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Old 11-23-2011, 11:21 PM   #1
Noah98
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Budget tablet roundup

Well, so far I've gone tablet crazy in my holiday shopping this year.

I bought my wife a Kindle Fire ($199)
My dad a Vizio Tablet ($189.99)
And a Blackberry Playbook 16gb for me ($199)

All three tablets are quality devices, and you can't really go wrong with any of them. It just depends on your needs, since the prices are all so close. Here is how I would rank them:

Screen Quality:
1. Blackberry Playbook
2. Kindle Fire (Just slightly below the BP)
3. Vizio (In landscape mode, the viewing angles are not that great, but not terrible) ***I bought my dad the Vizio because his vision isn't great, and the 8" 4:3 screen makes surfing the web easier than a 7" 16:9 form factor (Note: I couldn't afford one with a 10.1 screen)

Interface/UI:
1. Blackberry Playbook (The bezel gestures are fun)
2. Kindle Fire (Love the Amazon integration and sharp looks)
3. Vizio (The launcher is simple, which is exactly what I wanted for my dad. I think Honeycomb would have confused him.)

Apps:
1. Vizio Tablet (Google Market, Amazon app store, etc.)
2. Kindle Fire (Sideloading isn't too difficult)
3. Blackberry Playbook (A distant 3rd! Until this thing gets updated in February and has native email, contacts, calendar, and the android player, it is very limited.)

Reading:
1. Kindle Fire (Amazon + sideloaded alternate readers and a nice size/weight for reading)
2. Vizio (Lots of choices: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc. but the size and weight make it not as comfortable as the KF. The screen quality while reading also lacks compared with the other two)
3. Blackberry Playbook (Stuck with Kobo and a few generic epub readers right now. The size and weight are nice though.)

Storage:
1. Vizio ( 4gbs with only about 2 usable, but the micro sd card slot makes up for it)
2. Blackberry Playbook (16 gbs, but no sd card slot)
3. Kindle Fire (8gb with only 6.5 usable + unlimited Amazon content + 5gb free cloud storage, no sd card slot)

Web Browsing:
1. Blackberry Playbook (Best flash implementation)
2. Kindle Fire (Once Silk gets going, it may surpass the BP)
3. Vizio (It's actually on par with the KF when using Opera Mobile, but still stuck on Flash 10.3 for some reason. I put the KF ahead on potential. The 8" 4:3 screen does make web browsing easier.)

Hardware:
1. Blackberry Playbook (2 cameras, GPS, Dual Core Processor, Microphone, Bluetooth, HDMI)
2. Kindle Fire (IPS Screen, Gorilla Glass, Dual Core Processor)
3. Vizio (Single core processor, Front Facing Camera, Bluetooth, IR Blaster, GPS, Microphone, HDMI)

I've been having fun messing around with all of the tablets (I even threw my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 into the mix) and comparing them side by side. All of this is just my humble opinion, so take it for what you will.

Last edited by Noah98; 11-23-2011 at 11:47 PM.
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Old 11-23-2011, 11:46 PM   #2
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Nice little comparison. I agree with the screen quality rating totally. Having played with a Vizio tablet the last couple days, I'm not too impressed with it. I mean, it looks good, but having seen some others, it just falls behind.
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Old 11-24-2011, 12:03 AM   #3
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Great comparison
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Old 11-24-2011, 12:17 AM   #4
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How does your Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 compare to those three? Is it worth the extra money for the Tab?
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Old 11-24-2011, 11:26 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Polyphemus View Post
How does your Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 compare to those three? Is it worth the extra money for the Tab?
I bought my SGT used with some accessories (case, vehicle charger, 32 gb micro sd card) for $245. I wouldn't recommend paying full price for one, but it compares very favorably to the other devices.

The screen is slightly better than the KF (although text is sharper on the KF), but not quite as good as the Blackberry.

Verizon finally updated the SGT to Gingerbread, and that made a huge difference. It is faster, and the Touchwiz UI is pretty nice.

Storage wise, it only has 2gb on the device (which sucks), but it is easy to install and run apps from the sd card (32gb is nice).

Hardware wise it has everything the other devices have except the processor is only a single core. It is pretty smooth for the most part, but not having a dual core makes a difference. So far high end games all run well though. Also, the cameras aren't as good as the BP, but better than the Vizio. Oh, and it does have 3g.

If you could get one cheap, it definitely stacks up well against the competition. At its current price new though, I don't consider it a budget tablet. Also, avoid the wifi only version. Get one of the other tablets instead!
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Old 11-24-2011, 01:46 PM   #6
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Noah98,

I considered the BP when the price was $199 and I do see it gets high marks in most categories versus the others. I do appreciate you replying back to the last inquiry though about the SGT since I own one.

The KF appears to be second in most categories in your comparisions of the latest devices you've purchased. The KF is the one I'm going to try first and see how I like it before perhaps trying some of the others.

Did you have any need for customer support with any of the aforementioned devices?

Thanks again!

Last edited by robertc88; 11-24-2011 at 01:48 PM.
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Old 11-24-2011, 01:53 PM   #7
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Noah98,

I considered the BP when the price was $199 and I do see it gets high marks in most categories versus the others. I do appreciate you replying back to the last inquiry though about the SGT since I own one.

The KF appears to be second in most categories in your comparisions of the latest devices you've purchased. The KF is the one I'm going to try first and see how I like it before perhaps trying some of the others.

Did you have any need for customer support with any of the aforementioned devices?

Thanks again!
No need for customer support, but Amazon has excellent support overall.
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