Android Tablet Summer Buyer's Guide Series, Part Two: Mid-Range Edition

[dgstorm]

Are you in the market to get a new Android tablet this Summer, but are confused about which one to get? With so many options, it can be a daunting task to pick the best tablet for your needs. Luckily, your friendly neighborhood Forum Founders came up with a brilliant idea! We decided to write-up a handy-dandy Android Tablet Buyer's Guide to help you out a bit. What we have done is cull our three favorite tabs from three different categories (in no particular order), and hopefully that will help you decide from the best of the bunch. The three categories we will include are the following: High-End/Enthusiast-Level Tablets, Mid-Range Tablets, & Budget-Friendly Tablets. This list is obviously not exhaustive, so if none of these tabs pique your interest, don't forget to peruse the rest of the forums to find an alternative that might suit your needs.

This will actually be broken up into a three part series, and this next one is the Mid-Range Category. Enjoy!

Mid-Range Tablets: (If you want/need a tablet that is less expensive than the high-end category, but still want a 10-inch tablet with a few extra features beyond the basics, then this category is for you.)

Our top three tablets in this category were even harder to decide than the high-end category. Our entire list omits one tablet that we were hoping to add here. We were expecting a price drop on the Asus Transformer Prime after the announcement of the Transformer TF300 and the Infinity, but that hasn't materialized yet, so we could not include it in any of our lists. However, even though the T-Prime didn't make the cut, two of the mid-range champions were still Asus tablets, so that says something about their products. As of this time, we prefer the solid Acer Iconia A500, the fairly new Asus Transformer TF300, and the venerable Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101. These tablets all have been upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich, which is a huge plus, and they offer a great price versus performance ratio in the mid-range category. If we had to pick a favorite from the three, the Asus Transformer TF300 would probably come out on top. It packs quite a bit of value for the 10-inch tablet mid-range category, although its pricing comes dangerously close to the high-end category.

It's great to see the good old Asus TF101 still doing well. With ICS, the tablet received a new lease on life. Its features and current prices still make it viable, especially considering the plethora of options that it provides.

Here's a breakdown of each of the winners:

Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 - $368 at Amazon or $265 at Newegg (refurbished)

• Operating System: Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) Platform
• Display: 10.1-inch WSVGA IPS capacitive multi touch display built with durable and scratch-resistant glass; 178° viewing angle(1280 x 800)
• Chipset: NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Mobile Processor
• Memory: 1GB DDR2
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
• Storage: 16GB eMMC Flash (Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 32 GB (functionality requires future software upgrade)
• Camera: 1.2 megapixel (Front); 5.0 Megapixel (Rear)
• Speakers: SRS Sound
• Card Reader: Micro SD Card Reader
• Input / Output: 1 x Mini HDMI, 2-in-1 audio jack (head phone/mic-in jack), internal mic
• Battery Pack: 24.4 W/h Li-polymer battery (up to 9.5 hours)

Acer Iconia A500 - $349 at Amazon

• 10.1” HD Multi-Touch Display: (1280 x 800) resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio
• NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual Core Mobile Processor
• 1GB DDR2 Memory
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU
• eMMC: 16GB on board
• MicroSD memory card up to 32GB
• Dolby® Mobile Technology
• Dual Analog Microphone
• Dual Speaker
• 802.11b/g/n Wireless(802.11n 2.4GHz only)
• Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR
• 1- Micro USB 2.0 Port
• 1- USB 2.0 Port
• 1- Micro HDMI™ Out (support Dual Display)
• 5MP Rear Facing Camerawith Auto Focus and single LED flash
• 2MP Front Facing Camera
• Sensors:G-Sensor, E-Compass, L-Sensor, Gyro-meter
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer Battery
• Up to 8-hours battery life

Asus Transformer TF300 - $374 at NewEgg

• Operating System: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Platform
• Display: 10.1-inch WXGA IPS capacitive pressure-sensing multi-touch display with 178o viewing angle (1280 x 800)
• Pixel Pitch: 0.272mm
• Chipset: NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 Quad Core Mobile Processor
• Memory:1GB DDR3
• Storage: 32GB eMMC Flash
• Camera: 1.2 megapixel (front); 8.0 megapixel (rear)
• Speakers: Built-in stereo speakers with ASUS SonicMaster Technology
• Card Reader: Micro SD Card Reader
• 1 x Micro HDMI
• 2-in-1 audio jack (headphone/mic-in jack), internal mic
• Battery: 22 W/h Li-polymer battery (up to 10 hours)

That's the wrap-up for our second edition of the Android Tablet Summer Buyer's Guide Series. Our next & final edition will be the Budget-Friendly Tablets category, so be looking for that later on this week! Also, feel free to chime in your thoughts on our choices. In many ways it's even more important to hear from you guys than from us. Share your opinion to help all of our other members make informed decisions.

Here's a link to Part One: The High-End Enthusiast Edition: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...ies-part-one-high-end-enthusiast-edition.html