I am wondering what is the difference between one tablet to another. I see tablets ranging from $99 to $600. I am wondering if this is all brand prices or if there is really an real major significance between the cheaper models and the expensive aside from "oh this one has And 2.2 and its 7" and this one has And 2.3 and its 8" " I am looking for something to be able to use anywhere. Mostly web browsing, ebook, music. With occasional messaging and simple gaming and other apps. (I dont know much of what you can do with them. I am looking to get peoples real opinion whats worth it.
The difference between OS versions can be huge. Both in speed and power use. The same tablet running a more recent OS can be 50% faster. That being said the differences are the same as they are for any computer, screen size, processor power, ram, battery life etc. There are several ICS(Android 4.0) Tablets coming out in the near future. I would hold off for one of those as it's a very very large step up from 2.3.
I bought an HP Touchpad during their firesale a while back and have had great luck with it. I think they're still available for a slightly increased price ($250?). Cyanogenmod is working on an android port onto the HP Touchpas if that interests you as well. The only tablet I'd probably stay away from are the Apple branded ones. It's a big iPhone. That's..about...it. From what I could tell at least. I really didn't like using it.
Yea I shy away from everything Apple. In fact the last Apple product I played with was the old Apple computer my mom had when she was a an assistant for some company. This was before PC started going mainstream and was affordable to the rest of the world haha.
I've played around with the iPad and the iPad 2 in stores on their demo units. Sure its speedy and lightweight and all that jazz, but having been an owner of an iPhone, it just doesn't feel innovative to me. I also refuse to pay $500 for a tablet. It will never happen. I am still very sad to see WebOS bite the dust. Playing around with my HP Touchpad makes me really like WebOS and how friendly it is with the internet and social networking.
If your into this sort of thing, a good idea is to check out XDA before you decide on a model and see which tablets have development going on at that site. Custom ROMs and kernels can really make a device shine. It has been primarily a phone thing, but tablets are getting that sort of thing now too. I really like the eee Pad Transformer http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/ Im going to try and get the Transformer Prime when it is out if I can find a deal for less than $500 someplace. Otherwise...I might have to give in and just buy it for $500.
A friend of mine has an Acer Iconia tablet. I noticed that its not actually a traditional tablet but it comes out with Win7. From his point of view its more like a laptop but with a tablet features such as touch screen. Is that any better/worse than getting something with Android or GetJar.
I would prefer having a Win7 tablet than a traditional one. They make a particular version of Windows 7 specially for tablets, and from what I hear it's very nice. Being the lover and loyal advocate of Microsoft that I am, I'd say it's better than Android, simply because I find Android to be extremely buggy and more of a nuisance than any other OS.
Lets be fair here though, since Android 2.0 Google has done a great job with the exception of Honeycomb (3.0) which is what many of these tablets run. It is mostly the companies like HTC and Motorola that introduce a lot of bugginess from their screwing around with the OS. When all the companies are done, half the source code is proprietary and completely incompatible with each other or the official Android OS. But ya with Android 3.0, that as some messed up shit. Google failed bad with that one. Android would use less resources, but having Windows 7 could most definitely be an advantage for ease of doing things. Plus I hear their OS version for tablets is pretty interesting. Id love to get a Surface to play around with it. I actually might try and talk the city of Fresno into using a MS Surface for their new mobile command center instead of their dumb idea of using a projector and projecting onto a large white background touchscreen. If I get this contract that is.
Surface looks really sexy, if I had Surface I would likely get a windows tablet and phone just to dick around with it.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/21/samsung-galaxy-tab-7-0-plus-review/ this is what im getting for christmas not a normal 10" but a 7" got a great deal on it at work now since tablets have moved over too my department i get asked what tablet is for me probally 12 times a day most of the ones we sell are running honeycomb so they have the most current android OS ... now the big thing i find when dealing with customers is showing them the screens with a video playing ... letting them hold and mess around with it a bit and explaining all the different ports such as the toshiba thrive has a full size USB HDM and also a SD card slot vs some like the samsung that has no ports at all now after showing them the ports screen and how it feels then go over what they are gonna use it for ... web browsing ... movies ... streaming etc i am getting the 7" because its small and i can take it with me for hockey a bit easier and it has Peel app with the IR blaster so now i can use it as a universal remote
A friend of mine has a Galaxy and she adores it. She's had it for about 8 months now and has had no issues. She likes the size and takes it with her everywhere.
I've played with the Microsoft Surface a number of times at the local Microsoft Store. It's a glorious device with some amazing capabilities. If it didn't cost many thousands of dollars I'd love to get one.
If only it would fucking release to the public!!!!!!!!!!!! Heard it got delayed because they wanted to increase the WiFi range.
As far as any demo tablet I have used and seen in stores nothing compares to my iPad 2. Its all personal preference though...
Would the transformer prime be top on the list even if it didn't have the docking thing? I know I could care less about a docking station.
IMO, ASUS or the iPad 2. iPad's got iOS, and is slightly more visually appealing. The ASUS has overclock and docking capabilities (which also give it extra battery power). It's PC vs Mac all over again.