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What's the best 10-inch tablet for the money?

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DLeRium said:
I kinda find it funny when the iPad is instantly ruled out as a tablet option. This isn't even in the same league as iPhone vs Android. In terms of tablet, Android just isn't mature yet and Apple has a commanding lead. That can change, but until we get a unified tablet strategy from Google and Microsoft's Surface ACTUALLY takes off, I really don't see how going "non Apple" is a surefire strategy.
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Apple is a non-starter for many of us, for a variety of reasons.

Maybe we're already invested in the Android ecosystem (apps, games, music, movies, books, magazines).

Maybe, for a particular app or use, a non-Apple tablet is better. If Office was a large portion of my daily workflow, a Surface RT/Pro with a touch/type cover would be first on my list. If Google Apps (mail, maps, voice, music, drive) were important to me, an Android tablet would be key.

Maybe we don't support Apple's business model, from their proprietary cables, lack of expandable storage or lack of easy access to the file system, iTunes, price, etc.

Sales figures from the last quarter show that there is a significant portion of the population that won't be buying an Apple tablet. It's like 2010 all over again, where Android comes from behind to quickly overtake and dominate the market. The only big variable is Windows 8, and Microsoft timed their launch perfectly to take advantage of the skyrocketing growth in the tablet market. The only certainty is that the iPad, like the iPhone, won't be the dominant force in the tablet market in 2 years in terms of install base.

Research firm Strategy Analytics reports that worldwide Android tablet shipment numbers still trailed behind iPad's in the last three months, but estimates that they doubled from 5 million during the same period last year to now 10.2 million. And Android's market share grew from 29.2 percent to 41.3 percent (while Apple's fell from 64.5 percent to 56.7 percent).
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Untul the Nexus 10 price is known there's no real way to say.

If its price significantly higher than the Kindle Fire HD+ or the Nook HD+, then those could be better, for the money. If the intended use fits their capabilities.

I see those as the price leaders and I think price is the best way for Android to gain market share.
 
Tom said:
Untul the Nexus 10 price is known there's no real way to say.
Click to expand...
We don't know the price, but we do know the Nexus sales model based on previous devices. Google prices their Nexus products around cost.

The bill-of-materials for a Nexus 10 spec'd device is around $300-$325 (the same as the Retina iPad). Add in accessories, packaging, transit and marketing, and you're looking at a launch price around $349-$399.

We can also look to Amazon for clues on Google's launch price. The Kindle Fire HD shares the same price points as the Nexus 7 ($199 for 16GB, $249 for 32GB). The 8.9" Kindle Fire HD, which has a lower spec'd display than the Nexus 10, is $299 for 16GB and $369 for 32GB; I imagine the Nexus 10 to be only slightly higher in price for the discrepancy in screen size/resolution.
 
ponyo said:
What tablet app do you use that you can't get on your phone? A6X might be powerful but Exynos 5 is likely better. And knowing OP, iPad is out of the question unless it's for someone else. So to answer the OP, Nexus 10 is the best tablet.
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I think you misunderstood me. What I meant is that the apps for android smartphones/tablets are the same. So if you have an android phone, its already almost as usable as an Android tablet.

On the iPad there are real tablet apps, not made for phone blown up for tablet apps.
 
My guess is $399-450 for the 16gb Nexus 10. I can't see Google pricing it at the same or more than the iPad. I expect further improvements with Project Butter on 4.2. Nexus 7 changed lot of people's opinion about Android. I know number of Apple fans who dismissed Android as hard to use and laggy who bought Nexus 7 due to the low price who were pleasantly surprised at the polish and easy of use. Many of us found out the same last year with the Galaxy Nexus and ICS but most of the population never got to experience it and held on to prior outdated views about Android. I think Nexus 10 will continue with the surprise and change lot of opinion about Android on 10" tablet. At least I hope so. We know the hardware is a beast. Let's hope 4.2 brings the needed software.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
How many years has it been since you used an android device?
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Sadly I don't think he's wrong. I love Android. But even Google acknowledges that developers need to do more for tablet optimization of their apps. Apple still has a huge advantage. It's not a deal breaker at all, but it's a plus on Apple's side.
 
