7" tablet

[Dave Lehnert]

When the kindle Fire was released last year I was interested but not in the position to buy.

Word on the street is Amazon will release info on the new tablets this week. That has got me to thinking again about a purchase. I am not looking to replace my laptop. Just something small and compact to take on the road to check e-mail, watch videos and read books. I have read a ton about tablets and know it will do what I want it to do.

My question is, Since the Fire came on the market other tablets have come down in price. Would an Android tablet be better to get vs the Fire? I assume an android tablet I would be free to use what I want vs being locked into Amazon system. Is this correct? What am I missing in my thinking? Can I use Amazon content on a other brand Android?
I do like Amazon a lot and would prefer to use them, Just don't want to get locked into any one thing

[Mike Cozad]

The current competitor that outruns the Fire in my opinion in the Google Nexus 7. It is the same price point if purchased directly from Google and is available with 8 gig or 16 gig onboard memory. It is the first with native Jellybean OS. It does not have 4g but does have WiFi, which works for me because I already have an Android 4g phone. I am typing my reply on it now from my hotel room while traveling for work. If you purchase through Amazon beware of the $50 markup to $249 & $299 respectively.

[Brian Kerley]

The Kindle Fire <i>is</i> an Android tablet.

It has a bunch of pretty stuff running on top of android. Thus, any app that runs on Android will run on it. So, if you use the Amazon appstore, you can use the same apps across both your tablet and your phone, without having to purchase twice.

Wait till thursday to see what is announced.

You will get locked into running Amazon stuff. But, you may be able to download and install the gapps from goo.im. Haven't tried it. You also should be able to flash a custom ROM if you want an google device instead of an amazon one. The nice thing about android in general is the hackability of the hardware.

[Mike Cozad]

Oh and I do dislike that on my wife's Fire she is locked into the Amazon store. I can get anything through Google play or other sources as well.

[Dave Lehnert]

I will look to see what the newest offering will be from Amazon before buying.
I use a prepaid phone so have no use for the tablet and phone to be compatible.
Kinda forgot about the Google Tablet. Will check it out.
Can I buy books on Amazon or B&N with a Nexus 7?

[Victor Robinson]

Amazon quietly made its video content available on iPad recently. 7" iPad rumored for October...going to be sweet.

[Mike Cozad]

I think the quick answer is yes. I surfed Google Play and was able to download and install the Kindle Fire reader and shop for books. I did not look up B&N but I am willing to bet it is a big fat yes. I am more and more impressed with every minute I use my Nexus. Oh and not nor will every be an iFan so you could say I am biased.....

[Brian Kerley]

I will look to see what the newest offering will be from Amazon before buying.
I use a prepaid phone so have no use for the tablet and phone to be compatible.
Kinda forgot about the Google Tablet. Will check it out.
Can I buy books on Amazon or B&N with a Nexus 7?

Looks like the answer is yes:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-for-android/379003595/

The Nexus 7 is really nice, and a great price point. I've been going back and forth, but I'm trying to see what Amazon has, in case it is something really amazing.

There are rumors of a cellular Nexus 7 in October....if you don't mind waiting another month or two.

[Steve Peterson]

I have a Kindle fire and it is a really solid unit for $199. It would be really great with a $79 per year Amazon Prime account that lets you download unlimited movies from their online collection. You need high speed internet, so this option does not work in my neighborhood. There are thousands of free apps to download from the Amazon store.

We wanted to get a second device so each kid could have one to play games during a long road trip. We decided on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 for around $239 at Costco as I recall. It is around $250 elsewhere. This is a much better unit in my opinion. It has expandable memory plus front and rear facing cameras. There are more apps to choose from on the default app store. The only thing I don't like about it is the proprietary charging cable. We have to carry different cables for each device.

Both devices have held up to about 6 months of about an hour per day of use by two 6-8 year old kids. i would give the edge to the Samsung, although it is worth waiting a few days to see what the new Kindle has and see if the original drops in price.

Steve

[Larry Browning]

And don't forget the Microsoft Surface being released October 26. The rumor is that the RT will be priced at or around $199. It will have the Windows 8 OS and have a lite version of MS Office.
LOTS of new stuff coming out very soon. I would think that waiting another month or 2 would allow for some of the dust to settle on on this new stuff. New Kindle Fire, new ipad, Nexus 7, MS Surface, each one has advantages over the others. Oh, yeah, don't forget all the new tablets from Samsung, Sony, etc.. etc... Lots and lots of new, exciting things just around the corner.
I'm waiting for Christmas or maybe even New Years to shop for mine.

