I've been considering e-readers for my children. (12, 11 and 10) They are homeschooled and e-readers would be nice to have. I've also been considering a tablet or two. I know I can get a refurb'ed NC (for $150) and root/CM7 it. (I have a rooted Droid X. I know the basics.) Would the NC be the better option? Is there a budget tablet out there worth buying? There's some Coby Kyros on the Black Friday ads.
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Nook Color vs budget tablets?
- Thread starter dansamy
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- general tablet talk
Perhaps I should more clearly define my question!
What I want to know is what would be the best choice right now. NC are down to $150 every day and less than that on sale. I know they can be dual booted off a uSD with CM7 or another ROM. What I don't know is whether another budget model would be a better choice? These would be Christmas presents, so I need something available on the market now. What's coming down the pipeline in 3-6 months isn't an option.
Here are my desires:
What I've considered:
Dual booting the NC looks like a really attractive option since it's virtually unbrickable, has a nice screen, good mod cummunity support. It functions well as an ereader and makes a pretty decent tablet when modded. Refurbs are affordable. I could be totally lazy and buy boot cards or I can spend the time/energy to make them myself.
What I'm asking is there a compelling reason the NC would be the wrong choice? Some limit to its current functionality that would make it unsuitable for the primary goal of children's tablets for ereading, gaming, browsing and movies?
What I want to know is what would be the best choice right now. NC are down to $150 every day and less than that on sale. I know they can be dual booted off a uSD with CM7 or another ROM. What I don't know is whether another budget model would be a better choice? These would be Christmas presents, so I need something available on the market now. What's coming down the pipeline in 3-6 months isn't an option.
Here are my desires:
- 7-8 inch screen
- Capacitive touch
- Good resolution for gaming and video
- Wi-Fi - with good connectivity/pickup - I don't want it to drop signal 6 inches from the router!
- Google apps (calendar, gmail, market)
- Flash
- Netflix
- HuluPlus - if I can get it!
- Budget friendly - which is why the NC was pretty well near the top of my short list!
What I've considered:
- Nook Color
- One of the multitude of Coby models
- Iconia A100 - a little pricier than I want =/ I would try to get at least one on Black Friday on sale.
- Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire - not sure if either will do everything I want
Dual booting the NC looks like a really attractive option since it's virtually unbrickable, has a nice screen, good mod cummunity support. It functions well as an ereader and makes a pretty decent tablet when modded. Refurbs are affordable. I could be totally lazy and buy boot cards or I can spend the time/energy to make them myself.
What I'm asking is there a compelling reason the NC would be the wrong choice? Some limit to its current functionality that would make it unsuitable for the primary goal of children's tablets for ereading, gaming, browsing and movies?
As far as an e-reader goes, you can't compare an e-ink screen to an lcd screen for reading. E-ink screens looks almost exactly like paper, as opposed to lcd screens. And with the cheapest Amazon e-reader being $79, you can't go wrong with it.
-As far as tablets go, I would suggest NOT getting the Nook color for one big reason, hardware. At $150, you would only have an 800 mhz processor (0.8 Ghz) and only 512mb Ram (though this isn't a HUGE issue). The limited processing power MAY be enough for what you are asking (maybe NOT gaming and movies but ok for e-reading and LIMITED browsing), but when something more than twice as fast is only $50 more, it is definitely worth it in my opinion. This is a reason why I would stay away from Coby's tablets as well, hardware outdating. For $50 more, you could get the Acer Iconia tab a100 on Black Friday as well as a few other tablets.
-The Iconia tab has a 1Ghz dual core (2Ghz total prosessor power, more than twice that of the nook color as well as twice the ram) However, this would be another tablet I would suggest staying away from if you need battery life. I have heard it lasting as low as 3.5 hours and it will only decrease with time.
Now for what I DO suggest:
-Look at the Blackberry playbook for $199 on Black Friday at staples. It's the same price as the Iconia tab, has the same specs (1Ghz dual core and 1 GB (1024mb RAM), but the battery life will last a lot longer. Yes, it doesn't run android BUT Blackberry said that soon, they will have support for the android market and even if they don't, they should have enough to keep one busy. Also it has the best camera on a tablet that I have heard of.
