Looking for tablet recommendations

[LaP]

Hi!

 

I wanted to buy a tablet for a long time but i waited to see how Windows 8 hybrids would turn out. After trying two of those hybrids (Asus Vivo Tab RT and Surface Pro) i came to the conculsion that the technology (cpu) is simply not there and that hybrids make either a bad laptop with a lack of power (Asus Vivo Tab RT) or a bad bulky expensive tablet with low battery life (Surface Pro).

 

So i decided to buy a cheap tablet and replace my current laptop with a new more powerful and likely smaller one.

 

I would like some recommendations from my fellow Neowinians. So here's what i'm looking for in a tablet :

 

1. Will be used mostly to read, play games, watch videos, listen to music and casualy browse the web. Reading will be the primary use. Quality of the screen to read is super important.

2. Would like to pay less than 400$ CAD. Definately not more than 500$ CAD. 500$ CAD is a hard limit (i.e. 501$ is too much).

3. Not decided between ~7 inches and ~11 inches. I think 7 inches might be too small and 11 inches too big. 8 inches something might be a good compromise?

4. I have an iPod Touch and an Android phone but i bought lot more apps and games on iTune than Google Play. Do i need to rebuy apps and games for tablet or the iPhone/iPod version works?

5. I would prefer 32GB since i have a lot of music files. I can probably live with 16GB (providing the OS doesn't take half of it Windows 8 style) but certainly not 8GB.

6. I'm not buying some no brand cheap Android tablets (no D2, Hipstreet and such). Not sure i trust HP with tablets.

7. I just need wifi.

8. A keyboard and office thingies are not a plus to me. I'm gonna use my laptop for that.

9. I want about the same battery life as my iPod Touch. I want to be able to spend 8 hours on a flight playing games, listeting to music, reading and watching videos without having to recharge it.

 

Right now i'm leaning toward the Kindle Fire HD, Nexus or iPad. All Windows 8 RT tablets i checked were over 500$ CAD. I might have missed some not avalaible in a store near me so i'm open to suggestions.

 

Kindle Fire HD 7 inches 32GB - 244$ CAD

Kindle Fire HD 8.9 inches 32GB - 314$ CAD

Google Nexus 7 32GB - 231$ CAD

iPad Mini 32GB - 431$ CAD

iPad Mini 16GB - 331$ CAD

iPad 2 16GB - 401$ CAD

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 inches 16GB - 301$ CAD

Asus Memo Pad 7 Inches 32GB - 151$ CAD

Asus Memo Pad Smart 10.1 inches 16GB - 301$ CAD

 

How is the Kindle fire HD? Is it better to read books? I see the lack of Google Play store and the custom Android skin as a minus but it's cheap and i kinda like the 8.9 inches screen size.

 

Google Nexus 7 is **** cheap right now. How is it to read books? Is the Kindle app for Android any good? How does the screen compare to Kindle Fire HD? I don't want to pirate books so probably gonna buy them from Amazon anyway. I can't find the Goggle Nexus 10 in any store here don't know why ...

 

iTune would be a big plus for the iPad Mini since i already own a lot of games on my iPod Touch. It's Kinda expensive tough and i don't think i own between 100$ and 200$ CAD worth of apps and games lol. iPad 2 price is more competitive but i fear it might be a little bit too big and it's coming with 16GB only.

 

How are the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Memo Pad Smart 10.1? They are both priced sort of low for 10 inches tablet but i fear they might be updated less often than Google Nexus. And they are coming with 16GB only. Are they vanilla Android or are they coming with stupid useless launchers? Are they coming with weaker cpu? Asus Memo Pad 7 at 151$ is really tempting. Hard to beat price for 32GB ... but there's surely a catch at this price.

 

Anyway i don't really have the time to extensively try all of those so i welcome any feedback and suggestion from Neowinian who actually tried any of those (or some that are not listed here but are priced under 400$ CAD and sold in Canada).

 

Ty in advance.

[neo158]

Have you considered the Surface RT, if you use a lot desktop apps it's not ideal but it's had a price drop recently so it's certainly worth a look. It lasts about 8-10 hours on a single charge and I've added a 64GB microSDXC card to boost the available space, not only that but the 8.1 preview has a much smaller footprint than the initial release as I had about 15GB free on the internal storage after the update.

 

Unless you have a very specific requirement then I would say it's certainly worth considering. Looks like the price drop is in Canada as well http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msca/en_CA/pdp/productID.277808900

 

I know that it's listed at $449 CAD but when you consider that the tablet only is listed at $349 CAD and the touch cover comes in at $119 CAD it makes $449 CAD a steal.

[LaP]

Sorry to revive my old post but to answer neo158 ...

