal.

PDF support on Android is just as good as it is on the iOS platform, syncing files to and from android devices is easy on Android as well, in my opinion it is better than in iOS as you can mount the device as a hard drive and not need another piece of software like iTunes to mediate the transfer of data.

In regards to gaming, the iPad is no better than most of the tablets out there currently, and it is by no means the top platform for tabletop or any other form of gaming.

Don't get me wrong I think that the iOS platform and devices are great but they are no better than than Android, just different. I can see the appeal of the iOS based devices but feel it would be a bit short sighted to think that they will be the top platform.

While they appeal to the masses and have a simple interface iOS devices are not the device of choice for many of the people whom I have met in my travels. Most people I know that do tabletop gaming are for lack of a better word, geeks, who pride themselves on being in total control of the devices they own/use and the Android platform has proven itself to be go to OS for most of them, because it is mostly open, highly customizable, and very hacker/tinker friendly.

Yes the iOS platform is at the top right now, but that is because until very recently that was the only real choice that you had for a lightweight OS, with long battery life. That is no longer the case. if you look at the reports Android is rising faster than any other mobile platform and will at the very least hold as large of a market share as iOS devices in the tablet space.

Like I said at the beginning, I appreciate your point of view on this but don't think it is correct. Time may prove me wrong, but this is my opinion. Wouldn't it be funny if we were both wrong and somehow Rim, or HP, or even MS ended up being the eventual winner. stranger things have happened.

That's my $0.02