Sub-£200 Android tablet

[gino_76ph]

Hi there!

I am looking for a budget sub-£200 Android 4.0/4.1 tablet that i can bring over to Paris when i go travelling. I'll be using it mostly to watch movies (in the plane or hotel), surf the net and the usual weather/news apps.

I know there is the Nexus 7 but i have heard negative reviews espcially the speakers sound and the bezels slightly not fixed right appearing it was "rushed" and not glued properly on the sides.

I have seen Archos with their XS & Elements range, GoTabs, Scroll tablets , etc. But, which one would be an ideal "investment"? Which one actually can do the job and i can still say that its a budget tablet but it still runs smooth and has full Google Play store.

[alsenior]

Most people I know who have a nexus 7 have been pleased as punch and is the best in the price range

[ryandigweed]

Nexus 7 is the best within that price range. But a part of that, even those Ainol chinese tablets are decent for around £150 or something.

One thing about the nexus 7 is that you won't ever have to worry about software updates, since Google always makes sure there's the latest update for the nexus 7. and the battery life of the nexus 7 can be compared to the new iPad (iPad3).

[capt_cornflake]

Problem with nexus 7 is no sd slot and you won't get much internal memory for sub £200. If you want to put movies on it that might limit things slightly.

A bit of a wildcard (and not android) but you can get a 64Gb BlackBerry playbook for £129.99 in Currys / PC world at the moment which is a bit of a steal.

[mikemikemi]

Problem with nexus 7 is no sd slot and you won't get much internal memory for sub £200. If you want to put movies on it that might limit things slightly.

A bit of a wildcard (and not android) but you can get a 64Gb BlackBerry playbook for £129.99 in Currys / PC world at the moment which is a bit of a steal.

If the limited memory in the 7 puts you off, there are a few solutions out there to use external memory with an OTG USB cable; such as, rooting the device and stickmount or Nexus Media Importer app allows read only from external flash drives without root.

[nichomach]

What about http://www.expansys.com/motorola-xoo...-wi-fi-225503/ - ships with Honeycomb, but there's an ICS update for it?

[gino_76ph]

Sorry but i'm not into rooting or jailbreaking. I would rather have a proper Android 4/4.1 tablet.

The Motorola Xoom Media Edition seems a darkhorse but because of an older OS and as a virtual unknown from the market i'm a bit hesitant.

[ryandigweed]

Sorry but i'm not into rooting or jailbreaking. I would rather have a proper Android 4/4.1 tablet.

The Motorola Xoom Media Edition seems a darkhorse but because of an older OS and as a virtual unknown from the market i'm a bit hesitant.

If you're not into rooting, but want upgrading. Then get a Nexus7 .

If you're going to be fine on ICS, get a Archos G9 . It's priced right, and got a hard drive, so plenty of storage.

If you can wait, then wait for the Archos G10 + Magnetic Keyboard included. I don't know what will be the price, but it will have Jelly Bean compatibility

I wrote a long post about rooting and upgrading but the tab closed

[scaryjim]

I have a 16GB playbook and love it. If what you want a tablet for is web, movies and news/weather, then you can't buy a better tablet for the money (particularly now the 64GB one is so cheap at Curry's). AppWorld is starting to see a lot of ported Android apps turning up (although in sheer numbers it's still quite a way behind Play Store) and the web browser is fully featured and has flash, so you can watch youtube/iplayer/etc in the browser. Multitasking actually works properly, the adobe reader is pretty damn good, it comes pre-loaded with the kobo e-reader app so plenty of e-books are available ... it even has a version of DOSBox (although it's tricky to use without a physical keyboard!).

I see no reason to not buy one at the current price.

EDIT: just to add that battery life is fantastic.

[Dareos]

Tab 2 has just turned up on Hotukdeals.com under at £159, Amazon deal too, its £189 before cashback tho, worth looking into

[gino_76ph]

I don't want to get a BB Playbook as i think it will the way of the HP Touchpad.

The £159 (minus the cashback) of the Tab 2 7.0 seems very tempting but with a slower/inferior specs compared to the almost similar-priced Nexus 7 it's kind of...hmmmmm. tricky. problem with the N7 heard of stories such as the side bezels not being glued properly and the speakers not being too loud & clear.

This upcoming Acer A110 Android 4.1 tablet for under £180 seems also a really good deal when it comes out this month.

[scaryjim]

I don't want to get a BB Playbook as i think it will the way of the HP Touchpad.

I understand your position, but honestly even if it does what would you lose? RIM aren't about to go under, and they're planning to use the playbook OS (which is QNX-based) on their next line of phones. So even if they stop making the playbook they're likely to keep supporting it for a while, and even if they stop supporting it it won't suddenly stop working. And it's a good £50 cheaper than most of its equivalents. Worst case scenario is that you end up with a slightly expensive 64GB portable hard drive!

[gino_76ph]

What can the Playbook do what the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 or the Nexus 7 can already offer me?

having an Android tablet would makes sense for me as it will complement my Android smartphone. Having a BB Playbook would be another way of more expense for me in terms of buying games off the App Store or the Android player; even with Android apps it won't be THAT plenty anyway. Can you get N.O.V.A., Dead Space or Sprinkle for the Playbook? I don't think so.

Can the Playbook play .avi or .mkv files? Does it do multitasking like Ice Cream Sandwich? Does the Playbook have GPS? Can it send files via bluetooth to any bt-enabled device without the use of a 1st-party or 3rd-party app? Can it turn-on really quick? Does it have a battery life of at least 8-10 hours? All these questions are my concern for the Playbook.

[ryandigweed]

The £159 (minus the cashback) of the Tab 2 7.0 seems very tempting but with a slower/inferior specs compared to the almost similar-priced Nexus 7 it's kind of...hmmmmm. tricky. problem with the N7 heard of stories such as the side bezels not being glued properly and the speakers not being too loud & clear.

This upcoming Acer A110 Android 4.1 tablet for under £180 seems also a really good deal when it comes out this month.

How much is the galaxy tab10 going for these days?


If you're worried about the bezels and speakers , just go to a store where they have that tablet on demo and take check it out for yourself. Sometimes people spread some real crappy rumors mostly haters. But the Nexus series has always been of good quality.

Well yeah the Acer tablet sounds good too, but then they're not that experienced with android tablets. Although with that price point, many Android Dev's will wanna get their hands on it, and do some nice modding

[pp05]

I don't want to get a BB Playbook as i think it will the way of the HP Touchpad.

The £159 (minus the cashback) of the Tab 2 7.0 seems very tempting but with a slower/inferior specs compared to the almost similar-priced Nexus 7 it's kind of...hmmmmm. tricky. problem with the N7 heard of stories such as the side bezels not being glued properly and the speakers not being too loud & clear.

This upcoming Acer A110 Android 4.1 tablet for under £180 seems also a really good deal when it comes out this month.

Given the budget you're limited to a solid 7" or ebay/gumtree for larger screen and possibly secondhand. My brother picked up an Asus Transformer TF101 like that for < 200.

One thing, ICS/Jellybean based tablets are only coming to market now so I would wait. Even Amazon will be releasing the next version of Kindle Fire in the coming weeks.

The Playbook speakers are better than the above tablets.

[c12038]

Try this company http://www.prestigio.com/ good quality android tablets at good prices

Hope this helps