First Tablet Advice?

[mf2385]

I am getting a new phone soon as I listed in my other post, but I am also looking at tablets right now. If I do just get a regular phone for now, I may end up getting a nice tablet instead, I am not positive yet. I hear the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T is really nice? Is that too much though? I am looking to watch HD movies, shows, maybe some games, music, fast web-browsing and stuff like that. Maybe some roms/emulation as well. I am new to Tablets really so help is much appreciated.

[deltatux]

I just bought my mom the Nexus 7, it's quite a nifty el cheapo tablet that's actually pretty good. Only down side to it is that it only has up to 16 GB of internal storage (no microSD card support).

I watched movies on it, for a 7" tablet it does a very good job, I just streamed videos from my desktop over the network over my wireless N network and it's very good too in terms of performance. Since it also uses the Tegra 3 chip, it performs about the same as my ASUS Transformer Pad Prime (formerly known as the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime).

To be honest, Huawei (little known Chinese manufacturer but one of the leading telecommunications equipment manufacturer, second largest after Ericsson) has a really nice 10" tablet that's piquing my interest right now. It's the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD, it will have similar specs as the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, but I like the design of this tablet more. Also, looking at Huawei's recent offerings like the Ascend P1 (available in Canada via WIND Mobile, which is both my carrier and where I played with the device), Huawei may become a big player within 5 years.

More on the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile...killer-1089872
http://www.pcworld.com/article/25074...ad_10_fhd.html
http://www.androidauthority.com/huaw...-specs-101736/

deltatux

[kanej2007]

I recently bought the Galaxy Tab 7.7 P6800.

Should you not require your sim card to be used then go for the P6810 wi-fi only edition, I highly recommend it.

[Sever]

personally i'd say go into a department store and try out whatever tablets they have.

ive got a google nexus 7, and its my first tablet (unless you count the phablet that is my galaxy note) and its a pretty good tablet for the price. $250 gets you a quad core nvidia tegra3 chip, 1gb of ram, 16gb of storage, a 1280x800 IPS panel display, and the fact that its a nexus device means you get all the updates promptly (and before every other manufacturer). no other tablets in this price range offer a similar level of features. its also the perfect size for handheld gaming, so this is my highly recommended tablet.

if you want something bigger, then i'd go for a transformer pad, or transformer infinity.

[mf2385]

Originally Posted by Sever

personally i'd say go into a department store and try out whatever tablets they have.

ive got a google nexus 7, and its my first tablet (unless you count the phablet that is my galaxy note) and its a pretty good tablet for the price. $250 gets you a quad core nvidia tegra3 chip, 1gb of ram, 16gb of storage, a 1280x800 IPS panel display, and the fact that its a nexus device means you get all the updates promptly (and before every other manufacturer). no other tablets in this price range offer a similar level of features. its also the perfect size for handheld gaming, so this is my highly recommended tablet.

if you want something bigger, then i'd go for a transformer pad, or transformer infinity.

Thanks

[Sabrina]

I'm thinking about getting my first tablet from a local store here in Malaysia and Nexus 7 caught my attention because of the low price. However, the fact that it doesn't come with 3G or 4G connectivity bothers me a little. How do you guys get around this problem? Tethering to your phone's data connection?

[-GI-Joel]

Think there is an app to do that using bluetooth. checkout google playstore or blackmarket alpha. I have a nexus 7. I have to say i prefer it to Ipad.

[nick0323]

I've held an iPad and with all honesty I think 10" is too big. I have a HTC Flyer which is a 7" tablet and it's a nice size.

The downsides are far too many now that the Nexus 7 is out.

Honeycomb instead of Jelly Bean (2 versions behind)
Single core (slow as hell)
HTC Sense (By far the worst on Honeycomb)
Cost
Can't playback 1080i/p

The benefits however are appealing somewhat...

Expandable memory (I have the 16GB Wi-Fi with a 32GB MicroSD)
Stylus pen
Nice design
SRS Sound Effects

I bought this in Q1 2012, had I known Google were going to release the Nexus 7 then I would have waited.

Final answer? Nexus 7 unless you really want 10".

[mf2385]

My only question I have left is will I be able to do these couple of things on the Google Nexus 7:

1- Watch Full HD Movies off of streaming websites (Flash Support)
2- Nice high resolution with good vibrant color
3- Fast web browsing capability
4- Tons of apps and games
5- Fast Processor
6- Expansion (memory)
7- sound quality is very good

[deltatux]

Originally Posted by mf2385

My only question I have left is will I be able to do these couple of things on the Google Nexus 7:

1- Watch Full HD Movies off of streaming websites (Flash Support)
2- Nice high resolution with good vibrant color
3- Fast web browsing capability
4- Tons of apps and games
5- Fast Processor
6- Expansion (memory)
7- sound quality is very good

1. No, Flash has been officially deprecated by Adobe and Google as of Android 4.1.
2. Yes, 800x1280 (portrait) or 1280x800 (landscape) 7" tablet screen is the highest resolution on a 7" tablet out there.
3. Since it's powered by Tegra 3 and with the enhancements that came with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, web browsing is extra smooth.
4. It's Android, so of course
5. See #3.
6. No, no Google devices have expandable storage as it goes against Google's policy of unified storage.
7. Sound quality is pretty good, it's on par with my ASUS Transformer Pad Prime's SonicMaster speakers.

To be honest, mobile Flash support is slowly being killed off, I haven't really loaded any Flash videos on my tablet ever since I got it since most websites are transitioning over to HTML5 which eliminates the need for Flash on mobile devices.

