Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Readers > Kobo Reader > Kobo Tablets

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 11-01-2011, 08:56 PM   #1
ron1959
Connoisseur
ron1959 began at the beginning.
 
ron1959's Avatar
 
Posts: 62
Karma: 10
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: somewhere in the milky way
Device: potential kobo vox owner
kobo vox vs samsung galaxy tab 7 plus

I'm curious what people think of the samsung galaxy tab coming out this month?
Here are a few specs that have the vox beat:
Honey Comb 3.2 plus TouchWiz
Dual Core 1.2 GHZ
3.0 MP rear camera, 2.0 MP front camera
Android 3.2 OS with open access to over 250,000 apps
16 GB memory
1080 x 800 (I think)
bluetooth
etc.
The retail price is $399 but I think that price has to drop quickly to compete with the kindle fire (also coming out this month in US) and kobo vox to I suppose.
I might wait instead of buying the vox & see what happens....if it goes to $300 I would scoop it over the vox for sure.

The Vox has the pulse feature & book awards, etc which I'm not sure would be available on the samsung. And it has the better price.
Is there anything else the vox has that's not on other tablets?

So vox or galaxy tab? What do you think?
ron1959 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 09:04 PM   #2
SCION
Séduisant
SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SCION ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 4,706
Karma: 2107018
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Texas, USA
Device: Boox Note Air2+; Kobo Libra2; Kindle Scribe, Oasis3; iPad Mini6
I think if one wants to spend $400 on a tablet, they're probably not considering the Vox or the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire isn't competing with any tablets. The current NOOKcolor isn't even competition. It's catering to those who want the Amazon ecosystem. So, I doubt the Samsung is going to lower the price because of the Fire. The Fire's not an open Android device. Apples and oranges.
SCION is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 09:44 PM   #3
Haesslich
Fanatic
Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 534
Karma: 1138182
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: Kobo Touch,Glo,Mini,Aura/HD/One,H20, Sony PRS-300/600, Kindle 3-PW
You're comparing two different markets, as SCION noted. The Fire and Vox aren't aimed at people who want tablets which do everything - they're aimed at eBook readers who want something that'll do their current eBook readers can't do - stream video and music and browse the web.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" Plus is aimed at people who want a fully functional 7" tablet... for the same price you could buy a Galaxy Tab 8.9" at on sale, or an Acer Iconia A500. I don't see Samsung lowering the price anytime soon - they haven't done so yet, and neither have most Android tablet makers. They're still thinking that they can compete with the iPad on equal footing... despite a sub-par experience in Honeycomb. And no ecosystem to support their tablets as it currently exists.
Haesslich is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 09:49 PM   #4
pokee
Fanatic
pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.pokee has too *@%# much karma.
 
Posts: 569
Karma: 199759
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Vancouver, BC
Device: Kobo WiFi, Kobo Glo, Kobo Vox, Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Tab2
I am not exactly sure that is entirely true. If the Playbook or Galaxy Tab 7" were priced comparably, I probably would've gone for one of them. For me, it was the size and price that were the sellers. I liked what Kobo had to offer in the Vox, but if I could get the camera and 3G included, that would be worth a little more money...

I believe Pulse is supposed to be available to anyone who has downloaded the Kobo app - not sure when that will be. Hopefully soon, because the Pulse is very low at the moment (pun intended!!!). I am discussing my books with...myself! At least for the books I am reading (and some are popular!).
pokee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 10:05 PM   #5
Haesslich
Fanatic
Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 534
Karma: 1138182
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: Kobo Touch,Glo,Mini,Aura/HD/One,H20, Sony PRS-300/600, Kindle 3-PW
Quote:
Originally Posted by pokee View Post
I am not exactly sure that is entirely true. If the Playbook or Galaxy Tab 7" were priced comparably, I probably would've gone for one of them. For me, it was the size and price that were the sellers. I liked what Kobo had to offer in the Vox, but if I could get the camera and 3G included, that would be worth a little more money...

