Which tablet to get?

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Hell to the no.
Galaxy Tab 2 uses Tegra 2 which is a PoS processor.
Tegra 2 is a two year old processor.
Crappy processor. Crappy resolution on tablet.

Stick with the 32GB Nexus 7 which uses a Tegra 3 processor and has excellent resolution.

Isn't a Tegra 3 just two Tegra 2s slapped together? I mean essentially it's the same architecture. I know it was pointed out that this was a TI processor, but in the end those dual A9s vs quad A9s aren't that different. A lot of apps don't take advantage of 4 cores, so basic lagfestness isn't really fixed just moving to quads.

 

[Tom]

iPad mini is nice but lacks google maps, from what i hear, apple has terrible navigation apps or they don't work properly. Not a big apple fan to begin with. Right now, i'm leaning towards Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 16GB Titanium Silver (Wi-Fi) - Refurbished for $269. Price point, this is only $20 more than the 32gb Nexus 7.

It's a 10" tablet, not a 7" tablet. Has 1280 x 800 res, Dual-Core 1GHz processor, 16gb storage and sd slot for another 32gb. There is also great support on xda for rooting/mods/etc. The processor may not be as fast as the Nexus, but you get a lot more screen which is a huge bonus.

Coupled with walmart's 2-year accidental protection warranty plan for $36, this is a rock solid.

Every review about the Kindle Fire HD says to avoid it as they have problems with the touchscreen not responding correctly. I had this same problem with the Kindle Fire 1.

I'll wait a few more days to see if there are any price changes before making a purchase.

That screen is the same resolution as the 7 inch tablets so its debatable that its an improvement. Its bigger pixels not more resolution.

Compare that to the Nook HD+ which is $269 new..1920*1200 resolution, much faster CPU/GPU, 16gb memory and an SD slot. And hacking support at xda.

My point isn't that its perfect but I'd be careful buying used old tablets.

Also, the app that let's you use otg and SD cards with the Nexus 7 isn't limited as far as I know, but it does cost $3.

 

[podspi]

Isn't a Tegra 3 just two Tegra 2s slapped together? I mean essentially it's the same architecture. I know it was pointed out that this was a TI processor, but in the end those dual A9s vs quad A9s aren't that different. A lot of apps don't take advantage of 4 cores, so basic lagfestness isn't really fixed just moving to quads.

I think they also added neon support which reportedly speeds things up a bit. With Tegra 2 NVidia was trying to encourage their own neon-substitute that nobody picked up.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

clicked buy on a Nexus 7 yesterday and woke up at 3am saying wtf and cancelled it.... lol.

i hear the screen colors look bad

 

[JD50]

I've been debating between the Nexus 7, Kindle fire HD, and Kindle Fire HD 8.9. I have the original kindle fire rooted with google play and a custom launcher. I really want the full Android experience of the Nexus 7, but I'm worried about color issue. I'm thinking about the Fire HD 8.9 because that seems like the perfect size. I think a 10 inch tablet might be a little too big.

 

[Midwayman]

If you're not in a huge hurry I'd wait until after CES in January to decide. I'm betting there is going to be a new wave of a15 based 1080p or higher tablets announce. Right now we seem to be stuck mostly in the older gen tablets with only a couple supporting high resolution. I expect that to change very soon. IMHO pretty much every android tablet is disappointing in some way. At least early next year we might have some choice. If you want iOS though there isn't much reason to wait. Except maybe the mini. I sort of expect that one to be refreshed quickly.

 

[Tom]

clicked buy on a Nexus 7 yesterday and woke up at 3am saying wtf and cancelled it.... lol.

i hear the screen colors look bad

I use both a Nexus 7 and a Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7 screen looks very nice, its just the Kindle Fire HD screen is just about the best I've ever used.

Just buy it somewhere you can return it of you don't like it, like Staples or Best Buy.

 

[Pardus]

After reading everyone comments and weighing the pros and cons of a tablet, decided to shop for a 12" or 13" laptop instead. Tablets have there purpose but are too limited for my needs.

Thanks to all for there input.

 

[TuxDave]

After reading everyone comments and weighing the pros and cons of a tablet, decided to shop for a 12" or 13" laptop instead. Tablets have there purpose but are too limited for my needs.

Thanks to all for there input.

That's the same boat I'm in. 7" devices are out of the question for me. I would like whatever I purchase to satisfy any need that I want in a tablet or a laptop in a single device. The closest so far are the Win8 tablet/ultrabook convertibles. iPad would've been nice but I know there's some software that I would need to run and so I can't justify it.

 

[aeroxmax4]

the only thing i dont like on my nexus 7 is that the screen is easier to scratch! is it a really gorilla glass?...i doubt it

 

[lothar]

Isn't a Tegra 3 just two Tegra 2s slapped together? I mean essentially it's the same architecture. I know it was pointed out that this was a TI processor, but in the end those dual A9s vs quad A9s aren't that different. A lot of apps don't take advantage of 4 cores, so basic lagfestness isn't really fixed just moving to quads.

Tegra 2 was a complete lagfest and slowed to a crawl when playing simple high definition videos.

Tegra 3 fixed that.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5163/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-nvidia-tegra-3-review/5

 

[JJ111985]

The Kindle Fire HD is great! I'm absolutely in LOVE with this thing! It's easy to use so I didn't have to go searching the internet for tutorials. Here's the one I have on Amazon http://bit.ly/XkwZQ2. If you're looking to get a tablet I'd recommend the Kindle Fire HD over the other tablets, it really blows them away.

