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Finding a tablet for Xmas.

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jerry_L
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Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:20 am

Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by jerry_L »

Hello, i'm finding a tablet as Xmas gift for my sister, actually i'm totally a newbie on android tablets. i asked on yahoo before, someone recommended a list of android tablet PC for me, and my sister seems like this 7" one for $177 with shipping.
here's specs of the tablet:

Chipset: Samsung S5PV210(ARM CortexTM-A8/1.2G MHz/512KB L2 Cache)
OS: Android 2.3 (Support Web Flash10.3)
RAM: 512M DDR2
Storage: 4GB Flash Internal,
External Storage: Removable MicroSD (up to 32GB)
Display: 7" T FT LCD( 800*480) capacitive screen
Touch: 4 Point Touch Screen Control
WiFi: WiFi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n)&2.1bluetooth
G Sensor: G Sensor Internal
Camera: 2.0 MG Pixel
3D Graphic Engine: 3D Games Support (SGX540 OpenGL-ES 1.1 and 2.0 and OpenVG 1.0)
Media: 1080p MPEG-1/2/4/H.263/H.264/WMV9/Divx/Xvid Support
Video Out: HDMI 1.3M
Audio Port: Stereo Speaker/Microphone Internal
3.5mm Hi-Fi Headphones External Port
USB2.0 HOST: Mouse, Keyboard, U Disk,3G Net,RJ45 LAN, USB Support
USB2.0 OTG: Mini USB Port
Battery: 4400 mAh Li-Polymer Battery
Power: 3W, Working 5 Hours
Dimension: 190* 120.6 * 13.4 (L*W*H) mm
Weight: 0.39 kg

So any ideas about this? do you think it's worth for the money? Does anyone here own an Android 2.3 Tablet PC,or any experience on tablet pc buying? any suggestions? thanks!
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rafael707
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by rafael707 »

you should post on a different forum, this is not vita related...
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TiPi
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by TiPi »

- Moved to /tablets/general
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Coldbird
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by Coldbird »

http://www.coldbird.uk.to/?e=2 Read.

If you wanna go cheap with a awesome price/value ratio, get a Nook Color and modify it appropriately.
It's what I use as my Tablet.

With 130$ its extremely cheap (compared to other tablets), has a fully open Bootloader (lots of modifications you can utilize aswell as several operating systems to choose from) and can hold itself quite well with 3D stuff... (again, for its price value of course...).

A search on YouTube for Nook Color Gaming should serve you some nice results.
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wololo
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by wololo »

Summary:
My suggestion: If you go with 7 inch and less than 200$, try with a Lenovo Ideapad, a Kindle Fire, or a Nook Color. If you have more money, try a 10 inches tablet instead. Avoid brandless devices unless you test them personally.

Details:

Keep in mind that tablets are computers, it's not jewelry (except maybe for Apple), so when something is cheap/expensive, there's a good reason, it's not only about brands. I don't know what your price range is, but let me get this straight: if a 7inches costs you less than 250$, there's often a catch, there's going to be something you don't like about the tablet.


If your price range is 300$ or less, you should test the tablet by yourself before buying it. 300$ is not enough for a great tablet, but it's still lots of money. You don't want to spend this amount on a tablet your sister will end up not using.



For a tablet under 300$ you will have one or several of the following issues:
- have an old or fishy version of android, maybe no update from the manufacturer. Some of those tablets don't have access to the android market
- have bad hardware: resistive screen will make the touch interface difficult to use, slow processor will turn web browsing, videos, and games into a bad experience, bad screen resolution/brightness will make movies sub-par, etc...
- get an unknown tablet nobody knows about. What kind of help will you be able to get if it breaks?
- Sometimes you'll get a good tablet but with limitations: the Kindle fire is not very useful if you don't plan to buy a lot from Amazon, same for the Nook color, *unless* you are tech savvy and do what coldbird suggests (root the device, etc)
- Support in Chinese and/or broken English
- volume control onscreen instead of hardware buttons (a big "NO" if you plan to use the device as your everyday music player)

Again, some of these points might be minor issues for your sister, but you have to test such cheap tablets before you buy them. Ask yourself what you would feel if your sister wants to get you a "portable console" but ends up buying you a Popstation because it's half the price of a refurbished PSP. At under 300$, you will most likely need to be skilled enough to root the tablet in order to get it to do "normal" stuff. If your sister is not a geek, you want to spend more on a tablet or she will get some frustrations. For that type of price, you could actually consider an iPod instead if music/movies is the goal.

So, first, can you give one detail: does your sister want 7 inch or 10 inch? Those are for fairly different types of usage. Browsing the web/typing email is a bit cumbersome on 7inch tablets from what I've seen.

The tablets on the link you sent are all brandless, and all have android 2.3, when 3.0 is the norm nowadays (although, not entirely sure for 7 inch) and 4.0 is around the corner, you will get what you pay for, don't expect miracles. I'm insisting on that, because I've bought several times bad hardware just because it was cheap. I've now realized that I'd rather pay 400$ for a great device that will last 4 years, than 150$ for a frustrating device that I will leave in my closet after 5 months of usage. 150$ for a tablet is cheap, until you realize you have to buy a new one every year because it breaks or becomes obsolete too fast.

I've bought a 10 inch for my wife a few months ago so I can give lots of details about those, a bit less about 7inch, but first let's go through the 7 inch:

7 inch
First, I suggest you go to Amazon. Not necessarily to buy from there, but to read the user comments. Read a couple of good and bad reviews to make your own idea.
This is what they have in 7 inch

The ones that stand out to me:

SKYTEX Skypad Alpha 7" Touch Screen Cortex-A8 Tablet Android OS 2.3 139$, this one is the first result on Amazon, which usually means it's the most popular. You apparently get what you pay for, the resistive screen and the lack of technical support seem to be the two bad points.