[Brian Kerley]

And don't forget the Microsoft Surface being released October 26. The rumor is that the RT will be priced at or around $199. It will have the Windows 8 OS and have a lite version of MS Office.

I'm curious where you've heard that rumor. Everything I see points to $399/499 with sub $299 being an impossibility due to the hardware it's running. The intel version is speculated to be around $700. For instance, Sony just announced a tablet last week and priced it at $399. The surface is the equivalent, if not nicer.

[Larry Browning]

Here is just one of many I found when I googled "ms surface tablet pricing"

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/14/microsoft-surface-199/

No one really knows the actual price(except for Microsoft), so everything is just a rumor until they announce it.

I have been considering getting one of these, mostly for travel and to possibly use as I watch a baseball game and interact with other fans on the web during the game.

I would buy one if I can get a Surface for around $200, otherwise I would be looking at the Nexus 7, or the new Kindle Fire. My price point is going to be around the $200 mark. I want to get the most bang for my buck.

One thing I do know, I won't be getting an ipad. I don't think I would pay $99 for one of those.
I know I am in the minority on this, but it just seems to me that if it starts with and "i", I can't seem to use it at all, the interface is not intuitive for me. I can't seem to get the silly thing to do anything without getting help.

[Brian Kerley]

Though that's interesting.....just seems highly unlikely. Hopefully it's true as I would definitely pick one up at that price.

[Jim Matthews]

I know I am in the minority on this, but it just seems to me that if it starts with and "i", I can't seem to use it at all, the interface is not intuitive for me. I can't seem to get the silly thing to do anything without getting help.

You're NOT in the minority. I need to ask my 9 year old, it's obvious to him.
When things get really sticky, we hire our babysitter and get her to walk us around the roadblocks.

I consider that a free consultation.

The truth is, Apple designs for babies.

[Matt Meiser]

I don't know how things have changed, but when I got my iPad there was iPad and everything else combined was a distant second when it came to support. Heck, HP completely abandoned the market just a few weeks later. Is the Xoom still around? I almost bought a Xoom until I looked at what was available in the way of accessory support. I would absolutely replace my iPad with another. At the time I had an android phone which I also liked but have since switched to an iPhone due to hardware and provider issues.

[Pat Barry]

I like the idea of the Microsoft product if it can run windows based software. I need a laptop for that currently and when / if a tablet gives you that then I'm all in. Until then, these are just toys for rich kids IMO.

[Brian Kerley]

Pat, windows rt won't run your windows programs. To do what you want you would need the more expensive surface tablet pro that has the Intel chip

[Pat Barry]

Ah, more expensive eh? Well here's hoping that will be cheap enough - $500?

[Larry Browning]

I have never had any luck (or like) with any Apple products. My perception of these products is that they are a what you see is what you get kind of thing. I have always been a get in there, take it apart, see how it works, put it back together, and see what else i can make it do, kind of guy. You just can't do that with any Apple product. It does what it does and that is it. No messing around, or tweeking it to make it do neat stuff.
I think the very thing I don't like about them is the thing that others love about them. They are always saying "I just want it to work, I don't care how it works." How Boring! Where's the fun in that? I guess it boils down to what you want from a product.

[Brian Kerley]

Ah, more expensive eh? Well here's hoping that will be cheap enough - $500?

Well, it all depends....

The Surface RT tablet should cost around $400-500. Now, there are talks of Microsoft heavily subsidizing it, or providing it cheaply if you do a subscription to a microsoft service of some kind. But, that leaves their hardware partners unable to compete. Not a smart idea, but they still may do it. Regardless, the hardware still will cost what the hardware costs, which will be in the $300-400 range before marking it up to try to recover engineering costs, profit margins, marketing, etc.

That being said, an intel based version is likely double the price. As an example, ACER (usually a more affordable brand) has just unveiled an ultrabook with an 11.6" screen that is crazy thin, with a touchscreen running windows 8 and intel chips. Let's say you eliminate the nvidia card and remove the keyboard/trackpad, the intel hardware and screen are likely what would be in a Surface Pro style tablet. They are saying it will be about $1500. Even if you could trim it down, cutting the price in half would be huge. At 50%, you are still looking at $750 for a pro-style tablet. The Surface Pro is probably going to be around $800, but no one knows, and Microsoft isn't announcing anything for a while. It will be coming out a few months after the 26th, so there may be some more details in the coming months. Just not possible to get that kind of hardware down to $500 yet.

