The One 'Do I Buy This', 'What Do I Buy', 'I'm Looking For' Thread

[miketv]

hi ya!

i need some help/advice. i was originally looking @ getting a kindle dx mainly for use as and pdf/electronic journal reader - i played around with my wife's kindle and worked out i needed a bigger screen. delivered to australia the dx is over $400 so i started looking around at other solutions for around the same price. i feel i'm pretty tech minded and wouldn't mind having a fiddle with an android device and the laptop i have in the lounge is getting a little heavy on my lap! lol. on researching i came across this site!

so, to break down what i'm after -

good screen size - 10.1 seems to be the go
3g not neccesary - have wi-fi easily accessable
excellent battery life for high portability
good screen responsiveness (has to be useable)
decent screen contrast for occasional use in shaded outdoor conditions
usb input for ease of transfering files
good value for money
reasonably sturdy

i'm almost sold on an archos 101 16gb, but i want to make sure that there isn't something better that i'm missing. would be happy to spend a bit more ($400-450) for something with better specs, also happy to spend less if there is something else suitable. is the viewsonic g-tablet worth considering?

thanks for your help.

mike.

 

[pvella]

I am travelling to Hong Kong and Japan in a few weeks. Is there any Android device worth trying to pick up? It has to work on Telstra 850Mhz.

 

[xaueious]

@miketv Do check out listings for the Malata Zpad around the web as well, if you can afford one. The Archos is fine though.

@pvella The Malata Zpad with a 3G slot is around 4000HKD right now (Malata () in Mong Kwok according to some forum posts I have read. You have to check for more information, and probably with the old non-IPS LCD screen. Do not know much about those markets otherwise though.

 

[SimoxTa]

Hello all, I'm looking for a tablet to fit the role as "car computer" with at least these features:

Specs:

• Capacitive Touchscreen
• Multitouch Support
• Android 2.2 (at least for flash support, doesn't matter if official or cooked by the community)
• 6" screen <--- 7" screen could fit as well but global size of the device have not to exceeds 18cm x 10cm (if i did the conversion well, those measures should be 7.08 x 3.93 inches)
• WiFi
• 3G
• GPS <--- MUST HAVE
• Multimedia <--- (Capability to play videos like DivX without stuttering)
• Android Market

Notes:

• NO PROBLEMS on price
• NO NEED of a camera (but if there is one then...well ).
• I prefer a 7" with thinner bezel than a 6" with larger bezel but overall smaller size
• I'm from Italy but I have no problem to buy the product abroad (as long as there is the english language on the device )

Old choices:
Was looking for the Galaxy Tab P1000 but it exceeds the global size, so i turned to the Dell Streak 5, but i think 5" is a bit small for my purposes.

Thanks in advance!

 

[coupedog]

Hello. I am new to all this, but am thinking of getting a tablet. Was looking at the kindle and nook, but thought maybe I might be better off with a tablet (more versatility). Main uses would be:

ereader
light web browsing
email

I don't need anything fantastic, just something to play around with on my lunch breaks -

Budget is between 100 - 200 dollars. I see a lot on ebay that are called epads and they look like they could do the job. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[xaueious]

@pvella As an append, Taobao listings like this might work: like this
Used devices here: Zpad
Get them to ship it to a local address in HK. You should save yourself a little money.
There's a version with integrated GPS and 3G &#32852;&#36890;
I am not sure if Telstra's 850/2100 is compatible with that. That you would have to confirm. It wont be making phone calls though.

@SimoxTa Nothing with a 6" screen that I am aware of. All 7" devices will be above those. You can step down to the Dell Streak 5", at 152.9 x 79.1 x 10 mm. The Streak 7 is at 199.9 x 119.8 x 12.4 mm.

Acer has this hot 4.8" phone coming out soon too: http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/23/acer-reveals-4-8-inch-android-smartphone-with-1024x480-screen-re/, which might fit those dimensions. Acer Android phones have a good following in Italy.

@coupedog A white Pandigital Novel variant (if below $120), or Coby Kyros MID7015 (if below $150). Don't get those ebay tablets. You can pick up the Coby and just use it. With the Pandigital, you must install custom firmware.

 

[JDoumo]

@JDoumo Not sure if you will get a reply here per-say. Merimobiles prices tend to be a little higher than other places that ship directly from China, but they actually speak English. You would be so much better off if someone just shipped you a Nook Color from the US. That would probably be less risky than owning the WITS. When you do return to the US, keep the receipt so you can still do what you need.

Xaueious,

As I was waiting a reply for my post I suddenly realized that if I was buying locally that I had effectively raised my budget to ~$250 (of what I could get in the US) -- looking at the devices in that price range the Nook color seemed the obvious choice given the quality of the screen & build and the large user community. So I've gone ahead and ordered one for my brother to send me. Not sure when I'll get it but really looking forward to having my first tablet and playing around with Android. It looks like there might be some dificulty registering the device from overseas (though I see some workarounds posted on various boards) but as I don't really need access to the B&N bookstore I could always just use it running a custom ROM until I get back to the states.

Many thanks for all your help,

JDoumo

 

[TxToast]

Xaueious,

thanks for all of your candid help. While I still have an inclination to buy a "China clone" to tinker with I went ahead and bought a Viewsonic G Tablet via amazon for $359. Given that everything I was looking at was $299 it was sound and prudent advise you gave me.
It will certainly give me a sound platform on which to build my skills as well as a potentially productive business tool. Thanks again for your patience and advise.

