Android Tablets?

If you want the best all round value Kindle fire but then you are locked into Amazon, the only others I'd recommend really are the Samsung Tabs.

I actually love the way they have started advertising them it's turning all apples legal shennagins into a selling point.



Really what I always do is pick a price point then work out what's the best device you can afford it's easy to search reviews and comparisons on google and youtube.

 

I'm looking into buying a Kindle Fire and from what I can tell that's not exactly true. The device has a setting buried within the options to turn on the sideloading of apps. Apparently once that's done you can download apps through the web browser or install them through a computer, including the Android market.

Right now I'm torn between the Kindle Fire and the Galaxy Player 5. I'm a little concerned about the Kindle's lack of storage and auto-updates. I also can't find any solid information about pairing a PS3/Wii controller to the Kindle for gaming.

 

You could be right I don't own one, I did read something yesterday about amazon wiping out the root exploits with an update yesterday to keep customers locked into their store.

I do think the fire is probably the best value for money tablet in either case.

 

The auto-updates are a concern but from what I understand sideloading doesn't require any kind of modification, it's a switch built into the settings. I have no intention of rooting the device.



By default the Kindle redirects all Android market requests to it's own app store while modded Kindles wont. Apparently the device needs to be rooted to install and use the Android marketplace but that doesn't prevent the sideloading of apps from the web.

 

Sounds like the same way I have to load apps onto my ereader (android based sony) basicly you just need to get hold of the .apk file from somewhere.

On the original topic though here's a pretty good list of the top android tabs
link

Doesn't have my personal favourite on there (Galaxy 7.7) but their ranking looks about right to me.

 

Yeah, it should be exactly the same.

I found the Toshiba Thrive and the Sony Tablet to be thick and awkward to hold but that's only based on playing around with demo units for a few minutes. Android tablets intrigue me for some reason even though I already own an iPad. If I decide to pick up a Kindle Fire today I'll be sure to report back on it.

 

One thing to keep in mind about the Kindle Fire; it's NOT a tablet, it's a beefed up e-reader. It doesn't even advertise itself as having Android-mostly because Amazon modified it so much, it doesn't even resemble what you'd expect from Android.

Myself, I'm getting the new Transformer Prime, a quadcore beast coming out this week, but check this site out for reviews of tablets. They tend to be the most objective: http://www.androidcentral.com/reviews/tablets

 

From what I can gather, you'd have to be crazy to use the Kindle Fire for gaming. I'm thinking about getting one myself, but it'll be purely for email, IM and other misc. social networking.

 

Really? Skip to around 2 minutes in, other then the limited storage this looks like a decent gaming tablet to me. I'm about to head out the door and pick one up before work.

 

I've been playing around with the Kindle Fire for a few hours now and I love it. One of the first things I did was replace the default carousel launcher with GO Launcher. GO Launcher looks and acts pretty much like the standard Android UI, I don't have enough experience with the OS to tell them apart. The Amazon app store claims it's not compatible with the Fire but you can find the APK on Google and install it that way. After five years of using nothing but Apple products the idea that you can download an app directly to a device through the browser blows my freaking mind.

I've installed a few emulators, my streaming media apps and a few desktop widgets. So far my experience has been that everything feels a tiny bit worse then their iPad counterpart. It's impossible to expect a $200 tablet to perform like a $500 but for difference in money I think it's actually a better product. The kindle gets the compromise between cost and function right; it can do about 90% of what the iPad can do 90% as well at less then half the cost. It's a perfect sized well built fully supported cheap ass tablet.

