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Best Tablet?

I can't tell you much about the 'best' tablet out there, but what I can say is I have an Acer Iconia Tab A500, and I LOVE it. I have played around with several different android powered tablets as well as the iPad 1/2. I would definitely recommend an android tab over the iPad. A500 over any that I have experience with. The only thing I dislike about my tab is the fact that I bought the Acer protactive cover for it. It sucks. Graet product for the money. Much more stable than my previous laptop; also lighter weight - more portable, significantly better battery life, and faster. Hope my 2 cents helps you out.

Make sure you do your research though, make a list of what you will be using it for and what the different competitors have to offer. Compare them all and make a decision based on the process of elimination.
 
Depends on what you're looking for and what's your price point...The Prime seems to have the best specs right now but I've heard of a few glitches. I have the Lenovo K1 and I'm satisfied with it...it wont knock your socks off, but it will do the basic needs well...I suggest looking at the Tablets section of androidforums and stick with tablets that have the most posts/threads...that way, if you encounter issues, you'll have plenty of feedback available...
 
My vote would definitely be for the Transformer Prime. I really want to upgrade to that from my iPad 2, unfortunately no free money right now to upgrade any of my devices :(
 
I'm not sure what the rules are for this forum but I would like to "BUMP" this post up to see if it still stands. I have spent literally the past 3 days "itching" for a new gadget. (Don't ask... I can't explain it...) and I would like to get a tablet. I had been thinking about one for the past 4 months or so trying to think where it would "fit" in, and while I'm not entirely sure I had a refund check from Uncle Sam that I'd be willing to part with for one.

Anyway, it seems like for my needs it is a toss up between the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 and the Asus Transformer Prime. The first doesn't have any expansion ports from what I can see, and the latter seems to have a lot of glitches. I would like to use a tablet for GPS functions, maybe not all the time but I would like to be able to do so, but alternatively I would like to be able to plug in a car charger, or transfer files to and from my tablet. I'm also seeing the motorola Xyborg which sounds nice as well, but from specs and everything it sounds really good but its just not as "popular" or hyped as the other tabs so I don't want to purchase something that a. has no community or b. has some massive bug/glitch that everyone but me seems to be aware of.

I'm not sure which tablet to go with. Hoping for any and all help.

I want the tablet mostly for Internet, social networking (facebook) and light gaming (words with friends, angry birds, that kind of games). It needs to have a really good battery life, and I want to be able to transfer media to it without having to sync it with drop box or anything like that.

It also needs to be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich because I read that Honeycomb isn't that great and Ice Cream Sandwich fixes the issues with it. Can anyone help?

EDIT: Also needs a camera, just because its cool. I don't expect DSLR photos but those on par with my phone camera (droid 3)

(Sorry if this post is in violation of any rules, if so please let me know and I will remove it and make a new thread. Just trying to save some data space :) )
 
I'm supposed to buy a tablet too, but decided to postpone and wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 that they demoed at the MWC. Basically its a more powerful Tab with an S-pen, up to 64GB memory expandable with an sd card, camera, and can open two apps at the same time on separate windows. Its supposed to launch this 2ndQ and will be Samsung's answer to iPad3 to be released on the 15th. Ignore the troll. iPad2 is nowhere near the best available choice, not with the new Androids and iPad3 coming within a couple of Weeks.
 
chanchan05 said:
I'm supposed to buy a tablet too, but decided to postpone and wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 that they demoed at the MWC. Basically its a more powerful Tab with an S-pen, up to 64GB memory expandable with an sd card, camera, and can open two apps at the same time on separate windows. Its supposed to launch this 2ndQ and will be Samsung's answer to iPad3 to be released on the 15th. Ignore the troll. iPad2 is nowhere near the best available choice, not with the new Androids and iPad3 coming within a couple of Weeks.
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he's talking about now, not a month from now. If you want to talk a month from now, ok, iPad 3. How many Android tablets need to be released, be a total failure and fade into obscurity before people realize the Android platform sucks on a tablet device?
 
chrlswltrs said:
That used to be the best, but Android tablets have surpassed the iPad just like phones surpassed the iPhone a few years ago. I currently really want to upgrade my iPad 2 to a new android tablet.
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Not really. The A5 chip in the iPad 2 is faster than just about anything you will find in any Android tablet. Not to mention the OS is much more polished and stable...
 
Let's keep this on track and not turn it into a bashing other tablets thread. Everyone's opinion is different, let's try to just give our opinion to the OP. just don't want the thread to go the wrong direction here. :cool:
 
psychotron said:
he's talking about now, not a month from now. If you want to talk a month from now, ok, iPad 3. How many Android tablets need to be released, be a total failure and fade into obscurity before people realize the Android platform sucks on a tablet device?
Click to expand...

iPad3 is set to be released in a little less than 10 days, so that sort of counts like now, because if you order a tablet now and take shipping into account, you'll get both at about the same time give or take a week.