[Larry Browning]

Though that's interesting.....just seems highly unlikely. Hopefully it's true as I would definitely pick one up at that price.

Yeah, but what if it were true? I think it would be a brilliant move on Microsoft's part. It could be just the thing to de-throne Apple's hold one this market.
I think MS is big enough to take the hit of a few manufactures getting POed at them. What are they going to do? Start putting Linux on their machines? Fat chance.
It makes since, so MS probably won't do it!

[Brian Kerley]

Yeah, but what if it were true? I think it would be a brilliant move on Microsoft's part. It could be just the thing to de-throne Apple's hold one this market.
It makes since, so MS probably won't do it!

I don't agree with that. It's a brilliant move for the consumers, but a terrible business move.

The problem is that if the hardware really is $300, and you sell it for $200, you take a hit on every tablet sold. That's fine, because Microsoft can eat the price, and they can do things like subscription services to Office 365, etc., so they will make it back if it's around $15/month for two years (like what they do for the xbox). The problem comes with your hardware partners. Samsung, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, etc. can't sell tablets that cheap because they will never have a way to recoup that price. They won't have that subscription service to use to their advantage. What Microsoft could do is give money to their hardware partners, but that's not likely as they are direct competitors now. So, if your partners can't make money selling hardware, they just will stop making it. Good luck getting people to use your OS if no one makes any hardware.

The argument could be made that by selling your own hardware you will make your own market and to heck with your partners, but that's a tough road. Look at Android. Google sells very few Android phones, while their partners sell a large majority of the phones and tablets.

There are ways of mitigating some of this, it just doesn't seem to be a smart business move. They could still do it, and I'd pick one up without thinking at that price (if no subscription is needed), but it would be strange.

[Larry Browning]

All this crazy talk leads us back to the OP's original question. I think the best thing to do right now is to wait and see what happens in the tablet market over the next few months. I think by Christmas the market will be much clearer and the choices a little more defined.

[Curt Harms]

I have never had any luck (or like) with any Apple products. My perception of these products is that they are a what you see is what you get kind of thing. I have always been a get in there, take it apart, see how it works, put it back together, and see what else i can make it do, kind of guy. You just can't do that with any Apple product. It does what it does and that is it. No messing around, or tweeking it to make it do neat stuff.
I think the very thing I don't like about them is the thing that others love about them. They are always saying "I just want it to work, I don't care how it works." How Boring! Where's the fun in that? I guess it boils down to what you want from a product.

I'm kinda the same way but from what I've read, the Microsoft ARM based devices are going to resemble Apple more than the traditional Windows model. The only 'legal' software source is going to be Microsoft's app store, the boot loader is going to be locked so no non-Microsoft ROMs. X86 devices will continue to be more open and flexible but more $ and less battery life. At least that's my understanding of it.

[Myk Rian]

My take on the subject;

Android has Kindle apps, so you don't need to buy a Kindle.
I'm sooo tired of i-this and i-that.
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. (love it)
Anything Microsoft turns me off.

[Larry Browning]

I'm all in on Apple bashing! But I am a Windows guy. Linux is beyond my comfort zone though.

[Larry Browning]

We can debate about what MS should or should not do all day, but at the end of the day, they are gonna do what they are gonna do, and we have almost zero influence on it. Our only influence is with our wallet. I am happy to just wait it out to see what happens.
For me, my price point on these tablets is $200 - $250. I will not spend more than that. If the Surface comes in at that price, I will buy one, if not, I will probably go with the Nexus 7. Or, I might even wait for the next round whenever that is.

[Brian Kerley]

Well, the Kindle Fire line was just updated.

Kindle Fire - $159
Kindle Fire HD 7" - $199
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" - $299

Looks interesting from a software standpoint. The price is definitely competitive too. If you aren't a Prime member, it's not as compelling. But, if you are a prime member, it starts to look real nice.

[Dave Lehnert]

The new Kindle Fire 8.9" HD tablet will come with 4G LTE cellular data network. For $50 a year you get 250MB of data access.
I have no concept of how much data 250MB is. Can someone give me an example.

