Recommended Posts

So what with my, um situation and all, my good friend (who's helped me out countless times over the years) has decided to buy me a tablet for my birthday at the end of this month. He's asked me specifically if I want a Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet, or the Nexus 7. Having been watching tablets and mobile OS development for awhile, I already said the Nexus 7 because it's a straight android OS from Google itself, and for the $200 price point you get a pretty darn powerful tablet and all.

But my question is, at around this price point, what are some other good tablets that could specifically be used for gaming purposes? I've been watching a few companies (and no, not the Coby stuff or anything like that lol) like Ainol Novo and they have a few lower priced tablets with similar (and in some cases better) specs than the Nexus 7 and related products.

To be specific, if the tablet can play Dead Trigger, Dead Space and Unreal Engine 3 based games smoothly, I'd be happy. I will also use the tablet when I have no pain meds and have to be in bed for most of the day. So besides gaming, watching movies would be another plus for the tablet. I know the Kindle Fire HD might be a better option for media consumption, but I already pretty much ruled out getting that one. Watching movies, obviously listening/steaming my music, and possibly reading some books also. But I'm not a big e-reader kinda person, so that's not a big thing for me to worry about. Oh and browsing the web also might be an important considering I guess.

So if any of you have any advice on a tablet other than the Nexus 7 (and Kindle Fire HD) I'm all ears. I'll continue to look into these tablets and try to find one that may or may not be a better fit for me than the Nexus 7.

:)

From a hardware standpoint, some may be better than the Nexus 7.

However, don't forget about the software perspective. Will you be happy with the upgrade cycle of the Android OS for that tablet? How about installing custom ROMs? Do you care whether you can only purchase all your apps on the Amazon App Store if the Google Play Store is unavailable to you? Keep in mind, most apps are updated faster on the Google Play Store than on Amazon.

Isn't upgrading the OS on the Nexus 7 easy and seamless compared to having to wait weeks or whatever for other companies to put out the new version of android OS? Either way, doesn't bother me to upgrade. Custom ROMs don't bother me, but I also don't want to root the device either.

As for the Amazon app store if Google Play is down or something, that's fine with me. I've used Bluestacks here on the PC and it's fine. :D

Yes, upgrading the OS on the Nexus 7 is easy. The upgrade cycle from Google is obviously the fastest. Many other tablet manufacturers don't even update the OS or are very slow in proving updates, hence the "need" for customized ROMs. The questions I asked were to make you think "Would I be happy with a tablet other than the Nexus?"

Google Play unavailability referred to no access at all. Only certain manufacturers/Tablets are allowed access to the Google Play Store (Though customized ROMs often work around this issue)

Ah yeah, I know about that, that some manufacturers are locked out of Google Play altogether.

But yes, I wouldn't have any problem putting a custom ROM on to get access to it, or another app store (I know there are a few, but most kinda suck lol). Nor do I have a problem having a tablet that isn't a Nexus 7. It's funny you mention that though, the Ainol Novo lines of tablets all have access to Google Play now that I've been looking into them a bit more. Pretty good for them I guess? :p

I recently bought a Kindle Fire (non-HD) as my entry point into the tablet market. Within a few days I was fairly happy a tablet was for me but really didn't like the Kindle Fire..

* It was a real brick in terms of weight

* No cameras

* Limited applications compared to Google Play store

* Significantly lower spec than Nexus 7

Within a few days I had sold the Kindle Fire and over christmas set about getting a Nexus 7. It seems to be a better tablet in every respect, and as has been pointed out it'll always get software updates the fastest as it's "googles own" device.

Obviously I appreciate you're talking about the Fire HD and not the regular Fire.. but essentially software issue will remain for the Kindle Fire HD. I think it's one of the biggest selling points of the Nexus.

Yeah, after watching countless reviews of both tablets (and many others) the biggest complaint about he Kindle Fire line is that the Amazon app store just doesn't compare to Apple's store, let alone Google Play. Which I totally get mind you. But as long as I can get the game I've been looking at, and use Netflix etc it doesn't really matter to me which store it is I'm using in the end.

Yeah, after watching countless reviews of both tablets (and many others) the biggest complaint about he Kindle Fire line is that the Amazon app store just doesn't compare to Apple's store, let alone Google Play. Which I totally get mind you. But as long as I can get the game I've been looking at, and use Netflix etc it doesn't really matter to me which store it is I'm using in the end.

Google Play is crap for books or music mind you, but you can still install the Amazon app stores for those onto the Nexus 7.

Gaming wise the nexus 7 is your best bet at the moment until tablets with the new qualcomm chips come out or the tegra 4 comes out or powervr 6 series tablets come out. In 4 months time the nexus 7 will be destroyed by all of these but for the time being it is your best bet. I'd be pretty sure the next nexus will have a tegra 4 if you can hold out for however many months until that is released. I'd also suspect that it would get a retina upgrade seeing as though so many smaller tablets and phones are getting 1920x1080 and higher resolutions.

