Posted on 08/01/2013 2:13:59 PM PDT by pfflier
My wife and I are considering a tablet after deciding that a smart phone is overkill for our needs.
We are looking to spend $200-$300.
My wife likes to read alot and we are primarily looking for something that we can use, on the road, much like a windows platform lap top.
Given that criteria I lean towards a Kindle from what I've read. But, as always experience of Freepers is always welcome and always seems to cover bases we haven't considered.
That depends on what you’re going to do with it. If it’s primarily reading, I would probably get an exclusive e-reader, because they are manufactured to maximize the reading experience.
A device that claims to do everything generally does none of it well.
Kindle Fire
My 94 year old mom used hers a lot and was able to read it up to her last days....
I have the asus tablet tf300t. I didn’t really need it, but my kids got it for father’s day. They also bought the keyboard, and that adds 5 hours to the battery life, taking it up to 15 hours.
I like it, but it’s not a pc, and android is much different than windows. Since it’s android, it will emulate the kindle for book reading, and also allows connection to the Amazon store.
I think the tablet itself is under $300, and the keyboard is another $125 if you decide you want it.
Bummer that you can’t quite get an iPad for that, unless you go with a used or refurb unit.
I love mine, since I sync it to the same sources as my iPhone and iPod and have the same info (email, contacts, music, pics) on my Mac as well. It’s seamless.
I got a 10 inch tablet a year+ ago, and found that size to be too cumbersome. I have yet to play with a 7 inch one - have just gone with my phone.
The new full-HD 7” Google tablet sounds very interesting - and should be right in the budget once it’s released.
The basic Kindle and Nook are in e-reader screens and not back-lit computer screens like the Kindle Fire, the Nook Color and the I- Pad.
The advantage is that you can read them outside or exposed to sunlight without glare or without the computer screen eye strain. Have her look at someone’s simple e-ink screen e-reader and see if that is what she wants.
There are even a few that have a night reader back glow for reading in bed at night.
If she likes that format, then the issue is who does she buy books from, B & N or Amazon and then she can go on-line and get books over any wireless.
If she wants to browse the internet, then a Nook Color or Kindle Fire is the ticket.
If she also wants to do games, an android tablet like a Samsung or similar is what is needed but you will probably have to help get the right reader for her book sourcing and similar items to hit all three need areas.
If she is a photographer and wants fantastic screen resolution then you need to blow the budget and look at the Retina Screen on the new I-pad.
The new Intel cpu Nathalam(sp) is setup to give tablet like battery life and portability with windows 8.1pro, which gives all the windows rt functionality as well as a full blown computer capability. you can spend 200-300 on a tablet that will be only a media consumption device or $1300 on a dual use system. The question is if you will need a computer for video/photo editing or other full blown computer applications. BTW office 2013 has moved to a subscription model
I have a nook color tablet... which I used primarily for reading UNTIL my son left his ipad mini with me. That kind of did it for me... The ipad lets you download any reading app ie. nook, kindle and ibook, this alone made the product versatile. I believe the ipad mini starts at 379? Have you looked into the apps available for the kindle? I was just very disappointed with the crappy apps the nook has access to... and as I have bought ebooks in other formats, Apple makes it simple to access all of my accounts.
It also has great apps for traveling etc as long as you have access to wifi.
I also don’t need a tablet for storing an entire music collection, so I recently bought an ipad2 with 16g.storage. I already had a reg sized tablet and wanted something I could easily read recipes from etc.
The ipad2 also gets you a student discount, which isn’t available for the ipad mini. You order it online and pick up in store or have it sent... just google student discount ipad... which will bring you to the student discount site. You don’t actually get money off... instead they give you a $50 itunes card... which is good for buying books etc. as well. So I paid 399 and then got a $50 disc card... which means the ipad is just 50 bucks more than your budget.
Although I do have a student in the house, they don’t ask you any verification questions... so I guess you could be a student technically of anything.
Do I want 3G or 4G?
Nook is dead. B and N waited too long to get into the market.
The only two viable e-readers out there now is Kobo and Amazon. The advantage of the Kobo is that many public libraries can loan books through it.
You can get the Kindle app for any tablet operating system,android ,apple or Amazons Kindle.
I prefer android as I like to tweak my tablet to my liking.
The new Nexus 7 is supposed to be very good and in your price range,I prefer a slightly larger screen.
Thousands of apps out there for free on Google Play,for whatever your needs are.
Asus HD7 about to hit the shelves in a week
Quad processor and will retail for $129. I’ve done some research and nothing comes close
I have an old Nook and about forty books on it of which dozen are still unread.
B&N still has their on-line store and since I buy my bricks and mortar puchases there it works fine.
If someone is starting from scratch, I would agree that Amazon is the better choice for on-line use, but I like my simple Nook for reading by the pool.
With Kindle you’re beholden to Amazon, with Kobo it’s Barnes & Noble. I like my Sony e-book, FWIW.
Something I’ve considered (anyone who has attempted this please chime in) is one of the new Samsung 8” tablets with 4G and a 3 to 5Gb/mo. data plan (or whichever is about $30/mo.) Download a voice app (talkatone, etc.) and use that to make/receive calls, texts etc. Total cost about $45 month
We have an Ipad and 7” Samsung. Samsung cost about $225. More flexibility than my Ipad, much better battery life than Nextbook. Good reader as well. (Sent from my Samsung7)
Use my tablet with a mobile hotspot and free call app,works well for me,
Because of my work, I own several different 7” tablets. The two best currently are the HP SLate 7 and the Google Nexus 7. I find them much better than the Kindle Fire for everything and reading is no problem.
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