- May 7, 2013
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Before I start, don't get me wrong, I am quite happy with my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and it does everything I want of it. I am not a gamer and I pretty much use the thing for my on the go needs such as Skype, reading, browsing and watching/listening movies/music.
Another thing, if you don't like long posts then just don't bother reading this. Writing tl;dr is not cool, it's just ignorant.
I was not at all tempted by the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 because, for what I do it gives me NOTHING extra. How little am I tempted? Put it this way if I were to be offered a trade-in for my present Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and I would get the new one for an extra $20 it would still not be worth it to me (for $10 it might be).
So for any of you out there looking for a solid little tablet you will probably find a good deal on the Tab 2 7.0 and I would advise this over a more expensive Tab 3 7.0
This having been said, the new Google Nexus 7 (2013 edition) just blows the socks off my Galaxy Tab 2(3) 7.0 in every single way - except one. The one exception is that the Google Nexus still does not have an SD slot.
With regard to my choice between the original Google Nexus 7 (2012) and the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 this was a deal breaker and I was willing to take the lower resolution screen into account because of it.
So I pretty much decided my tablet had to go, and the Google Nexus 7 (2013) was going to be my choice.
HOWEVER
Of course I look around to see where I can get the best deal and the Nexus 7 is pretty pricey (although compared to the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 the price is certainly worth it).
Being on the lookout I checked around at what else I could get in the price slot of the Nexus 7 (2013) 32GB. In the case of a non expandable drive 16GB is too small due to the lack of an SD slot.
I came across a couple of deals which were cheaper (Nexus 7 32GB a bit over £200 or $330). The deals involved the Galaxy Note 8.0.
I saw a deal for the Galaxy Note 8.0 16GB for £195 ($320) from a reputable dealer and I decided to take a closer look at that.
I had the feeling ofdéjà vu all over again. The only thing the Nexus 7 gives me over the Note 8.0 is the screen resolution - 1920 x 1200 for the Nexus versus 1280 x 800 for the Note 8.0
The Note 8.0 has an SD slot which the Nexus does not, so I went into deal-breaker mode and again the Nexus lost out. But this time it was not just because of that.
One thing which has cheesed me off on my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is that when I am browsing and there are two links above each other it is a 50-50 chance of hitting the right one. With the Galaxy Note 8.0 and the S-Pen that is a thing of the past. With the Nexus 7 I would still be left with that major PITA.
The Note 8.0 has a proper MicroUSB port on it and supports things like USB flash drives which the Nexus does not (you have to buy an extra app to make it compatible, which turned me off).
Looking closer the Galaxy Note 8.0 gives me the ability to run two apps at the same time on the screen. This is not true for all apps but it is a really nice thing to have.
The other thing which I alluded to above is the fact that the Note 8.0 has a Wacom digitiser and pen (S-Pen). If the Nexus 7 had an SD slot, this - for the same price - would perhaps (but not certainly) have tipped my hand in favour of the Note 8.0.
Now I have to say that I am autistic (I have Asperger's) and the one thing that annoys me no end is smudge marks from my fingers on the screen of my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 - it is one reason why I will NEVER buy a touchscreen for my PC. Browsing I can use the S-Pen as I would a mouse, and I can avoid smudges.
My handwriting REALLY sucks and I have no artistic talent whatsoever so the main selling point of the S-Pen is otherwise wasted on me.
The reason why I was not so bothered about the lack of SD slot expansion on the Nexus 7 is the fact that I recently bought a Corsair Voyager Air 512GB external hard drive. It has Wifi, Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3,0 connectivity all in one. It works very well with my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
Looking further into it I have found that the Nexus 7 has issues with Wifi connectivity. Another complaint I have found is that the Nexus 7 will stop working entirely if dropped onto a bed (never mind a table) - and of course the ASUS typically sucky tech-support lives up to its typically sucky reputation.
Is there a big difference between the Note 8.0 and my Tab 2 7.0 in size? Strangely enough in my case not so much. I got a really good cover for my Tab 2 but it does make it bigger all around. I got an excellent cover for my Note 8.0 which is form hugging and with the covers on the pair of them are about the same breadth with the Note 8.0 being just a bit taller. The coolest thing about the cover for the Note 8.0 is that it turns it off (sleep mode) when I close it.