I believe Pulse is supposed to be available to anyone who has downloaded the Kobo app - not sure when that will be. Hopefully soon, because the Pulse is very low at the moment (pun intended!!!). I am discussing my books with...myself! At least for the books I am reading (and some are popular!).
I find the screen on the Vox better than those two better tablets... and honestly, they're never going to drop the prices to the $200 mark on either. Nor do I expect anyone except Amazon to be willing to do so, as they're out there to make money selling hardware.

Tablet cameras have, in every review I've seen, been kinda crappy. From my own experience in using them, most of them aren't very good or functional due to the size of the tablet. Everyone else but Kobo and Amazon so far has been focused on making money with hardware, since Android doesn't provide them with any other way of recouping their losses should they be selling the hardware at a less-than-premium price. And as I said before, Honeycomb's an awful OS for a tablet... and after trying out the Acer A100 at the store, I'd never ever buy one for $299, not for less battery life and a worse screen than the $199 Kobo Vox.

Maybe we need a few more years, so that tablets can go the route laptops have.
Haesslich is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 10:44 PM   #6
ron1959
Connoisseur
ron1959 began at the beginning.
 
ron1959's Avatar
 
Posts: 62
Karma: 10
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: somewhere in the milky way
Device: potential kobo vox owner
Ok you people are making some good points.
I think there may be 2 different topics here:
1) Would you buy the samsung over the kobo vox if the price was more competitive ; for example $300?
2) Will samsung drop the price of the galaxy tab down to that level? I kinda thought they would but maybe not based on the comments here...plus I just did a quick amazon look at a couple 7" tablets ...I think the acer one was $350ish, which seems high to me.
ron1959 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 10:54 PM   #7
3d0g
I make fjords.
3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.3d0g can tame squirrels without the assistance of a chair or a whip.
 
Posts: 304
Karma: 11192
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Colorado
Device: kobo 1 (retired), kobo 2, iPad, G2, Galaxy Tab 7+
I've been playing with the Gen 1 7" Galaxy Tab the past couple weeks and it's a mixed bag, mostly because of battery life. On the upside, for reading in bed, it's the perfect size and the weight is acceptable. It's also damn fast for an Android device - something most reviews don't bother to mention. I even got it to support voice calls via SIP and Android 2.3.

From a full charge however, it shows a whopping 90 minutes of runtime. I've found that for night reading, when the backlight is typically at its lowest setting, it does way better than this but it's nothing like my iPad which I may need to charge once or twice a week. You basically have to treat it like a cell phone - always mindful of where the charger's at - and that's a real game-changer over normal e-readers (or the iPad, to be honest).
3d0g is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 10:56 PM   #8
Haesslich
Fanatic
Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 534
Karma: 1138182
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: Kobo Touch,Glo,Mini,Aura/HD/One,H20, Sony PRS-300/600, Kindle 3-PW
1) Not until Android gets a lot better in terms of available apps and the interface for its tablets. $300 is too much for the Acer Iconia A100, which specs-wise is pretty similar to the Galaxy Tab 7" Plus.

2) Never. They price their products at a premium as they expect people to see them in the same way that people see iPads. And $350 is high; too high, really. Android, as it stands in the tablet market, can't beat the iPad in terms of the app ecosystem (there's a lot of crap in iOS-land, but a lot of good apps too) or ease-of-use at the moment. Look at how often you may have to reboot a Kobo Vox, and that's using the more STABLE version of Android (Gingerbread). Google doesn't have the will to assert its standards with either the hardware makers or the telecom companies which keep forcing Android onto sub-standard hardware or lock it down so heavily that you can't do anything with it. Or else they won't enforce a common standard which means that the $9.99 game you bought on one tablet will work on another... even though they share the same CPU, RAM, and OS.
Haesslich is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 11:17 PM   #9
ron1959
Connoisseur
ron1959 began at the beginning.
 
ron1959's Avatar
 
Posts: 62
Karma: 10
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: somewhere in the milky way
Device: potential kobo vox owner
Quote:
Originally Posted by Haesslich View Post
1) Not until Android gets a lot better in terms of available apps and the interface for its tablets. $300 is too much for the Acer Iconia A100, which specs-wise is pretty similar to the Galaxy Tab 7" Plus.

