$200 tablet purchase: new Nexus 7 or used 10 inch Xoom? Or other?

[murphy55d]

Gonna spend $200 on a new tablet for myself to replace my aging Nook Color. It runs CM7 ok but I want something faster.

I can get an N7 new for $200, or a used Xoom 10 inch for the same price. I like the thought of the bigger screen, and it has active development still, so CM10.1 etc are available. The N7 though is faster, and of course new, and has tons of active development.

Thoughts?

(iPad suggestions need not apply)

 

[dagamer34]

Nexus 7. It will actually be supported for a while. The Xoom is essentially dead because of its 2 year old chipset and the fact it was a commercial flop.

 

[Oyeve]

N7 would be my choice as well. If only those 2 options.

 

[murphy55d]

N7 would be my choice as well. If only those 2 options.

I'm open to any android tablet in the $200 range. I see the Galaxy Tab 2 is also $199 but not sure its a better option than the N7.

 

[s44]

Nexus 7. Next device is the Note 8.0, but who knows actual release date here or price...

 

[Phokus]

Nexus 7 for sure. I've loved the hell out of mine. I'm actually questioning whether i actually need a 10 inch tablet now because the 7 inch form factor is perfect for holding.

 

[murphy55d]

Nexus 7 for sure. I've loved the hell out of mine. I'm actually questioning whether i actually need a 10 inch tablet now because the 7 inch form factor is perfect for holding.

My wife has an iPad 2 and I do like the size for movies/video, which is why I looked into the Xoom in the first place.

 

[ponyo]

Avoid anything with Tegra2. So no Xoom.

Nexus 7 wins by default.

 

[Red Storm]

Between the two, Nexus 7 without question.

 

[Ravynmagi]

The fact you are asking this question makes me want to slap your parents. Just kidding. Nexus 7 of course.

I used to think nothing smaller than a 10 inch tablet would do, but after having a Nexus 7, I really love 7 inch tablets now.

 

[murphy55d]

Like i said, size was what made me look at the xoom.

Wish there was some middle ground.

 

[superccs]

I got my 32Gb Nexus 7 for $230 a couple weeks back... its pretty slick.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Like i said, size was what made me look at the xoom.

Wish there was some middle ground.

I'd like to see some 8 inch tablets. I had the Kindle Fire HD 8.9, but it just seemed too close to the 10 inch form factor.

The 7.9 inch iPad mini was quite awesome with it's screen size and thin bezels on the side (shame the resolution sucked). I think a 8 inch tablet with the thin side bezels like the Nexus 7 or iPad mini would probably be quite nice.

Would kill for an 7 or 8 inch Windows 8 tablet too.

PS. There are rumors of a 7.7 inch Nexus. It slipped until just now. That should be pretty awesome. Shame LG is allegedly making it though, means it might take 4 months to see it in stock after it launches.

 

[s44]

I think a 8 inch tablet with the thin side bezels like the Nexus 7 or iPad mini would probably be quite nice.

wait a month

 

[bigrash]

Go with the Nexus 7. Much better tablet.

 

[murphy55d]

wait a month

I wonder what kind of price point that would be. $299?

 

[Apex]

Like i said, size was what made me look at the xoom.

Wish there was some middle ground.

I'd personally still get the Nexus 7, but the Lenovo IdeaTab A2109 is middle ground at $229.99

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...9-Tablet-9-16/

9" 1280 x 800
1.2Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 3
1GB RAM
16GB storage + microSDXC slot
3MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera
802.11b/g/n wireless
Bluetooth v3.0
GPS
microHDMI
microUSB
Dual speakers

 

[s44]

I wonder what kind of price point that would be. $299?

Probably, though I'm hoping for $250.

 

[murphy55d]

Avoid anything with Tegra2. So no Xoom.

Nexus 7 wins by default.

What are the issues with the Tegra2? So no Galaxy Tab 10.1 either?

 

[Ravynmagi]

wait a month

I wonder what kind of price point that would be. $299?

Probably, though I'm hoping for $250.

Well I should probably say I'd want at least a 1440x900 resolution on an 8 inch tablet. 1280x800 would have been okay in 2012, but not really doing it for me in 2013. Not when we have 1920x1200 9 inch tablets and 1440x900 7 inch tablets already.

Not sure why Samsung is lagging behind in resolution, especially since they are a top display manufacture responsible for many of these high resolution displays. Is putting the digitizer on these Note tablets holding back the resolution I guess?

Unfortunately because it is a Note with a digitizer I imagine Samsung will ask about $400 for this 8 inch tablet of disappointing DPI. No thanks.

 

[Oyeve]

What are the issues with the Tegra2? So no Galaxy Tab 10.1 either?

T2 is infamously slow unless you stick to honeycomb. My old TF101 became super slow to the point of being useless after a few updates. I went galaxy tab 2 7" primarily because it was near free and had what I wanted. It would have been near perfect if the screen wasnt so laptop 2005 era looking.

 

[ponyo]

I'd personally still get the Nexus 7, but the Lenovo IdeaTab A2109 is middle ground at $229.99

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...9-Tablet-9-16/

9" 1280 x 800
1.2Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 3
1GB RAM
16GB storage + microSDXC slot
3MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera
802.11b/g/n wireless
Bluetooth v3.0
GPS
microHDMI
microUSB
Dual speakers

That's very nice spec tablet for $230. MicroSD slot and micro HDMI are very nice bonus and I would choose this if I needed cheap travel movie tablet. I know several people who settled and bought Galaxy Tab2 7.0 over Nexus 7 because it had the MicroSD slot even though it's vastly inferior tablet to N7. If I had known about the Lenovo, I would've recommended it especially at $230.

 

[Ravynmagi]

What are the issues with the Tegra2? So no Galaxy Tab 10.1 either?

I dunno if there would be any really cheap 10.1 inch tablet I'd want to recommend.

What I don't like about the Xoom it's old, heavy, and uncomfortable to hold. But the good side is it's kinda a Nexus tablet, is stock Android mostly and Google has been updating it.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is much lighter and more comfortable, but I believe it's still stuck with Android 3.x Honeycomb. And Honeycomb is basically the Vista of Android. It sucks.

And then there is the Tegra 2. It's okay for an old dual core ARM processor for most things. But it's so bad at video playback, don't expect to play much HD content, other than maybe streaming from YouTube.

If you need a cheap 10.1 inch tablet, I'd look around for a ASUS Transformer TF300. I've seen some of those go for under $300.


Edit: I should say I've seen used/refurbished TF300's under $300. So maybe look for one on eBay or Woot sometimes has refurbished ones on sale.

 

[ponyo]

What are the issues with the Tegra2? So no Galaxy Tab 10.1 either?

Tegra2 lacks NEON support so you're pretty much limited to SD videos. Forget about trying to playback HD movies and videos. Videos that even single core can play perfectly will studder and fail with Tegra2 dualcore. It's pathetic SoC and should be avoided like a plague.

 

[murphy55d]

If I can't watch hbo go on it or movies then that's a serious problem. Glad I asked. Think I'm leaning towards the nexus for sure now.