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I've been doing some research for buying an android tablet for about a month now. Things that have become a must for me:
512mb (or better) of ram
Tegra 2 cpu
Around 10" high res (enough for honeycomb) screen
Under $500
Rootable, and has good dev support
Most you will be thinking, "you're describing the viewsonic g-tab, right?" Well, that's mainly what I'm thinking about. I'm wondering if there are any other great tablets that I'm missing. Any advice, comments or whatever would be appreciated. Thanks!
Id stay away from the g-tablet. The specs seem great for the price, but the screen is a HUGE disappointment. The viewing angles are terrible, it washes out when moved the slightest bit. In fact, straight on doesn't even seem to be the best angle.
I didn't even bother rooting mine, which anyone would want to do since the tap n tap UI on it is terrible. The screen was an immediate dealbreaker. My flytouch 2 screen is leaps and bounds better, and that's kinda sad since it was less than half the price of a g-tablet.
Philthechil said:
I've been doing some research for buying an android tablet for about a month now. Things that have become a must for me:
512mb (or better) of ram
Tegra 2 cpu
Around 10" high res (enough for honeycomb) screen
Under $500
Rootable, and has good dev support
Most you will be thinking, "you're describing the viewsonic g-tab, right?" Well, that's mainly what I'm thinking about. I'm wondering if there are any other great tablets that I'm missing. Any advice, comments or whatever would be appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're looking for something that doesn't exist yet. The best bet will probably be the Tablet Toshiba is dropping soon, assuming its around that price. Otherwise you might as well keep waiting with me.
Ah, ok. I had been hearing that. I didn't think it played that much into it. I wish I could buy one just to test it out
mobius999 said:
Id stay away from the g-tablet. The specs seem great for the price, but the screen is a HUGE disappointment. The viewing angles are terrible, it washes out when moved the slightest bit. In fact, straight on doesn't even seem to be the best angle.
I didn't even bother rooting mine, which anyone would want to do since the tap n tap UI on it is terrible. The screen was an immediate dealbreaker. My flytouch 2 screen is leaps and bounds better, and that's kinda sad since it was less than half the price of a g-tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The view angle of the G Tablet certainly could be better, but this guy is exaggerating too much. The screen looks terrific when seen at the best angle. And I can highly recommend the G Tablet for you. It isn't perfect but no Tablet out there for any price is perfect.
Thanks guys for your input. I've decided I'm just gonna have to go with the risk and buy one. If the viewing angles really are that bad, I'll simply re-sell it on ebay
Viewsonic Gtab
Viewing angle is NOT that bad, accessories are the problem. Can't find them in the US! But once you get a good rom on it, I have had no regrets dropping a few hundred on the toy.
Notice I say toy, cause there is no 'need' for this equipment yet. No honeycomb, no easy out of the box use, but I enjoy the speedy vegan tab rom and have used it for movies, email, and just tom-foolery android apks. Get an atom laptop if you want something out of the box that is based on functionality if you need to buy before Q4 2011.
I have a g-tab, like it more than the ipad I had.
You should check out the Barnes and Noble Nook Color! I got one just for the ereader and have since rooted it and then even installed CM7. The only thing it doesn't have is a camera and Bluetooth mic support(yet).
BN really under sold its capabilities. It is the little tablet tablet could...
P.S. the dev community is amazing around it...
klaiii said:
You should check out the Barnes and Noble Nook Color! I got one just for the ereader and have since rooted it and then even installed CM7. The only thing it doesn't have is a camera and Bluetooth mic support(yet).
BN really under sold its capabilities. It is the little tablet tablet could...
P.S. the dev community is amazing around it...
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Click to collapse
As much as I agree with how awesome the value of the Nook color is... It doesn't meet any of his requirements.
I believe the Acer Iconia Tab and Asus EEE transformer meets all of your needs and price range.
I have Toshiba Folio 100 and I'm not happy with it, little dev support, bad screen, lots of bugs that Toshiba don't fix and if you buy one, you'll surly get one with bad part(s), because Toshiba made bad parts and every tablet has another parts. New Toshiba tablet seems OK, but I won't buy any from Toshiba. I have same problem and I'll wait. In near future(2012), tablets will better and they'll have dual boot(android,ubuntu;androd, windows 8), faster processors(nvidia quad core processor), new OS's(windows 8, ubuntu, android ice cream sandwich tbat will be universal, chrome os) and the best of all, they'll cheaper!