2) Never. They price their products at a premium as they expect people to see them in the same way that people see iPads. And $350 is high; too high, really. Android, as it stands in the tablet market, can't beat the iPad in terms of the app ecosystem (there's a lot of crap in iOS-land, but a lot of good apps too) or ease-of-use at the moment. Look at how often you may have to reboot a Kobo Vox, and that's using the more STABLE version of Android (Gingerbread). Google doesn't have the will to assert its standards with either the hardware makers or the telecom companies which keep forcing Android onto sub-standard hardware or lock it down so heavily that you can't do anything with it. Or else they won't enforce a common standard which means that the $9.99 game you bought on one tablet will work on another... even though they share the same CPU, RAM, and OS.

So what do you think of the vox? Sounds like you are more inclined to buy an ipad....

Oops quick edit - you have the vox, right? I was looking at your Device description....

Last edited by ron1959; 11-01-2011 at 11:19 PM. Reason: quick edit
ron1959 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 11:53 PM   #10
Haesslich
Fanatic
Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Haesslich ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 534
Karma: 1138182
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: Kobo Touch,Glo,Mini,Aura/HD/One,H20, Sony PRS-300/600, Kindle 3-PW
The Kobo Vox, as I've mentioned elsewhere, is my basic tablet. It's portable, and the reason I bought it was for the screen, which is superb. Not for the OS, but for the good screen and moderate size. It's not the best TABLET... but it suits my purposes nicely. And the price point is about right at $199 - lower would be better, but it's where I need it to be, and the Kindle Fire will be useless outside the United States due to the lack of cloud support, the lack of Amazon Prime and its video and music options, etc.

Most Android tablets, I am sorry to say, are crap. Overpriced and underpowered for what they provide. They also get very little support from their makers; ASUS has committed to bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to the Transformer, but they're one of the few who even bothered updating their tablets to 3.2 in a timely fashion. Motorola only JUST got 3.2 deployed... despite being the 'Google Experience' designate for this generation of tablets (aka: they're the flagship tablet that Google uses to show off the power of Android 3.x).

While it's heavily locked down and the browser's restricted as hell (as is the rest of the software, which innovates about as well as Microsoft does - in other words, they have to borrow concepts from third party apps and then present them as original brainstorms), the iPad is a pretty decent table as far as usability goes. I don't have to constantly restart it; if I buy an app in the App Store, I can be certain that it'll work on any iPad I own now, or may own two years from now (barring ones that need the camera). I buy a game for the iPad 1, and I can easily move it to an iPad 2 that is registered to the same account.

The Vox does not impress me hardware or software-wise, aside from the screen. Where it does impress me is the price point, including the AFFS screen which works decently in direct sunlight. It's a 'good enough' tablet for its price. I can live with it, whereas I'd deeply regret spending the extra $100 for a Honeycomb-based tablet which will be obsolete as soon as the Tegra 3 platform arrives in a month.... and which is likely to lose active support from its manufacturer shortly thereafter as they focus on selling the Xoom 2/Transformer 2/whatever.

WebOS was nice.. but again, HP screwed up by delivering the tablet a year too late to matter, not finessing it so it wasn't sluggish due to excessive logging which would've been useful for a QC tester, but made the OS horribly slow unless you turned it off), and by overpricing it for what it did ($579 regular price for a tablet that has no app support versus the thinner, more popular iPad 2).

You can probably tell I've been hanging around that scene too long.

Last edited by Haesslich; 11-02-2011 at 12:00 AM.
Haesslich is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
i'm new to samsung galaxy tab, what's next metal1369 Android Devices 35 08-17-2011 09:26 PM
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v vs. 10.1 mgmueller Android Devices 6 07-22-2011 05:41 AM
Wi-Fi Only Samsung Galaxy Tab jocampo News 33 01-30-2011 01:20 PM
Kobo and the Samsung Galaxy Tab SameOldStory News 19 11-16-2010 09:24 AM
Samsung Galaxy Tab mgmueller Android Devices 96 11-16-2010 08:19 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:20 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.