How many Android tablets need to be a total failure? None actually, because Android tablets actually do sell a lot. The difference is that yes, Samsung Galaxy Tab may not outsell iPad, but then its just one of several choices. Just like how the SGS2 may not outsell the iPhone, but collectively Android outsells iOS. No single tablet will ever outsell the iPad because that's the only choice for iOS users.

And its preference as well. I really don't like iOS UI.
 
chanchan05 said:
iPad3 is set to be released in a little less than 10 days, so that sort of counts like now, because if you order a tablet now and take shipping into account, you'll get both at about the same time give or take a week.

How many Android tablets need to be a total failure? None actually, because Android tablets actually do sell a lot. The difference is that yes, Samsung Galaxy Tab may not outsell iPad, but then its just one of several choices. Just like how the SGS2 may not outsell the iPhone, but collectively Android outsells iOS. No single tablet will ever outsell the iPad because that's the only choice for iOS users.

And its preference as well. I really don't like iOS UI.
Click to expand...

I see your point, but Android tablets sell well compared to what? I believe I just read not even a month ago that if you combined the sales from every Android tablet on the market, it still wouldn't even match HALF of the first iPad's sales, let alone the iPad 2 sales. Here is an interesting read...

Contracts are killing Android tablet sales
 
Those don't count Android sales without contracts, and only takes into account US, which is basically a very small market. The Indian Market alone for example dwarfs the US Market. Outside of the US, tablets are sold outside of contract most usually. In fact I have yet to see an Android tablet sold under contract in my country.

Also you also have to take into account as well that Android tablets came rather late into the fray, with the first iPad having almost over half a year in advance before the true Android tablets (Xoom) came out. If I had bough an iPad then, I wouldn't even consider ditching it for an Android tablet just like that and rather stick it out for a year or so. Especially for contract locked iPads, that would mean 2 years before they replace it (which coincidentally would be just about this year). Its understandable that if you put it in total, Android would be well behind in actual sales.

Maybe you should look at how many iPads sold vs how many Android Tablets sold in, say, Q3 2011. That would give a better picture on how much one is selling over the other. All I can say is that for my country at least Android tablets are creeping up and likely overtaken iPad in rate of sales.
 
Anything android.

id avoid anyone who globs onto movie refference titles for their product line, half the cost is licensing fee's and the rest goes to marketing hype not into the product. assus went to far with that stuff.

research the details on whats under the hood.

like buying a gen PC, it can look flashy on the out side but be full of junk.

only buy from a seller that pre-test and makes any current software updates before it is shipped. Doesn't cost any more to not end up where many do, online confused about how to apply a fix for their tablet that wasn't done factory side.

Don't get an ICS tablet, its still way to new and buggy on tablets.
My tablet was pre down graded by the seller to 2.3.4 for a major reason from the ICS it shipped with.
 
I've had a few Android tablets. My latest is the Transformer Prime and it is definitely the best! It pales in comparison to the 10.1 in every way. With the docking station it's close to being a laptop replacement. It tethers just fine to my Nexus if you need data on the go. I haven't tested the GPS much but inside my apartment it picked me up as close as any phone I've owned. Wifi has been fine for me but I'm never far from a router. I'd still wait for the new iPad announcement and decide from there. The Prime is also hard to find in stores.
 
+1, I think for overall usability, the Prime trumps everything, simply because it acts more like a laptop replacement than any other tablet, because of the keyboard....
Add that to the fact that it's the only tablet now with ICS + Tegra 3, you get the best!

Although if I were you,I'll wait for March 7th, that's the day Apple will announce their new iPad 3!
 
psychotron said:
Not really. The A5 chip in the iPad 2 is faster than just about anything you will find in any Android tablet. Not to mention the OS is much more polished and stable...
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Not its not:

Pure benchmarks alone: Nvidia: Tegra 3 Quad-Core Chip Beats Apple’s A5 Hands Down
HANDS DOWN

On real life setting, with it running on ICS and a benchmarking test that's not even optimized of fullt compatible for Tegra 3 (so basically, benchmarks give Tegra 3 lower scores than actual):
First Nvidia Tegra 3 Benchmarks Score The Quad-Core Chip Just Slightly Faster Than Apple’s A5 | TechCrunch

Its scores are slightly better than iPad even if its actually a score that's lowered by a couple of hundred or even thousand points due to being unoptimized.


Basically, Tegra 3 runs circles around the A5 on the iPad2. We have to wait for iPad3 and the A6 to get a look at an iPad whose hardware can even compete.