-You could look at the Fire for the same price if you can't get anything at Black Friday, but if you have the chance to get it, I would go for the playbook over the Fire mainly because the Fire doesn't have cameras, only has half the ram and you are stuck with the 8gb space and a limited choice of connectivity (for example it doesn't have HDMI out).
-Also, if you don't get to do Black Friday, the Nook Tablet is a good tablet to look at, though still the Blackberry has better hardware (a camera and more ports). If you don't get to do Black Friday, this would be the best tablet to buy at $250 or under because it has a dual core 1Ghz and 1GB ram (1024mb Ram)
-However, if you DO do Black Friday and you are going to Best Buy, it is definitely worth it to look at the 10.1 inch screen Asus EEE pad Transformer for $250. It is probably THE best tablet in this generation of tablets (minus the camera. The transformer can record video in 720p, the Playbook can record at 1080p). Still the is the BEST you could get for the price overall on Black Friday unless you are dead set on a 7 to 8 inch screen.
These are what I believe are the best tablets out there for the holidays. There are others that are just as good or close, but they are out of your price range and won't come down to it for Black Friday as of now. Keep in mind, I DO NOT own any tablet myself. I am telling you what I have heard from reviews since I am also looking for tablets in your price range (actually I have been looking for a year, but thought Black Friday would be my best bet. I have been very patient
. I would look at reviews for each of these tablets mentioned and then you can compare. As for Wifi, as long as you get a well known tablet brand, you should have no problem in this area for any tablet. All "well-known" tablets will have wireless n, while others will have wireless g. Wireless n is much faster and can go further than wireless g (as long as your wireless router is wireless n. If you router is wireless g, your tablet will only pick up the g signal whether it is wireless n or not). Even wireless g isn't that slow. Generally, if your router is older than about 2 years, most likely it is wireless g (just some extra information. It's not always the device that is the problem
Here is some more information on the different types of Wifi connections if you want to go into this further: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11 (The full name of these bands are 802.11g and 802.11n)In short, the best 7 inch tablet you could get would be the Blackberry Playbook and the best 10 inch tablet would be the Asus eee Pad Transformer (all in my opinion).
Other notable tablets to look out for a price drop are:
Acer Iconia tab a500
Asus eee pad Slider
Apple Ipad 2 (though an unlikely price drop)
Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1
I hope this helps!
As far as an e-reader goes, you can't compare an e-ink screen to an lcd screen for reading. E-ink screens looks almost exactly like paper, as opposed to lcd screens. And with the cheapest Amazon e-reader being $79, you can't go wrong with it.
-As far as tablets go, I would suggest NOT getting the Nook color for one big reason, hardware. At $150, you would only have an 800 mhz processor (0.8 Ghz) and only 512mb Ram (though this isn't a HUGE issue). The limited processing power MAY be enough for what you are asking (maybe NOT gaming and movies but ok for e-reading and LIMITED browsing), but when something more than twice as fast is only $50 more, it is definitely worth it in my opinion. This is a reason why I would stay away from Coby's tablets as well, hardware outdating. For $50 more, you could get the Acer Iconia tab a100 on Black Friday as well as a few other tablets.
-The Iconia tab has a 1Ghz dual core (2Ghz total prosessor power, more than twice that of the nook color as well as twice the ram) However, this would be another tablet I would suggest staying away from if you need battery life. I have heard it lasting as low as 3.5 hours and it will only decrease with time.
Now for what I DO suggest:
-Look at the Blackberry playbook for $199 on Black Friday at staples. It's the same price as the Iconia tab, has the same specs (1Ghz dual core and 1 GB (1024mb RAM), but the battery life will last a lot longer. Yes, it doesn't run android BUT Blackberry said that soon, they will have support for the android market and even if they don't, they should have enough to keep one busy. Also it has the best camera on a tablet that I have heard of.
