106 replies to this topic

[Foulkey Reese]

Man that's just so expensive for something that the vast majority of people are going to use for Twitter, Facebook, and Angry Birds.

[zenter]

Man that's just so expensive for something that the vast majority of people are going to use for Twitter, Facebook, and Angry Birds.

Yup. It's at least $250 more than I'd pay.

I don't understand why none of these companies wants to knock the price ladder out from under Apple's feet, rather than trying to climb it. Marketshare matters. Besides, Creative helped drive down the iPod price, cheap Windows desktops forced the creation of the cheaper Mac mini, and netbooks helped drive down MacBook Air's price (slightly). The less Apple has marketshare, the less they make money via content, too.

Even though they priced the Xoom more or less at iPad 32GB's price point, they'd be in a much stronger competitive position if they undercut the iPad even by $50 - "More awesome for the same price." Put differently, even though the PS3 does more and has more history, Xbox 360 is cleaning its clock because it was for a long time cheaper. Even now, "equivalent" models cost less than PS3. Whoever decides to sell a vanilla Android tablet at competitive prices will really take a bite out of Apple.

[Jimy Hendrix]

Man that's just so expensive for something that the vast majority of people are going to use for Twitter, Facebook, and Angry Birds.

They seem to be able to match Apple pretty closely at the 32GB price point, so it seems really weird to me that they didn't try to get a 16GB model out there to compete at the $499 price point as well. That would do a lot to make the thing not feel expensive compared to an iPad, particularly to the consumer who is just more price sensitive than GB sensitive.

[Foulkey Reese]

Yup. It's at least $250 more than I'd pay.

I don't understand why none of these companies wants to knock the price ladder out from under Apple's feet, rather than trying to climb it. Marketshare matters. Besides, Creative helped drive down the iPod price, cheap Windows desktops forced the creation of the cheaper Mac mini, and netbooks helped drive down MacBook Air's price (slightly). The less Apple has marketshare, the less they make money via content, too.

Even though they priced the Xoom more or less at iPad 32GB's price point, they'd be in a much stronger competitive position if they undercut the iPad even by $50 - "More awesome for the same price." Put differently, even though the PS3 does more and has more history, Xbox 360 is cleaning its clock because it was for a long time cheaper. Even now, "equivalent" models cost less than PS3. Whoever decides to sell a vanilla Android tablet at competitive prices will really take a bite out of Apple.

Agreed on all counts.

For somebody not familiar with Android and it's strengths compared to Apple, what incentive does anybody have to buy one of these things over an iPad?

Give me a 7-8 inch $300-400 option and I would be all over it in a heartbeat.

Edited by Foulkey Reese, 17 February 2011 - 11:30 AM.

[santadevil]

Agreed on all counts.

For somebody not familiar with Android and it's strengths compared to Apple, what incentive does anybody have to buy one of these things over an iPad?

Give me a 7-8 inch $300-400 option and I would be all over it in a heartbeat.

I have given you this option, here: http://sonsofsamhorn...ost__p__3358898

Now, personally I am a little pissed at these guys, because for some reason they haven't disclosed, they won't sell or ship to people in Canada now, even though they sold me one in November and shipped it to me.

It's definitly not top of the line, but it works as advertised for me.
I use it to read (Kindle App), surf (Dolphin Browser) and it has great battery life.

But overall, I like this thing. I just won't be giving them my money in the foreseeable future because of them blocking out Canada.

[InstantKarmma]

Agreed on all counts.

For somebody not familiar with Android and it's strengths compared to Apple, what incentive does anybody have to buy one of these things over an iPad?

Give me a 7-8 inch $300-400 option and I would be all over it in a heartbeat.

My nook color should be here tomorrow (if I'm to believe the USPS tracking website). I plan on rooting it tomorrow night.

I'll let you know if I think it's a viable $250 option.

[Foulkey Reese]

My nook color should be here tomorrow (if I'm to believe the USPS tracking website). I plan on rooting it tomorrow night.

I'll let you know if I think it's a viable $250 option.