 

Yeah the new price of Surface RT makes it a really tempting solution. 350$ CDN for the 32GB model is a really good option. But there's still some minus about it. I heard Windows 8 RT takes a lot of space and you effectively get only around 20GB out of the 32GB avalaible. I have close to 10GB of aac audio files ... it would leave only 10 GB of free space. It's still Windows 8 RT an unproven platform microsoft might actually drop along the road to favor intel. Also it's kinda already old there's a new model coming soon. Not sure about the form factor either. I buy this mainly to read and it think the Surface RT is close to 27 CM high in portrait.

 

I'm gonna wait for the new Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD 2 (no google play store is a big minus though).

 

I tried the iPad Mini this weekend and really liked the form factor. It's perfect to read. But the 32GB model is too much expensive for my taste. I'll need to try in a store a 7 inches tablet to see if it's too small to read.

[Dashel]

SurfaceRT

 

It takes an SD card, storage irrelevant.

ARM isn't going anywhere

Widescreen format is better

 

Don't be so boring...

[Manish]

Have you considered the Surface RT

 

SurfaceRT

 

I personally wouldn't recommend the Surface RT, or any other tablet meant to be used mainly in the landscape orientation, for someone who wants a tablet primarily for reading.

 

I'd recommend waiting to see what Apple does with the next generation of the iPad, and potentially the iPad mini but that might be a longer wait. Even if the new devices are out of your price range, the current generation will become cheaper. If you need something now though, my vote would be for either the iPad mini or new Nexus 7. The Nexus' display is far better, but the iPad mini is the size you'd prefer (well 7.9" rather than 8") and a part of the ecosystem you already have more apps for (any universal apps that you have will work perfectly, whereas the iPhone/iPod touch apps will also work but they'll be scaled).

[Dashel]

I actually prefer landscape, not only for reading (side by side, comics), but for all the other things its better at too (browsing, video, etc).

 

If you are really a 'reader' and that concerned with size, you should be buying an e-ink anyway, which is about 'half' the Surface screen in wide orientation.

[neo158]

Sorry to revive my old post but to answer neo158 ...

 

Yeah the new price of Surface RT makes it a really tempting solution. 350$ CDN for the 32GB model is a really good option. But there's still some minus about it. I heard Windows 8 RT takes a lot of space and you effectively get only around 20GB out of the 32GB avalaible. I have close to 10GB of aac audio files ... it would leave only 10 GB of free space. It's still Windows 8 RT an unproven platform microsoft might actually drop along the road to favor intel. Also it's kinda already old there's a new model coming soon. Not sure about the form factor either. I buy this mainly to read and it think the Surface RT is close to 27 CM high in portrait.

 

I'm gonna wait for the new Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD 2 (no google play store is a big minus though).

 

I tried the iPad Mini this weekend and really liked the form factor. It's perfect to read. But the 32GB model is too much expensive for my taste. I'll need to try in a store a 7 inches tablet to see if it's too small to read.

 

The current released version of Windows RT does hog space but if you create the recovery media and delete the partition that frees up some space and putting those 10GB of aac files onto an SD Card and using the Library hack to get it to show as part of the library would keep space on the tablet free. Windows RT 8.1, I have the preview on my Surface RT, reduces the OS footprint so more space is left free so it's not really a problem and proves that RT is far from being dropped.

 

If you treat Surface RT as what it is, a content consumption device for the consumer, then you wouldn't be disappointed.

[The Evil Overlord]

Lap, I'd suggest not getting the galaxy tabs, and get the Note versions, they're upgraded, and a little more future proof, (I have the Note 10.1)

And there are many other devices, most of the good ones you've already mentioned,

And I believe the Nexus devices aren't bad at all for what they cost

 

If you're looking for sheer simplicity of use I'd probably go for one of the iPad's

[Killer_Z]

I bought a Nexus 7 last year and upgraded to the new 32GB wifi a couple of days ago. I found it a superb device for reading (the combo aldiko / epub is great) and casual gaming (asphalt, prince of persia, world of goo anyone?) and a very good one for browsing (the Full HD one is a lot faster so I would say excellent). The first generation couldn't play a 10bit x264 video but it didn't had a problem for the normal 8bit 720p; I haven't tried the new one. The FHD one has a stereo sound system and a much better audio quality so I would recommend it over the old one if you want to listen to the music without headphones (that are not included). I didn't test the battery of the FHD enough. The first generation could barely do 8 hours of screen time but I always have Galaxy Pack live wallpaper on. Remember that playing heavy 3d games reduces the duration significantly (or not well optimized games like EA Bejewelled).

[spikey_richie]

We have had a 1st generation Nexus 7 32GB since they were released in the UK, and I can't fault it. I don't like the 10" tabs as they're quite heavy and get uncomfortable to hold after a while.