Tom said:
Untul the Nexus 10 price is known there's no real way to say.

If its price significantly higher than the Kindle Fire HD+ or the Nook HD+, then those could be better, for the money. If the intended use fits their capabilities.

I see those as the price leaders and I think price is the best way for Android to gain market share.
Click to expand...

It's incredibly unlikely that the Nexus 10 would be priced high enough to make the Kindle Fire HD a viable alternative, it's so much slower and less capable in addition to having a vastly inferior screen and ecosystem.
 
dagamer34 said:
I'd avoid the iPad 3, simply because the A5X was a weak Band-Aid for the kind of power it really needs to drive a retina display with that many pixels. From a performance standpoint, it behaves worse than an iPad 2 because the CPU is the same but needs to decode images 4x in size, and the GPU is barely adequate but is warm and uses quite a bit of power (still, the display uses most of the power).
Click to expand...

As an iPad 3 owner I disagree. The A5X is still a very powerful SoC and easily keeps up with any app I've run on my tablet without the slightest performance issue.
 
ponyo said:
My guess is $399-450 for the 16gb Nexus 10. I can't see Google pricing it at the same or more than the iPad. I expect further improvements with Project Butter on 4.2. Nexus 7 changed lot of people's opinion about Android. I know number of Apple fans who dismissed Android as hard to use and laggy who bought Nexus 7 due to the low price who were pleasantly surprised at the polish and easy of use. Many of us found out the same last year with the Galaxy Nexus and ICS but most of the population never got to experience it and held on to prior outdated views about Android. I think Nexus 10 will continue with the surprise and change lot of opinion about Android on 10" tablet. At least I hope so. We know the hardware is a beast. Let's hope 4.2 brings the needed software.
Click to expand...

I agree on the price range. $399 for 16gb and $449 for 32gb?

fwiw - using Chrome on a Nexus 7, I find scrolling to be laggy but note this is from using one at a Microcenter, don't know if there are any settings that can improve things.
 
Capt Caveman said:
I agree on the price range. $399 for 16gb and $449 for 32gb?

fwiw - using Chrome on a Nexus 7, I find scrolling to be laggy but note this is from using one at a Microcenter, don't know if there are any settings that can improve things.
Click to expand...

The poor performance of Chrome on the Nexus 7 is probably due to it being a display model that tons of people have messed with. I've been very happy with Chrome on my Xyboard 8.2 and it is quite a bit slower than the Nexus, although I do feel like the stock ICS browser does perform a little better on some sites.
 
jpeyton said:
Apple is a non-starter for many of us, for a variety of reasons.

Maybe we're already invested in the Android ecosystem (apps, games, music, movies, books, magazines).
Click to expand...

And I have a good number of iOS purchases when I had my iPad. I'm back on Android now. I don't really think there's that many people on this board that are invested in an ecosystem because of music, books, magazines. These same people will probably not admit they pirate half their music and have GBs and GBs of MP3s. As for books, plenty of people use Kindle books or whatever which means Android OR iOS work.

And honestly, there's far more people invested in Apple iTunes than Google Play Music. So if anything, Apple SHOULD be a no brainer.

jpeyton said:
Maybe, for a particular app or use, a non-Apple tablet is better. If Office was a large portion of my daily workflow, a Surface RT/Pro with a touch/type cover would be first on my list.
Click to expand...
If Office was a large portion of anyone's daily workflow, a PC is no substitute. A laptop is a no brainer. Just ask anyone in my office when we visit our other site and work off our laptops using the touchpad. Productivity is cut down drastically. Now ask them to do it on an iPad or a similar tablet. Are you kidding me?

