The new iPad's great but what's wrong with a good, inexpensive Android tablet?
Summary: Great new display, check; faster processor, check; 4G mobile connection, check; better camera, check. Price, still starts $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model and $629 for 4G. Hmmm... How about a $199 Android-powered Nook Tablet instead?
No,Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet is no iPad 3, but is it good and cheap enough that it might not matte?
Don't get me wrong. I think the new iPad sounds wonderful. The retina screen, which Ray Soneria predicted, looks great. Even if its A5X processor isn't as fast as Apple claims, it's still amazing fast. And, while I really doubt that the iPad's battery will really last as long as they claim it will, even if comes close it will still be amazing battery performance. But, still the cheapest model, the 16GB Wi-Fi only, is $499. Might I suggest that at $199 Barnes & Noble's Android-powered Nook Tablet might be the better deal?
What's that? Of course, I know the Nook Tablet only has a 7-inch display, only has Wi-Fi, has a much slower processor, only 8GBs of storage, no camera at all, and it only runs a simplified version of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
If I wanted to, I could boot the Nook Tablet into Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwtch) with the brand new CyanogenMod 9. Once there, I've been able to add the usual Google Android apps to my modified Nook Tablet with the CyanogenMod 9 Google Apps package. But, while the geek in me rejoices in that, the ordinary user in me has found the simple Nook Tablet native interface to be just fine.
Still, there's no question in my mind that the new iPad is the better tablet. I'll get one. But, I can afford it. Can you?
Think about it. There's $300 of difference. Is it really worth it? Or, since Apple has decided to quietly keep selling low-end iPad 2s starting at $399, will the newly re-priced $399 iPad 2 overwhelm Android and the rest of the tablet market? I don't think so. $200 is still $200.
Oh sure, if you want to use a tablet for work, the iPad is the way to go. If you want to video-conference with your friends, buy an iPad. If you want to make a high-definition movie, you could try an iPad—after you attach it to a steadicam. But what are you really going to use a tablet for?
Well, I've been using a variety of tablets, including both the already shipping iPads and the 16GB version of the Nook Tablet, and here's what I use my tablets for: Reading e-books, watching Netflix and Hulu Plus videos; listening to music; playing some games; and lightweight Web browsing and writing. That's it. Guess what? For my purposes, I use my Nook Tablet about nine times as often as I do my iPads.
That's in no small part because I've found the Nook Tablet's smaller form factor to be ideal for when I'm lying in bed or just sitting back in a comfy chair. The iPad is indeed better in many ways, but sometimes bigger isn't better.
If you really want to have the best of the best and you have to have it Right Now and you can afford it, sure buy an iPad 3. I'll be in line behind you. I cover this the leading edge of technology for a living so I have to have the latest and greatest.
But, if all you want is a cheap, but good, tablet for entertainment and low-end Web play, then why not get a Nook Tablet or some other low-end Android tablet like Amazon's Kindle Fire? You just may find that one of those is all the tablet you really need. I have.
Related Stories:
New iPad is bad news for Android tablets
Apple's next-gen iPad: New battlefields emerge
A low-cost iPad 2 would decimate the tablet market
Apple's New iPad In The Enterprise: Laptop Replacement Gets Closer
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Talkback
It's the apps....
How many do you need?
it's not only the number of apps
When you consider the usability and unless you need the tablet for some very limited predefined purpose, you may end up buying several $200 tablets instead of one $500 iPad....
In England they have the saying: I am not rich enough to buy cheap stuff.
let me give a comparison
I have a Vizio 8 inch tablet (VTAB1008)
My wife has an iPad 2
We both bought astronomy programs.
We compared how the programs function. Both show the correct constellations, directions and the rest.
Difference is that the iPad was rock solid, the screen was smooth and when she held it up against the sky, movement was smooth and when she held it still, the display was rock solid.
Mine on the other hand was incredibly shaky. The display was anything but smooth and when I held it still, the slightest movement caused the display to be unreadable.
Yes, the Apple just works better.
fdd
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Huh?
then you got lucky
Fragmented markets spell problems for end users. The Kindles are limited to the Amazon store (imagine that?) so the selection is much more limited than the Google store.
The apps I needed weren't on the Amazon store, so major headaches.
Help me to find any good video player, and a usable drawing app?
I also tried very hard to find a good drawing/notetaking appl. The AutoDesk's Sketchbook pro comes out as the best. Even it is working worse than its ipad version, which is no comparison to other better ipad apps like noteshelf and paper from 53.
FYI, I have both ipad 2 and touchpad with CM9. The touchpad discharges itself by 40% per day sitting there by itself, while ipad discharges by about 10%, BTW. From what I see, the difference is very wide from ipad to android 4.0. Of course ICS 4.0 is usable, and the smoothness is greatly improved comparing to Android 2.x, but it probably is not as smooth as ipad 1 yet, let alone ipad 2/3.
For starters, it does not display fonts in other languages
It's the apps....
Need to say more
For starters, it does not support other language fonts
iPad 3
Also, please proof read. The sentence structure here is sometimes hard to follow and there are a few spelling errors.
Don't mean to sound overly critical, I find it rude when articles are covered with links to past articles (and when subject and sentences are structured around these references).
not suitable for iPad?
AMOF, I have no problem reading it at all.
Well for starters no one has shipped one yet.
I Have a Nook Color
Still, I know several people now who have a Kindle Fire or a Nook Color. They all seem to love them. I have seen a Kindle Fire need to be replaced though. It was exchanged at the store just before the 30 day exchange policy ran out (of course it can be exchanged after that, but it has to be sent to Amazon).
I have an iPad 2 and Kindle Fire
Kindle Fire is horrendous
Wife just bought a Nook
That's a great price.
Yep, price is everything.
If she had purchased a $500 Android device, I would have pleaded for it to be returned to store.
Price is the key.
I don't hate Android, I love it! But only in the cheaper price range... where it deserves to be.
A $350 Android is pushing to the extreme upper price range. (A co-worker bought the $800 xoom when it first came out... either he sold it, or just doesn't talk about it. Most of us don't like to bring-up our bad purchases.)
I'm all in favor of there being two major operating systems on tablets. iOS for the upper price range (is $500 to $800 really upper now?), and Android for the below $300 devices.
We can all live in harmony with these numbers, it's only when a device crosses the boundary that the harmony becomes fuddled and problems brew.
It might not matte?