help buying android device.

[mpd123]

hi,

i am looking at getting an android tablet,i have looked on the internet for a device but there are so many different models i am a little confused.
i think android 3 is the latest os.


i dont want to spend a fortune around £200,there seem to be a lot of cheaper devices and i know you get what you pay for and a lot of the devices run v1.6 but as i understand it the minimum for best performance is v2-2.2.

does anybody have any devices they can recommend or any sites that will shed some more light on the subject.

cheers ,mick.

[jocampo]

Knowing for what you need or are going to use the device, will help for sure ...

They come in different sizes, where most common or popular are 7 and 10 inches. The 1st one is more portable and easy to carry one. The 10 inches screen gives you a better experience for videos, magazines, PDFs and even browsing.

Even though Honeycomb is the most recent Android version and all people are talking about, Froyo can meet your expectations and the tablet will work perfectly fine. A good example of that is the Galaxy Tab, which you can get in USA for about 500 dollars.

Some people use tablets as dedicated e-readers, other as multipurpose device or even for games. Like I said at the beginning of the post, knowing what you want, will help you narrowing your choices.

I would no expect a cheap and good Android tablet (with good exceptions) so you should keep that in mind as well.

And by the way, the performance is dictated by the hardware, like the CPU and RAM, not only by the Operating System. The Android version will run more or less fast depending of the hardware you're running.

[mpd123]

thanks for the reply,

i would prefer a 10" device,for web,ebooks,and film.

however what is froyo?

cheers mick

[jocampo]

Froyo is Android 2.2, the Android version.

For ebooks, web and video, I suggest the Galaxy Tab 10" or the Motorola Xoom. The Motorola Xoom uses most recent Android version, which is Honeycomb, so probably you should put that on the top of your list.

I own a Galaxy Tab 7". It is not my dedicated e-reader device but it can be used as ereader. Too small for films or videos but portable and light.

One thing, you cannot use Netflix on Android, however, I think there is an application or company who provides some kind of "proxy" or middle man service and allows you to watch Netflix for a fee or something, don't remember very well. Wanted to mention that because I don't know if you are a Netflix user or not.

Did you also check iPads? I must confess I'm not an Apple products fan, but the screen is good enough for videos and you can use Kindle and B&N app on it. I actually bought the wifi version to read Magazines and handle my PDFs. The new iPad2 is also coming. You won't get Flash content, but knowing its limitations and features, could be a nice device for you. iPads play Netflix, that was a positive thing to me.

I find it nicely suited as a general purpose web surfer/email use and very nice as an ereader. It's much lighter than the IPad, and I am using Moon+ reader [free in market] after having tried many, many others including Nook, Kindle and Sony. I have small hands and find that the 7" tablet is perfect for me. Moon+ has the ability to continuously scroll also which is a neat way to read books with no page turn needed!

The Sprint Galaxy Tab is now $299 with $29/mo for 2GByte of data - I had a Verizon tab but returned it in favor of the Sprint version.