My son and brother want one. They want to be able to:
Access their Audible and Amazon libraries somehow (my son has Audible, not my brother, but if anyone knows how to convert into mp3, that works)
Access Android Marketplace
Play/download vidoes (but not often)
Stream Netflix
Essentially they want a blown up version of a Droid phone. So I’m seeing all of these Tablets advertised for cheap and most seem to be, well, cheap. Froyo or no Flash support or can’t access a good marketplace without hacking it, blabla.
It’s Black Friday. I’m willing to brave the sales or buy it online, but I’m not even sure where to start.
KMart had some deals (they’re probably gone, though) and the Big Lots one seemed like a bad idea. Any others? Amazon have anything? I don’t even know what to look for anymore! Is this all right? With this, I can access Amazon and the Amazon AppStore - is that all I need? (Or they need?)
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. For some reaosn, buying a Tablet seems to be 10x more complicated than getting a smart phone, computer, TV, or mp3 player.
I’m assuming that you want to purchase a tablet computer without the extra expense of monthly access fees (such as those you’d get from a cellphone carrier such as Verizon or AT&T). In that case, your biggest problem is that the cost to manufacture one of those tablets is significantly higher than $100, so the best you could hope for would be something for which manufacturing has been discontinued and the vendor is just trying to unload leftover inventory.
By far the best tablet for even close to $100 is the nook color gen 1 refurb: Rakuten: Online & In-Store Cash Back | Shop 3,500 Stores!
Yes, you do need to install cyanogenmod to get the most of it, but it has good hardware and lots of people own it so there are plenty of tutorials on youtube
Don’t waste your time with any tablet that they can sell new for $150 or less -the hardware and screens are awful.
How about an Amazon Kindle? The cheapest one is $79, but it’s just an e-ink display, so I don’t think it’s going to run apps. For $199 you can get the Kindle Fire, which will run Android apps and Netflix. A bit more than your budget but I don’t know if there’s anything else out there. (BTW, I’ve already ordered a Kindle Fire for my brother’s family but haven’t seen it yet.)
Spend the extra hundred and get a Kindle Fire. Ours came last week. We bought it for books (honest!) and haven’t put it down. I also bought USB cables (not included) so I can upload our own books (PDFs), MP3s and videos.
The HP TouchPad, but they’re all gone now. I have a 32GB bought before the fire sale, and I’d buy it again. I also have an iPad so it isn’t just a sour grapes thing.
The non-Fire Kindles are not tablets. They’re e-readers. IMHO they’re great e-readers, though. I have one, as well as a Kindle Fire and an iPad (yes, I’m a gadget junkie), and I only read books on the regular Kindle because the e-ink screen is so nice for reading. I think it’s well worth buying if you want a device to read on, but it’s a completely different category from the other devices you’re talking about. All it’s good for is reading (and only stuff that doesn’t need a lot of photos, diagrams, color, etc.).
Well, I already have a Kindle 3G and my son uses that sometimes. I think I’ll just wait until after taxes or the new year and get a Fire. We can share it.
edit Maybe the TouchPads will be nice and cheap in a few months? Best Buy seems to be having a hard time unloading theirs.
No, the HP touchpads were discontinued and discounted down to $99 for 16gb/$150 for 32gb at the end of August. Which is what I assume Dolomite is referring to. I scored 2 at the fire sale prices back in August but you had to be watching slickdeals or fatwallet constantly to get one - as soon as any website went live with the $99 price they instantly had thousands of orders. Any article you are reading about Best Buy having trouble unloading them is from before the fire sale.
See HP's TouchPad fire sale: The fallout | ZDNET for an article about the fire sale.