Vox vs. Nook vs. Android tablet?

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by ron1959

That's not a good enough reason for me. I like the compact, portable size of 7".
It's actually interesting what's just coming out in the next few months as far as tablets are concerned. They are improving at such a fast rate it's hard to keep up.
I'm just going to wait a bit longer to see what else comes along & continue to monitor the kobo vox as far as updates go & how many people have warranty issues.

The 7" size is good... but $400 is too much for one. $200 is about the right price, although I'd be willing to go up to $250. Basically, in terms of price for value, the 7" is pretty much in last place if you have to spend as much for that as you would for a better tablet with more RAM, more storage, better battery life, a bigger screen, etc.

[ron1959]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

The 7" size is good... but $400 is too much for one. $200 is about the right price, although I'd be willing to go up to $250. Basically, in terms of price for value, the 7" is pretty much in last place if you have to spend as much for that as you would for a better tablet with more RAM, more storage, better battery life, a bigger screen, etc.

Yes - I agree $400 is too much for a 7"....one reason I'm playing the waiting game. I would go as high as C$300 for something comparable to the tab 7.0 plus.

[ronin688]

At this point I'm waiting to see if the new Nook Tablet is as easy to root as the Nook Color is.

I'm still on the fence about the Vox though, I'd prefer to stay in Canada to get whatever device I end up with but I'll have to see successful resolution of some of the issues the Vox has had.

[covfam]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

Because at $400, a 7" tablet is overpriced in comparison - you've usually got a smaller battery and maybe less RAM depending on how 'budget' the manufacturer considers the 7" tablet to be. The screen's one of the bigger expenses in a tablet, IIRC... and smaller screens tend to be cheaper to make than their larger 10" cousins.

er wrong.. look closer the HTC flyer has as much ram, storage, and its 1.5 ghz single core cpu is as fast or faster than almost every "dual core" on the market curently actuall tests at anandtech have show this.
And the samsung galaxy pad7 plus has better specs than 95 % of all tablets on the market both 7" and 10.1" inch with its 1.2 ghz dual core cpu with 1 gig onboard ram im not saying that come december there wont be anything stronger but today as i type this BOTH 7" inch tablets are comparable hardwarewise to any 10" inch tablet out there ... are most 7"inches inferior .. yes but not all.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by covfam

er wrong.. look closer the HTC flyer has as much ram, storage, and its 1.5 ghz single core cpu is as fast or faster than almost every "dual core" on the market curently actuall tests at anandtech have show this.
And the samsung galaxy pad7 plus has better specs than 95 % of all tablets on the market both 7" and 10.1" inch with its 1.2 ghz dual core cpu with 1 gig onboard ram im not saying that come december there wont be anything stronger but today as i type this BOTH 7" inch tablets are comparable hardwarewise to any 10" inch tablet out there ... are most 7"inches inferior .. yes but not all.

Notice I said "usually". The Flyer's schtick is the special digitizer which allows a special pen to be used. The 7" + is the Exynos processor. The Flyer is using a Hummingbird processor, which is a phone processor and has inferior 3D and video performance compared to the 'slower' Tegra2 chip. We've yet to see how the Exynos chip handles real-world tasks beyond browsing, which any decent processor can do well.

I don't consider the Flyer to be worth $400, not when it's been on sale for less in the US (but not Canada). The 7"+ at $300 might be worth it, if the screen is actually decent. But at $400, I can get a better tablet (which works better, versus just having a overclocked phone CPU) or splurge and get an iPad with more apps and usability. Or find a refurbished iPad for $400.

[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."

[covfam]

Emilikins every device you will buy will be outdated when you buy it.

Look at all these 10 inch tablets that just came out... Asus announced an update for their transformer that nearly doubles all the previous generation spec's for the same $499 as the earlier one.

And my phone i got 2 weeks ago the motorola electrify is the same phone as the motorola photon 4g, motorola droid bionic, motorola atrix and now motorola is talking about its atrix2 coming soon.

My phone has been on the market less than 2 months and its getting "upgraded" you can never keep updated on electronic devices and it will keep you unsatisfied if you tried to keep up.

Just look for a device that you like and only replace it when the device cant do what you ask of it anymore

[fbrII]

Hello - that is a nice tablet. Did you get the stylus too & if so, how well does it work for taking notes?

Hey Ron - I have played with the stylus and it is a fun feature although for me it was a plus not something I was looking for or had a need for. Being recently retired I don't have much need for note taking these days. However, the Flyer does seem to have quite a bit of capability when it comes to notes, annotations etc.,

I think the best way to get a feel for the note taking/capturing capabilities would be; go to the HTC Flyer website and check out the how-to's section. You will see a video specifically on the subject of note taking. There is also another dealing with highlighting, annotations, etc.