Good luck. If you have any issues send me a PM.

[BillMuellerFanClub]

Got the xoom at work today, very solid tablet. bigger in size than the ipad, good weight and solid build quality. operating system is incredible, though could use some tweaking. i'll see if i can snap a few pictures tomorrow and give a more thorough review.

[jayhoz]

Got the xoom at work today, very solid tablet. bigger in size than the ipad, good weight and solid build quality. operating system is incredible, though could use some tweaking. i'll see if i can snap a few pictures tomorrow and give a more thorough review.

Is it true that it does not support flash yet?

[JPA]

Got the xoom at work today, very solid tablet. bigger in size than the ipad, good weight and solid build quality. operating system is incredible, though could use some tweaking. i'll see if i can snap a few pictures tomorrow and give a more thorough review.

That would be much appreciated, thanks. How did you get your hands on a unit so early?

Is it true that it does not support flash yet?

Yesterday Motorola and Verizon confirmed that it doesn't yet have Flash support, but that an over the air update would be coming in a few weeks to fix this. I think it had something to do with Adobe not getting Flash 10.2 ready in time, rather than Motorola screwing up. Of course, since Motorola has advertised it as having Flash, it is pretty much a Motorola screw up too.

[4 6 3 DP]

For business purposes I need a tablet that can run multiple workbooks in excel, basically the whole microsoft office suite, and internet explorer.

Do any of the android tablets support this?

[jayhoz]

Xoom already rooted.

Edited by jayhoz, 25 February 2011 - 09:04 AM.

[Dernells Casket n Flagon]

I'm gonna wait a little more to get a few more reviews for the Xoom, but am seriously considering a trip to NH and buying the Xoom with 2 year contract.

[EddieYost]

I'm gonna wait a little more to get a few more reviews for the Xoom, but am seriously considering a trip to NH and buying the Xoom with 2 year contract.

Thank you for shopping in NH.

[JPA]

I'm gonna wait a little more to get a few more reviews for the Xoom, but am seriously considering a trip to NH and buying the Xoom with 2 year contract.

I sucked it up and bought the Xoom last night off-contract from Best Buy. I was not required to sign up for a one month contract and the wifi works just fine (so Best Buy saying that the wifi would be locked was complete BS).

I only had time to play around with it for a couple of hours, but so far it seems like a pretty good device. Websites load quickly and look good. My only initial complaint, which would apply to any tablet, is that web browsing is much less efficient than on a laptop because of the lack of a physical keyboard (so no shortcuts like ctrl-f, etc.). Hopefully this will just take some getting use to.

Time will tell if it was worth the hefty price tag.

By the way, the Motorola portfolio case is a piece of junk. I would recommend waiting for third-party cases to come out. It cost $40, but it's not even worth paying a quarter of that price.

[Dernells Casket n Flagon]

I sucked it up and bought the Xoom last night off-contract from Best Buy. I was not required to sign up for a one month contract and the wifi works just fine (so Best Buy saying that the wifi would be locked was complete BS).

I only had time to play around with it for a couple of hours, but so far it seems like a pretty good device. Websites load quickly and look good. My only initial complaint, which would apply to any tablet, is that web browsing is much less efficient than on a laptop because of the lack of a physical keyboard (so no shortcuts like ctrl-f, etc.). Hopefully this will just take some getting use to.

Time will tell if it was worth the hefty price tag.

By the way, the Motorola portfolio case is a piece of junk. I would recommend waiting for third-party cases to come out. It cost $40, but it's not even worth paying a quarter of that price.

One question, I'm hoping to get answered by Verizon is whether, if you pay the $35 if you can go month to month just paying $20 to turn on data. I've heard varying rumors from, you'd need to pay $35 every time you turn data on, to a one time $35 fee that then lets you activate or deactivate the $20 monthly plan similar to AT&T.

[naclone]

anyone having any luck getting avi, mp4, mkv, etc. videos playing on their Xoom?