After this, I think you will wait
I have the Acer Iconia A500 Tab which was bought in Germany.
Has a few small issues as you would expect from a fresh honeycomb device but nothing that you couldnt live with until Acer put out the update for Honeycomb 3.1 before the end of June.
If you can get past the little niggles, it has an excellent screen with amazing viewing angles, bright, crisp and clear. Fantastic build quality, including a thin brushed aluminium skin and a reasonable weight that wont flare up your RSI.
After the usual tweaks and additional root apps for improved battery life, you can quite happily use the device constantly for between 10-12 hours (mixed media)
has 1gb of ram, 32gb space, wireless -n, USB, Mini USB, Mini HDMI, encryption etc etc etc.
Baring in mind that it is almost 'stock' honeycomb 3.0 (Still includes the mobile phone elements even though this is wifi only, there is a reason bhind the choice ), i believe the slab has a lot of potential and cant wait till people start improving it.
Im very happy with the device so far and fully expecting the issues to be resolved in the first customised version of the 3.1 update from Acer.
All for 499 Euro
There's your deal...
Hey everyone! Looks like I'm finally gonna bite the bullet and buy a tablet next month. I'm looking at the following possibilities:
Asus Eee Pad Transformer
Acer Iconia A500
Motorola Xoom
iPad 2
Something else?
I'm in desperate need for some advice though. For reference, my primary uses for the tablet will be web browsing (over home wifi only), watching movies, playing games, GPS and map browsing, and developing 3D applications.
I'm a long time Java developer, so I'm thinking Android might be a nice way to go, but I'm willing to go iPad 2 if it's really a better device for my other uses.
Here's some things I'm curious about:
I've heard that Android tablets have some serious stuttering problems when playing H.264 movies. True?
Which of the manufacturers has a better track record for regular OS updates?
Do the Android tablets often have to reload pages that are already open in other tabs when going back and forth? (This drives me crazy on the iPad 2... along with the page loading delay when scrolling down long pages).
Does the same game released for iPad and Android Tablets run better on one over the other?
Any help/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I also confused if which one I should chose.
I took ipad2 and recommend i pad 2.
It is lightest and XGA resolution is very convinient to use.
Smart cover is also very useful.
Galaxy tab 10.1 and 8.9 also are lighter and look good but
ipad2 is still better with smart cover.
I would go fo the Xoom this is better than Ipad 2, but still a little expensive.
I have just returned from US and the rumor was that later this month you can bye the Xoom without 3G for apr. $600. Not bad.
I myself have an Toshiba Folio 100 and with the Dexter Foliomod Rom, this is faster than the Apple. Maybe buy a used one cheap.
I got to play with the EE transformer by Asus I would wait for that With the Detachable keyboard and 3.0 it works very nice and better price point than the xoom 600 bucks as soon as this is out ill have one
Do you have any experience with movies and videos on the Android tablets? Are they choppy/stutter like I've heard a few people complain about?
I've got the zoom and no problems with video whatsoever the new dual cores will really help in that regard, plus most high end new tablets have enough ram to do multiple things at once. I kinda wish i would've waited for the new galaxy tab though looks pretty sweet.
I would prefer the Asus Eee Pad Transformer
If you like iOS then get the iPad.
If you like android check out the viewsonic g-tab. Its very popular on these forums and nicely spec'd for its price.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Interesting... I hadn't actually heard of the Viewsonic g-tablet until now (only their Vpad). I'll have to look into that one a bit more.
Yeah, looks like the Viewsonic tablet is running Froyo. I think I want to stick with a 3.0 tablet.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer is definitely looking the most likely right now (with the Acer Iconia A500 in a distant second). I have friends trying to push me towards the iPad 2, but I'm not terribly impressed with any particular aspect of iOS except for the available software. I much prefer the base functionality of Android.
My main concern with the Asus Transformer is that I'm worried it's more hype than what it'll actually deliver. I wish I could hold one in my hands and try it out first.
I had to choose between many android tablets and I chose the iconia a500, cause of the better price. The Asus has better screen though.
Video playback is very subjective. I'd recomend taking a sample vid to a store and testing.
Personally, I haven't found any Tegra2 based tab great for it.