Unless you're planning to watch a lot of movies, 16 GB is more than enough for many tablet users. Since most of your actions on a tablet is web-based, Google's hedging that most of the content will be serviced by its cloud or other cloud services.

deltatux

[dcx_badass]

1 - Flash works perfectly fine in JB, you just install the apk.
6 - You can use an OTG cable and connect a flash drive if you want.

[mf2385]

So I can still get Flash support if I wanted to is what I want to know. So that works if I need it. Sites like movie2k.to and icefilmz.info, I use for streaming movies sometimes, will I be able to do that on the Google Nexus 7 without an issue? So it is very powerful with the Nvidia Tegra 3, web browsing is really good, and it has full HD and a really good screen. Memory is 16GB and there is online storage Google offers as well correct? Sounds like a really good device. It will do what I want looks like.

[deltatux]

Originally Posted by mf2385

So I can still get Flash support if I wanted to is what I want to know. So that works if I need it. Sites like movie2k.to and icefilmz.info, I use for streaming movies sometimes, will I be able to do that on the Google Nexus 7 without an issue? So it is very powerful with the Nvidia Tegra 3, web browsing is really good, and it has full HD and a really good screen. Memory is 16GB and there is online storage Google offers as well correct? Sounds like a really good device. It will do what I want looks like.

Yes, you can still use Flash by sideloading a modified APK, but it is not supported, that means any changes to Android in the future may render Flash useless as it's been deprecated. That's why I didn't even mention that you can sideload because Flash is dead on Android going forward.

Even if it works on Android 4.1 now, it cannot be guaranteed on Android 5.0 (or whatever Google decides to name the next version of Android).

Google offers 5 GB storage for free via Google Drive where you can store your data, but there are other cloud storage solutions available for Android such as DropBox and Box.net among others.

deltatux

[mf2385]

Sounds good, now I don't have a smartphone yet, I am pretty much going to wait for about a month until all this Iphone 5 buzz and stuff comes to pass and see what else may come out by then. I may be doing an allshare plan then which is another reason why I am waiting. So for now I think I am going to get the ASUS Google Nexus 7. It will do pretty much everything for me that phone can do aside from calling and 4G LTE. Will I be able to get good WiFi connections and WiFi hotspot with the Nexus 7? I am probably going to pick up a 16GB model since the price is really good as well, and there are alot of extra online storage options as you mentioned Dropbox, etc.

[deltatux]

Originally Posted by mf2385

Sounds good, now I don't have a smartphone yet, I am pretty much going to wait for about a month until all this Iphone 5 buzz and stuff comes to pass and see what else may come out by then. I may be doing an allshare plan then which is another reason why I am waiting. So for now I think I am going to get the ASUS Google Nexus 7. It will do pretty much everything for me that phone can do aside from calling and 4G LTE. Will I be able to get good WiFi connections and WiFi hotspot with the Nexus 7? I am probably going to pick up a 16GB model since the price is really good as well, and there are alot of extra online storage options as you mentioned Dropbox, etc.

The Nexus 7 from my testing has no WiFi issues. It performs a lot better than my ASUS Transformer Pad Prime for sure due to its rubber back compared to the aluminium back my tablet has.

deltatux

[mf2385]

Yeah, I heard about the issues with the ASUS Transformer WiFi thing, so there are no issues or anything either and it is the only tablet that has the Tomshardware Recommended Buy also, hmm. I am getting it lol.

[Sabrina]

Originally Posted by -GI-Joel

Think there is an app to do that using bluetooth. checkout google playstore or blackmarket alpha. I have a nexus 7. I have to say i prefer it to Ipad.

Is this (https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...d.tether&hl=en) the app that you are referring to for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi tethering?

[Sever]

Originally Posted by Sabrina

I'm thinking about getting my first tablet from a local store here in Malaysia and Nexus 7 caught my attention because of the low price. However, the fact that it doesn't come with 3G or 4G connectivity bothers me a little. How do you guys get around this problem? Tethering to your phone's data connection?

i tether normally. but then again, i use my tablet for gaming mainly so i dont really need 3g/4g all the time.

and you can expand the storage of the nexus 7. there are many options, but the most common option is to root the device and install the apk that allows usb on the go for storage (by default, the nexus 7 is set to client and not host, so usb on the go storage is not supported in vanilla jelly bean without a bit of tweaking). once you've rooted the device, your options are limitless. you can use thumb sticks, portable hard drives, or even card readers.

[mf2385]

Such a good device it looks like, I ordered mine straight from Google yesterday, should get it tommorow. Nexus 7 16GB version. I may need some help with rooting it if I choose to do so, any really good reasons for rooting right now, the on-the-go USB storage is good.

[scoter man1]

If I may throw my $.02 in, I dont generally venture into this part of the forums but I saw the title. I pre-ordered the Nexus 7 and it is my very first tablet. Its so good. I cant tell you how much I love it. I used to use my phone for everything but seriously, once you get a tab you just use your phone for texting and checking stuff on the go. I can't imagine getting a 10" tab, 7" is perfect for fitting in one hand or both hands. I highly, highly recommend getting a Nexus 7. Seriously, you cant beat it for the price. The roms out there on xda make it even a smidge better too!

As for rooting, it couldnt be easier.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1766475
one click bootloader unlock, one click root, one click unroot... etc. You get the idea. Its SO easy. If I may recommend a rom too, try Kaos Droid (on XDA). Very smooth, gives you flash and tablet mode. Its fricken sweet!

[Barry J]

I have blackberry playbook and love it has full flash support awsome for surfing the web using it know to do this.
i get a good few hours watching videos and playing games. apps are on the low side but i find it ok mainly use it for web use but there is talk of adding andriod apps.

i checked lots of reviews i wanted it for surfing the web so flash was a must.