I don't think anyone seriously does any hardcore work on their tablets. It might be a little here and there to feel good but if you want real productivity, you would be doing it on a computer. Even Mac Office which is a neutered Office would be better than a tablet.

jpeyton said:
If Google Apps (mail, maps, voice, music, drive) were important to me, an Android tablet would be key.
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Maps won't tie you to a tablet. If you look at how people use their tablets, maps isn't anywhere near the top. I can assure you maps means 100x more on a phone than a tablet. Google Voice on a tablet? Are we talking phone or tablet once again? If you migrated your number, yeah I can see your phone. You can use google voice on an iOS device.


jpeyton said:
Maybe we don't support Apple's business model, from their proprietary cables, lack of expandable storage or lack of easy access to the file system, iTunes, price, etc.
Click to expand...

Lack of expandable storage seems to be Google's new theme. Let's not forget Google's even selling craptastic 8GB versions of their phone now. No 32gb option? 64gb option? I don't really mind that they play the Apple game, but don't do a worse job.

And honestly, the use of proprietary cables isn't really a showstopper for many people. If I needed to borrow an iPhone charger at work or back when I was in grad school or amongst friends, it's not very hard at all. The same goes for a MacBook charger. You talk about proprietary chargers like when Sony, LG, Samsung, Motorola all had their proprietary chargers. Well back then it was hectic. But even if you look at laptops. It's almost painless to find friends to borrow a MacBook charger, compared to say a Dell or Fujitsu or Lenovo charger. The marketshare is large enough, who cares. And as someone who only owns 1 iDevice now somehow I have 3 freaking 30 pin cables and two bricks. I probably have another 6 or 7 microUSB cables, but these things build up and they're prevalent enough most people don't fuss about it.

This just your own bias against Apple. Price is what you pay for. With the iPad you get a premium tablet with a solid tablet ecosystem. Motorola and others tried competing at $500 and more. People have tried with MP3 players too to compete at $299 and then fight at like $230, and yet the iPod won out. You get what you pay for.
jpeyton said:
Sales figures from the last quarter show that there is a significant portion of the population that won't be buying an Apple tablet. It's like 2010 all over again, where Android comes from behind to quickly overtake and dominate the market. The only big variable is Windows 8, and Microsoft timed their launch perfectly to take advantage of the skyrocketing growth in the tablet market. The only certainty is that the iPad, like the iPhone, won't be the dominant force in the tablet market in 2 years in terms of install base.
Click to expand...
Uh ok. When the Xoom came out we thought this is it. Google's going to fight the iPad. It got slaughtered. The Nexus 7 wasn't really a fight either. It was a retreat. The Nexus 10 ... we'll have to see. It's a work in progress. You'd think something that was just a giant iPhone/iPod would be easy to beat huh? Just a giant android phone should win right?

To be honest I'm looking at a tablet too. The reason I want a Nexus tablet or an Android tablet is to tweak the hell out of it. If I wanted pure consumption of content it would be iPad. No contest. I've been there with an Android tablet and iPad hand in hand. One got thrown aside and barely used.
 
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I have been using a Kindle Fire HD for a couple days and I just don't understand why anyone who isn't capable for rooting would buy one of these. The built in web browser is awful, it actually seemed slower with the "cloud". I don't think this is Kindle specific, but Apple was onto to something when they were talking about Apps just look like big phone apps. It doesn't help that the kindle doesn't have the Play store without rooting, so the number of Apps is automatically less.

I would also vote that you wait Nexus 10.
 
The best tablet on the market is iPad 3/iPad 4. If you specifically prefer an Os that's different but as a tablet the iPads are still the best.
 
mosco said:
I have been using a Kindle Fire HD for a couple days and I just don't understand why anyone who isn't capable for rooting would buy one of these. The built in web browser is awful, it actually seemed slower with the "cloud". I don't think this is Kindle specific, but Apple was onto to something when they were talking about Apps just look like big phone apps. It doesn't help that the kindle doesn't have the Play store without rooting, so the number of Apps is automatically less.