Compared to the Nexus 7, first of all covers for them are a lot more expensive when comparing the same quality. They are around about 1.5 times more expensive. The Nexus also has extremely large top and bottom bezels and the cases I have found for it don't fit snugly so that makes the Nexus 7 in the case quite a bit taller than the Note 8.0.
As far as aesthetics go, I am not the person to ask; my favourite looking aircraft of all time is the A10 Republic Thunderbolt II - 'nuff said?
I have had a lot of really excellent use out of my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and it has performed admirably with regard to Wifi and Bluetooth. I can run my Bluetooth speaker (Kai Mini), keyboard and mouse simultaneously with no problems whatsoever. I have never had any Wifi connectivity issues - in fact the Wifi has worked in environments where others couldn't get a connection. It is also incredibly easy to root.
Where the Nexus 7 won me over was the screen and the processor specs but mainly the screen. At the end of the day the 800x600 display of the Tab 2 7.0 has become its Achilles Heel as far as my usage is concerned.
Normally the price of the Note 8.0 would be about £100 ($160) more than the Nexus 7 and in this case I would have bought the Nexus 7 and taken the chances that the complaints I have read about it are the exceptions and not the rule.
Some of you are perhaps wondering, what about the iPad Mini? Well what about the iPad Mini. It compares favourably to my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and that's about it. Apple is asking a high price for mediocre hardware (as usual) and it doesn't - in my opinion - deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence. With the other two that I decided to choose from (see how I did that?
)
I decided around this point of the post that I would put in a poll listing the choices where I will also list the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0; which I didn't consider because I originally wanted a seven inch tablet, and I got a better deal on the Note 8.0 than I could find with regard to the Tab 3 8.0. It's one of those upside down crazy world kind of things which happens occasionally.
At the price I got the tablet I have basically always wanted - even though eight inches is a bit on the large side because I consider seven inches to be the ideal size for usability and portability.
What am I going to do with my Tab 2 7.0? I am selling it to a friend of mine for half the current price of a new one. With all the accessories and a 32GB Class10 SDHC and a spare battery pack with four brand new 2000 mAh Eneloop rechargeable batteries that would be £75 ($123) which I think is fair.
Another thing, if you don't like long posts then just don't bother reading this. Writing tl;dr is not cool, it's just ignorant.
I was not at all tempted by the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 because, for what I do it gives me NOTHING extra. How little am I tempted? Put it this way if I were to be offered a trade-in for my present Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and I would get the new one for an extra $20 it would still not be worth it to me (for $10 it might be).
So for any of you out there looking for a solid little tablet you will probably find a good deal on the Tab 2 7.0 and I would advise this over a more expensive Tab 3 7.0
This having been said, the new Google Nexus 7 (2013 edition) just blows the socks off my Galaxy Tab 2(3) 7.0 in every single way - except one. The one exception is that the Google Nexus still does not have an SD slot.
With regard to my choice between the original Google Nexus 7 (2012) and the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 this was a deal breaker and I was willing to take the lower resolution screen into account because of it.
So I pretty much decided my tablet had to go, and the Google Nexus 7 (2013) was going to be my choice.
HOWEVER
Of course I look around to see where I can get the best deal and the Nexus 7 is pretty pricey (although compared to the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 the price is certainly worth it).
Being on the lookout I checked around at what else I could get in the price slot of the Nexus 7 (2013) 32GB. In the case of a non expandable drive 16GB is too small due to the lack of an SD slot.
I came across a couple of deals which were cheaper (Nexus 7 32GB a bit over £200 or $330). The deals involved the Galaxy Note 8.0.
I saw a deal for the Galaxy Note 8.0 16GB for £195 ($320) from a reputable dealer and I decided to take a closer look at that.
I had the feeling ofdéjà vu all over again. The only thing the Nexus 7 gives me over the Note 8.0 is the screen resolution - 1920 x 1200 for the Nexus versus 1280 x 800 for the Note 8.0
The Note 8.0 has an SD slot which the Nexus does not, so I went into deal-breaker mode and again the Nexus lost out. But this time it was not just because of that.
