I'm thinking of buying an Android tablet

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by RZetlin

I am not in favour of the Nexus because there is no SD Card expansion slot.
The Nexus is a like a sports car without a lot of storage room.

True but not everybody needs an expansion slot and text-heavy epubs take very little space. For the purpose of testing, I think it best to go for devices with biggest market share.

Mind, I do plan on getting either the Sero 7 Pro or MeMo Pad HD 7 for myself as I do require the expansion slot. So far, I've been making do with a cheapie Chinese Nexus 7 look-alike (Ainol Novo7 Venus). It's a bit laggy compared to my Nexus 7 (2012) but I'd rather deal with the slight lag than the storage restrictions. I've got a credit-card sized microSD card holder which is populated with eight 64GB cards so that's 512GB of storage in my wallet. No auxiliary power or charging required.

[AlexBell]

I'm still ploughing through reviews, so the Nexus 7 has risen to the top. But I don't want to be restricted to a single source; can anyone confirm that one can side load ebooks and music on to the Nexus 7 and other Android tablets?

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I'm still ploughing through reviews, so the Nexus 7 has risen to the top. But I don't want to be restricted to a single source; can anyone confirm that one can side load ebooks and music on to the Nexus 7 and other Android tablets?

Yes you can sideloaded books and music just fine. BTW, have you read this in depth review yet?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7231/t...-7-2013-review

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

BTW, have you read this in depth review yet?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7231/t...-7-2013-review

After I read the review earlier this morning, I placed my pre-order. Only curious part is that it is so frequently compared to the iPad 4, which costs twice as much and is a different size. But yes, the only real alternative to the N7 will be the next iPad mini, and who knows when that will be released. I meant to wait for it, but grew tired of the lack of information and I had wanted to get out of the Apple ecosystem anyway (triggered by Apple's persistence to keep the Fairplay DRM for e-books).

[Quelch]

Originally Posted by madsquabbles

you could always grab a sero 7 pro for 129 at walmart. the memo hd 7 for 149 is a wee bit smaller but with better battery life and smoother operation imo.

We don't have Walmart in Australia yet
Aldi has some reasonably priced tablets from time to time but I'd have to recommend the new Nexus 7 as I'm very happy with my old Nexus 7
Eight months old already

I use MoonReader Pro, FBReader, Aldiko and Kindle eBook readers on the Nexus 7

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Yes you can sideloaded books and music just fine. BTW, have you read this in depth review yet?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7231/t...-7-2013-review

Thanks, Canuck. No, I hadn't read the review, and find it convincing. My only concern is that it may take a while to arrive in Australia, so there goes my Father's Day present.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

I'm thinking very seriously about getting this but I think I'd like the LTE version. Of course, I'd like to see what Apple is going to do as well. Since the LTE version isn't released yet and the ipad mini retina hasn't been announced yet, I guess I'll just wait.

[Mivo]

I looked hard at the LTE version, but then decided that I would be better off with a mobile wifi LTE/UMTS router that works as a mobile hotspot. They have the size of a cigarette pack, run with a battery and (some) take prepaid cards too. I felt it is more flexible, makes inside locations a bit less problematic and costs marginally less. But for me it is only needed as a backup and not something that I use all the time.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I'm still ploughing through reviews, so the Nexus 7 has risen to the top. But I don't want to be restricted to a single source; can anyone confirm that one can side load ebooks and music on to the Nexus 7 and other Android tablets?

Consider it confirmed. I ONLY do side loads of both my music and my books! I got the 32gb Nexus and I have plenty of room to keep on loading stuff!

[Adoby]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Consider it confirmed. I ONLY do side loads of both my music and my books! I got the 32gb Nexus and I have plenty of room to keep on loading stuff!

The same here.

In addition it is easy to set up streaming of video or music from a network share on a NAS over wifi. So you can have Terrabytes of side loaded media instantly available to play on your tablet, if you wish.

Also calibre and a sync utility or calibre companion makes it easy to keep the book collection updated on your android device.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Mivo

I looked hard at the LTE version, but then decided that I would be better off with a mobile wifi LTE/UMTS router that works as a mobile hotspot. They have the size of a cigarette pack, run with a battery and (some) take prepaid cards too. I felt it is more flexible, makes inside locations a bit less problematic and costs marginally less. But for me it is only needed as a backup and not something that I use all the time.

I can use my tablet (iPad) as a mobile hotspot. It actually works better since it's got a much longer battery life than mobile hotspots I've used before (MiFi). Unlike the MiF, the tablet's also not prone to overheating.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by Mivo

I looked hard at the LTE version, but then decided that I would be better off with a mobile wifi LTE/UMTS router that works as a mobile hotspot. They have the size of a cigarette pack, run with a battery and (some) take prepaid cards too. I felt it is more flexible, makes inside locations a bit less problematic and costs marginally less. But for me it is only needed as a backup and not something that I use all the time.

I don't like the idea of having to carry around a separate device with me all the time and having to charge that as well. It's certainly advantageous in some circumstances (like using a laptop) but when I'm using a 7 inch tablet then in want to be super portable.
There's a deal where I live in Japan where I can get LTE of up to 1gb for about $20 per month. Once it goes over that there's no penalty but the bandwith is capped at 150kbps. Obviously I can't really be watching YouTube videos with only 1gb but it's enough for Web browsing and voice calls etc.

[AlexBell]

I'm still dithering about buying an Android Tablet, and have another beginner's question.

One of my reasons for buying a tablet would be to use it for email when I go interstate from time to time. Would it be possible to use my current email account, or would I be restricted to gmail? If I could only use gmail on the tablet I won't buy one.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I'm still dithering about buying an Android Tablet, and have another beginner's question.

One of my reasons for buying a tablet would be to use it for email when I go interstate from time to time. Would it be possible to use my current email account, or would I be restricted to gmail? If I could only use gmail on the tablet I won't buy one.

You can choose from a large variety of email programs with as many different email accounts as you like. My personal choice is K-9 Mail with three different email accounts in active use. It is necessary to have a Gmail account in order to use the Google Play Store though. If you do not want any Gmail account you could still use one or more of the independent app stores.

[AlexBell]

Thanks, Dave, that's most helpful. Father's Day in Australia this Sunday.