[4 6 3 DP]

Sorry to re-post the same question - but are there any android tablets that will:

Sync with my outlook calendars
Use Internet Explorer (a must, the web-based application we use at work only uses IE)
Work with fairly complex, multi-worksheet excel documents

Thanks for anyone with experience.

[behindthepen]

LG's G-slate on T-Mo:

* 4G and Wi-Fi capable
* Brilliant 8.9" HD screen
* Dual rear-facing 5MP cameras for 3D video capture, HD video capture, and photo capture
* Front facing camera for video chat
* 32GB internal memory
* Adobe® Flash® Player support
* NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor 1GHz

starts at $529 with a 2 year contract and MIR.

[Corsi]

Woot has this today for $279.99 + $5 shipping

ViewSonic gTablet 10.1" Multi-touch Tablet

Specs:

• CPU: 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 - Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9
• Memory: 512MB DDR2
• Video: NVIDIA Tegra 2
  • HDMI
• LCD: 10.1" (1024 x 600) w/ Webcam
• Storage: 16GB + expandable via MicroSD
• Wireless: WiFi N, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Battery: 3650mAh Li-ion polymer battery (8-10 hours)
• OS: Android 2.2

Read more about it in the slickdeals thread here: http://slickdeals.ne...d.php?t=2777365

Edited by Corsi, 23 March 2011 - 09:34 AM.

[PortlandSoxFan]

I still am not sure I have a need for a tablet, but since this is basically the same cost as the Nook Color, I jumped on it and will play around. Evidently the OS out of the box sucks, but there is a healthy dev community that will allow you to root and install your own rom.

[Dernells Casket n Flagon]

I still am not sure I have a need for a tablet, but since this is basically the same cost as the Nook Color, I jumped on it and will play around. Evidently the OS out of the box sucks, but there is a healthy dev community that will allow you to root and install your own rom.

I believe Viewsonic has also themselves said that they're working to make sure Honeycomb is available on it.

[jayhoz]

Xoom WiFi is out: $599

Staples

BestBuy

[Foulkey Reese]

Xoom WiFi is out: $599

Staples

BestBuy

I played with one at Staples on Sunday and holy shit did I fall in love with it. The thing is just blindingly fast. I haven't tried an iPad2, but it blew the iPad 1 out of the water. Great screen, great speakers, ect.

$599 is still too much, but if they knock $100 off of it I could see picking one up around the holidays.

[JPA]

I played with one at Staples on Sunday and holy shit did I fall in love with it. The thing is just blindingly fast. I haven't tried an iPad2, but it blew the iPad 1 out of the water. Great screen, great speakers, ect.

$599 is still too much, but if they knock $100 off of it I could see picking one up around the holidays.

Keep your eye out for coupon codes from Motorola. A few days after the release of the 3g/4g Xoom, they released a $100 off coupon code (which only lasted for a couple of hours). I used it to buy a new Xoom and returned my original one to best buy.

[PortlandSoxFan]

got the Viewsonic today; charging now. First thing I'm going to do is put a custom ROM on it as I hear the one out of the box is shitty.

[CoRP]

[PortlandSoxFan]

gTablet on Woot RIGHT NOW...same $279 price, and well worth it, IMHO.

[sachilles]

gTablet on Woot RIGHT NOW...same $279 price, and well worth it, IMHO.

It's a woot off today, so it may not last long.

[PortlandSoxFan]

it was there for a good hour.

[jayhoz]

CR takes a look at tablets.

[johnmd20]

Got a Xoom today, 32GB wifi, it is really fantastic. I coupled it with the new LTE MiFi which is so beyond fast, I am blown away. Believe the hype, it is 8-10 times as fast as 3G, blazing fast. Not quite as fast as my home cable connection, but, I have to say, it's close. I repeat, believe the hype.

So back to the Xoom, I'm surprised at how much I like it, it has some things that are better than the iPad, some worse, and some way better.(can play Weewar on it, having flash is nice)

Syncing with Gmail took 33 seconds, the camera is excellent, the tabbed browsing is super convenient, and now I have to play around with it to get it completely set up. I have to say, I'm genuinely impressed. I have an iPad, not the 2, and Xoom hangs with the first iPad and doesn't break a sweat. It was a good day of technology for me.