 

If you can find it at a good price, I would recommend the HP TouchPad. From what I remember, HP won't be supporting the software anymore, so that may turn you off a bit. At the fire sale price of $99 for the 16gb, I must say that it's pretty impressive. I just use it for web browsing, email, YouTube, social networking etc and it does those well (I still prefer my iPad though ). There is actually a team that is porting Android to the HP TouchPad; it's called Cyanogenmod 7, I believe. I've installed it and used it a bit. It works fairly well, but there are a few bugs since it's still in its alpha stage. I still prefer using WebOS over Android though

 

I own a kindle fire, and I have to say, my ipod touch has been collecting a little bit of dust..lol playing asphalt 6, and Shadowgun is awesome. I've been using my ipod touch for music pretty much, but for checking e-mail, browsing the web, watching movies, and games, I use the kindle fire now

 

I've been telling all my friends and family to either get a Kindle Fire or wait for the new Windows tablets to come out.

Unless you just want a big screen or have a smartphone, I also suggest checking out the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. 4.8" screen on 4.3" body.

 

I bought a Kindle Fire and, in my opinion, it's garbage. I sensed it was a steaming pile of tech junk even before I had any experience with an iPad. But if you've so much as touched an iPad in your life, the mere thought of a Kindle Fire will either make you laugh, so as not to cry, or cringe. I'm not even dishonest enough to try and sell that paper wieght to some other unsuspecting fool. I've got a decent pile of antiquated tech laying around the house. That pile is plus 1 now, thanks to the Fire.

The main appeal here is that 7-inches really is the maximum size for any tablet to be considered portable. Well, that an flash support (most Android tablets have this; Apple does not). The iPad just isn't portable at all though, and that is its biggest flaw. But the Fire performs so poorly that it's damn near a ripoff. I think the tilt functionality is poor too, for tilt-based games. I suppose it functions adequately for a gaming tablet. Android has only a fraction of the games and Amazon carries only a fraction of Android games. Amazon gives more integrated support then you might recieve elsewhere. Still, a 7-inch Tablet from ASUS probably costs no more then $100 more. That's where I'd go if I was looking for a portable Tablet.

 

The average person has no use for the iPad and its price tag. That's why so many people are enjoying it.

Personally, I have no use for any tablet because I own a computer and don't really like virtual content--gaming and a few other things are the exception.

 

Too be honest though, I think Ultrabooks might be the future. Especially Ultrabook/tablet hybrids. No matter how powerful these tablets get, they still run only on mobile operating systems, they have a limited storage capacity, and they cannot run physical material. A extremely thin laptop with a sleek tablet-esque design that runs full desktop operating systems, holds 500GB or 750GB or more of eternal store, and comes with a DVD or blu-ray drive, could smash tablets out of existence. Its Adapt or die in the world of tech. Without Steve Jobs, tablets might not be long for this world.

As far as the Fire goes, it's what I expect. People enjoy it because they don't realize how crappy it is. They have nothing to compare it to. It's the only tablet they can "afford" so it's the only one they've ever used. They don't realize the possibility for so much more. Ignorance is bliss. And, believe me, that's exactly what Amazon is counting on.

You can get a good 7-inch tablet for $350, which is still half the price of an iPad. With the Fire, you get what you pay for.

 

^That's not a bad prediction at all.

Personally, I was eyeing the new/upcoming Samsung notebook. I forget what it's called, so i'll have to look it up and post later.

Anyways, it's supposed to be super thin and light weight and much more powerful than the Macbook air. Pretty sure it's supposed to be an upper tier laptop as far as performance.

Plus, there's a 15" version. I refuse to get anything smaller. I wouldn't mind turning something like that around into a tablet occasionally. I mean I'll be using it as a regular laptop most of the time.


About tablets, in general, I just see them as a super non-necessity. I've had the pleasure of using both the iPad, Fire, and a couple other tabs. I recommend the Fire to most people because they truly don't need anything more than what is has to offer.

When my mom asked me about the iPad, I told her I'll buy you whatever books you want/need to read.

 

I find that the nook is one of the best options out there personally. I have my "old" Nook Color running Android Honeycomb with a bootable SD and it suits my needs. I can run the Nook app while running Honeycomb so I can still use it for books as well as all other things I use it for. I am interested in the newer Nook Tablets though if only for the fact that it plays more file formats.