Quote:
Originally Posted by emilikins
Got my Flyer for $259. But Best Buy is pretty much out of them, and they were the cheapest spot. Hopefully someone at HTC will realize they need to drop the price everywhere, especially with the Fire and Nook tablet hitting the stores just in time for Christmas shopping.
I have the Galaxy 10.1 for work, and while I've limped along reading on it's lovely, lovely screen, I prefer the 7-inch for ereading and portability. The Flyer seems faster in browsing and loaded Netflix faster and better than the Galaxy, but that could've been due to a stronger wifi connection. I think 7-inchers should be cheaper than the 10s, unless they have way better specs, but I don't think you can tell someone that they should get a 10 instead of a 7. It's about needs, not "this is bigger, so it's better." Though I do agree the big brand 7s start out overpriced.
The $259 + tax was a bit more than I ever intended spending on a 7-inch tablet, but I got burned by my budget Coby, then I backed out of the Vox, had a kerfuffle with Lenovo and didn't want to give them my business, and then happened upon the Flyer (better specs than all) and decided I didn't want to settle. I didn't want to root or sideload Market again (though I'd do the latter if needed), and the Flyer has gotten great reviews. I don't have the pen, and it's annoying that you need a "special" stylus. If it goes on super duper sale or someone develops a cheap aftermarket one, then I might buy it. I haven't tried different note apps that might enable me to use a non-HTC stylus; it's on my to-do list. The pen/notes would be a bonus, not a requirement, so I'm not bothered that much buy it.
The debugged Vox or rooted NC would be good starter tablets, I think, as long as users go in knowing they aren't going to be iPads. I decided in my personal odyssey that I'd already tried the budget route, got burned, and if I was going to put $$ into a device, it was time to spoil myself a little and get something I'm not "settling" for. It seemed like I'd get more life and legwork out of the Flyer than a budget tablet. I'd rather not be shopping for another one in a year, even if mine is "outdated."  |
Everything's out of date as soon as you buy it - but at the same time, it shouldn't be so out of date that you won't be able to use it for anything as soon as you buy it. And I don't see the point in spending $400 for a tablet which does things 'so so', such as most of the 7" tablets out there... nor do I see any real value in spending $400 on a tablet whose screen may be too small to take advantage of some of the benefits its extra speed provides (like games or smooth video). Not when I can get a bigger tablet with similar specs which does those last two things better.
But for $250, the Flyer's a good deal. For $450-500 (which it goes for in Canada), it's not a very good deal at all. Nor is the Galaxy Tab 8.9" at $400-450 to start, when its identically specced 10" sibling has everything the 8.9 does at the same price.
For me, the Vox is a perfect 'starter' tablet in terms of its portability and capability for the price point. The screen is THE big thing for me with a tablet ; it's how I'll interact with the tablet, and what I'll be using it for (to read things on it). Processor speed is also a factor, but only so far as to when it contributes to being able to display things on that screen. But if I have to decide between a smaller screen or a larger screen at $400 with similar performance and capabilities... I'll go with the larger one, because that makes reading easier. Or video.
Quote:
Originally Posted by covfam
also the honneycomb update has more support for the stylus and its been leaked in the beta form but is taking forever to go live  |
That's one thing that I don't like about the Flyer - HTC doesn't really seem committed to that tablet, as they've begun putting out other tablets like the Jetstream to replace it. The note taking part's nice, but only the built-in note app really took advantage of the stylus, IIRC.