[plusbrians]

G-Slate announced today for Wed 4/20 official release date - $750 no contract and $530 w/ a 2 year on TMO... Gonna get me one I think -

[plusbrians]

So I picked up the GSlate, and man o man is it nuts! I flies speed wise, I ran a 2060 Quadrant on it bone stock as soon as I opened it...

Now, I'm a BB phone user, but had to go Android for my tablet. I've used Froyo quite a bit, and Honeycomb is taking a bit to get used to.. Are there not alot of apps that are 3.0 compatible? Specifically, it didn't pick up the Yahoo messenger/plug in app for Yahoo Video chat. I found them on the web in some places, but it pulls one of the two cameras as my video feed for the user on the other end.

Other than that, I love it.. 3D video capture is awesome! I think the Zoom is 3.0 - anyone else run into this?

[JPA]

So I picked up the GSlate, and man o man is it nuts! I flies speed wise, I ran a 2060 Quadrant on it bone stock as soon as I opened it...

Now, I'm a BB phone user, but had to go Android for my tablet. I've used Froyo quite a bit, and Honeycomb is taking a bit to get used to.. Are there not alot of apps that are 3.0 compatible? Specifically, it didn't pick up the Yahoo messenger/plug in app for Yahoo Video chat. I found them on the web in some places, but it pulls one of the two cameras as my video feed for the user on the other end.

Other than that, I love it.. 3D video capture is awesome! I think the Zoom is 3.0 - anyone else run into this?

Not all applications have been optimized for Honeycomb, but more and more are coming out each day. Many (but not all) applications will still work on Honeycomb even if they are not optimized, although sometimes the graphics and layouts are not ideal.

Here is a list of Honeycomb optimized apps:

http://forum.android...st-n-155-a.html

I'm sure there are many other such lists on different websites. If an app costs money, I would do some research beforehand to make sure it works on Honeycomb (although I've probably only bought a handful of apps). Otherwise, if its free, just download it and see if it will work.

Also worth checking out is the Amazon App Store free app of the day. This is not Honeycomb specific, but it has some good apps for free that you may otherwise be tempted to pay money for.

Glad you're enjoying the G-slate. After buying the Xoom I stopped following the tablet news. How much did it run you?

By the way, Honeycomb does take some time to get use to, but once you've played around with it for a couple of days it gets to feel very intuitive.

Edited by JPA, 02 May 2011 - 09:40 AM.

[plusbrians]

Not all applications have been optimized for Honeycomb, but more and more are coming out each day. Many (but not all) applications will still work on Honeycomb even if they are not optimized, although sometimes the graphics and layouts are not ideal.

Here is a list of Honeycomb optimized apps:

http://forum.android...st-n-155-a.html

I'm sure there are many other such lists on different websites. If an app costs money, I would do some research beforehand to make sure it works on Honeycomb (although I've probably only bought a handful of apps). Otherwise, if its free, just download it and see if it will work.

Also worth checking out is the Amazon App Store free app of the day. This is not Honeycomb specific, but it has some good apps for free that you may otherwise be tempted to pay money for.

Glad you're enjoying the G-slate. After buying the Xoom I stopped following the tablet news. How much did it run you?

By the way, Honeycomb does take some time to get use to, but once you've played around with it for a couple of days it gets to feel very intuitive.

Thanks- I got it for $500 at T-Mobile (2gb/mo plan) - I'll check out that list - I've already noticed some SUCK on 3.0 - HELLO NESN!

[DanoooME]

gTablet on Woot RIGHT NOW...same $279 price, and well worth it, IMHO.

This same tablet is back on Woot today, for $10 cheaper. I got it the last time and love it.

[EddieYost]

Is the nook color still the cheapest android tablet out there? Thinking about getting a tablet for my 8 year old. He would play games, listen to music, browse learning web sites...and that's about it. Looking for cheap, reliable and no contract or data plan or anything like that.