Kindle Fire. 200$ Amazon sell this one at a loss. Engadget said it was a good device for the price, but again you get what you pay for. It doesn't have the android market, only the Amazon store. Basically if you are not a regular Amazon customer, you might need to root the device. Volum control is software only. As far as I know however, this is the best you can get in 7 inch for less than 200$

Lenovo Ideapad 200$. This one stands out, but some reviews say you'd rather get a rooted Nook, so I guess it depends again on your or your sister's tech-savvyness.

Nook Color. 200$ You won't find this one on amazon, check Colbird's comment above on how to make the best out of that tablet.


10 inch
Those are more expensive, the entry price is 300$ for something that doesn't completely suck, but you can target closer to 400$. They are better for movies, browsing the web, typing emails, simpy because they usually have more power and the screen is bigger.


[url=ttp://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8 ... ive=390957]Here's what Amazon has[/url]

Personal selection:
Asus EEE PAd Transformer. 380$, This is the one I bought for my wife. You can plug it through HDMI to your TV, which great for watching movies and/or youtube. Comes with an (optional) keyboard (great for people who make a transition from a laptop). It has a great video card, so games and movies play smoothly. Good CPU and screen too, so very good for browsing the web. Asus announced they will update it to Icecream sandwich (the newest android version) sometimes in 2012, which is also a great selling point for me. It can also read data from a usb key, which I realized is a very useful feature. Few tablets offer that functionality. Simply put, I love that tablet, and my wife loves it too.

HP Touchpad. Not android! This one is great if you can find it for less than 200$ somewhere. The OS is discontinued, and HP sold them for 100$ a few months ago. Sadly, the prices went up again, but if you dig enough maybe you can find a good deal

Samsung Galaxy tab. This one is the Roll Royce of android tablets, costs about 500$

Other tablets I've tried but do not recommend:
Motorola Xoom Too expensive for what it does. Volume control buttons are difficult to use, power button is in the back which is inconvenient, and it's too heavy. The Asus eee pad transformer above is better and cheaper.
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Coldbird
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by Coldbird »

I guess I will give a bit of info on my tablet experiences aswell so you can make the best choice for your sister.

While what wololo said is true its not something that should scare you away, the rooting and modification that is.

While a one time effort is neccessary to modify the Nook Color, it is just that, onetime.

Once properly installed your sis wont have a reason to panic as the Nook will act like any other Tablet.

However on one thing he is right, Tablets which sell for less than 300 always have a catch, in the Nooks case its the lack of a TV out, microphone and cam, also it gets shipped with a crippled version of Android, which is why modifying it yourself to get a "good" OS is a must have.

The same applies for Amazons Kindle Fire tablet.

As for the nook, it can be safely clocked to 1.3ghz CPU frequency and gets you 6 to 8 hours runtime with its battery, depending on whether WiFi or Bluetooth is enabled.
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arnold
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by arnold »

Not sure why, but no one seems to be recommending the iPad 2. If you are just a plain user, it's actually quite decent. :-)
You can't expect everybody to have time and skill to mix and match software and hacks until a device works to your liking.
Think of it this way, the iPad may not be the most configurable tablet and it has many lockdowns with its iOS but it does work well to an extent out-of-the-box and the time saved not messing around is worth the extra $100-200 (depends where and how you buy one :p ).

-arnold
Coldbird
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by Coldbird »

arnold wrote:Not sure why, but no one seems to be recommending the iPad 2. If you are just a plain user, it's actually quite decent. :-)
You can't expect everybody to have time and skill to mix and match software and hacks until a device works to your liking.
Think of it this way, the iPad may not be the most configurable tablet and it has many lockdowns with its iOS but it does work well to an extent out-of-the-box and the time saved not messing around is worth the extra $100-200 (depends where and how you buy one :p ).

-arnold
I understand the whole iPad hype but sadly it's just that to me, also OP asked especially for Android Tablets so that kinda cuts out the iOS branch anyway.
As you yourself said, it's heavily locked down and lacks options to configure it, talking bout long term investments this is already a death sentence to the iPad, atleast in my own oppinion it is.

If one has the choice to go for something configurable that they can tune to their liking that can do all, if not more than the locked down product, why would one still go for a locked system? Especially when it's overpriced like the Apple Range of products?

Besides, if OP had enough money to actually afford a iPad 2, then there are way better pre-configured Android setups he could just buy.
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wololo
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by wololo »

arnold wrote:Not sure why, but no one seems to be recommending the iPad 2. If you are just a plain user, it's actually quite decent. :-)
The OP specifically requested Android. I assumed if he was considering the iPad he would have mentioned it. Also, since his expected price is around 200$ from what I understand, I ruled the iPad 2 out immediately. Also, if the goal is to be stuck in one ecosystem, for his price range the kindle fire is much more adapted.
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Coldbird
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Re: Finding a tablet for Xmas.

Post by Coldbird »

One thing I wanna throw in too that might be interesting when buying a < 200$ tablet is that the Kindle Fire is a very promising device...

Right now it is what the Nook Color was when it first got released... a device with a very crippled locked down Android, however, the Fire's bootloader is fully open, as advertised by Amazon, which will spawn a lot of fanbased Android projects in the future, just like it did with the Nook Color already.

Which means, that the Kindle Fire could be a very nice (better equipped) Nook Color replacement in the future, once communities like XDA-Developer, Modaco and CM dig their teeth into it.
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