Thread: Most bang for the buck tablet?

Originally Posted by zr2ee

the new kindle fire sounds like quite a steel, not sure about the peripheries though, the nook color is pretty popular too with root, but your going to have to tether GPS

The Kindle Fire is great, especially compared to the Nook Color. Dual Core, Amazon perks (movie download, unlimited cloud storage for stuff you buy there, etc.).

However there is no microphone, no bluetooth, and no front camera (Skype, Fringe, Video Calling apps). The reason I sold the Nook Color was the absence of BT.

For the car, the GPS is a must, but without BT, it's hard to connect GPS & charge the device at the same time. I suppose it's possible though.

I'm loving the Galaxy Tab 7", I just flashed a bell modem to turn it into a phone, grabbed the wife's 2nd phone SIM card and it worked! Great for SMS too, not to mention fast 3G. However, it seems that AT&T will block that IF you have a grandfathered unlimited plan (you'll get a 2 or 4/GB one, not sure), which is the case, so I'm scared of actually using that. Google Navigation 5.10 (?) with satellite maps downloaded on the fly looks freakin' amazing. The new helicopter view is fantastic. So it's very tempting. (Yes I can tether from my iP4, but battery goes away fast and it's not that convenient but it works so far).

I'm waiting, 45min to the HTC Flyer sale, if Best buy follows ET time. :-)

from what i've heard the nook actually does have bluetooth hardware built into the chipset but it was disabled from the factory, i've heard it can be enabled in custom roms. hopefully the kindle fire is similar in that fashion. i don't think you can download full maps for google navigation yet as i've been trying to figure out how to do that but i'll have to do some more research.

^^^that is true. I actually set up the BT on the nook color, but the hardware had no antenna attached to it. With Phiremod and later Cyanogen 7 build 176 (I sold the thing with build 201, but haven't tested BT with it) you could turn off WIFI, turn on BT, reboot, Turn wifi back on that the BT on stick would stay on and you could pair a GPS or a BT headphone to it.

However, the lack of antenna meant the range was just about 6" (yes, not 6ft, but 6 inches). In your lap, the thing would be full of noises, anything more than that and the connection would be lost. I've heard talks of rigging an antenna to it, it's actually very easy to rip the back plate off (when you remove those sticky skins, the back comes off easily), but frankly, I have no idea if that works, or if later builds fixed the problem completely.

wow the flyer is a great 7" tablet, and at $299 is a steal, I just recently got mine for $499, that's a pretty big drop on an awesome tablet...

Exactly. It's a very tempting proposition.

BTW, the Lenovo Ideapad A1 is on sale now for $199.00. Right on the OP's target. If the build quality is anything close to my X201 tablet, it's a great device.

Gorgeous 1024x600 screen
Optimized for the Web with full Flash® support and instant synching
More than 10 preloaded apps, with more available via Lenovo App Shop and Android Market
GPS navigation in offline mode
Integrated front (0.3M) and back (3M) cameras
Trendy design available in black, white, pink or blue
Integrated Bluetooth® and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Measures 7.7” x 4.9” x 0.5”
Micro-USB connector, microSD card reader


Description
IdeaPad A1 Tablet - 22282KU - Black
Processor: Texas Instruments OMAP 3622 ( 1GHz )
Operating system: Android 2.3
Graphics: TI Integrated OMAP 3622
Total memory8: 512 MB LPDDR2 600MHz
Display: 7.0" SD LED Glare Multi-touch with integrated camera 1024x600
Camera: Front 2.0MP, Rear 5.0MP
Hard Drive: 2GB or 16GB ???
Battery: 1 Cell Li-Polymer
Network Card: Lenovo BGN Wireless
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR
Finger Print Reader: None
Warranty: One year

The only thing I don't like about the Flyer and the Lenovo is the single core processor. Also the lack of gps on the lenovo.

The single core processor on the Flyer runs at 1.5GHz stock. That's a lot and that's more than enough, especially when you don't have many apps optimized for dual core. If you actually try the HTC Flyer against a run of the mill Tegra 2 you'll see that's actually faster for some apps (i.e. not games).

As for the Lenovo, true it's single core, but it has a working bluetooth, which allows you to pair your car/amp/computer or gps. Neither the Amazon Fire (same price) nor the Nook Color (more expensive) have that - no GPS and no BT for them.

I think the Amazon tablet is pretty good to consume content, say, as a headrest monitor, especially if you have internet in the car via wifi. As the main carputer, not so much, but it's doable.

Originally Posted by RipplingHurst

I'm expecting a great sale on the Blackberry Playbook. Pretty soon it will be running most Android Apps (except those related to voice, Playbook is not a phone, etc.). Dual core, ultra fast, and the beta android port is ready at crackberry.com

The playbook right now (16GB) is on sale at Best buy for $299.00 (and Office Max and Office Depot with rebates). It was on sale last week for $249.00 and some with coupons manage to get one for $149.00.

I expect it to be 149-199.00 pretty soon, but it will go away fast. Keep your eyes open. If you can't wait a couple of weeks, than you can try a Nook Color, pretty cheap. I just sold mine for $175.00. (Edit: guess I did it at the right time: link)

I'm not a Blackberry fan but I did demo the Playbook and it does have an awesome interface.