 

[Tom]

the only thing i dont like on my nexus 7 is that the screen is easier to scratch! is it a really gorilla glass?...i doubt it

nexus 7 is not gorilla glass. the kindle fire hd is though.

 

[Talaii]

I think they also added neon support which reportedly speeds things up a bit. With Tegra 2 NVidia was trying to encourage their own neon-substitute that nobody picked up.

It also has a much better GPU. It also supports decoding videos that aren't baseline-profile H.264 (it'll play almost everything, whereas I had to re-encode everything to some really low-quality-per-bitrate baseline profile to get it to play in hardware on my Tegra 2). Plus more memory bandwidth and faster clock speeds, it's a BIG difference. I went from a Xoom (tegra 2) to a Nexus 7 and I don't regret it one bit.

 

[chadashcroft22]

If you are one of the creative types, nothing can beat a note 10.1. With the stylus and great quad core you are really going to love it.

And to rebuke the inc comments about the poor screen resolution. I would much rather have a 720p screeen that can run everything today and all future apps without a hiccup. Then have some 1080p+ that can barely keep up with todays apps and will not be able to run stuff in the near future do to the gpu choking.

Trust me when I say an extreme high resolution screen is probably one of the last things you want from a practical standpoint on android. Very few apps are even built for tablets to begin with and of those only a few are gonna have support for these high resolution screens. It's all hype right now. I would check back in a few years.

 

[TekDemon]

It really depends on whether you already own a bunch of Android or iOS apps, or if there's a killer app you want. I actually love my iPad mini, though I also own an Android phone and I run CM10 on my Touchpad (and I also own an iPod touch from before I got a modern smartphone). The reason I got the iPad mini was because I used to have an iPad 2 so I already owned a significant amount of money worth of apps so from that perspective it's been pretty great to have all my old apps running. I will say that tablet apps for Android do tend to just be scaled up phone versions, however, on the plus side you get to run the phone versions somewhat more nicely than on the iPad (until they jailbreak it anyway-once it's jailbroken you can run RetinaPad and then the phone apps become much less hideous).

 

[JD50]

I picked up a nexus 7 today, so far I love it. My only complaint is the scrolling inertia, if you know what I mean

 

[zerocool84]

the only thing i dont like on my nexus 7 is that the screen is easier to scratch! is it a really gorilla glass?...i doubt it

It's not gorilla glass, they call it "Fit Glass" scratch resistant glass.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I tried to buy a 16/32GB mini tonight and no one in AL/GA/SC/NC had any with wifi only. I was told to go online and check inventory after 10PM EDT, and guess what? None of these states have them available (was told they get daily shipments).

Wanted it for this Friday's trip out of town. Maybe a Nexus is good enough. Just need to find a way to import my iTunes music into some Android player, find an e-reader for the wife, etc.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's not gorilla glass, they call it "Fit Glass" scratch resistant glass.

should all perform similarly right? Not gorilla doesn't mean omg its gonna scratch like a mofo. It's usually some equivalent ion exchange process where the surface is placed on compression, resulting in an extra scratch resistant surface.

 

[Tom]

If you are one of the creative types, nothing can beat a note 10.1. With the stylus and great quad core you are really going to love it.

And to rebuke the inc comments about the poor screen resolution. I would much rather have a 720p screeen that can run everything today and all future apps without a hiccup. Then have some 1080p+ that can barely keep up with todays apps and will not be able to run stuff in the near future do to the gpu choking.

Trust me when I say an extreme high resolution screen is probably one of the last things you want from a practical standpoint on android. Very few apps are even built for tablets to begin with and of those only a few are gonna have support for these high resolution screens. It's all hype right now. I would check back in a few years.

Where's your evidence for this being the case ?

Larger tablets with 1080p screens have an advantage in one of the prime uses for tablets..media consumption. videos, books, photos.

If 720p is some sort of limit as to functionality, then smaller 7 inch tablets give us 720p with the bonus of being more portable.

What's the point of a large tablet with a 720p screen, with no difference over a 7 inch except it costs more, weighs more, is too big to hold in one hand, and has giant, visible, pixels ?

 

[zerocool84]

should all perform similarly right? Not gorilla doesn't mean omg its gonna scratch like a mofo. It's usually some equivalent ion exchange process where the surface is placed on compression, resulting in an extra scratch resistant surface.

From what I was reading last night, it's not as scratch resistant as gorilla glass. I haven't had a scratch on mine yet but I never have it in situations where it'd get scratched.

 

[Raduque]

Where's your evidence for this being the case ?

Larger tablets with 1080p screens have an advantage in one of the prime uses for tablets..media consumption. videos, books, photos.

If 720p is some sort of limit as to functionality, then smaller 7 inch tablets give us 720p with the bonus of being more portable.

What's the point of a large tablet with a 720p screen, with no difference over a 7 inch except it costs more, weighs more, is too big to hold in one hand, and has giant, visible, pixels ?

I've got a Transformer TF101 and I can't see the pixels.

 

[sequoia464]

I run CM10 on my Touchpad

How is that working for you? I had issues with CM10 on my Touchpad and went back to 9.

 

[Tom]

I've got a Transformer TF101 and I can't see the pixels.

Ok. For anyone else I think there's a pretty obvious difference between the tf101 and a retina or near retina display, as seen in these pictures.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1239132/...ith-transformer-tf101-comparison-lots-of-pics