[android tablet] Recommend me an Android Tablet

[Arthur]

Thanks Titch. What is wrong with the viewing angle?

Advent put a super cheap Twisted Nematic (TN) LCD in the Vega. These are notorious for their poor viewing angles and bad colour reproduction.

 

The Advent Vega takes the same basic form as the iPad, then cheapens it each direction in order to reduce the price tag.

 

Where the original has a glass multi-touch IPS screen rich in colour and viewable from any angle, the Advent Vega has a budget plastic TN screen with weak colour when used face on.

 

That’s at its best – when tilted by a view degrees as you naturally do when holding it, the screen can fade to black tones and become an unviewable mess. (Source)

 

TN = Twisted Nematic

These are 6-bit screens that cannot really reproduce 16.7 million colors. They can only reproduce 262,144 colors; 64 shades of Red, Green & Blue. Thats (2^6)^3 or 64^3. All the other colors are created through a process called dithering. These typically have fast response times (for gaming) at the expense of color accuracy. (Source)

[titch]

Also, does the Advent one have the proper Android marketplace on it?

Yep proper marketplace and proper google apps integrated etc. As for the viewing angle its fine for me to use on my own but sharing with someone else i.e person on the sofa next to me, I would have to point the screen at them for it to be properly visible. For some reason the viewing angle is better upside down. The screen in my opinion seems good when looked at from the correct viewing angle.

[enjay]

Right, I think I've narrowed my choices down to two models:

Elonex 10" eTouch 1044ET Tablet £199

C91_zenithink £150ish

 

Concerns over Chinese imports do make me favour the Elonex one, but I'm not sure what the "progressive display" is; they have a capacitive model for another £30 (Elonex 10" eTouch 1040ET Tablet). Anyone know?

[enjay]

I spoke too soon - neither of those Elonex ones seem to actually exist, as I can't find anyone selling them.

 

This brings me back to the C91 or a selection of others which have resistive screens not capacitive - are they that much better?

[Guest Guest]

This brings me back to the C91 or a selection of others which have resistive screens not capacitive - are they that much better?

 

Yes! afaik you can't have multitouch with resistive. That alone stops you using many apps as they were designed, you soon get sick of having no "pinch" zoom.

They are also not very responsive or accurate. Honestly I wouldn't even contemplate it mate, you will regret it.

[enjay]

Ah yes, I can see the lack of multi-touch being very annoying. So that brings me to the Hannspree Hannspad (Hannspree HannsPad 10.1 inch Tablet PC (ARM Cortex A9 1GHz, 512 MB RAM, 16 GB Storage, WLAN, BT, Android 2.2): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories) which is the cheapest capacitive I can find, also dual core which is nice. The catch is that a) £270 is a little more than I had in mind, and b) if I'm going to spend £270 not £150, then should I just keep going and get a Samsung Galaxy or Asus Transformer for £400??

[Guest Guest]

Last night I was in currys so I had a little play with the Advent Vega. Although I can see what one of the previous posters was saying about its limited viewing angle, it isn't bad. It's certainly not the worst screen I've ever seen, but also nowhere near the best either.

The device itself looked fairly well built and the responsiveness seems perfectly adequate.

 

However this opinion was formed from a 5 minute play so best go look at it yourself and read some more reviews, but at £130 for a refurb it has certainly made it to my list.

[penfold]

After looking at reviews on the Advent Vega running Android 3 that looks very apealing. But I am a little concerned that there is only a 3 month warrenty with the refurb units:( I would be tempted to pay £230 for the extra cover tbh. Question is, can I afford the extra? And of course do I need one:confused:

[plexer]

The warranty from the pc-world ebay shop states 6 months?

 

Ben

[enjay]

If a computer is going to break, it is likely to do it in the first few weeks or after several years, so I don't think 6 months versus 3 years makes much odds.

 

Also, I really don't think it is worth paying £230 instead of £130 for that extra warranty - buy it at £130 and if you need to buy another in a few years, it is still only £260!