I would also vote that you wait Nexus 10.
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I'd only get the Kindle Fire HD if you are a Amazon Prime subscriber and willing to root to make it better. I had the Kindle Fire HD for a little while and I'm a Prime subscriber, so I kinda liked it after I rooted mine. The screen on the Fire HD is much better than the Nexus 7 (ASUS didn't calibrate it well), the wifi performance is much better (but possibly overkill for most tablet user needs), and the speakers are much better. But the down side is it's running a TI OMAP 4460 (same thing as is in my year old Galaxy Nexus phone). The Kindle OS is actually pretty nice and a bonus for those that are heavy into Amazon's content system, but probably annoying as hell if you aren't.
 
$400 is a hot price for the hardware. The design is meh, but I bet its because of all the lawsuits.

The CPU should be a screamer, but I'd like to see how the GPU compares.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
It's incredibly unlikely that the Nexus 10 would be priced high enough to make the Kindle Fire HD a viable alternative, it's so much slower and less capable in addition to having a vastly inferior screen and ecosystem.
Click to expand...

The 7" Fire HD has a better screen than the Nexus 7. There's no reason to think the Fire HD+ is going to have a worse screen than the 7" Fire HD.

And its 1080p. All we know about the Nexus 10 is it has more rez, but so what ? The difference is certainly not "vast".

Same thing with the cpu. What difference does it make ? What apps use it ?

And the ecosystem is different, not necessarily inferior. If apps are that important the ipad is vastly superior, since you like to use that word.
🙂

edit- if the 16gb is $399 that's quite a premium over the Kindle and Nook.

Comes down to, is a camera and Jelly Bean worth $100 ?

Neither really affects watching movies, browsing web, or reading books and magazines.
 
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MrX8503 said:
$400 is a hot price for the hardware. The design is meh, but I bet its because of all the lawsuits.
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The design is fine. Not everyone wants dent-able, scratch-able, slippery aluminum (weighs more too). I'd rather have a durable, easy to grip tablet.

The Nexus 10 is thinner and lighter than the iPad, has better resolution (matches the magic print resolution of 300 dpi), has MIMO WiFi and GPS standard at $399 (iPad's don't have true GPS unless you spend +$130 for the cellular version), NFC, micro HDMI + micro USB (no silly $40 Lightning adapters needed), etc.

Sign me up.
 
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jpeyton said:
The design is fine. Not everyone wants dent-able, scratch-able, slippery aluminum (weighs more too). I'd rather have a durable, easy to grip tablet.

The Nexus 10 is thinner and lighter than the iPad, has better resolution (matches the magic print resolution of 300 dpi), has MIMO WiFi and GPS standard at $399 (iPad's don't have true GPS unless you spend +$130 for the cellular version), NFC, micro HDMI + micro USB (no silly $40 Lightning adapters needed), etc.

Sign me up.
Click to expand...

For me the trouble isn't the materials. It's the design. The bowed sides and jumbo sized bezel give it a child's toy like appearance. I'm not against big bezels, I appreciate having some room to grip the tablet with, but I think this time it's just unnecessarily big. Maybe I'll change my mind once I see it in person.

Specs are very good though.
 
Tom said:
edit- if the 16gb is $399 that's quite a premium over the Kindle and Nook.

Comes down to, is a camera and Jelly Bean worth $100 ?

Neither really affects watching movies, browsing web, or reading books and magazines.
Click to expand...

And a vastly superior processor. Which does affect all those things. Kindle Fire HD is nice, but I felt the lag of the 4460 processor, don't think the 4470 is going to be a big improvement either.
 
Ravynmagi said:
And a vastly superior processor. Which does affect all those things. Kindle Fire HD is nice, but I felt the lag of the 4460 processor, don't think the 4470 is going to be a big improvement either.
Click to expand...
4470 *is* a big step up -- check out AT's review of the latest Archos.

It ain't Exynos 5, of course, but then it's not pushing nearly as many pixels as the N10.
 
2560x1600 10 inch Android tablet for $399 is a killer price to me. I was fully expecting no less than $499 for the lowest end Nexus 10. This blows away the iPad 3 refurb for $379 and iPad 4 for $499.
 
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