 

[JuneSummer9696]

I'm in South Carolina and I have a Dell Studio 15 that is almost five years old and I want something small.
I want to play FarmVille, email, and web surf for less than $200 but I will pay up to $300. Is there anything
that will work for me?
Thanks for any advice,
JS

 

[Fuganater]

Xaueious,

As I was waiting a reply for my post I suddenly realized that if I was buying locally that I had effectively raised my budget to ~$250 (of what I could get in the US) -- looking at the devices in that price range the Nook color seemed the obvious choice given the quality of the screen & build and the large user community. So I've gone ahead and ordered one for my brother to send me. Not sure when I'll get it but really looking forward to having my first tablet and playing around with Android. It looks like there might be some dificulty registering the device from overseas (though I see some workarounds posted on various boards) but as I don't really need access to the B&N bookstore I could always just use it running a custom ROM until I get back to the states.

Many thanks for all your help,

JDoumo

B&N store works outside of the US. I've used mine in Saudi Arabia and now in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

[xaueious]

I'm in South Carolina and I have a Dell Studio 15 that is almost five years old and I want something small.
I want to play FarmVille, email, and web surf for less than $200 but I will pay up to $300. Is there anything
that will work for me?
Thanks for any advice,
JS

Get a netbook for FarmVille. Flash games do not work nearly as well as you think on most Android devices.

 

[TechieJ]

Xaueious,
First of all, many thanks for all your great advice. Second, I think many of us Android &/or tablet rookies would benefit from a few things:

1. Knowing the advantages & disadvantages of different Android OS versions (to include upcoming honeycomb since it is the first version that is designed for tablets)
2. What upcoming tablets might be worth waiting for (because of features, honeycomb, etc)
3. What current tablets will be upgradable to honeycomb (as in my case, where I dont think I will be able to hold out until May... haha)

Thanks!

 

[golum]

Hi,

New UK based guy here, first time post...but potentially going to be around for a while.

I've had an Android phone (My HTC Desire which i love) for a while now, and have recently decided I'd like to get a tablet to complement this. Basically i'm looking for something that will make reading novels and in particular graphic novel/comic books (.cbr's) a more pleasurable experience. A 3.7" screen just hurts my eyes after about 5 mins of reading. Also, some surfing and movie watching are a requirement, though i'm not after lightening speed or bluray standards. Decent wifi would be good....and a battery that will last more than 2 hours.

My budget is ideally around the £100 (US $160) mark, though i could stretch it a little if the rewards are worthwhile.

10" or 8" would be preferred, though if i could get much better specs on a 7" i'd be tempted. I know capacitive screens are better, but on my budget i doubt that's a realistic option, so i'd be happy with a good resistive screen.

I work in IT so I have no problem flashing and rooting (as long as I can find helpful info )

So far from what i can tell, this looks to be a good choice...

Android 2.2 OS 8 Inch Touch Screen Tablet PC with Freescale Cortex A8 Chip, support Flash Player 10, 512MB RAM, 4GB HDD - Wholesale Electronics

which appears to be the same seller as here...
Android 2.2 OS 8 Inch Touch Screen Tablet PC with Freescale Cortex A8 Chip, 1GHz CPU, 512MB memory

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

or, does anyone have any experience with ElegaTrade?

Thanks in anticipation

golum

 

[pvella]

Thanks xaueious. What can you tell me about the zpad? Have not heard about it.

 

[tmacrae]

Hi All,

• Can the tablet store emails ? I can run outlook / any other mail client without internet connectivity to access all the mails I received till now. Searching, composing new mails, contacts browsing is very fast locally. Do the tablet provide the same functionality ? Or it is just a web-mail which requires me to be connected all the time + some cached messages as offline stuff ?

• Will the email program handle appointments / meeting requests and update the calendar automatically ?

Hi AgentSmith,

I thought I'd answer a portion of your thread, specifically related to email and calendaring. Yes, you will have to be "connected" to access your email, etc. but it will be simple if you do it all through Google. I've learned a great deal about synchronizing Google and Outlook through my Android phone (Evo 4G). I also set this up for my clients, and it works very well.

Email: Open a Gmail account and run all your email accounts (pop3, imap, etc.) through it, keeping them in Outlook at the same time. Access Gmail on the tablet, and every email you send and receive from the tablet or your PC will be in both.

Contacts: Google can store your contacts within the Gmail app. This will require you to save your Outlook contacts as a .csv file and import them to Google. Works great!

Calendar: Set up a Google calendar and sync your Outlook calendar to it, running the synchronization in the background on your PC. Every appointment you schedule on either platform will appear in both.

On the tablet log onto Google and access Gmail and your calendar. You can also run iGoogle as a home page and have it sync to favorite blogs, news, etc. that you select to appear all the time, including your email and calendar.

Once I decide on a tablet (I'm seriously leaning to the Viewsonic G-Tablet), I'll be synchronizing between my PC/laptop, my Evo phone and the Tablet with Google.

Good luck,
Terry MacRae
Virtual Assistant
TL Resources - Virtual Assistance, Infusionsoft, Internet Marketing and Social Media Assistance