[EddieYost]

Oh and I want to be able to install free android market apps on it.

[jercra]

Oh and I want to be able to install free android market apps on it.

The Nook color can certainly do all of that for $250 new (less if you look on craigslist and don't mind used) but it won't do it out of the box and has some limitations compared to other tablets.

Firstly, you will need to do a bit of "hacking" to get access to the full android market. I own the Nook color and love it but I work with computers every day and have no fear of "hacking". It's pretty straight forward, well documented and well supported by the XDA community. The first time I tried it took me 45 minutes. Subsequent attempts took about 20 minutes. There are several people on SoSH who have done the same and seem willing to help if you have issues.

Secondly, there are some limitations compared to other tablets that you may or may not care about. There is no built in GPS, it's WiFi only, there is no camera (front or back), there is no microphone, no compass, bluetooth support is still a work in progress and it looks like it will never get a stable Honeycomb build. The HC limitation is because Google hasn't released source code and it's virtually certain that the Nook will get Ice Cream Sandwich when it's out in a few months so the current Gingerbread will not be the final software for the Nook. The final limitation, that I am aware of, is that you can't use interactive Nook children's books in the Nook for Android app. This is only a limitation in comparison to the stock Nook Color as e-reader and not compared to other Android tablets that would have the same restriction. Some of these restrictions can be overcome if you can tether to your phone.

The Nook Color is still the cheapest tablet you can get and it's a phenomenally great device for the price (Quadrant benchmark scores once properly hacked match or exceed purpose built tablets with ease). The only real competition I see for it is the new Vizeo tablet that's coming out in the next few weeks. The full specs haven't been released yet (for reasons beyond comprehension) but what's known is that it will have camera(s), bluetooth and Honeycomb. It's likely to also have built in GPS. It's already been priced at $349 at Walmart.

In the end I would say that if you need something now and don't mind a bit of simple hacking then go for the Nook. If you don't mind waiting a bit and paying a bit more then wait to see the final specs of the Vizeo tablet.

Edited by jercra, 12 June 2011 - 11:41 AM.

[Pesky Pole]

Has anyone used the Toshiba Thrive yet? Seems like an interesting entry. Full size USB, HDMI and SD card ports, replaceable battery, etc.

[TheRooster]

Got the Asus epad Transformer for my wife. Seems pretty impressive.

[BillMuellerFanClub]

the thrive is one of the best tablets on the market as far as performance and features. its aesthetics leave something to be desired and the tablet doesn't feel as solid as some of its competitors but its swappable battery and peripheral ports are huge pluses.

[Foulkey Reese]

Got the Asus epad Transformer for my wife. Seems pretty impressive.

After getting shut out of the $99 HP I was overcome with the desire for an Android tablet and picked one of these things up. Aesthetically it's kind of ugly, but the thing FLIES on the latest version of Honeycomb.

Enjoying this quite a bit more than I expected too. Honeycomb blows Apple IOS out of the water when it comes to customizing the thing.

Edited by Foulkey Reese, 27 August 2011 - 11:47 AM.

[jayhoz]

HTC Jetstream

Who the hell is going to pay $700 plus sign a 2 year commitment for a tablet?

[BillMuellerFanClub]

signing a two-year contract on any tablet at this point is beyond foolhardy. the market is changing so rapidly that being tied to a device, especially for 700-850, for two years is just asking for a hindsight rear-end kicking. not to mention that its at&t.

[Foulkey Reese]

The Jetstream is also available for $849.99 for customers looking to purchase the tablet without a contract.

Christ. I can't believe how inept some of these companies are at competing with the iPad. That's a joke.

[jayhoz]

Christ. I can't believe how inept some of these companies are at competing with the iPad. That's a joke.

Guys, guys, guys...we are overlooking one critical thing. It comes with a free stylus!!

[NortheasternPJ]

Wow what a ripoff. Between the MacBook air and the iPad so much for the "apple tax"

[Monbo Jumbo]

If I want a nice android tablet - wifi is plenty - what should I get? Should I wait for Ice Cream Sandwich?