Then, don't forget that Apple's A6 is manufactured by Samsung. Samsung will be using a chip better than the ones they give Apple for their own: the Exynos. The dual core Exynos is still the most powerful dual core chip on phones right now (same clocked dual core chips perform worse on benchmarks), and they already announced the quad Exynos coming up.

The difference being that Apple's iOS is optimized for their hardware, while some Android manufacturers seem to be rushing to get their products out to get a jump on the competition. Which is why I prefer Samsung products because while they are slow on updates and releases, at least when they do release it, its optimized to the point that it borders on iOS level of hardware optimization. Heck SGS2's stock TouchWiz Gingerbread ROM was hardware accelerated, an optimization feature stock Gingerbread did not have.
 
Thanks for the replies! I was worried that I was resurrecting a post from the grave and I would get banned or something :)

I think the biggest sale with iPads is that you get the whole "apple world" in the cloud. Since I don't have any other apple products I wouldn't even consider one. I like my Samsung MP3 player that was about 200 dollars less than the cheapest iPod at the time :)

It seems like the consensus in the whole online world is for the Asus Transformer Prime. But idk it just looks so ugly to me. Does it look better in person? From online (and I'm not even considering the purple one) it looks like a giant cymbal (instrument) from behind. I like the white Galaxy 10.1 because it looks really nice, but a lot of reviewers are saying it seems cheap and that video playback is poor.

I looked into the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tab but it looks to have the same specs as a current Galaxy which is disappointing.

ARGH! WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO HARD?!?! lol With my laptop it was so easy to just pick one out but I have no clue with tablets.
 
lorddonk said:
Thanks for the replies! I was worried that I was resurrecting a post from the grave and I would get banned or something :)

I think the biggest sale with iPads is that you get the whole "apple world" in the cloud. Since I don't have any other apple products I wouldn't even consider one. I like my Samsung MP3 player that was about 200 dollars less than the cheapest iPod at the time :)

It seems like the consensus in the whole online world is for the Asus Transformer Prime. But idk it just looks so ugly to me. Does it look better in person? From online (and I'm not even considering the purple one) it looks like a giant cymbal (instrument) from behind. I like the white Galaxy 10.1 because it looks really nice, but a lot of reviewers are saying it seems cheap and that video playback is poor.

I looked into the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tab but it looks to have the same specs as a current Galaxy which is disappointing.

ARGH! WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO HARD?!?! lol With my laptop it was so easy to just pick one out but I have no clue with tablets.
Click to expand...

The whole cheap feel thing is something I see a lot about Samsung. I personally really like the build of Samsung phones and tablets.

Right now I just recommend the transformer prime because of the upgraded specs from the transformer. I have used a transformer several times and really liked it. I directly compared it to the Xoom and iPad 2 and I liked the transformer the best. Asus also seems to be more on top of updates than any other OEM right now. ICS is a huge upgrade and really isn't buggy. It runs great on my GSII and is no where near an official release because Samsung is so slow with updates.

I love samsung hardware, but I hate their slow updates on software. I have had an iPad 2 since last summer (in fact I am typing this post on it), and now just feel that android tablets have passed the iPad in terms of capability.

If you get a transformer prime and don't like it and want an iPad 2, I'll always trade with you :cool:
 
Actually the current Galaxy Tab has a 1Ghz dual core A9 (I think its Tegra 2?), while the Galaxy Note 10.1 has an unannounced model of a 1.4Ghz dual core (probably Exynos like the new Galaxy Tab 7.7, which would make the Note 10.1 even faster than an overclocked Tab 10.1).

As for the "cheap feel" thing, its a matter of perspective. Its like some guy started saying, this phone feels cheap because its made of plastic, that one doesn't because its made of metal, and everybody copied it. Plastic or metal, its nothing big. Plus Samsung uses a nice tough plastic anyway. Heck the toughest phones in the world use plastic, not metals.
 
chanchan05 said:
Actually the current Galaxy Tab has a 1Ghz dual core A9 (I think its Tegra 2?), while the Galaxy Note 10.1 has an unannounced model of a 1.4Ghz dual core (probably Exynos like the new Galaxy Tab 7.7, which would make the Note 10.1 even faster than an overclocked Tab 10.1).

As for the "cheap feel" thing, its a matter of perspective. Its like some guy started saying, this phone feels cheap because its made of plastic, that one doesn't because its made of metal, and everybody copied it. Plastic or metal, its nothing big. Plus Samsung uses a nice tough plastic anyway. Heck the toughest phones in the world use plastic, not metals.
Click to expand...
It's Asus Transformer Prime.

Tegra 3 quad-core, 1gb RAM.
 
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