Tablets? Kindle Fire?

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NateDN10

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I've been toying with the idea of getting my wife a tablet for Christmas. One of the 7" ones, mostly for Facebook and recipes. It would also work well as a video player for our 2-year-old on long car rides.

I had been primarily thinking about a Google Nexus 7 or iPad Mini, but today the Kindle Fire is on sale for $130, and that is very tempting.

So first, weigh in if you have a tablet and find them worthwhile. And second, do you think I should go for the Kindle Fire, or pony up and get one of the more expensive ones?
 
I'd pony up for the iPad Mini. My Android experience on the phone side was absolutely horrible while the iOS experience was/is much better.

I've got the iPad3 (the one before the newest) and love it. It has all but replaced my laptop. I use it around the house, take it on trips, and generally use it like my laptop.

IIRC, the Kindle ties you to Amazon for apps and many developers don't sell their apps on the Amazon app store so you may want to make sure the apps you want are on there.

Another thing is that apps tend to start out on iOS first as it has the larger market share (Phone, iPod Touch, and iPads). Many are then ported to Android so you may have to wait for some apps. And even those are not that good for the first few revisions. In particular the Android Facebook app was horrible compared to the iOS app.

So, yes pony for the iPad.
 
I've bought a Kindle Fire for my Mom last year, got a Kindle Fire HD for my wife this year and just got a Nexus 7 last week.

All EXCELLENT units. The Kindles do have the content from Amazon and if you are a Prime member they really are the way to go with free books, movies and such.

The Kindle has a very good screen and speaker. The HD even more (the sound is also better than 99% of the tablets out there) and the only issue I have is lack of storage ON the unit. You do have their "cloud" and if your in a Wi-Fi environment most of the time you are good to go.

The Nexus has a EXCELLENT screen, very good sound and QUICK! Plus it does allow access to Google's Play apps so most things are available over Kindle's app store which does not have as much selection.

I've also got other tablets (iPad and Asus T300) and the Kindle is becoming my "have with me" all the time unit. The text is small but you can make it larger if needed. Speed with the new 4.2 Jellybean is impressive. (though ICS is not slouch)

You did say video player for long rides. Know that means storage so the $130 Kindle may not be a player. The Nexus 7 does have the ablity to USB teather a flash drive but requires a $1 cable and some other tinkering. Not sure about the Kindles and doubt ipad will allow that.

Take care, Bill
 
The original Kindle Fire is laggy compared to the new Kindle Fire models. The HD is really nice, just be aware you are locked-in to the Amazon experience.

My vote: Samsung Galaxy S2 7" Tablet at Costco now until Nov 30th for $169. No vendor lock in, ability to use an SDcard for your own content (movies for kids), Google app store...it's a really nice unit, my son has one.

The 10" version is $269, a good deal as well, again at Costco.
 
They may be better than they used to be, but I'd skip on "bargain" or "value" Android tablets. I have an Acer A100 7" tablet that is next to non-usable. The battery has shorted out or something and only holds a charge for an hour or so (even turned off). Android OS support by Acer is hit-or-miss. It got an upgrade to 4.0, but I don't think it's getting anything beyond that. A tablet from Google or from Amazon is likely to remain relevant for longer, but with value tablets, you still get value components inside that may degrade sooner (like batteries losing their ability to hold a charge, etc).

It could be just my particular tablet, or just Acer tablets in general, but I've found that the "you get what you pay for" moniker may apply here. I'd only buy a value one after doing thorough research on it (which is what you're doing know, I know).

Good luck.

(P.S., you can tether a hard drive to an iPad.)
 
We just got a Kindle Fire HD. While it is annoying that you can't use the normal Google Play store for apps, you absolutely can load any android application file (.apk) without going through Amazon.

The screen is bright, the sound is frankly excellent for a tablet (which isn't saying much), battery life is great and so far it's a winner aside from not being able to expand the internal storage... yet.
 
Wife was looking at kindles and apparantly the cheap ones come with amazon ads (?)

Watch for it when buying.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Wife was looking at kindles and apparantly the cheap ones come with amazon ads (?)

Watch for it when buying.


Only on the lock screen that we have seen. $15 (I think) to get rid of them.
 
I have an ASUS Transformer with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. Also have the optional keyboard which is nice. They are pretty neat gadgets although for reading only I would probably stick to a Kindle for battery longevity.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
...

My vote: Samsung Galaxy S2 7" Tablet at Costco now until Nov 30th for $169. No vendor lock in, ability to use an SDcard for your own content (movies for kids), Google app store...

I second this vote from experience I have with this tablet, for the same reasons ToyotaNSaturn gave.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Wife was looking at kindles and apparantly the cheap ones come with amazon ads (?)

Watch for it when buying.


Only on the lock screen


Yep. Getting rid of the ads SEEMS like a good options, except I'm either reading my B&W Kindle or it's in its sleeve, so I never really notice the ads.
 
Best Buy was also selling the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 for $299 this weekend. Not sure if the site still has that sale going. Thats a pretty good deal as well.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Wife was looking at kindles and apparantly the cheap ones come with amazon ads (?)

Watch for it when buying.

Yeah, the cheap one does have ads. I have a Kindle Touch with ads and they don't really bother me. They're only on the lock screen & on the bottom of the main menu. They don't appear when you're actually viewing content.
 
Originally Posted By: jigen
Best Buy was also selling the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 for $299 this weekend. Not sure if the site still has that sale going. Thats a pretty good deal as well.

And I see they've also got a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (8GB) for $180.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I assume I can get content from Amazon Prime and use on many tablets? Any that will not allow me to get content from Amazon Prime? iPad?


I believe so - the iPad has an Amazon app and I think it allows Prime stuff. But I don't use Amazon (I use Netflix) so can't comment.

I'd still skip the Android [censored] and go iOS. It truly is better as I've had both.
 
I have the older Kindle Fire and have been very happy with it. I paid $200 for it and think it was a bargain. I'm contemplating buying the HD or the 8.9" HD as our family gift for Christmas. The specs for the HD models are very good for their price points ($199 and $299 for the screen upgrade).

The Cyber Monday deal on Amazon is the non-HD model for $129 (usually $159).
 
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