[BUYaDROID]

I think 2011 will be a confusing year for the average consumer. Too many options and not enough info.

The iPad will still walk away with the sale due to the clever marketing.

2012 is the sales year of the Android tablet. We will see a sort of standardization across the board. And this will be good for the mod community and the users alike.

[mikeincanada]

Phew this is tough.

Looking for a tablet for the wife who uses the computer mainly for Skypeing the kids, browsing and updating facebook and dealing with her email.

Been watching a few on e-bay. 10.2, android 2.2 seem to be around $200. I suspect most at this price will have the resistive screen. If anyone has any good tablet buying websites for canadians, it would be helpful.

Thanks

[dougducko]

TabletConnect, on 18 March 2011 - 07:16 AM, said:

Depends what you are looking for. For brand new, I would buy from a legitimate website. Nothing against eBay as I have bought tons of items but never a tablet.

I thing that I forgot to mention in my article is to buy an extended warranty (like Squaretrade). Tablets are too new to tell how reliable they will be two or three years from now. Buying an extended warranty will protect especially since these devices should be expensive to repair.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

the generic epads on ebay are toys and do not function well like I Robot

[Kirbuno]

Wanted to say Hi. I'm a late arrival Wooter. Seems I have seen hints that the Woot G Tab is different than the ones bought elsewhere? Guess I should have found this topic before I bought this one. I bought it specifically to do stock trading on the web utilizing an app that specifically is run on Silverlight. Seems this GTab can't do it. Is there any hope out there or is it already time to put mine back on the market?

[bluelans]

I'm newcomer! I learned a lot!

[bluelans]

Been watching a few on e-bay. 10.2, android 2.2 seem to be around $200. I suspect most at this price will have the resistive screen. If anyone has any good tablet buying websites for canadians, it would be helpful.

[Kirbuno]

Wanted to say Hi. I'm a late arrival Wooter. Seems I have seen hints that the Woot G Tab is different than the ones bought elsewhere? Guess I should have found this topic before I bought this one. I bought it specifically to do stock trading on the web utilizing an app that specifically is run on Silverlight. Seems this GTab can't do it. Is there any hope out there or is it already time to put mine back on the market?

[jakie55]

Isn't Silverlight a microsoft product. Will it be supported by windows mobile 7? maybe that is the route you need to go?

[jakie55]

Novell's Moonlight shines on Google Android
Open source version of Microsoft's Silverlight rich Internet plug-in platform is readied for Google's mobile OS

By Paul Krill, InfoWorld
April 19, 2011 08:16 PM ET It appears I was wrong. This was on this site. http://www.networkwo...-on-google.html

[herb56]

TabletConnect, on 22 February 2011 - 09:06 PM, said:

Prior to April 2010, tablet PC's were a laptop with a touchscreen where one uses a stylus or a finger to make the input. The Apple iPad changed this. As tablets are being released by almost every major, and not so major, consumer electronic and computer manufacturer, consumers will have a wide range of tablets to choose from. For some time, there have been Android tablets built and sold in China. Although the price is great, the quality is poor. With many more choices coming out in 2011, how does a consumer pick the right tablet? Well, the answer is not so simple as it really depends on what a person wants. We will provide some guidelines below with what one should expect as a minimum and what one should ideally aim for. Normally, you do get what you pay for but keep these tips in mind when deciding which tablet to buy.

Read More...

can they update to android 3 os

[blade78]

ts651, on 16 March 2011 - 11:27 AM, said:

i am looking for a durable wifi tablet for the kids ( 6 & 8 )
any suggestions are appreciated
Thanks

Try the viewsonic Gtablet. It durable. I haven't had no major issues with it. But I have rooted my tablet. In my opinion; do research on the best tablets out there. Check the features you want, the price, and its reviews. It will help you make the right decision to buy the tablet you want.

[blade78]

minesisbigger, on 26 February 2011 - 09:06 PM, said:

i hate my tablet

no roms are out at least i dont think so

What tablet do you have? I have a Viewsonic Gtablet. I love it. I didn't like the original software. So I rooted it and added a new rom.