-You could look at the Fire for the same price if you can't get anything at Black Friday, but if you have the chance to get it, I would go for the playbook over the Fire mainly because the Fire doesn't have cameras, only has half the ram and you are stuck with the 8gb space and a limited choice of connectivity (for example it doesn't have HDMI out).
-Also, if you don't get to do Black Friday, the Nook Tablet is a good tablet to look at, though still the Blackberry has better hardware (a camera and more ports). If you don't get to do Black Friday, this would be the best tablet to buy at $250 or under because it has a dual core 1Ghz and 1GB ram (1024mb Ram)
-However, if you DO do Black Friday and you are going to Best Buy, it is definitely worth it to look at the 10.1 inch screen Asus EEE pad Transformer for $250. It is probably THE best tablet in this generation of tablets (minus the camera. The transformer can record video in 720p, the Playbook can record at 1080p). Still the is the BEST you could get for the price overall on Black Friday unless you are dead set on a 7 to 8 inch screen.
These are what I believe are the best tablets out there for the holidays. There are others that are just as good or close, but they are out of your price range and won't come down to it for Black Friday as of now. Keep in mind, I DO NOT own any tablet myself. I am telling you what I have heard from reviews since I am also looking for tablets in your price range (actually I have been looking for a year, but thought Black Friday would be my best bet. I have been very patient
As for Wifi, as long as you get a well known tablet brand, you should have no problem in this area for any tablet. All "well-known" tablets will have wireless n, while others will have wireless g. Wireless n is much faster and can go further than wireless g (as long as your wireless router is wireless n. If you router is wireless g, your tablet will only pick up the g signal whether it is wireless n or not). Even wireless g isn't that slow. Generally, if your router is older than about 2 years, most likely it is wireless g (just some extra information. It's not always the device that is the problem
In short, the best 7 inch tablet you could get would be the Blackberry Playbook and the best 10 inch tablet would be the Asus eee Pad Transformer (all in my opinion).
Other notable tablets to look out for a price drop are:
Acer Iconia tab a500
Asus eee pad Slider
Apple Ipad 2 (though an unlikely price drop)
Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1
I hope this helps!
Edit: Supposedly the Blackberry Playbook doesn't have a Netflix app. Whether it works in the browser or not I am unsure. This may be outdated info but you should double check. If this does actually work, then the PLaybook would be able to do all you have asked for.
Well, I ended up with two Dell Streak 7s and one Acer Iconia A100. Now to decide which kid gets which tablet?!? (I believe the 1/customer limit was also being applied to online orders, so to be safe I ordered 2 with my BB.com account and one with my husband's. Hopefully, they won't get canceled!)
Total for all three was <$540. That's most of their Christmas. Other than the tablets, they'll probably get 2-3 small Santa items and their stockings.
Total for all three was <$540. That's most of their Christmas. Other than the tablets, they'll probably get 2-3 small Santa items and their stockings.
I am unsure about the Dell Streaks (never heard of anything wrong with it though) but I know the acer iconia tab a100 is a good tablet. Considering what you got for what you payed for, I think you got a really good deal.
They're heeeeere!!
Yup. The "brown man" delivered these babies today! The Acer is beautiful. You can really tell the difference between its higher res screen vs the Dell. So far, all I've done is power them on and check that the WiFi connects to my home network. I'm gonna have a lot of set up to do. I plan to remove everything except what I put on there. And require a pin/password for the market, etc.
I think I'm going to be more excited than the kids! (Although they all do want a tablet, they view them as gaming devices. They are blissfully unaware of the fact that their homeschooling mother intends to put some of their textbooks on them!)
Yup. The "brown man" delivered these babies today! The Acer is beautiful. You can really tell the difference between its higher res screen vs the Dell. So far, all I've done is power them on and check that the WiFi connects to my home network. I'm gonna have a lot of set up to do. I plan to remove everything except what I put on there. And require a pin/password for the market, etc.
I think I'm going to be more excited than the kids! (Although they all do want a tablet, they view them as gaming devices. They are blissfully unaware of the fact that their homeschooling mother intends to put some of their textbooks on them!)