[Matt Meiser]

Not much. I use 2-3 on my cell phone every month but I'm probably a heavy web/email user. I don't stream music or video. Is 250 a month or a year?

And if they are using AT&T's 4GLTE network, the coverage is very poor still. Verizon's is growing rapidly and should be fully deployed in 15 months.

[Larry Browning]

Best I can tell, I think there are 2 versions of the 8.9" HD
One without the 4G LTE - $299
One with the 4G LTE - $499

[Larry Browning]

Not much. I use 2-3 on my cell phone every month but I'm probably a heavy web/email user. I don't stream music or video. Is 250 a month or a year?

And if they are using AT&T's 4GLTE network, the coverage is very poor still. Verizon's is growing rapidly and should be fully deployed in 15 months.

It's AT&T, and I think that is 250mb a month. The article I read said the data plan from AT&T would start at $50yr, which makes me believe there are other plans available.

I found this in another article:
"What is, perhaps, the most aggressive feature among any of the models is the data plan on the 4G model, which costs $50 a year. Users get 250MB of cellular data per month along with 20GB of cloud storage from Amazon's Cloud Drive service. While not great if you're a big video watcher or app downloader, the plans are considerably cheaper than those for other tablets with cellular service. That includes Apple's 4G iPad data plan, which Amazon calculated to cost $230 for an equivalent year of service."

[Phil Thien]

I like our original Fire. My wife uses that one mostly. She would like a larger screen, though, so I'm sure we're going to get the HD.

So we will have an original iPad, an iPad 3, a Kinda Fire, and a Kindle Fire HD.

I think my family is addicted to these tablet things!

[Myk Rian]

For $30/month I get 2gb data on my Verizon Samsung GS3 4G. 250mb really isn't much.
Since almost all my data usage is over wifi, I'll only see anywhere near that limit when away from home, or other wifi access points for extended periods.
A Kindle app is pre-installed. The 4.8" screen makes reading easy enough if you set-up the zoom. Took me the best part of a week to find that.

The dual CPU and 2gb RAM makes this phone faster than any of my present computers. Youtube videos are stunning in the HD display.
A Comcast app lets me change the cable channels from the phone, as well as record programs.
The GPS and mapping programs are as accurate as my Garmins. The mapping programs use up your data limits. Road and satellite views are included.
I'm really enjoying this thing. It's amazing.

[Brian Kerley]

The new Kindle Fire 8.9" HD tablet will come with 4G LTE cellular data network. For $50 a year you get 250MB of data access.
I have no concept of how much data 250MB is. Can someone give me an example.


Not quite.

The $299 does not include 4G access. The 4G version is $499.

250MB is not much. Granted, you get it on a monthly basis, but stream one HD movie and you will eat through 2-3 times that. If you are just downloading books and magazines, it won't use much data at all.

With 4G, if you have an ATT plan already, it would likely be better to add this device as part of a family data-share plan that just rolled out last month.

[Curt Harms]

I see TV ads about watching videos on a phone. Why would anybody want to watch a video on a 3" - 4" screen? 9" or 10" tablet I can see but 3" - 4"? The only reason I can come up with is the same reason a Tom Cat licks himself -- because he can.

[Brian Kerley]

Watching little YouTube videos is fine. Watching entire episodes of a TV show or a movie really only make sense if you have no other choice.

[Scott Shepherd]

I see TV ads about watching videos on a phone. Why would anybody want to watch a video on a 3" - 4" screen? 9" or 10" tablet I can see but 3" - 4"? The only reason I can come up with is the same reason a Tom Cat licks himself -- because he can.

Because you can't take a tablet into the bathroom at work :D

[Mike Cozad]

Because you can't take a tablet into the bathroom at work :D
Bahaha!! Now that's funny! I need to get a WiFi AP installed in there!

[Greg Portland]

I see TV ads about watching videos on a phone. Why would anybody want to watch a video on a 3" - 4" screen? 9" or 10" tablet I can see but 3" - 4"? The only reason I can come up with is the same reason a Tom Cat licks himself -- because he can.
Phones can have longer battery life; this is useful if you're watching movies on a long plane trip.

[Curt Harms]

Because you can't take a tablet into the bathroom at work :D

Well, there is that! :D:D