Mr. Fanboi, tear down that wall.

Some barriers seem so immovable, so permanent, that we don’t even think about how to cross them anymore. Instead, we reorder our lives around the fact of that division. We accept the limitations they impose as an unavoidable condition of life. We stop consciously noticing the strains they inflict. Why bother complaining? That wall is never going away.

There used to be a wall like that in Berlin, until, 25 years ago this week, a combination of official policy, people power, and a bumbling bureaucrat brought it down. When it happened, it happened faster and more decisively than even the most utopian dreamers dared to hope. And now, what was once a terrifying, grim no man’s land is just another bustling corner of Berlin.

Today, that wall is between iOS and Android devices. iOS partisans might catch themselves looking longingly at a cheap, solid Android tablet like this… before the border guards in their minds order them back onto their side of the wall. If you buy one Android device, you’ll have to “switch over” all the rest of your devices, right? Right?

Of course not. We built this wall. We can tear it down.

What have you got to lose? A few minutes re-downloading some apps? Maybe 20 bucks to buy some of those $2 and $3 ones again? That’s all it’ll take to connect to the same stuff as on your iPad. You’ll get the same Gmail messages, watch the same Netflix account, jot down the same Evernotes. OK, so you can’t load the same video files onto it. And Apple has really tried to buttress its side of the wall with closed-system apps like iMessage. So what, when you’ve got WhatsApp?

There’s a kick-ass deal on an 8GB Android tablet just on the other side of that wall. Make this the historic day you dare to stand and proclaim “Ich bin ein Jellybean.”