HP Touchpad Alternative ??

maximus02

Hi

I'm one of the many who have lost out on the recent deal for the HP Touchpad tablet.

Browsing around I see many 'cheaper' tablets on Amazon etc. I mean tablets in the £130-£200 range. I know that these tablets do not compare in performance etc with devices like the Touchpad/Ipad but I'm just wondering does anyone have any experience of these cheaper tablets for those of us who can't afford to buy €400-€600 devices. Are they any use? Is the resistive screen type any use?

Are any of them worth buying or should I just keep saving?

Thanks in advance.

Inquitus

maximus02 wrote: »

Hi

I'm one of the many who have lost out on the recent deal for the HP Touchpad tablet.

Browsing around I see many 'cheaper' tablets on Amazon etc. I mean tablets in the £130-£200 range. I know that these tablets do not compare in performance etc with devices like the Touchpad/Ipad but I'm just wondering does anyone have any experience of these cheaper tablets for those of us who can't afford to buy €400-€600 devices. Are they any use? Is the resistive screen type any use?

Are any of them worth buying or should I just keep saving?

Thanks in advance.

Pick up a 2nd hand iPad 1 imho, its just as good as the ipad 2 in real usability terms, and the added iPad 2 cameras are a gimmick at best. You could probably get one for just under 300 these days, and it will be way better than a middle of the road Android tab.

For the record the Touchpad is excellent.

You could always have a look at the andypad too

http://www.andypad.co.uk/

Tinie

maximus02 wrote: »

Hi

I'm one of the many who have lost out on the recent deal for the HP Touchpad tablet.

Browsing around I see many 'cheaper' tablets on Amazon etc. I mean tablets in the £130-£200 range. I know that these tablets do not compare in performance etc with devices like the Touchpad/Ipad but I'm just wondering does anyone have any experience of these cheaper tablets for those of us who can't afford to buy €400-€600 devices. Are they any use? Is the resistive screen type any use?

Are any of them worth buying or should I just keep saving?

Thanks in advance.

Avoid resistive touch screen tablets. If you dont know what that means, its basically like the very early touchscreen phones from years ago, where you literally had to press down on the screen to use them, unlike say an iphone which has a capacitive touchscreen. Once you use a capacitive touchscreen, its very hard to go back to a resistive touch screen.

jimmycrackcorm

Some of the cheap capacitive tablets on ebay have really good specs for the price (circa €200). E,g. 1ghz + processor, capacitive screens and gpu acceleration for gaming.

Sparky

I missed out too, but I'm looking at the Advent Vega that PCworld has

The only drawback is that the screen is not the best and that it fails in term of many people view it. Say like you were showing some videos to friends/family sitting next to you. They would need to be looking over your shoulder. However thats only one major drawback that I see.

Specs are decent for a budget tab

CPU 	1 GHz Dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 ARM Cortex-A9 processor
Storage capacity 	Flash memory: 512 MB
microSD slot: supports up to 32 GB
Memory 	512 MB RAM
Display 	1024 x 600 px, 10.1 in (257 mm), WSVGA
Input 	capacitive touchscreen display, capacitive touch buttons, 3-axis accelerometer
Camera 	1.3 megapixel with auto focus
Connectivity 	Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, mini-USB

Its an easily modded tablet from what I am reading (link) and also has a honeycomb port: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1069389

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQM2ASGy3HA

Personally I'm not sure if I sould get this, install vegacomb or just save up and get the xoom or acer iconia

Saw the kogan agora tablet (android 2.3) featured in stuff magazine. It was quoted at £125. capacitive screen. review good overall. battery life not amazing at 3 hours though. this is not a bad option but if you can afford it get the ipad. I don't like apple but in tablets they are still ahead. ipad2 is worth it for the difference in thickness + weight.

fdevine

The Advent Vega is currently on sale at PCWorld for €250, down from €300

The price may drop over the coming weeks as the Vega2 is due in time for Christmas

maximus02

I've been looking at the specs of this Advent Vega.

According to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_Vega

this tablet does not come with Android Market pre-installed.

Surely this would be a major drawback!

Hunter Mahan

Maybe you should consider a rooted Barnes and Noble Nook Color. A decent tablet you could have for under $200, if you are planning a trip to the States or if you know someone over there.

fdevine

maximus02 wrote: »

I've been looking at the specs of this Advent Vega.

According to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_Vega

this tablet does not come with Android Market pre-installed.

Surely this would be a major drawback!

One of the reasons the Vega is so popular is the ease with which it can be modded. It is possible to get the full Android Marketplace on it.

Eoin

I tried out a few resistive screen devices, and I found all of them horrible to use. Just like the crappy blackberry touchscreen phone I had a while back. They might be OK at best for getting around applications, but even entering a URL is a pain in the bum. I'd avoid them.

You definitely don't need to spend upwards of 400 for a decent tablet. Check out second hand iPads, or if you're not an Apple fan, maybe something like the Archos 101 (that's one of the older droid tablets though, so not sure if it comes with the latest OS).

If I was buying one again, I'd probably save up and get the Asus one which can slot into a keyboard, making it feel like a proper netbook.

fdevine

The Vega has a capacitive screen AFAIK

Also think there is a case/keyboard accessory for it

colin3310

Hey new to the forum. Decided to set up an account after all the help from other members during the whole touchpad/pre3 debacle. Unfortunately didn't get my hands one either.