Yeah, I'd love to wait for the Tegra 4 based tablets, but since my friend is buying me this tablet for my birthday and he has a limited time table to do so himself, it's either the Nexus 7 (or whichever) or nothing. And I really want a tablet :D

And yes, Project Shield sounds great. Wish I could get one now!

Hmmm, interesting, never thought of that. Thanks for the heads up.

Also, I know the Nexus 7 (nor the Kindle Fire HD) support mini/micro-SD expansion slots etc for memory, but a friend of mine was telling me you can hook up some dongle adapter or something to allow a USB stick to be used for storage or whatever. Anyone have any experience with this, or know what he was referring to? Since he never finished telling me, I don't know what he was talking about lol

if you want to use a controller, I can tell you from experience that the ps3 controller works great with the help of this android app https://play.google....250cm9sbGVyIl0.

it's even got special setting you can set up so you can use the controller with games that only do touch controls

edit: and for usb you just need one of these cables (if you go with the Nexus 7) (doesn't need to be that exact one either as long as it's micro usb male to usb female) http://www.amazon.co...b+to+female+usb and you'll need to be rooted and use this app https://play.google....Glja21vdW50Il0. this will allow you to mount usb drives

another advantage of the Nexus 7 is it supports smart covers http://www.ebay.com/itm/150876914092?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 works great for propping it up when playing games with the controller too :)

another advantage of the Nexus 7 is it supports smart covers http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1497.l2649 works great for propping it up when playing games with the controller too :)

I have something similar to that for my kindle fire hd. http://www.amazon.com/rooCASE-Origami-Dual-View-Leather-Amazon/dp/B0096T97OG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358131905&sr=8-1&keywords=roocase+kindle+fire+hd

I have something similar to that for my kindle fire hd. http://www.amazon.co...+kindle+fire+hd

ugh, i hate those slip cases personally, they're just too bulky IMO

that's why i like the case i linked so much, it's minimal because it just snaps on yet it gets the job done :) took forever for a non bulky one like that to come out for the nexus 7 though

anyway, i didn't realize that the fire hd supported smart covers as well. it's really a nice feature when you can get a cover that makes use of it

The only downside to the Nexus 7 that I can see is the small HD size. I have a kindle fire hd and love it, you can always use websites to get apk's that amazon doesn't offer.

