best non ipad tablet

chiefwiggum

hi everyone
myself and the missus are thinking of buying a tablet at xmas or maybe in the sales after.. we're not real tech heads.
would love to hear recommendations on tablets..ipads are cool but very expensive
would really only be used for web browsing,emails and skype..would like as big a screen as possible without a huge price tag...i hear the samsungs are very good
any advice/opinions?
thanks in advance

Firblog

This one is grand for what you've said you need, 2 year warranty.

chiefwiggum

wow firblog... that looks great.. thanks a lot

chiefwiggum

whats the 5-point touch screen thing about?

Khannie

chiefwiggum wrote: »

whats the 5-point touch screen thing about?

Means it can register 5 different fingers on the screen at once. That allows pinch to zoom, stuff like that.

That actually looks like an OK tablet. The A10 is a not entirely rubbish CPU. Certainly fine for most things. I'd read around for reviews first though. Also worth checking aliexpress for a cheaper one.

Torqay

Khannie wrote: »

The A10 is a not entirely rubbish CPU.

Says A8 processor, no? Either way, they're not great. And the screen resolution (1024x600) is poor. How anyone could possibly consider this as the best "non-iPad tablet" beats me.

Overheal

I sell the the things all day, and what I've learned is with few exceptions you get what you pay for. Buying a sub 200 tablet is typically asking for trouble, usually with laggy non-responsive touch, poor image quality, etc. And tablets seem especially prone when they are constructed poorly to those touch screens wigging out after a few months, usually because something gets warped and that causes it to read touch inputs that arent really happening. iPads are expensive because frankly, they have a low defect rate, fast processors, and rich screens and cameras on them.

My two other suggestions for non-Apple are the Kindle Fire HD which is smaller and slower but is still very responsive and sports an optimized web browser (Silk), it also has very good speakers. The Galaxy Note Tab is just as expensive as an iPad and has a plastic body but it's light, has good speakers, a good processor, and a pen stylus that no other tablet at or below that price point can match. You can buy some really good 3rd party styluses that will work with iPad and other tablets but none of them will allow you to rest your hand naturally on the screen like the Note will, making them effectively pointless.

As always stick with major brands. Samsung and Apple are givens, and Amazon has invested tons of money into producing Kindle Fire, so much that it loses money on every sale (that it gets back as you buy apps and content). ASUS is a reputable Motherboard manufacturer in desktop world, but their tablets leave much to be desired and I've found almost all of their transformers to be a letdown in some form or another.

Torqay

I love it how you so desperately trying avoid to mention the Google Nexus 7.

The Kindle Fire HD is built to find ways to sell you more stuff. First, and most annoyingly of all, the Kindle Fire HD displays full-color ads on its lock screen. That means every time you switch the tablet on, you see an ad for stuff like a Kindle e-book, a movie download, music from Amazon's MP3 store and the like.

Amazon is holding the device (you've already paid for) for ransom: Pay us €15 and we'll remove the ads from the lock screen.

But Amazon didn't stop with the ads. When you're using the tablet, you're constantly inundated with suggestions to check out more Amazon products. The most blatant example of this is on the Kindle Fire HD's home screen. Whenever you hover over an app, movie, song or book, there's a section at the bottom of the screen that suggests other apps, movies, songs or books that you might want to buy. Do you like playing Angry Birds? Buy Cut the Rope! Do you like listening to Nicki Minaj? Check out Katy Perry's latest album!

You get the idea.

Google doesn't do that.

Khannie

Torqay wrote: »

Says A8 processor, no?

I suppose that's a bit confusing alright. It says:

Cortex-A8 1GHz (A10, GPU Mali400) Processor

I take it that that's the AllWinner A10 CPU with Mali GPU. It's a good combo which I've seen running in my friends Ainol Aurora. It was plenty responsive for general computing. Still very seriously considering the Aurora 2 for Christmas for myself.

I agree that we're not talking iPad killer here, but I think a lot of the cheaper Chinese tablets (when bought direct from China) do what 90% of people want for reasonable money - browsing, video playback, etc.

I think if I was buying a branded tablet it would be the Nexus 7. Seems like excellent value for money.

Khannie

Just had a quick look on AliExpress. This looks very nice to me for the money. Decent processor. Good battery life. Nice screen with a decent resolution. I'd be looking around for reviews, but at 200 euro odd it's worth a good look.

Torqay

Khannie wrote: »

I think if I was buying a branded tablet it would be the Nexus 7. Seems like excellent value for money.

Just got a 16GB Nexus 7 from Argos (€230... I know, the new badge will be cheaper, 8 GB = retired, 16 GB = 199, 32 GB = 249, previous badge will receive update to 4.2) for a friend's daughter, does what it says on the tin, plays full HD without breaking a sweat, superb battery life, good value indeed. If it only had an expansion slot.

Firblog

chiefwiggum wrote: »

hi everyone
myself and the missus are thinking of buying a tablet at xmas or maybe in the sales after.. we're not real tech heads.
would love to hear recommendations on tablets..ipads are cool but very expensive
would really only be used for web browsing,emails and skype..would like as big a screen as possible without a huge price tag...i hear the samsungs are very good
any advice/opinions?
thanks in advance

Torqay wrote: »

Says A8 processor, no? Either way, they're not great. And the screen resolution (1024x600) is poor. How anyone could possibly consider this as the best "non-iPad tablet" beats me.

