Buying a tablet for the first time

mi goreng on 13/12/2011 - 12:30

hey guys, im buying a tablet for the first time and would appreciate any thoughts, info or feedback.

basically im caught between 3 tabs. The Sony Tablet S, the Iconia A series and the Xoom.

Sony gives a lightweight design, hooks up with all my other sony bits and pieces, PSN connect. Although, no hdmi out (does have network sharing though), only micro USB, i hear the brightness is back outdoors, and speakers arent that loud, mixed battery reviews.

Xoom, i know nothing about. I think i remember though it has gorilla glass (not easy to scratch if im right?), quite cheap for 32gig, good battery, dual LED flash camera.

Iconia, has all the connections you'll ever need, expandable memory. But i hear acer dont really do good builds, alot of people have returned theirs for various reasons.

Basically what i want out of a tab is something i can use at home and at work. I watch alot of videos, read comics, and use the internet. My laptop is a mammoth sized toshiba, so getting a tab would make it easier for me to whip it out (trying to think of a snappy joke about 'whipping it out' here) and play around on the net and watch movies etc.

I hear the xoom and iconia wont be able to upgrade to ICS which is another thing.

Anything will be appreciated, as i dont want to just buy one and get the sh*ts when it doesnt play my vids or browse like i wanted it to.

Thanks all.

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • cdeep0 on 13/12/2011 - 12:39

    Buy a Kogan agora tablet for less than 250 and personally you will be better off.

  • georgedeka on 13/12/2011 - 13:04
    +1

    Just more food for thought

    Xoom2 is out soon I think
    GalaxyTab will be for sale here soon (maybe already is)
    Asus Transformers have been a good price latley

    and ask on whirlpool you will get more informed options

  • rokoz on 13/12/2011 - 13:12

    I've had an Iconia since release and it's been great.

    Only drawbacks are it's weight and short power cord. However the inclusion of a host USB balance these issues out.

    Performance wise I think you'll find they are all equal.

  • ESEMCE on 13/12/2011 - 13:47

    I'd be looking at battery life.. your usage doesn't sound like the expansion ports will be used often or even at all, therefore if you lose battery life for features you don't need, seems a bit silly!

  • auna on 13/12/2011 - 14:31
    +2

    Get transformer prime or wait for lenovo's upcoming thinkpad. The thinkpad will have double the ram and will apparently be 1920x1200 resolution versus transformers way lower res and 1gb RAM.

    TBH getting non tegra 3 tablet now is a big mistake.

  • huntress_love on 13/12/2011 - 15:09

    i got the iconia when it was on sale, and have being loving it.
    espcially for travelling around, very handy and love the free apps on amazon.

    performance has being great for watching movies off usb.
    i dont use it all day so the battery lasts me quite a while.

    Only thing i'm a little disappointed about is it has trouble runing my FB games, my friends
    thinks it's a browser issue and not the ram. so hopefully with ICW it'll be better.

    http://news.softpedia.com/news/Acer-Confirms-Ice-Cream-Sandw…

    If you can get it at a good price go for it, but the new quad processed tab would definitely be better if you can afford it!

  • articfox on 13/12/2011 - 22:47

    I got a Sony Tablet S, I use it all the time at work and at home. It's a very cool tablet that has built in infrared programable universal remote control and wireless video streaming to any DLNA devices in the home like TV, amplifiers etc from any brand. Watching video on it is quite good too, it does 16:9 aspect ratio. It uses the Bravia engine so graphics is amongst the best of tablets.

    The Sony Tablet S won CES award for Best of Innovations Honorees for Tablets, e-readers and netbook category by Consumer Electronics Association for 2011-2012:
    http://www.cesweb.org/news/releaseDetail.asp?id=12206
    http://www.cesweb.org/awards/innovations/2012-innovations-ho…

    "Entries for The Best of Innovations are judged on overall engineering qualities related to technical specifications and materials, aesthetics and design qualities, the product’s intended use and function, unique features and how the design and innovation of the product compares to others in the marketplace"

    I too was once in your shoes, trying to decide which tablet can be quite daunting but once I've bought my tablet there is no regrets. The only thing to get over is that it's a bit thick on one side, that's about it. Hope this helps in your decision.

  • mi goreng on 14/12/2011 - 00:23

    well its come down to the xoom and the tablet s. apparently acer is out of iconia stock so i wont be able to get any of them.

    the long story short is that my lady did some writing/marketing stuff for OW and when talking to some of the people there she managed to get a deal for me on a tablet. though the list was quite short. iconia, sony, xoom. i found out today that the iconia is off the list and if the samsaung 10.1 is what everyone says it is i might try and get one of those.

    i could wait a bit and try and get the newer xoom 2, the3g sony (which is supposed to have a processor upgrade) or the prime, but im impatient and seeing as though her work contract with them will be up soon im going to assume that it wont be valid once her work is up.

    for the sony i dont mind that thick part, gives it a good angle and i rate all the extra features like universal remote etc. and the xoom got good reviews pretty much everywhere. now the samsung looks like its about to come out, thats another one to toss up between.

  • ultraskool on 17/12/2011 - 19:47

    Hey 'mi goreng', how u been bro? Still into rave music? You gave us some cds a few years ago,..

  • A Banana4scale on 18/12/2011 - 14:57

    wait for the launch of the newer tablets before grabbing the old ones

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