I'd say look at Tegra3 based tabs.
No exp with Ipad2, but unless urgent I would hold at this point for Ipad3 release. Rumor has Ipad2 down at least $100 when that happens.
Neil
Hi all,
First let me say I want to stay away from the iPad. After getting royally burned with the 4.0 iOS upgrade on my iPhone 3G and now having to live with the degraded performance on it and lack of future support past 4.2, I doubt I'll ever buy another apple product. I was never one to drink their cool-aid anyway.
But now to the question at hand. What Tablet should I buy?
The main reason for the purchase is so I can watch videos without having to drag out my laptop. I don't want to have to convert the video to be able to play it. I just want to watch 350Mb/1.1Gb TV shows on it without having to worry about planning ahead of time.
Ideally, I would like GPS capabilities on it. 3G is not really required, I can tether it to my phone (i have a plan for that) or will be using it in areas where wifi is available.
I've been looking at a few tablets, namely the Motorolla Xoom and the Viewsonic Viewpad 10. The Xoom seemed like a nice enough device, especially with honeycomb, but it seems to have issues with HD video. The reason I picked the viewpad 10 was for Windows 7, but android 1.6 and the little disk space available left on it after windows installation makes me wonder how effective it will be as a tablet. Having windows 7 on a tablet would be amazing. I would love the flexibility it would afford on the tablet.
So does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks for the help!
Do you want to have 7" or 10" ?
For watching Video it will be better with 10".
How about Galaxy Tab 10" ? It's honeycomb and very light.
I am running the Acer A500 right now and am very impressed. It got some poor reviews compared to the Asus Transformer in terms of the battery life and screen quality... I have been off the charger for almost 15 hours, watched an entire episode of Stargate: Universe (streaming btw), a few hours of web browsing casually, a few rounds of Let's Play Golf, and of course the good old forums and I am still at 40%. Pretty damn good I think. Tablet and Win7 really is a cumbersome ui and the battery life terrible there (I own one). Honeycomb has quite a few MINOR bugs to work out, but I am only considering the Asus if the screen is really a lot better. Just my opinion but ihth
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
*edit* *edit* *edit*
depends what you want to do with it, first 7 or 10 inch
If you say seven and don't mind messing around with a tablet and enjoy rooting and modding the nookcolor is nice and a lot of fun. that being said if you want working honeycomb out of the box look elsewhere. Also the nook tablet won't be as smooth as it's not a dual core or anything like that, but i still love mine.
If your TV rips are 24p (and most of them probaly are) then they will not play smoothly on the G-Slate at the moment.
Tegra-2 does not do advanced profile, so if your rips are from the net they will most likely not play well and require re-encoding. Tegra2 does not do 8x8 transforms, cabac or p-frames all of which are generally used in "scene rips."
jimmod said:
Do you want to have 7" or 10" ?
For watching Video it will be better with 10".
How about Galaxy Tab 10" ? It's honeycomb and very light.
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Click to collapse
Post 1 of 10 for posting on dev thread
I'd have to agree with Skyfox99 on the newer Acer recommendation, or if you're ok with waiting a bit, the HTC Flyer looks pretty good too.
Sadly, the i-Devices have the fastest graphics processing at the moment, but soon there's going to be new chips released to top it again.
I did forget to mention it, but I was looking at 10" Tablets.
I was digging around a little after I posted this and did see the Acer A500 and the transformer. Both seemed to be great machines. I was actually aiming for the 16GB transformer. 16GB would be plenty and would only cost about 400$ plus tax and S&H, and I can always add a MicroSD.
I'm in Canada though, and it seems both the A500 and Transformer are either unavailable as of yet or back-order. But I'm willing to wait for those since the price seems to be right and so far I'm reading positive reviews.
I've read about the Tegra not being the best at doing video, another reason why I was looking at the viewpad 10 that has an atom cpu.
I dont mind putting down 300-400$ on a tablet, as long as it does what I want from it.
Thanks for all the answers so far!
wait for sony s1 and s2!
buy iPad 2
A friend of mine got the XOOM and he was happy with it for a couple of days. When it comes to productivity the Xoom doesn't really stand out. It's really just a enhanced version of a phone without the calls if you get the wifi only version. He returned it a week later for a refund and is getting a Ipad 2.
I think Samsung Galaxt Tab2 is a good choice.
