What Should I Know BEFORE I Buy?

[HarleyChick]

(Yes, I had this in the Viewsonic G-Tab forum; then I realized that it was more general so I moved it)

I've been doing some research on Android tablets for several weeks now, and I have narrowed my choices down to a few, but I need advice. I'm really just going to be using this tab for basic stuff - email, twitter, facebook, a little YouTube. I don't play games that require me to stand on my head, and I watch movies & such on my TV, thank you very much. My one major need - and this is a deal-breaker - is I need something that requires the smallest amount of work to get it to run properly. I don't have a lot of time to "play" with a machine, and my phone's not rooted because I'm a big wimp about stuff like that. Downloading updates - no big deal; wiping this and flashing that - very big deal.

Oh, and I'm cheap. I'm not paying $500+ for something I know I can get cheaper elsewhere. And it has to be Android. I'm not filling Steve Jobs pockets with any more of my money. It's enough that I inherited my son's "old" iPod......

So sell me - convince me which Android tab is right for me. OR point me in another direction. Give me information I can use to make a smart decision. Oh, and if I'm not in the right forum, be kind.

 

[slbailey1]

Look at the tablets being announced at CES. Take a look at the Asus Transformer. It will run Android Honeycomb. Has a 10.1" IPS display. Has the Tegra 2 dual core processor. Has 16/32/64? gb of storage. The price starts at $399 and will be released in April or May. One of the accessories is a full size keyboard dock with an extended battery.

 

[xmr405o]

(Yes, I had this in the Viewsonic G-Tab forum; then I realized that it was more general so I moved it)

I've been doing some research on Android tablets for several weeks now, and I have narrowed my choices down to a few, but I need advice. I'm really just going to be using this tab for basic stuff - email, twitter, facebook, a little YouTube. I don't play games that require me to stand on my head, and I watch movies & such on my TV, thank you very much. My one major need - and this is a deal-breaker - is I need something that requires the smallest amount of work to get it to run properly. I don't have a lot of time to "play" with a machine, and my phone's not rooted because I'm a big wimp about stuff like that. Downloading updates - no big deal; wiping this and flashing that - very big deal.

Oh, and I'm cheap. I'm not paying $500+ for something I know I can get cheaper elsewhere. And it has to be Android. I'm not filling Steve Jobs pockets with any more of my money. It's enough that I inherited my son's "old" iPod......

So sell me - convince me which Android tab is right for me. OR point me in another direction. Give me information I can use to make a smart decision. Oh, and if I'm not in the right forum, be kind.

You sound like a future Archos owner. Very minimal amount of work needed to get the market app which is all you need based on what you wrote. Just make sure you choose the Archos 70 or the 101 depending on how big you want the screen to be. I think they are the best tablets out specifically for your needs. They start at under $300. I've heard that they have a very good out of the box experience.

 

[vvitayau]

Gtablet running vegan tab 5.1 is gr8 but no swype beta since their site doesnt consider this tablet to be a phone

also cant seem to get adw launcher but swore it worked before ... ???

And the view angle is good enough but the weight is finally getting to me ....
I like this tablet and looking forward to 2.3 but this weight will likely wear down my usage

It be nice to lay this down to use but the view angle demands you to lift and use to view head on
as your wrist bears its weight while moving and typing instead of swyping

This might be compound by work and carrying both kids at home ...
but prove it to yourself with a long reply to feel its awkwardness

Guess thats what the usb keyboard is for ... now to get some stand but this defeats the point of the tablet

 

[xmr405o]

Gtablet running vegan tab 5.1 is gr8 but no swype beta since their site doesnt consider this tablet to be a phone

also cant seem to get adw launcher but swore it worked before ... ???

And the view angle is good enough but the weight is finally getting to me ....
I like this tablet and looking forward to 2.3 but this weight will likely wear down my usage

It be nice to lay this down to use but the view angle demands you to lift and use to view head on
as your wrist bears its weight while moving and typing instead of swyping

This might be compound by work and carrying both kids at home ...
but prove it to yourself with a long reply to feel its awkwardness

Guess thats what the usb keyboard is for ... now to get some stand but this defeats the point of the tablet

The gtab would not be a good fit for the OP since u have to mod it. Though we don't think the modding process is too hard, the OP does not want to deal with flashing ROMs.

As for u, adw is available for the gtab. Have u tried adw ex? Its great with the gtab.

 

[HarleyChick]

You sound like a future Archos owner. Very minimal amount of work needed to get the market app which is all you need based on what you wrote. Just make sure you choose the Archos 70 or the 101 depending on how big you want the screen to be. I think they are the best tablets out specifically for your needs. They start at under $300. I've heard that they have a very good out of the box experience.

Thanks for all the advice.

Okay, so I ordered an Archos 70 from Amazon and now I've got cold feet. (It doesn't ship out till next week so I have time to cancel.) I'm nervous because I'm not sure it has enough RAM. Is that something to be concerned about? I looked on the website and it doesn't list it.

 

[xmr405o]

Thanks for all the advice.

Okay, so I ordered an Archos 70 from Amazon and now I've got cold feet. (It doesn't ship out till next week so I have time to cancel.) I'm nervous because I'm not sure it has enough RAM. Is that something to be concerned about? I looked on the website and it doesn't list it.

With what u said on how u were gonna use the tablet, 256 RAM should be good. You don't play games, you don't watch movies, etc...the RAM on the archos shouldn't be a deal breaker. However, where RAM might be important is if you want this tablet to be upgraded to honeycomb.
So I still think archos 70 is ur best option.

 

[xmr405o]

Your next option imo is the nook but u still need to mod it right unless barnes releases its own market

 

[HarleyChick]

With what u said on how u were gonna use the tablet, 256 RAM should be good. You don't play games, you don't watch movies, etc...the RAM on the archos shouldn't be a deal breaker. However, where RAM might be important is if you want this tablet to be upgraded to honeycomb.
So I still think archos 70 is ur best option.

Thanks again for the advice, but I still think I'm going to cancel the Archos 70 order. Just too nervous about it now, and I'm really hung up on the 256 RAM issue.