I would suggest the OP waiting another few weeks, Amazon are expected to release a tablet soon to rival the ipad for around the 300e mark. Also Lenovo announced a 7" tab (IdeaPad A1) today which should be less than 200e which looks quite good for the price and has access to the market and all that, so its prob best waiting a month or so and see what available

UnCorked

Supposedly HP have put more Touchpads into production - but I also hear that Samsung are trying to buy webOS.

Phibsboro

I'd recommend the Advent, had one before it slipped off my sofa and the screen cracked :eek:

Vegacomb hadn't come out at that stage, but putting on a new rom was handy enuff, I had stock 2.3 on it in no time (i.e. w market access). The screen is grand for single person viewing and overall its a good intro to tablets.

Having said that, I've since got the sammy galaxy 10.1 and it is seriously gorgeous, but its also €480. For a first tab where you're not sure if you'll get the use out of it, the Advent is great.

fdevine

UnCorked wrote: »

Supposedly HP have put more Touchpads into production - but I also hear that Samsung are trying to buy webOS.

The final production run is only for the North American market I'm afraid. There will be none this side of the pond.

Word is that they are using up whatever 'spare' parts the manufacturing plants have in stock.

Eoin

The Amazon tablet sounds very interesting if some of the rumours of an eInk display are true. If I could merge my eReader and tablet into one, I'd be a happy camper.

danger_mouse_tm

I have a customer looking for two android tablets for his children for christmas (age 8 and 9). I haven't had one before, so it's a bit difficult to advise him. We have more or less ruled out the iPad on price only. He did, however, take a trip to PC world just to play around with the alternatives and said he liked the zoom and the galaxy tab (which according to pc world, is only out a month). I am hoping to keep to total spend under €700 for the two. I also thing the capacitive screen would be the way to go as well as the latest version of android (3.0 or 3.1). I want to get these bought before the second week in November to avoid any Christmas price hikes or stock shortages.
Bring on the suggestions!

Eoin

We have a Xoom at work and I really don't like it. I wanted to, but it just doesn't feel right. But if he likes it, it's supposed to be one of the better Android tablets. Personally I'm not mad about the Android OS itself, but that's a personal thing.

It might be worth checking out to see if your customer can get a good deal through Vodafone or O2 on a contract.

Capacitive screen is most definitely the way to go - I don't understand how people find the resistive screens OK to use for anything longer than typing in a URL (a short one at that).

There's a dedicated Android forum where you'll probably get lots of advice.

Maybe look at tablets with a smaller screen size if cost is an option.

danger_mouse_tm

Thanks Eoin, We could convince him yet to go ahead with the ipads if it's only going to be a couple of hundred euro and the benefits are far greater. Contract broadband is out of the question. Whatever he gets will be wifi only. I didn't think of the smaller screens as i have a friend who has the first 7 inch samsung and absolutely hates it. But then again, he has an iPad too. I'll bookmark the android forum and see what they say there.

Eoin

It's unlikely many people will say the benefits of the iPad are greater really. On paper, Android is probably better in most ways. But I tried them both (several different types of Android), and just much preferred the iPad.

I don't really get the smaller ones either - they're halfway between a smartphone and a properly usable tablet IMO. But these are being bought for young children who I'd imagine will use it for a bit of surfing and mostly games.

I bought this tablet few weeks ago.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/7-capacitive-lcd-dual-core-android-2-2-tablet-pc-w-camera-wi-fi-bluetooth-hdmi-4gb-cortex-a9-81345

I would recommend it to anyone! With ems express postage, it still very cheap and doesn't take too long to arrive (Will probably spend more time in customs then in transit to Ireland)

I bought it when it was 199.99 USD (no ems express). I was done for VAT by customs, so it came to a total of around €180, which is not a bad price.

Its quick, the touch screen is really, really responsive (as good as ipad!). Boot time is about 20-25 seconds from off. Battery life is no too bad neither. Runs Android 2.2. Runs Angry Birds/Cut The Rope really well. It also charge from USB, which is a nice feature.

Yeah the screen isn't big, but its fine for what I use it for (Email, Twitter, Games etc).

At the current price, incl EMS express (3-5 days delivery) postage and customs, you'd be looking at around €175 (You might get lucky and not get stopped in customs, which will mean the price will be around €144)

opendoor2

Deleted User wrote: »

I bought this tablet few weeks ago.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/7-capacitive-lcd-dual-core-android-2-2-tablet-pc-w-camera-wi-fi-bluetooth-hdmi-4gb-cortex-a9-81345

I would recommend it to anyone! With ems express postage, it still very cheap and doesn't take too long to arrive (Will probably spend more time in customs then in transit to Ireland)

I bought it when it was 199.99 USD (no ems express). I was done for VAT by customs, so it came to a total of around €180, which is not a bad price.

Its quick, the touch screen is really, really responsive (as good as ipad!). Boot time is about 20-25 seconds from off. Battery life is no too bad neither. Runs Android 2.2. Runs Angry Birds/Cut The Rope really well. It also charge from USB, which is a nice feature.

Yeah the screen isn't big, but its fine for what I use it for (Email, Twitter, Games etc).

At the current price, incl EMS express (3-5 days delivery) postage and customs, you'd be looking at around €175 (You might get lucky and not get stopped in customs, which will mean the price will be around €144)

Yes, a good recommendation，,but what worries me is the battery, how long will it works?