I'd recommend WeTab with MeeGo
If I had the money: ipad 2 because of Netflix support.
But for affordability: Asus
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G
XDA Developers Premium App
Palms new tablet looks pretty cool, but is only if you are rockin a pre 3 with it because of the touch to share innovation.
I agree with groe. The new Palm or should I say HP tablet looks pretty beastly, with the Pre3 along side it that is. Otherwise I'd say go iPad 2.
Persoanlly i wouldn't get any right now since they're all coming out with tegra 2. And as stated before, tegra doesn't do very well with high profile videos/real HD videos. But if I had to, I'd get the Asus transformer since I fancy the lappy dock. But we all know how "limited" in supply it is. =.=
Galaxy Tab
I would get the Asus with the tegra 3 cpu... yum!
Surprised ive never heard of this Tablet. I found out about it when randomly looking for 4:3 screen size Android Tablets. It has a 9.7" 1024x768 Screen. Very good viewing angles. weighs about 1.6 punds which is a bit more than xoom (kinda Heavy). uses a 1ghz Arm Cortex A8 (512mb of ram i think). Has Micro Sd Slot. Runs Android 2.2 Though. Seems Very smooth and responsive Reviews seem to be good. Very little is know about this tab but I found a video which seemed good. online rateings where good too! Heres a Hands on Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtS2ntR5Ig
MOD EDIT: REMOVED COMMERCIAL LINK
How much is the price? I would still recommend the Asus Transformer simply because of the nvidia Integra.
If there is not that much of a difference in price I would just go with the Transformer. There are some excellent reviews and hands on videos on Youtube if you wish to read/ watch.
its 300$ online. not bad price if you ask me so I Think it would be the cheapest Tablet worth getting.
So no one has Experience with this Tab? IT looks really good for the price. Hard to find info about it but it is fairly new. Think it came out in June.
I have the Le Pan tc970, its a great inexspensive tablet. I have a rooted nook color and viewsonic gtab and Id take it over both of those right now.
I've having a terrible time trying to root it becaues I really would like LCDdensity to run. I've seen one post about someone having luck using super 1 click but I can't get it to work at all.
Anyone have luck? Maybe I'll ask in the general android development forum,
Amazon is selling this tablet for $169 this week. Picked one up - very good deal, nice simple tablet, easy to root, except it has problems connecting to WPA2 WiFi networks. Hopefully someone can fix that issue - seems common for ver2.2 Android phones, mind you...
I just discovered this tablet after looking for one for the wife. We currently have a crappy Zepad ZT-180 she won't use because it has to be shutdown when not in use and booted up to use since it has no sleep mode.
Does the TC970 have a real sleep mode where it can sleep indefinitely with little effect on the battery?
It's too bad there's no hacker community for this. Also too bad it's not $169 in the US, though at $199, it's still quite reasonable.
So my mother in law got my 7 year old a tablet for christmas this year. Nice, only it was the horrifyingly worthless Sylvania that Toys R Us and CVS were giving away on black friday. So my boy thinks he's got a tablet just like dad's Galaxy Tab 10.1, but not so much. It's the thought that counts, right?
I thought maybe it had been rooted and could run CM7 or something, but no such luck. Locked down and it doesn't have the enthusiastic dev community around that I am used to with other devices... to say the least. Compile that with the substandard hardware and it's a paperweight. This is the type of device that gives android tablets a bad name.
He's disappointed, it's a brand new tablet, and to him should work like the others he's used, but of course doesn't. I'd planned on handing down my Incredible when I upgrade and setting it up as a wifi only device for him, but am considering just purchasing an inexpensive tablet that is decent quality and fully enabled (or can/will be).
I'm perfectly comfortable with rooting and flashing roms. I would like something with either current or expected support from CM. I'd like something that could run things at least as smoothly as the incredible can.
Right now I'm looking at a few different options:
Nook Tablet - Pros: nice hardware, should run CM9, expandable storage Cons: No camera
Kindle Fire - Pros: works out of the box with the Amazon app store, should run CM9, $199. Cons: only 8GB storage, not expandable, hardware not quite as good as the Nook Tablet, No camera
Acer Iconia A100 - Pros: Out of the box it is complete. Tegra 2. Expandable storage. dual cameras. except for the shorter battery life it compares to my Galaxy Tab. Cons: over my price range of $300.