[Bejeezus]

Great info! Thanks!

[dryster]

I think the issue at the moment, and going forward, is that there is a lot of misrepresentation in the Android tablet market, the offerings on eBay from the Chinese vendors appear to promise everything for (almost) nothing, which cannot be true. Unfortunately as I've said before, buyers do searches for "price + shipping lowest first" and marvel at the cheapest tablet on eBay providing absolutely everything according to the auction listing.

A quick buy-it-now, five weeks waiting, a tablet arriving wrapped in newspaper with (perhaps) a thin Chinese manual or a translated nightmare. No support, no App store (oops, said it, will wait to be sued by Apple) and a whole mess of frustration. Usually the stock Android 2.1 or 2.2 is what you'll be stuck with as cooked ROMs will not be available from anywhere for a tablet that fundamentally cannot be identified.

Unfortunately, people arrive at the forums after they have purchased a tablet and more than likely, even while clutching their first Android tablet, they are actually considering the next one.

So, back to the original question, what to look for in a tablet when buying. Wish list.

Name Brand, mainstream tablet with a big user base and support here on Slatedroid or one of the other unmentionable support sites.
Capacitive Touchscreen, if 7" then something around 1024x600 (Nook Color resolution)
512MB or higher RAM.
8GB or higher internal storage with expansion of 32GB. Gigabytes NOT Gigabits and actual internal storage (not free generic XD card passed off as internal storage)
Actual processor running at 1ghz or higher (not overclocked figure, not "combined" figure)
Real Dual Core. Not some misinterpretation of what dual core means as ground bait for the unwary.
Hardware buttons, full USB, high capacity li-ion battery that is user replaceable in the future.

And back to the online advertisers and ebay listers, do not immediately believe the sales pitch.

And finally, remember, the tablet you buy today, even with the most careful research, is probably not going to be the tablet you want in six months time, that's the way it is. So, don't search for the cheapest, define a budget and buy within it, enjoy and learn and eventually sell it back into the system and buy the next one.

Rinse, Repeat.

[snowman40]

Wifi is a must, as is access to an appropriate (ideally Google) market place - A Chinese one isn't much use in the UK...

I recently bought a MID 7" tablet and was on the verge of sending it back as, out of the box, it was little more than a media player with a web browser (of course, for some people that would be plenty).

Fortunately I discovered this forum and the Vestinious M009s Firmware which transformed my MID 7" from a pointless (for me) media player to a usable tablet (Thanks Roger Calver!).

Only problem I currently have is that it won't run Amazon's Kindle reader.

M.

This post has been edited by snowman40: 28 April 2011 - 09:06 AM

[hgdvb]

Although the price is great, the quality is poor. With many more choices coming out in 2011, how does a consumer pick the right tablet? Well, the answer is not so simple as it really depends on what a person wants.

[johninsj]

dryster, on 27 April 2011 - 12:12 PM, said:

So, back to the original question, what to look for in a tablet when buying. Wish list.

1) a community of modders ("developers") at your favorite site who are making custom roms for it

This seems to be the most critical bit for me, as in my experience this extends the useful life of a device well beyond the support from even a mainstream manufacturer (unless it's Apple, the name that shall not be mentioned, but who supports their devices for on average 3 years with updates.)

[bassbox]

Well, dunno if it is the right place to post, but the search lead me here..

is it also hard to figure out WHERE to Buy... i were going to buy from pandawill but now i found 2 bad posts about the shop here..
any experiences? where to buy eken m009S with shipping to germany for not more than 90$ without tax

[beamquaker]

that is alot of useful information for people like myself how are tablet noobs. thanks

[Roger Calver]

Thanks, this is a very good and informative post.

For me this year will be the year of Android but I feel we will have a second round of confusion like we did last year with new CPU's & GPU's coming out.
Its going to take some time for it all to settle down and the main lines proving good, and the worst part is all the misleading info around.