I'm new and confused, please help.

[irsmurfette]

I have an Android phone (HTC incredible) that I love. I've rooted it and I love experimenting with various roms. I would love to move on to a tablet. I've been researching and I've confused myself completely. I want something that is about 9" or 10" but that works well with the market, so does that mean i need gingerbread? Are there any devices like this available yet, or any known to be on the way? I don't want a super cheap throw away quality device, but i also don't want to spend $600. Ideally I'd like to be able to root my tablet as that is half the fun for me. Can anybody help me get my head on straight? Thanks!

 

[gurgle]

First off, 2.3 is not going to be found on a commercial Tablet until after the first of the year. That is not a problem. It is more of a recognition the big players were waiting for 2.3/3.0 to be released before releasing their tablets. (Lenovo, Acer, others) The average sweet spot for a tablet in the 7 in range is $250-300USD. There are many lower priced, but these are the units which are being released in the US by the bigger box.
If as you say want the 10 inch, then the Archos is the least expensive of the higher quality units at $300USD for the 8Gb unit. It would be advisable to go for the 16gb size which is 350+. If 3G is a requirement then you will want to wait, Only the Huawei S7 is a real candidate but it is a 7inch unit.

The more information about what you plan to use your tablet will help hone in on what tablet may be your best bet.

 

[irsmurfette]

I don't need 3g, wifi is fine. I want to do word processing, web surfing, social networking, and a bit of game playing. I want to take it to college to take notes. Also, reading books and watching videos ( fingers crossed that Netflix gets off there asses to give us an app). Am i asking too much of one device?

 

[gurgle]

Not at all. What is holding NetFlix up is the inability to create a good DRM vehicle to protect their video content. Look at this thread, it should provide some insight. http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...d-tablet-buying-list-what-get-what-avoid.html
Honestly what you want will be fully available around April. But, i know you want it now. Read, research and keep asking/looking on the links. Each tablet has its own strengths and weaknesses.

 

[irsmurfette]

As far as rooting goes, if I were to get an archos now, what are the chances that I'll be able to put 2.3 on it in the future? Are there massive amounts of devs working on roms for the tabs like there are for the phones? I would be willing to wait a few months for what I really want if I have too, but if I can get something close now that I can update later that would be great.

 

[gurgle]

We are getting into supposition. The official details about 2.3 are out. The Archos should be fully compatible with 2.3. It will likely be able to run quite well with the processor and available RAM. I would bet in a year an improved Archos will be out with 512M RAM and still the same processor. Archos over the years has done a good job of providing firmware. If you research and look, they have a solid history of improvement. BUT, they also have a solid history of limiting Rooting and trying to make a profit on the silliest things. But the community at ArchosFans is very active and always is supportive of all the Archos product line.
This tablet can be rooted, but what is more important is it can be improved with Google Market easily.
There are some issues on the early units. I think these are typical Archos. The early units have some QA issues. The units which are out about a month later have these issues worked out. i.e. We are beta testers but that to me is half the fun.