Opinions? Am I wrong for dismissing Velocity Micro, Archos and the like without giving them a shot? Any good deals I'm overlooking?
CM9 on the Nook Tab? Doesn't it have a locked bootloader. I'd stay away from it.
Kindle Fire is nice but I think it lacks Bluetooth and cameras (which are becoming important for tabs)
Try to get a TouchPad
Yes, get an TouchPad - you can find it at very low price - and install CM.
c0x91 said:
Yes, get an TouchPad - you can find it at very low price - and install CM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. You can get a TouchPad for $200 and it's worth more than that. You can't find a better deal.
bleach168 said:
This. You can get a TouchPad for $200 and it's worth more than that. You can't find a better deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I triple that.
Currently running Xron b2.9 on mine.
Agreed if you can get your hands on a touchpad. Or maybe pick up a 16 gig playbook (199) it's only a matter of time till a developer on here gets android up on it and the hardware is pretty solid
TouchPad +1
Awesome hardware (for the going rate of $225), 10" screen, and big following here. webOS is nice, elegant, simple, and stable. But, there are very few apps. I'm not a fan of Gingerbread on a 10" screen, but ICS is coming along, and GB should fill the android and app craving until its here.
I almost got a Vizio tablet ... but as you said a cheap tablet with poor popularity here is a bad combo. I don't regret for a second spending a little more a getting the TouchPad over the Vizio tab, or Fire.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
OK, some questions about the Touchpad...
The 4:3 screen, most android apps are developed with 16:9 screens in mind. I can see this not being an issue with an app which uses a dynamic layout, but with games which have static assets how does this work out?
This tab will be used primarily for games and children's books, how is compatibility running CM7, any issues?
Once CM7 is installed is it seamless? WebOS holds no interest for me because of the lack of apps.
If I go the ebay route, I can likely get an A100 for the same price as a touchpad, does the TP still hold up?
Ok, newbie here.... Who makes the touchpad? How are the tablets from China? Are they just a waste of money?
I think the Touchpad recommendations are spot on, but I'll tell you that the Acer A100 is a good device. I got one for my daughter (same age as your kid) and have been happy with it. No rooting, running both Android Market and Amazon Appstore. Found it for around US $250 on Amazon.
Good luck on your purchase.
I will buy a kindle fire and install cm9..
Ok, figured out the touchpad is HP Still curious about the tablets from China if anyone has insight.
4yo
I've had a similar tale. Currently my 4yo has confiscated my HD2 running a CM7 ROM be hes practically taken over his mothers transformer. Needless to say she's not happy about that and he doesn't get his hands on my flyer without supervision so I've been thinking about getting him his own tablet.
I have an old 7 inch tab that i've had since the dawn of time it seems and and it worked well with the help od slatedroid before XDA opened up to tablets. Once we upgraded it was his defacto tab, until he broke the power switch.
My boys has had a lot of exposure so hes good with technology but hes young and not always as aware of the value of things as I'd like. I'd love to get him something to save wear and tear on his mothers tablet but id like something that he can load his existing android apps on and just enjoy.
I'll be watching this thread closely for any suggestions that aren't a touchpad.
I would also recommend the Touchpad. I also have a kindle fire and the form factor does not lend itself to the comfortable web browsing experience that you get with a Touchpad + CM7 and Maxthon/Dolphin/Boat.
It is good for reading books, and checking the web/email in a bind - but screen real estate is limited and the lack of hard keys is at times annoying.
Kindle Fire, enough said
I am running cm7 on my wife's nook color. Works well for when my boy wants to play games, but for reading, the original nook software is better, so I just have a dual boot setup... it just runs cm7 off the sd card. I like the setup.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Kindle Fire is a really nice tablet in hand, I know your complaints were technical ones, but out of those cheap tablets I still vote for the Kindle Fire.
I vote for an HP Touchpad w/ dual boot to webOS or Android or an original Samsung Galaxy Tab 7"er
withoutname90 said:
I will buy a kindle fire and install cm9..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think c9 will be a good option down the road on a kindle. It is not ready for prime time yet.
Great to play. Not a daily driver.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/9/2695314/asus-eee-pad-memo-me370T-tegra-3-price
The new standard of low price tables. Ics out of box, camera, tegra 3, and other good stuff. best of all its $249