7" tablet recommendations

[itakey]

I'm looking for a 7" android based tablet to mess around with. One that might get ICS would be sweet, or one that can be rooted or has a strong following is always nice.

I want something more functional than a nook or fire and don't want something that I HAVE to constantly mess with.

I was considering the HTC Flyer or View since those have been popping up on the deal boards lately.

Anyone have one that they like/love?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Well I use a Kindle Fire and it's great. Rooting it with the stock software and installing a custom launcher is very easy, and it gives you access to the Android Market instead of just the Amazon Appstore. For $200 it's hard to beat. I saw a $300 7-inch tablet, I think it was an Archos, at Best Buy, and the screen was abysmal. There's a reason the Fire is so cheap for what you get; Amazon is subsidizing its cost. All the competitors in the low-cost tablet market have to make a profit on the hardware itself, so they cut corners by using cheaper screens and so on.

The Fire also has a custom recovery and CM7 is running on it, with CM9 (based on ICS) is in the testing phases and will eventually be fully functional. Getting the custom bootloader, recovery, and ROM onto it isn't that easy, but it's not insanely difficult either.

 

[dagamer34]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus sounds right up your alley, though it is more expensive than the Fire or Nook, it has far more power under the hood than either. And the Exynos platform it runs on will definitely be supported for custom ROMs.

I would keep in mind the popularity of ROMs for a device when looking around. For example with phones, it's a lot easier to find ROMs for the international Galaxy S II than say, the Motorola Photon (it's a Sprint 4G phone).

 

[Necrolezbeast]

I'll happily recommend an Ainol novo 7 Aurora. I'm typing from mine now. I bought my 16gb Aurora here for $140. It has an IPS screen and comes stock with ICS, although I highly recommend loading one of the few custom ROMs

 

[itakey]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

Well I use a Kindle Fire and it's great. Rooting it with the stock software and installing a custom launcher is very easy, and it gives you access to the Android Market instead of just the Amazon Appstore.

Guess I'll have to learn how to root and load up the custom rom's and I'll be all set. Is there anything the Kindle Fire lacks over some of the bit more expensive tablets? GPS, or anything like that? Don't even know if i'll need that, but it seems like so many people knock tablets without it. I'm guessing the Fire does not have that.

I would keep in mind the popularity of ROMs for a device when looking around.

What are some of the best sites/forums to look at when considering available rom's? I know of www.xda-developers.com and androidforums.com but never really browsed or looked much further.

I'll happily recommend an Ainol novo 7 Aurora. I'm typing from mine now. I bought my 16gb Aurora here for $140. It has an IPS screen and comes stock with ICS, although I highly recommend loading one of the few custom ROMs

I saw that posted but there were so many people knocking the screen and resolution that I stopped considering it. Which custom rom did you load and where did you find it? One of the forums listed above?

Maybe i'll head to bestbuy and poke around and see what they have just to get an idea, since I've never actually messed around with a 7", only an iPad 2.

Is it true in the 2nd quarter of the year there will be some kick A$$ tablets in the $250 range? Thought I heard that from the ICS show buzz.

More feedback welcomed!

 

[Necrolezbeast]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.



Guess I'll have to learn how to root and load up the custom rom's and I'll be all set. Is there anything the Kindle Fire lacks over some of the bit more expensive tablets? GPS, or anything like that? Don't even know if i'll need that, but it seems like so many people knock tablets without it. I'm guessing the Fire does not have that.



What are some of the best sites/forums to look at when considering available rom's? I know of www.xda-developers.com and androidforums.com but never really browsed or looked much further.


I saw that posted but there were so many people knocking the screen and resolution that I stopped considering it. Which custom rom did you load and where did you find it? One of the forums listed above?

Maybe i'll head to bestbuy and poke around and see what they have just to get an idea, since I've never actually messed around with a 7", only an iPad 2.

Is it true in the 2nd quarter of the year there will be some kick A$$ tablets in the $250 range? Thought I heard that from the ICS show buzz.

More feedback welcomed!

The screen on the Aurora is pretty nice, far better than the Lenovo I played around with... and it is the standard resolution of 7in devices. 1024x600? I'm too lazy to check right now... Slatedroid is where I get my roms and tweaks from, they have a really nice forum for Ainol devices and the custom rom(s) really open the device up. Pre-Rom'd I was disappointed with performance, but I immediately loaded up a custom rom and haven't looked back. There is even supposedly a new rom coming in the next week or so that will give the mali 400 full acceleration in ICS (currently there are no ICS drivers), the leaks have the performance jumping quite a bit again

 

[SickBeast]

OP, I reccomend the Playbook over the Kindle because the hardware is much better, along with the OS and core apps.

 

[podspi]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.



Guess I'll have to learn how to root and load up the custom rom's and I'll be all set. Is there anything the Kindle Fire lacks over some of the bit more expensive tablets? GPS, or anything like that? Don't even know if i'll need that, but it seems like so many people knock tablets without it. I'm guessing the Fire does not have that.

The Kindle Fire is great, but it does lack a few things. No GPS, no bluetooth, no camera, no sd card slot (!!), and no HDMI out (!). Some smart people are trying to figure out whether it can act as a USB host, but I have no idea how that is going.

On the plus side, the fire is fast, cheap, and has an unlocked bootloader. Check out the dev subforum on xda, you can download a utility that will root the kf, install a custom bootloader (so you can get into recovery), install recovery, and install gapps. It takes about ~ 5 minutes as long as nothing goes wrong

 

[xaeniac]

Let us know what you get. samsung galaxy 7 is a good one

 

[itakey]

Let us know what you get. samsung galaxy 7 is a good one

I ended up getting an HTC Flyer 16GB Wifi version tablet. Buy.com has them refurbished for $199, but they were having a promo that gave back a $40 credit to buy.com, so I got it for $160 in the end.

I got it yesterday and this thing is really nice! Looks brand new being a refurb, and it is nice. The size is perfect to mess around on, and the screen is really crisp. It has Android Gingerbread on it, and there is a HoneyComb update, but no Ice Cream Sandwich plans unless some developers get it done, and then I root it. To be honest, with Gingerbread on it I am already very impressed.

It feels a little heavy in the hand, but it weights as much as the Fire so it isn't a brick.

Battery life has been great, I surfed and messed around for hours and it only dropped a little past half.

Don't know what the lifespan will be on it if the developer community doesn't port out the newest Androids, but for $160 if it lasts a year or two (or more) i'll be happy

 

[luv2liv]

wow. im reading the HTC Flyer specs now.
cant believe it has GPS!
i wish more 7inch tablets have GPS working like a Garmin unit

 

[itakey]

wow. im reading the HTC Flyer specs now.
cant believe it has GPS!
i wish more 7inch tablets have GPS working like a Garmin unit

The more I use this tablet, the more I love it. I've messed with a few tablets in the store, and an ipad and ipad2 of some relatives. The HTC in a 7" is an awesome size for portability. Sort of like a giant cell phone so it is reasonable to carry all over, and just enough screen size compared to an iphone or other smart phone.

I'm deciding if I want to upgrade to Honeycomb and loose the hardware buttons to the software ones in Honeycomb, or i'll stick with gingerbread and then load a custom rom on.

 

[you2]

samsung 7.7 best screen today
super amoled+; kindle fire or nook for the cheap end
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