Tablet-PCs ... Which one for ... ?

[LiamKerrington]

Hello everyone,

yesterday one of my friends showed me his "Nexus 7" and let me read into a huge PDF file on his device - a PDF file in letter-format with more then 200 pages, with text, pictures, and sometimes even challenging layout. And I was immediately impressed by the Nexus 7, because scrolling, reading, zooming in and out was very, very good ans smooth on this item.

Now I am kind of "infected" and I consider getting a device like this myself. Bad thing: anything beyond the 300 bucks-threshold is something for dreams. That is why I have analyzed the "requirements" or "characteristics" the device has to have. And on my radar four items keep showing up ever since - and that in this particular order (best to lowest impression so far): Nexus 7, Lenovo IdeaTab A2109, Lenovo IdeaTab A2107, Kindle Fire HD.

The Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 has a similar price to the Nexus 7, but the technical specks are not as good as the ones of the Nexus 7; the Kindle Fire HD is on the last position, because it is kind of a "caponized" system very closely attached to and very dependant on the Amazon system. Still both items are on my list, because a good bargain for the IdeaTab A2107 would make me waste money; also I am already an Amazon-disciple owning a Kindle Paperwhite, and yet this item would be the one of choice if I would not get (much) better bargains with any of the other three mentioned devices ...

What is important for me? Reading PDF-files from different sources with varying qualities, long battery-life, solid UI, no trouble with heat, sturdy chassis, reliability, and as little dependancy on registrations in certain networks as possible. Wireless communication is as unimportant as you can guess. I. Don't. Effing. Care. About this shit. I just want something to read PDF files and check pictures I made with my camera; and if I wish to add stuff to the device, the USB-cable-connection will/ should do as well or as much as possible.

So my question here is: Do you have any experiences with any of the above-mentioned items? Or do you know of comparable items of similar quality or with even better price-performance-ratio?

Thank you.

All the best!
Liam

[scbubba]

I've had a 1st gen iPad for a while and really like it. I say that to then tell you that we got a Kindle Fire HD last year and I was really impressed with it. I still prefer the full size tablet for most stuff but the form factor and responsiveness on the smaller Fire was great. I've mainly done emails and ideo watching with it. Tried ebooks on it but these old eyes of mine didn't do as well with the little screen.

The battery on our Fire lasts for-freaking-ever and it has withstood a 4 year old playing with it (so far). I like the iOS UI better but the Fire's is acceptable. I have noticed a "hot spot" develop on the back of the chassis when running video for extend times (>20 mins continuous).

Overall, not a bad little tablet for the money. But I wouldn't want it to be the only one/main one I had.

[LiamKerrington]

Hi there,

thank you, scbubba. You have a point with the Apple iPad. Last year I considered it for a while to get one of those. But back then I decided against it; and today I do as well, because the iPad as well as so many other available tablet pcs have a major focus on best performance regarding multi-media and/ or gaming and/ or connectivity with different technologies. All these things are not so important for me. Top priority has a good display-quality and UI-performance/-handling with respect to PDF-documents and pictures. And the second-most-important priority is on the battery-life of the device. I would not like to have something that needs to be re-powered every couple of hours, although I would agree to the fact that almost any device has a pretty poor performance as soon as you become a heavy user; but after all: there is a huge difference between 5-6 hours and 10-12 hours.

Anyway: Since I posted this thread on several forums I added two more products/ product-lines to the list: the Galaxy Tab2 7" WIFI 16GB and the 10" models provided by Acer. I guess during the next days I will have to do a very thorough comparison as well as a proper estimation of my needs. Currently I still tend towards getting one of those toys; let's see if this is still the case in a couple of days.

All the best!
Liam

[DarinKennedy]

Hello everyone,

yesterday one of my friends showed me his "Nexus 7" tablet pc (http://www.robustbuy.com/laptops-tablets-android-tablets-c-551_1107.html) and let me read into a huge PDF file on his device - a PDF file in letter-format with more then 200 pages, with text, pictures, and sometimes even challenging layout. And I was immediately impressed by the Nexus 7, because scrolling, reading, zooming in and out was very, very good ans smooth on this item.