[penfold]

The warranty from the pc-world ebay shop states 6 months?

 

 

Ben

My bad, thought it said 3:(

[enjay]

Advent Vega is looking tempting - a bit worried about hacking it to get Android Marketplace on it though, don't want to brick it...

[enjay]

Change of plan #78 - decided that a cheap one would just annoy me and I'd end up replacing it, so I'm going for a Samsung Galaxy instead (although I will wait to get a look at the Transformer Prime (is it just me that wants to insert the word "Optimus" in there?!).

[Arthur]

decided that a cheap one would just annoy me

That's what I was thinking too. Cheap Android tablets are a false economy due to all of the compromises made by the manufacturer to reach a particular price point.

[ihaveaproblem]

my friend just got a samsung galaxy tab 8.9 and she is very happy with it. It seems a bit difficult to find many places selling in the UK though so we ended up getting it from ebay. HMV also sell it but they messed us around.

Is a good little tablet.

[Arthur]

I'm holding out until Amazon bring out the Kindle Fire in the UK.

According to the latest rumours, the Kindle Fire should be released in the UK at the beginning of next year.

 

File this under the 'whispers from the underground' but we're hearing from a very reliable source that Amazon are planning a UK release for the Kindle Fire!

 

Our mole indicated that the original target for the UK release was January 2012 and although this date was dependent on the stateside shipments and subject to change, it is still on the cards and we should 'definitely' see it in Q1

 

This is particularly intriguing as although obviously books are a very big part of the Kindle experience, App Store and streaming video content are also very important to the fire, both services that are yet to launch here in the UK. (Source)

[enjay]

Kindle Fire is only 7" though. 99.9% decided on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

[ravens]

The Samsung is well over £300. I have the 7" one with 3g and it is really good. I recently got a 10.1 Acer A500 for my daughter. It's wifi only but the specs are good, the usual tegra dual core 1gb processor, 1gb ram, 16gb onboard expandable, hdmi connection, front / rear cameras and one thing you dont usually get on tablets, a full size usb port for a keyboard connection. I think you can pick one up for £279 from Tesco Direct which is a good deal.

[neon]

have you looked at the kogan agora? I bought it about a month ago as I couldnt warrent spending the money on an ipad or galaxy tab, its not the greatest of tablets but still has a capacitive touchscreen and access to market, expandable memory up to 32gb not bad for the £80 I paid for it? worth a look but I would have to agree with cheap tablets not being that good. If your going to use it for any decent length of time I would splash out a bit more... If you want any more info on the agora let me know...

 

7" Tablet PC with Capacitive Touchscreen: Powered by Android - Buy your Android Tablet PC from Kogan

Edited November 15, 2011 by neon

[enjay]

I did look at the Acer, but the lack of Android marketplace put me off.

[ravens]

I did look at the Acer, but the lack of Android marketplace put me off.

The one I have has Android 2.33 and marketplace. I think they are also going to release an update to 3.0 not too long from now.

[enjay]

It already has Android 3.0, so that would appear to have been released to new models already, maybe it just hasn't been pushed out as an upgrade yet.

 

I'll take another look at them if they have the real Android marketplace on them...

[gpe5732]

Not sure what price range you're looking at and how good you are technologically. The Kindle Fire that just came out is $199 and has already been rooted. Give the dev community some time and they'll have a stable, stock version of Android running on it. If price is no object I'd get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10. It is easily the best Android tablet currently available. I have both an iPad and the Galaxy Tab, and they are both very good.

[enjay]

Thanks for all the advice. I went with the 32GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - now I just have to look at it taunting me from the shelf for a month...

[ihaveaproblem]

Thanks for all the advice. I went with the 32GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - now I just have to look at it taunting me from the shelf for a month...

 

Nice My friend has the galaxy tab 8.9 and she is very happy with it and says it's great. Do you think android 4.0 will be available for it in the future?

I saw today the new re-design of the Samsung tablet as well

BBC News - Samsung redesigns Galaxy Tab after Apple's sales ban