For you downside, for many others it's an advantage. The Nexus 7 is portable, can be held in one hand, fits in your jeans pocket, and offers pretty decent screen real-estate - 7" at 1280x800 (which is the same as kindle fire hd 7"). Nexus 7 is far superior than Nook/Kindle Fire without any doubts - there is no third part lockdown like Kindle/Nook and specs on Nexus 7 are better overall. Unless you are invested in Amazon Prime services, there is absolutely no reason to get the Kindle (same with Nook). You can just download the Kindle/Nook apps and use their marketplace if you wish to do so on Nexus 7.
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • So I did a quick test based on 3+ different public instances from the litany at searx.space ... and it spins everything rather differently. It seems that SearXNG is a meta-search engine (queries multiple search indexes rather than only Google's or Bing's or Wikipedia's or Reddit's) that operates in two modes: > public instances ... each instance opens itself to outside users who piggyback on its cached search history; this instance's own identity becomes known/tracked but end-users are hidden similar to an anonymization proxy; this instance's querying of major search indexes may be API based [rated limited, blocked, etc.]). > private instances ... your private install/instance that itself queries multiple (configurable) search indexes of crawled web content; every major Search Engine associates all traffic to your private instance (so your traffic is tracked via network usages) but client-side tracking (your own browser/computer specs) is flushed because it's a "server" doing the querying rather than your browser. My test asked the same 1 question to the 3+ engines and they all returned vastly different results: some had CAPTCHA failures against Google, some had failures against Wikipedia, and the actual results were also different -- some had auto-complete enabled, others returned a wikipedia highlighted excerpt despite the Wikipedia failure (hinting at results being cached from previous keyword matching), and others just gave an Are-You-Human non-CAPTCHA loop before returning random results. So this begs the caveat: Search query results will vary based on which instance is used because every instance queries the other search indexes separate (and thus its results are influenced on that instance's aggregate search history and index-access limitations). The major distinctions for SearXNG versus DDG or Brave: > The search UI is 'untracked' since no UI trackers are baked-in which would phone home or lay cookies into your browser (for DDG/Brave usage stats), > There is no 'crawler' that canvasses the Internet to discover fresh content (it leaves that to the major search indexes), > Queries multiple search indexes ("meta-search engine") based on the configurations and usage history of the server instance, > Privacy-friendly due to its ability to shield user tracking via standing up a non-local server instance connectable to major VPN providers: queries would all appear to come from general VPN/Proxy providers rather than your private instance (whether installed locally or on your own VPS in the cloud). PS: I've previously come across specialized search engines of this nature that indexes searches across media assets like YT, OF, etc. SearXNG seems to be a good backbone...if the rate-limiting/captcha/etc. issues were resolved.
    • For a guy who claims to hate Farage and the ignorant, gullible, rightwing racist skinheads sponsored by Putin that his lies represent, you sure are quoting them time and time and time again, mate. I guess you're conveniently ignoring the fact that your country and commonwealth just happened to work much better when it was still part of the E.U.? Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
    • Do you live in the U.K? Do any of the people here that are against the UK leaving the E.U, live in the U.K? If not then why are you bothered? If you do live here then it is a different thing . Brexit was a good idea, should have done it years before, it was done badly, but the idea was good. You are saying the same thing as remainers do, oh we did what Putin wanted, we listened to the lies and Farage. I hate Farage and never believed most of what he said, certainly did not believe the £350m a week for the NHS. But we did pay a lot of money to the E.U and yes some of it came back, but what is the point of paying it out for only some of it to come back? Get out of the E.U, no money to them and in theory we can use the money to do things in the country. I said in theory, but our governments are a total and complete waste of space. No matter what colour rosette they wear. You and others say it was a mistake and yet the two main parties in the U.K are not looking at rejoining the EU, I wonder why that is? I was not tricked by anyone. Makes no odds now, we are out and have been for 10 years, what we need is a decent government to run the country. All they do is shout at each other like a load of kids and seems to do nothing and make this country more into a police and nanny state. Getting more like China all the time.
    • 4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q, 2TB T-Force G50, and 2TB WD My Passport SSDs drop to great prices by Fiza Ali Prime Day may be over, but there are still worthwhile storage deals available, including discounts on SSDs for shoppers who missed the event or are looking to upgrade their storage solution. Particularly, 2TB Western Digital My Passport, 2TB TEAMGROUP T-Force G50, and 4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q SSD are selling at great prices with up to 23% off. The 2TB TEAMGROUP T-Force G50 is an M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD with sequential read speeds of up to 5,000MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 4,500MB/s. The drive has an endurance rating of 1,300 TBW (terabytes written) and features a DRAM-less design. The company specifies a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 3 million hours. The drive includes an "ultra-thin" graphene heat spreader that helps dissipate heat without significantly increasing the drive's thickness. It also supports S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, allowing compatible software to monitor drive health and operating status. The SSD is rated for operating temperatures from 0°C to 70°C, with a storage temperature range of -40°C to 85°C. The drive is backed by a five-year limited warranty as well. 2TB TEAMGROUP T-Force G50 SSD: $269.99 (Amazon US) The TEAMGROUP MP44Q is an M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD that delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 5,900MB/s. It uses 3D QLC NAND flash memory to provide 4TB of storage capacity for games, applications, media files, and other data. The drive has an endurance rating of 2,000 TBW and an MTBF of 1.6 million hours. The SSD features a DRAM-less design and supports TEAMGROUP's S.M.A.R.T. monitoring software, allowing users to monitor drive health, temperature, and remaining lifespan. For thermal management, the MP44Q also includes an "ultra-thin" graphene heat spreader. It is designed to operate at temperatures between 0°C and 70°C and can be stored at temperatures ranging from -40°C to 85°C. The SSD is also backed by a five-year limited warranty. 4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q SSD: $478.99 (Amazon US) The 2TB WD My Passport SSD connects via a USB-C port using the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. It delivers sequential read speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 1,000MB/s through NVMe technology. In terms of security features, the drive includes password protection with 256-bit AES hardware encryption. The SSD is also designed to resist shock and vibration and is rated to withstand drops from heights of up to 6.5 feet. The recommended operating temperature range is 5°C to 35°C, while the non-operating temperature range is -20°C to 65°C. This drive is also backed by a five-year limited warranty. 2TB Western Digital My Passport SSD: $279.99 (Amazon US) Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Yeah... The root of my comment, ostensibly, is how to spin the story via the actual technical merits of the solution! * Decentralized (aka federated) solution with built-in encrypted ephemeral message transport, * Transport via Relays (intermediary servers) with no message archival, * Second configurable pathway are actual email servers (if DNS records are programmed accordingly) via IMAP protocols carriage, * "Chat-over-Email" is the design pattern adopted; it can either leverage full-blown Email Server (must use the INBOX folder) to exchange all received messages/edits/reactions (so be weary of notifications overloads) [best practice is creating a separate email acct used explicitly for federated chat purposes!] or leverage its built-in Relay Server mechanism which actually resides on-device (by default but can be configured otherwise), * By virtue of be a decentralized/federated model, all other intermediary servers who may pass-along messages (while the recipient's final relay/device is inaccessible) cannot snoop on the messages due to the encrypted nature of contents. The intermediaries may, however, analyze the metadata due to the simple fact that routing mechanisms require hints for relay destinations. Unfortunately, whomever is posting about DeltaChat across socials are misleading with "zero metadata" claims -- especially when the Relays (according to their own technical documents) mandate the addition of chat-version metadata and other decorations in order to actually transport any message. -- Based on this summary, I'd prefer if they'd better dual-path message transport (email server add-in, federated relay engine) rather than patch-on email protocols to existing federated social media frameworks. They're frankensteining something rather than extending widely-deployed technology stacks.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      492
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      225
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      147
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!