One thing which has cheesed me off on my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is that when I am browsing and there are two links above each other it is a 50-50 chance of hitting the right one. With the Galaxy Note 8.0 and the S-Pen that is a thing of the past. With the Nexus 7 I would still be left with that major PITA.
The Note 8.0 has a proper MicroUSB port on it and supports things like USB flash drives which the Nexus does not (you have to buy an extra app to make it compatible, which turned me off).
Looking closer the Galaxy Note 8.0 gives me the ability to run two apps at the same time on the screen. This is not true for all apps but it is a really nice thing to have.
The other thing which I alluded to above is the fact that the Note 8.0 has a Wacom digitiser and pen (S-Pen). If the Nexus 7 had an SD slot, this - for the same price - would perhaps (but not certainly) have tipped my hand in favour of the Note 8.0.
Now I have to say that I am autistic (I have Asperger's) and the one thing that annoys me no end is smudge marks from my fingers on the screen of my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 - it is one reason why I will NEVER buy a touchscreen for my PC. Browsing I can use the S-Pen as I would a mouse, and I can avoid smudges.
My handwriting REALLY sucks and I have no artistic talent whatsoever so the main selling point of the S-Pen is otherwise wasted on me.
The reason why I was not so bothered about the lack of SD slot expansion on the Nexus 7 is the fact that I recently bought a Corsair Voyager Air 512GB external hard drive. It has Wifi, Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3,0 connectivity all in one. It works very well with my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
Looking further into it I have found that the Nexus 7 has issues with Wifi connectivity. Another complaint I have found is that the Nexus 7 will stop working entirely if dropped onto a bed (never mind a table) - and of course the ASUS typically sucky tech-support lives up to its typically sucky reputation.
Is there a big difference between the Note 8.0 and my Tab 2 7.0 in size? Strangely enough in my case not so much. I got a really good cover for my Tab 2 but it does make it bigger all around. I got an excellent cover for my Note 8.0 which is form hugging and with the covers on the pair of them are about the same breadth with the Note 8.0 being just a bit taller. The coolest thing about the cover for the Note 8.0 is that it turns it off (sleep mode) when I close it.
Compared to the Nexus 7, first of all covers for them are a lot more expensive when comparing the same quality. They are around about 1.5 times more expensive. The Nexus also has extremely large top and bottom bezels and the cases I have found for it don't fit snugly so that makes the Nexus 7 in the case quite a bit taller than the Note 8.0.
As far as aesthetics go, I am not the person to ask; my favourite looking aircraft of all time is the A10 Republic Thunderbolt II - 'nuff said?
I have had a lot of really excellent use out of my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and it has performed admirably with regard to Wifi and Bluetooth. I can run my Bluetooth speaker (Kai Mini), keyboard and mouse simultaneously with no problems whatsoever. I have never had any Wifi connectivity issues - in fact the Wifi has worked in environments where others couldn't get a connection. It is also incredibly easy to root.
Where the Nexus 7 won me over was the screen and the processor specs but mainly the screen. At the end of the day the 800x600 display of the Tab 2 7.0 has become its Achilles Heel as far as my usage is concerned.
Normally the price of the Note 8.0 would be about £100 ($160) more than the Nexus 7 and in this case I would have bought the Nexus 7 and taken the chances that the complaints I have read about it are the exceptions and not the rule.
Some of you are perhaps wondering, what about the iPad Mini? Well what about the iPad Mini. It compares favourably to my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and that's about it. Apple is asking a high price for mediocre hardware (as usual) and it doesn't - in my opinion - deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence. With the other two that I decided to choose from (see how I did that?
)I decided around this point of the post that I would put in a poll listing the choices where I will also list the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0; which I didn't consider because I originally wanted a seven inch tablet, and I got a better deal on the Note 8.0 than I could find with regard to the Tab 3 8.0. It's one of those upside down crazy world kind of things which happens occasionally.
At the price I got the tablet I have basically always wanted - even though eight inches is a bit on the large side because I consider seven inches to be the ideal size for usability and portability.
What am I going to do with my Tab 2 7.0? I am selling it to a friend of mine for half the current price of a new one. With all the accessories and a 32GB Class10 SDHC and a spare battery pack with four brand new 2000 mAh Eneloop rechargeable batteries that would be £75 ($123) which I think is fair.
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