OP wasn't asking for advice on the best "non iPad Tablet"?

Tablet I pointed to you will be able to buy in local retailers, they have a 2 year warranty with an Irish company.

They also have a 10.1" Screen which I'd say is closer to the OP's requirements than the screen on the Nexus 7

Jarren

Decent screen display on this yoke

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sanei-N10-IPS-android-4-0-16GB-10-1-tablet-pc-1GB-Bluetooth-Dual-camera-WiFi/564602753.html

http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/freescale-i-mx6-quad-core/sanei-n10-hiapad-f10-offical-firmware-downloads-2862.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOCmBw-bD4

Peregrine

What would the Nexus 10 like? So far I've heard mixed reviews
It is a lot of money compared to the cheaper Chinese models being discussed here but it's still less than the iPad

If it's too much, I'd say just go for the Nexus 7 if you don't mind having a 7 inch screen. €230 for 32GB from Google and Asus

Torqay

Firblog wrote: »

OP wasn't asking for advice on the best "non iPad Tablet"

Sorry, my bad, I must have gotten the thread title completely wrong then.

Firblog

Hate those misleading headlines.. just there to get ya reading :pac:

Skerries

Overheal wrote: »

ASUS is a reputable Motherboard manufacturer in desktop world, but their tablets leave much to be desired and I've found almost all of their transformers to be a letdown in some form or another.

what are the let downs?
I've been looking to get a good non iPad tablet myself and was down to the Surface, Nexus 10 and ASUS TF700
but the Surface put me off because it doesn't have the range of apps that Android and IOS have and won't for a few years
The Nexus 10 interested me because it is new but as said has mixed reviews even though it has the best looking screen of any of them it doesn't have any MicroSD storage which is a deal breaker for me
So that left the TF700 which gets great reviews and has a great screen

Torqay

Skerries wrote: »

I've been looking to get a good non iPad tablet myself and was down to the Surface, Nexus 10 and ASUS TF700

Throw the Sony Xperia S and and the Acer Iconia A700 (full HD) into the mix, both based on the venerable Tegra 3. The Nexus 10 has by far the best screen (not so sure about the Samsung dual-core CPU, which as of now is only being used in the Nexus 10 and the new Chromebook, so benchmarks are scarce, the quad version is expected in in Q1/2013).

markad1

I had the nexus 7....it was super fast I really liked it.

Torqay

markad1 wrote: »

I had the nexus 7....it was super fast I really liked it.

Great bang for buck, probably the best 7 incher there is.

Skerries

Torqay wrote: »

Great bang for buck, probably the best 7 incher there is.

that's what she said

chiefwiggum

thanks for all the replies ...opinions/advice
i got a lot of nexus 7 recommendations but herself is adament on 10 inch screen,is the nexus 10 out here yet?
brother is recommending the archos 101 g9 250 gb(i think he has one)

Firblog

Hope it's not this one.. seems to have the processor as the Goclever but at twice the price... only real 'advantage'it has is 250GB drive if you need it..

Overheal

Skerries wrote: »

what are the let downs?
I've been looking to get a good non iPad tablet myself and was down to the Surface, Nexus 10 and ASUS TF700
but the Surface put me off because it doesn't have the range of apps that Android and IOS have and won't for a few years
The Nexus 10 interested me because it is new but as said has mixed reviews even though it has the best looking screen of any of them it doesn't have any MicroSD storage which is a deal breaker for me
So that left the TF700 which gets great reviews and has a great screen

The TF100 was grand, it's version 1 gorilla glass was a pain in the ass to clean though. Lots of friction

TF200 suffered from wireless connectivity issues

TF300 is ok. Doesn't try to overdo anything, its a plastic body and not a high res screen. The display model keeps locking up though (and it was pulled from Stock, it's not a "demo").

TF700 is reasonable but again we've had issues with our displays.

TF600 Vivo RT has no MicroSD!

And all of them have their own different keyboard docks. Would not have been hard to design a single, universal keyboard dock, but they didn't.

and all of these released in the last 18 months or less. ASUS is prototyping.

chiefwiggum

any opinions on the kindle fire hd 8.9???? look really good or am i missing something...good value

RUCKING FETARD

http://techpp.com/2012/11/02/nexus-10-vs-ipad-4/

Allyall

I agree that the tablet Firblog recommended, is probably more along the lines of what the OP is looking for. But i F*****g hate dealing with the morons in Misco.. Hate it. Never a worse experience in my life.

But THIS is probably closer to the answer of the questionin the title..

webpal

Looks like the whole country is sold out of iPad minis, would the Samsung galaxy 2 be a good substitute? One must for me is that I have to be able to watch skygo.

Skerries

The Galaxy Tab 2 comes with Ice Cream Sandwich which works with SkyGo but not with Jelly Bean yet which the Tab 2 will be able to upgrade to soon and is available from Argos for a lot cheaper than normal with a €50 euro cash back from Samsung