It looked impressive to me with ability to record, integrate, print via wireless etc.

[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

[Haesslich]

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.

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.

[Pushka]

Originally Posted by ron1959

I'm in the same boat as you, I want a tablet with a bit more muscle than the vox has.
If you live in Canada, you can't get the kindle fire ...probably for a long time.
Here is a link to an interesting list of reasons *not* to buy the kindle fire:

http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/...ndle-fire.html

That link was updated and actually said the price point of the Fire at $199 might actually be a deal sealer.

[emilikins]

Um, yeah, I know everything is outdated the moment you buy it. Hence the "outdated" (with quotes) saying I'm cool with it, it fits my needs.

As I said,

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.

Why is someone arguing against me but essentially agreeing with what I said? My opinion is that putting a 7-inch at the same price or more than a better-spec'd 10-inch is ridiculous (yes, I'm looking at you, HTC), but you can't tell someone they shouldn't buy the 7-inch they want because they could get a 10-inch for the same price. If they don't want a 10-inch, they shouldn't have to feel stupid or uninformed for wanting the 7-inch. A 10-inch with close specs (except screen) to a 7-inch might not meet that buyer's needs (portability, reading one-handed, etc), and so the "better value" of the 10 is lost because they probably won't use it as much from frustration.

However, I don't think a 7-inch screen is bad for smooth video. I watched Netflix on the Flyer last night, and there were not glitches or pixelation, it was crisp and wonderful, and comfy to hold while wedged into the couch. It would be for group viewing, obviously, unless I was snuggled up with my fiance, but he was busy with SlickDeals and Jalopnik, so didn't care what I was doing.

I can't really say anything for gaming, because I'm not into that. I don't even get Angry Birds, why it's such a sensation. I play Scrabble, DropWords, and a few other minor games, and the 7-inch form is way better than the 10 for it, as far as comfort goes. Beyond that, I claim ignorance.

On the HTC's "slow update": I'd honestly rather have them get the kinks worked out of their Honeycomb update than push it out and be very buggy, nor do I feel a great need for Honeycomb over Gingerbread. If I did, I wouldn't have bought the Flyer and waited for a price drop on Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich 7in.

I do, however, wish I could uninstall some of the pre-installed apps. The reviews didn't really talk about bloatware, and actually most of it would be really useful stuff if I had the pen or was using the Flyer for business and social stuff. I wish ALL tablet manufacturers would let us uninstall what we don't want.

[emilikins]

Sorry to post right after myself, but for the Canadians stuck with a dearth of tablet choice:

Lenovo's Ideapad A1 can be had for $199 (16GB) with a coupon code right now: Linky linky It looks like the next round won't go out until later in November, but it seems to have a working Market on it (earlier Lenovo tablets did not, despite advertising, but some members here have an A1 now and say the market is working).

For the same price as the Vox, but with 1Ghz processor and 16GB storage, camera, offline GPS, etc., I would say it's very much a better buy. I almost got one, but I'm quite happy with my Flyer. Of course, you're going to run into shipping delays, which is Lenovo's theme this year ;-) but you won't run into the Amazon and B&N Canadian prejudice.

[covfam]

emillikins unfortunatly nowdays its the fad to have massive amounts of bloatware on android devices ... some places are slowly trying to cut back on it and google has put in a feture in android 4 that let you supress it completly (but not uninstall it unfortunatly)

and some places are worse. the my motorola electrify phone comes with 40 bloatware programs that and us cellular has a feaure that lets me supress and lock them out after i removed them from my screen so that they do not take any resources.

But Its verizon cousin the motorola droid bionic that i had for a week before switching had 72 apps on it and no way to remove them off the home screen and no way at all to suppress them.. so i had 2/3rds of my total system memory used by all thier apps.

[ron1959]

Originally Posted by fbrII

Hey Ron - I have played with the stylus and it is a fun feature although for me it was a plus not something I was looking for or had a need for. Being recently retired I don't have much need for note taking these days. However, the Flyer does seem to have quite a bit of capability when it comes to notes, annotations etc.,

I think the best way to get a feel for the note taking/capturing capabilities would be; go to the HTC Flyer website and check out the how-to's section. You will see a video specifically on the subject of note taking. There is also another dealing with highlighting, annotations, etc.

It looked impressive to me with ability to record, integrate, print via wireless etc.

Thanks - I will check out their how to section..