Now I am kind of "infected" and I consider getting a device like this myself. Bad thing: anything beyond the 300 bucks-threshold is something for dreams. That is why I have analyzed the "requirements" or "characteristics" the device has to have. And on my radar four items keep showing up ever since - and that in this particular order (best to lowest impression so far): Nexus 7, Lenovo IdeaTab A2109, Lenovo IdeaTab A2107, Kindle Fire HD.

The Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 has a similar price to the Nexus 7, but the technical specks are not as good as the ones of the Nexus 7; the Kindle Fire HD is on the last position, because it is kind of a "caponized" system very closely attached to and very dependant on the Amazon system. Still both items are on my list, because a good bargain for the IdeaTab A2107 would make me waste money; also I am already an Amazon-disciple owning a Kindle Paperwhite, and yet this item would be the one of choice if I would not get (much) better bargains with any of the other three mentioned devices ...

What is important for me? Reading PDF-files from different sources with varying qualities, long battery-life, solid UI, no trouble with heat, sturdy chassis, reliability, and as little dependancy on registrations in certain networks as possible. Wireless communication is as unimportant as you can guess. I. Don't. Effing. Care. About this shit. I just want something to read PDF files and check pictures I made with my camera; and if I wish to add stuff to the device, the USB-cable-connection will/ should do as well or as much as possible.

So my question here is: Do you have any experiences with any of the above-mentioned items? Or do you know of comparable items of similar quality or with even better price-performance-ratio?

Thank you.

All the best!
Liam

For me galaxy tab is the best option. I thought about purchasing iPhone but I think I made right choice

[Hellbringer]

We bought my son a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and so far, that thing has survived the abuse of a 15 year old, a 13 year old, and a monstrous 4 year old. My son, the 13 year old, is the last one of the four literate folks in the house to have some sort of kindle device, and he got the most advanced one. Since we're an Amazon Prime house, it made a sense to get a Kindle for him. Yes, Amazon sunk its claws into us.

[LiamKerrington]

Hi there,

there is nothing wrong with being an Amazon-slave. I am one myself - to a certain degree. ;) I even thought about getting the Kindle Fire HD when I had the chance to look at one when I visited a friend a few weeks ago. That was a really, really nice tool.

But, hell, guess what: I got me a Nexus 7; and this device is a blast. I had a very lucky shot on eBay, and here I am, proud owner of this tool. And it serves all the purposes I got it for ... Sweet.

All the best!
Liam

[Hellbringer]

I'm never one to pass up a good deal. Glad to hear you got a Nexus on eBay. I read those things are really nice.





Hi there,

there is nothing wrong with being an Amazon-slave. I am one myself - to a certain degree. ;) I even thought about getting the Kindle Fire HD when I had the chance to look at one when I visited a friend a few weeks ago. That was a really, really nice tool.

But, hell, guess what: I got me a Nexus 7; and this device is a blast. I had a very lucky shot on eBay, and here I am, proud owner of this tool. And it serves all the purposes I got it for ... Sweet.

All the best!
Liam

[LiamKerrington]

I'm never one to pass up a good deal. Glad to hear you got a Nexus on eBay. I read those things are really nice.

It really is. In all regards. The stupid d-bag put very little information on the description, so only few people put their bid on it; and even I thought to myself: No risks, keep it low ... And "tadaaaaaa!", there you go. I was like 60 bucks below the standard selling price and about 25 bucks below the ebay average-deals for this particular device. (I got the N7 WiFi with 32 gigs).
When I won another thought struck me: What, if I failed and fell for a scammer? And then I recalled the motto of the Whitwickies ... "No sacrifice, no glory." And here I am. This toy is really, really great. Worth any penny or cent ... And it suits my purposes exactly the way I was looking for.

All the best!
Liam