Best 7"/10" tablet for 400/450$

[V0g0z]

Hi !

Goal of this thread: looking a raisonable price St Graal
I seems that lot of people like me wanted a GOOD* 7"/10" android tablet like me. Since several weeks, I scoured the web looking for the perfect tablet in this budget.

If I resume: this post is for person who

• DO NOT WANT "crap limited low cost ...." tablet (having a tablet for having a tablet is not enough
• We WANT a good tablet with a good reactivity of utse
• We DO NOT to pay 700$ or more but ""only"" 400/450$

I expect that it will be usefull for other poeple like me !


Ideals Specifications for a tablet

CPU
At least Cortex A8 800Mhz is required, it's the minimal for running Flash. Tegra 2 is better.

• Cortex A8: Monocore - Very Good Performance - It's the minimum required for having a good tablet (flash need a A8 at least)
• Cortex A9 // Tegra 2: Dual Core - Awesome Perfomance (In game for example) - It will be the future standard of the best tablets

RAM

• <256Mo : You can close the page, that DEFINITIVELY not enough for running android (2.1 and more) in good confition
• 256Mo: Good. That quite enough, it's the "standard" of this year
• <=512Mo: Very Good, futur standard of good tablet in 2011

Screen

• Size: 7" or 10" this creterion only depends on what you need (think about the weight ^^)
• Resolution: 7" (800*480 or more) & 10" (1024*600 or more) > Think about the ratio: iPad has a 4:3 ratio wich is not good for watching video for example.
• Technology: Don't buy a crap resitive screen (I don't think I have to explain why ^^). But don't buy a crap capacitive screen too: look at videos to see the screen in action.
• Multitouch: I think it's an important feature. Be careful, all capacitive screens are not all multitouch (ie: eLocity a7)

Android version

• Android 1.6 and less: No
• Android 2.1 :Good (see if community/manufacturer has a migration plan)
• Android 2.2: Very Good
• Android 2.3: Not avaible

Good community and Manufacter
It is a not a direct test but is an important point in relation to the life of the product.

Extra functions (depend on what you need/want)

• I/O: Usb port ? Propriety connector ?
• 3G ?
• Bluetooth ?
• HDMI port ?
• ....

 

[V0g0z]

7/8" Tablets

Ranked in order of increasing price
​

Nook Color - 250$

Caracteristics
Pros

• THE SCREEN !!!! 1024x600 IPS (same techno than iPad, iPhone) display > 178-degree viewing angle
• Autonomy: 8h
• Good community on XDA (already rooted)
• 0.48inch (12mm)
• 512Mo RAM
• 8 go
• 1pound (450g)

Cons

• CPU TI OMAP 3621 CPU clocked at 800MHz
• Only 1 button so you had to use virtual button to use fonction home, seek,...

Links
Reviews with video

• Engadget
• Cnet
• Gizmodo
• the-ebook-reader.com

Other

• XDA section
• This forum section

eLocity A7 - 374.24$

Caracteristics
Pros

• Good combo CPU/RAM : tegra 2 // 512mo
• USB port
• 1pound (450g)
• Good community on xda
  

Cons

• 4go
• 800x480 MONOTOUCH capacitive screen
• Autonomy

Links
Reviews

• eLocity A7 Review (but the image is not the same oO)
• Amazon review user
• Youtube YouTube - elocity a7

 

[V0g0z]

9/10" Tablets

Ranked in order of increasing price

Notion Ink Adam - 375$ (to 500$)

Caracteristics
Pros

• Excellent ram/cpu combo : tegra 2 // 1go
• 16Go
• Good personnalisation of android
• Future big community

Cons

• Not avaible

Viewsonic G-Tablet - 379$​

Caracteristics
Pros

• VERY Good combo CPU/RAM: tegra 2 // 1GO
• Good community in xda
• 16go

Cons

• THE SCREEN: 10-degree angle of view according to some users. It seems that viewsonic use a netbook screen, so in portrait mode it's not very pretty :/
• 1.55 lbs(700g)
• Original Rom (fix my viewsonic & xda developpers)

Links
Reviews

Community

• XDA section

​

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[AgentSmith]

good start ... waiting for more ...

 

[JackDean101]

Great research VOgOz... you saved me a ton of time!!!! The Notion Ink Adams seems to be the perfect fit, but nobody seems to have any idea on when it will be fully released. I need to get something for the wifey who is heading back to college next week. I plan to combine it with a keyboard to create an tablet/laptop.

I have found some used 16G ipads for $350. Do you think that is a better deal then a new G-Tablet?

 

[stanglx]

Yes... You cant even compare the screens as they are in different leagues.

Net net buy a G-Tablet if you like to fiddle and you want to pound your chest and say "I HAVE A TEGRA DUAL CORE IN THIS... ARGH ARGH ARGH"

Other then that...

The its sad to say as of yesterday the iPAD kicks its ass in most fronts... If you want 2 months the iPAD 2 FTW.

If you look at raw specs.. the Ipad (1 Ghz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU core paired with a PowerVR SGX 535 graphics processor and 256MB ram) is very very close to the Archos 101 in specs. The GTablet spots a (ARM Cortex-A9 CPU - dual core, Tegra 2 graphics processor and 512 meg of ram)... So the Gtablet is far superior when it comes to raw processing power BUUUUUTTTT... the IPAD games are far smoother, and seem to have higher textures with more polygons...

Now I am not an apple fan boy.... I am just a realist. The IPAD games, software, interface, etc. all work smoother than the GTab (and yes I have tried it out plus many other droids - but dont get me wrong the GTab is the smoothest I have used) couple that with an awesome screen... in my eyes at the same price point the IPAD...

Anyway... If you MUST have an android then I honestly would go with an Archos or Noook and save the $$ for when the Honeycomb tablets become more mature... (I would lean towards the Archos as even though they run the same architecture the extra 200Mhz has some significant affect in all aspects of the device... but Nook screen is far superior if screen is what you want)





I

Great research VOgOz... you saved me a ton of time!!!! The Notion Ink Adams seems to be the perfect fit, but nobody seems to have any idea on when it will be fully released. I need to get something for the wifey who is heading back to college next week. I plan to combine it with a keyboard to create an tablet/laptop.

I have found some used 16G ipads for $350. Do you think that is a better deal then a new G-Tablet?

 

[yoyodunno]

Great research VOgOz... you saved me a ton of time!!!! The Notion Ink Adams seems to be the perfect fit, but nobody seems to have any idea on when it will be fully released. I need to get something for the wifey who is heading back to college next week. I plan to combine it with a keyboard to create an tablet/laptop.

I have found some used 16G ipads for $350. Do you think that is a better deal then a new G-Tablet?

Where do you find these ipads for that price? And also, I'm wondering why somebody would buy an Android tablet for the same price as an ipad, unless you really like the open source part and tinkering.