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Jason Hiner's 10 best tablets of 2011

by Jason Hiner  |  November 14, 2011 5:21am PST  |  Image 1 of 11

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Jason Hiner's 10 best tablets of 2011

New tablets have hit the market week after week throughout 2011, but here are the 10 best that are worth your attention, and your money.

If you'd prefer to view this list in text format, see the companion blog post.

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RE: Jason Hiner's 10 best tablets of 2011
hunta331 28th Nov
@boybunny
alot of what you are saying is true and understandable, but i would just like to point out the simplicity and ease of use on the ipad. i agree, fingers are not the best way to be productive, but there are styli on the market (SUPER expensive IMHO) but i also believe that the ipad is the king of ENTERTAINMENT tablets. (since there are so many "apps" for games and such)

i am not by any means an apple fanboy, i think that its mostly pay-for-looks and status, though i do own the iphone 4, but again, most tablets just cant compare entertainment-wise.
I've got a flyer and love it. A couple of corrections: the flyer is not running Android 2.2. It's running 2.3. Also, it's got 16GB built-in storage plus a 32GB capable microSD expansion slot (that's frustratingly difficult to access, IMHO).

The Flyer's biggest letdown was its initial pricing. At $500.00 digital stulys *not included* it was just waaay to expensive, given that a 9.7" iPad cost the same.

However, at the current $300 price point it's a lot more attractive.

Yeah, it does feel like a big 'ol Smartphone, but if you like Sense and have always wished that your HTC Evo had an even *bigger* screen, then this might just be your dream device.
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i'll go for transformer prime.
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iPad2 is the best? lmao
hahahaha funny
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Okay so the Kindle Fire beats out the Transformer and the Nook Color or even the Nook Tablet? Maybe if by "Best Tablets of 2011" you mean best sales and even then I don't know. Just specs alone I would say the Nook Tablet beats the Kindle Fire out of the water. It is kind of sad that most people will not know how good the Nook Tablet compared to the Kindle Fire due to over hyping of the media.
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@nickitnite

Agreed. It's a shame that Nook Color doesn't rate higher on this list-- from sales data alone it beats pretty much everything else on it. And the Nook Tablet is an overall better product then the Fire -- especially when you consider that the one thing the Fire has over it (arguably), the Amazon ecosystem, is pretty much entirely available on the Nook Tablet if you install the Amazon Appstore on it (which considering you can load *.apk files on the Nook without rooting it, isn't that hard at any skill level).
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Tablet fatigue
voltrarian Updated - 15th Nov
Tablets are here to stay. But what made/makes the iPad great was not just the form factor. The product is not just the highly portable hardware form factor; the product is also the ecosystem around it working with the software in the hardware.

The age of OEM's just cranking out hardware and claiming "mission accomplished" IS OVER.
@voltrarian

If you've got to supply your device with its own ecosystem, then the days of the OEM itself may be numbered.
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@voltrarian ---great? It's just marketing hype and Apple control. You can't deviate from the cult philosophy of Apple that Steve Jobs instiled and demanded. why do you have to be married to the whole Apple system and iTunes in order for it to work properly? what is wrong with open-source and third party support? Why can't you use this device for anything more than what Apple will let you do? Maybe with Jobs passing the company will grow up and stop being such a dicatatorial entity.
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RE: Jason Hiner's 10 best tablets of 2011
roteague Updated - 15th Nov
Galaxy Tab 10.1

"and doesn't have all of the experimental features (like browser thumb controls) as stock Android."

Settings ~ Lab ~ Quick Controls
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Jason Hiner is an Apple loving moron who does not have the critical thinking skills needed to breathe... so why is he spouting pro Apple crap online?

I own an iPad2 and a Windows 7 tablet and an Android tablet. The iPad2 is the worst of breed. It has been adopted by the kids if they are bored enough to use it because I have now banned them from the more productive tablets.

The iPad2 is NOT a business machine. Jason is literally talking out his arse on that one. With no pen input (fat finger styli are NOT a useable substitute) it is useless for drawing diagrams, taking notes, and in my case, professional artwork. For professional artwork, the ONLY choice in the game is one of the many Windows7 tablets... though my professional advice is to try units in store until you find one with accurate styli/curser and then buy that shop model. Manufacturers have wild variations in quality control for pen accuracy. Do not trust the salesman that will tell you that the one that is new in box is just as accurate. That is a lie and you are almost certain to be disappointed. I returned three Windows 7 tablets until I found a shop floor demo model that I could buy.

But all of this is completely moot on Apples POS offerings. There are no styli, there is no real photoshop on iOS, there is no ArtRage on iOS, there is no Corel Painter on iOS, there is no professional version of Sketchpad on iOS... there is no professional quality art software on iOS. fifty million useless apps on the iTunes store do not matter one shrivelled up microturd if not one of the applications do what you need them to. Not that that would matter since it would be so hard and convoluted to move large art files off the iPad onto a computer further down your production path because Apple has done their best to block any and all file transfers from the iPad without the need for their convoluted lock in systems. Windows 7 and Android tablets come with USB ports and SD card slots for moving files off your tablet.

Android suffers from the lack of professional art software as well, but there are a lot of innovative professional software solutions that can be used to speed up graphics production.

The iPad is a joke. You can litterally judge how little intelligence people have by how much they claim that it is the best of breed, and how much they claim the useless device can acomplish. Hey, the iPad2 is so great, it can fly you into space! If you spend half a million bucks on a tourist sapce ticket and then sit on the iPad like the worlds thinnest and most useless booster seat! Anyone can make rediculous claims about what the iPad can do, and it can do most of them... only at ten times the cost and effort of every other slution!
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@boybunny
u r gr8!i hope everyone reads ur comment before they join the bandwagon to go to space!
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@boybunny ---- I have criticized the whole Apple environment for years in spite of the sneers I get. When Apple decides to stop contolling everyone I may consider a closer look; but until then - screw Apple and all the cultists that bow down to the altar of Apple.
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@boybunny
alot of what you are saying is true and understandable, but i would just like to point out the simplicity and ease of use on the ipad. i agree, fingers are not the best way to be productive, but there are styli on the market (SUPER expensive IMHO) but i also believe that the ipad is the king of ENTERTAINMENT tablets. (since there are so many "apps" for games and such)

i am not by any means an apple fanboy, i think that its mostly pay-for-looks and status, though i do own the iphone 4, but again, most tablets just cant compare entertainment-wise.
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Did you not get a chance to try the tablet from Sony?Beautiful form factor,light weight,runs 3.2 android,supports flash,stereo speakers,1200x800 res,are among the few better features than the ipad!Guess u missed it completely!
If this was like a list of cars, where value for money is a main factor, then MID WM8650 and relatives would be there. That is not fancy, no bells and whistles, but seems pretty reliable, slow (800mhz) but enough to be useable and ultra cheap. And is selling in shiploads.
It is so cheap that you can have one in the living room for tv listings and controlling your living room pc, one in the kitchen for recipes and news, as ebook reader,for the kids, etc. And if it is dropped, it won't hurt your wallet much.

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