tablet advice

Benny · October 16, 2012, 03:16:53 PM

Winged monkeys, I have a need......

I want a new tablet for the missus to watch telly on, read email and browse the web. iPlayer, ITV player, TVCatchup etc, so she'll leave my iPad alone. It has to be straightforward and have a big screen and not cost the earth*. Now fly my beasts and find me the answer.

Oh, and I'm not upgrading any firmware or installing ice cream manwiches or any of that palaver.

(Thanking you muchly)

*Current going rate for the earth is Â£100 and it's not to cost that much

sulky_uk · October 16, 2012, 05:38:19 PM

Asi wouldn't buy a acer tablet again (due to their non quick -firmware updates) i would go for a galaxy 2 10inch

here is a good guide

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/10-best-tablet-pcs-in-the-world-today-1079603

kregoron · October 16, 2012, 06:03:20 PM

Quote from: sulky_uk;360058Asi wouldn't buy a acer tablet again (due to their non quick -firmware updates) i would go for a galaxy 2 10inch

here is a good guide

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/10-best-tablet-pcs-in-the-world-today-1079603

The Galaxy 2 10inch is a nice little piece of kit

T-Bag · October 16, 2012, 07:32:08 PM

My advice yesterday would have been "Wait to see the price of the Microsoft Surface" Having seen that my advice is "avoid the Microsoft Surface", there are plenty of first and second generation tablets (Galaxy Tablet and the Xoom) which have good hardware specs and are relatively cheap these days (~Â£300).

However that was too much for me as an impulse purchase so I went with something similar to this: http://www.ebuyer.com/392408-sumvision-astro-9-7-tablet-pc-astro-9-7 (the exact one I have is the Scroll Extreme which is virtually identical specs, but no longer on the site).

I'm happy with it. It plays all the TV shows I have, and has a battery that didn't go below 70% on a 4 hour train journey. It supports the play store so has a wide array of apps. It's a single core processor, with a reasonable GPU chip but don't expect all the latest games to run smoothly but it is fine for web browsing, emails and simple games like temple run etc. I thought mine was good value for money at Â£180 but since things like the Kindle Fire and Nexus have really started pushing prices down the prices have gone silly. So for Â£125 you can have a tablet. It's rude not to.

Tutonic · October 16, 2012, 07:43:12 PM

Would your budget stretch to a Nexus 7? I've had a play with one at work, they are rather nice.

smilodon · October 16, 2012, 07:46:14 PM

Also had a play with the Nexus 7 and it's a serious piece of kit. Â£150.00 which is hard to beat, decent spec and Google are basically selling it at o close to cost in the hope you'll buy a load of content from their play store. Much like Amazon does with the Kindle range and Apple doesn't do at all.

OldBloke · October 16, 2012, 08:00:55 PM

A 10 incher would be best for your missus :whistle:

Xoom 2 going less than 190 recently seen on HOTUKDEALS.

Liberator · October 16, 2012, 08:47:25 PM

If Â£100 is the limit then you would probably be best looking at having Ainol. Everyone seems to rate 7 inch Ainol for around Â£100.

Ainol Elf II uses the A9 dual core chipset, lower power consumption that the previous A10 stuff. Both have 2160p HDMI output off dedicated GPU and I believe they also have reasonable battery life for budget.

But consensus is definitely in agreement that the Nexus is the one to have for the extra cash, but lots of complaints about lack of expansion, no MicroSD slot, although USB OTG has been hacked for it.

lionheart · October 16, 2012, 09:03:11 PM

Ainol........do you pronounce that the way my warped mind does?

Niel · October 16, 2012, 10:34:07 PM

Nexus 7.....great bang for the buck. 150 Quid and its great at what it does. Everything you'd expect and perfectly usable.

Blunt · October 17, 2012, 12:47:14 AM

What's the best deal for a Nexus 7?
Bear in mind I will mindlessly click & buy

Liberator · October 17, 2012, 10:52:13 AM

Quote from: lionheart;360072Ainol........do you pronounce that the way my warped mind does?

I really can't imagine what you mean.

All I was saying is, if Benny doesn't fancy splashing out on his wife, he may have to convince her into trying 7 inch Ainol instead.

smilodon · October 17, 2012, 11:41:28 AM

AFAIK the Nexus is Â£159.99 and Â£199.99 wherever you buy it, although Comet seem to be Â£10 than everyone else. P&P might vary as well. Personally I'd get it direct from Google.

faust82 · October 17, 2012, 01:51:36 PM

I've got an Asus TF300TG, which is a pretty decent piece of kit. A bit above the price range suggested, but it's a powerful 10" tablet with flash capabilities etc.
And I got the Jelly Bean OTA update last week, so they're fairly up-to-date version-wise.

Benny · October 17, 2012, 02:35:27 PM

Quote from: faust82;360115And I got the Jelly Bean OTA update

And this is where it goes wrong. I want it out of the box, no touch, no effort for me to do anything to patch/upgrade etc. It has to be simple because the Galaxy she has is crap and I can't be arsed to sort it out. Am I better off with an ipad?