Personal computing discussed

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cosmin2006
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New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:25 am

Hi,

I write this post because I'm looking for some help for acquiring a new tablet. :D
What I'm looking for is a 10" tablet, preferably Tegra 2 with 3G/GSM included - no mini/micro USB dongles attached.
I'm not from the States (so I cannot get a Verizon/AT&T tablet), but I'm able to buy it from there.
Now I have 2 questions:
1) What tablet fits into these specs (preferably a good "name" on the market, not chinese stuff) - if any? I looked at Transformer but it's WiFi only, like a lot other tablets in it's class.
2) Should I wait for Tegra3/KalEl in order to get better performance and, maybe 3G connection? I've seen that Transformer 2 it' on the move but I don't know for how long I should wait for it...

Thx a lot for your advices,
Cosmin
 
ALiLPinkMonster
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:16 am

The quad core ics tablets should start releasing by the end of october, if not a little sooner. I would wait.

Btw I absolutely love my transformer. My friend has a galaxy tab 10.1 and while samsung's take on honeycomb seems a bit faster/smoother, it doesn't have the amazing keyboard dock or the abundance of connectivity. However, it also doesn't have the option of connecting to a wireless mobile network. Doesn't bother me, that's what the wifi hotspot feature on my phone is for.
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vargis14
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:31 am

I just pulled the trigger on a plain white 16gb wifi ipad2 for the wife,even though i coulda had a nice e350 12 inch lappy/netbook that was on sale for 300$ ,but for what the wife does,plus she is used to the iphone and stinks at using a PC.I have told her a thousand times when she is surfing the web to use the mouse wheel to scroll pages but she is constantly moving the mouse to the scroll bar and hitting the arrows.Even showed her how to scroll on touchpad but she still goes to the scroll bar instead.I just gave up after 17 years of saying why why why :lol: Same goes for copy/paste/delete or using the right button at all.Now i can let her go and not worry about having to help her beside setting up her email,I just handed her iphone to her and said go into settings/email and figure it out,She did it by herself yay :P
I would wait for tegra 3,I think it should be out before xmas time but imm not sure.
On another note i was surprised how snappy the ipad 2 is along with battery life,she isnt constantly recharging her iphone to play fantastic fish,games are kinda fun,like fruit ninja and air hockey,with tron lighting.
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Flatland_Spider
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:35 am

I would suggest an iPad. Sure it's nerfed as a computer, it's a large iPad Touch which is a cut down iPhone, but it has the best battery life, great app support, and iOS gets updated.

As much as I would like to like Android, it's been crap. It has no focus, it doesn't get timely updates, and the manufacturers are starting a Gigahertz/multi-core arms race that's going to put us back into the Prescott stone age. Right now, Android is at the level of Windows 98, and if you were around at that time, you'll understand how dark that era was for Operating Systems.

You don't need to wait for a quad core. Angry Birds and a web browser don't take that much power to run. Seriously, get the tablet with the best battery life; don't worry about how many cores/Gigahertz it has. You're not going to be doing any serious computing on it, so it's just going to be a toy.

When Windows 8 comes out, this will change things since it will be a full fledged Operating System with a serious set of tools, but Win8 is still a year or two away.
 
cosmin2006
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:53 am

Actually, I was expecting some iPad (1/2) advices :).
However, I own an iPhone 4 and, to be honest, I want the other experience too.
I cannot say I play much (so my gaming experience will not be focused on mobile) and I know that Android is a bit tricky when we speak about updates and such.
Also, Android apps/games are not at the same quality level as iOS ones.

I want to use the tablet mainly for surfing, reading (ebooks and magazines, pdf format) and multimedia - more movies, maybe in the HD zone and less music.
I have yet to find a tablet with 3G support not connected with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc., except maybe the Galaxy Tab 7" that I will not buy (I bought one for my son a while ago and it's not something I want to use, even if the tablet is quite OK - on the gaming side at least).
I found out that Lenovo will launch pretty soon the ThinkPad tablet that will have 3G support and it's mainly on par with ASUS, Samsung or Motorola.
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/tablet/thinkpad/
I'll wait a little bit and see what's up on the market. But, please, don't keep your ideas for yourself!!! :)

THX
 
MadManOriginal
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:41 am

No reviews out yet but their release is imminent:

http://www.archos.com/products/gen9/ind ... us&lang=en

There is a 3G dongle of sorts to add 3G (a really nice feature I might add, unlike other tablet makers where you have to buy 3G up front.) Archos has an, umm, odd history when it comes to tablets. They have been making 'tablets' for a long time in the form of touchscreen PMPs or tablet computers, but they were held back by OS lockdown and poor resistive screens. These tablets with capacitive touchscreens, stock Android and what looks like an encouragement of ROM hacking may change that reputation. The 250GB option is really neat too imo, I guess the thickness is what has kept other tablet makers from doing that but I am very interested in the 8" as a mix of size and portability, just waiting for reviews.
 
Flatland_Spider
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:19 pm

cosmin2006 wrote:
However, I own an iPhone 4 and, to be honest, I want the other experience too.


That's a different angle altogether. :)

The Acer Iconia was just released for AT&T. That was a contender when my wife and I were shopping for a tablet for her. There wasn't a version with a cell modem at the time, so it lost to the iPad. There should be some floating around that aren't tied to AT&T, since it is Acer.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a nice, but more iPad like then others. Samsung does make some really nice hardware, but I'm not wowed by their software skills. I think these are locked down to Verizon's CDMA/LTE network, so probably not a good fit for someone outside of the US.

Asus is Asus. They're solid, and they have a good reputation, but no cell modems so far.

With Android, the big thing is what version is being installed on the tablet. I would wait for Android 4.0 to come out, and I definitely wouldn't buy a tablet with 2.2 on it. 4.0 will combine 3 and 2 to make a unified platform for developers which should result in better apps (or so they say), and 2.2 has security bugs in it. Plus, the 3.0 tablets will get cheap when 4.0 is released, which is an other option if you just want something to play with.

Alternately, you could get one that is supported by one of the alternative firmwares. CyanogenMod lists the Nook and Viewsonic tablet on it's list of supported devices.
 
bhrandy
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:11 am

I am an apple fanatic so I would say iPad2.
 
thegleek
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Re: New tablet - need advice

Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:20 am

MadManOriginal wrote:
No reviews out yet but their release is imminent: http://www.archos.com/products/gen9/ind ... us&lang=en

Archos G9 has been long released... but.

Yeah I picked up the older G8 version of that tablet on woot some weeks/months ago for $164.99 - not bad toy, but the openAOS Debian image is a joke, it's default locales is in French which was a pain (small) to change back to USA English. Even the stupid keyboard layout was of the french "AZERTY" type.

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