Need a cheap android tablet for my son to use in hospital

[meggiedude]

Hi there.

My son is in hospital, and I want to buy a cheapish tablet that he can use, to surf, play videos (that I will load for him) and maybe the odd skype call (assuming that works in Hospital)

I don't want to spend the earth as there is a possibility it may "go missing", so I would say my budget is circa £100 'ish. I don't mind buying refurb stuff to keep the budget down.

I would say 16GB is min due to the loading of mp4 videos (8GB would not be enough).
Also ideally I want something bigger than 7" (fnarr)- so 8"-9" would be best.

So what say you? Nook HD+ refurb? Kindle Fire HD? A-N-Other??

Cheers

MD

[Dareos]

Hudl? it is 7" tho

[Shivy011]

The Kindle Fire HD is fairly decent from my experience for this kind of thing

[meggiedude]

Hudl? it is 7" tho

Yeah, Thanks mate.
Specs seem good enough, as is the price point. Already have a Nexus 7" and Blackberry Playbook (both game-fully employed) at home so was not planning on another 7". Really needs to be 8 - 9" if it stands a chance of being used when we get my son home.

Thanks Though

[meggiedude]

The Kindle Fire HD is fairly decent from my experience for this kind of thing

Yes I am warming to the idea of one of these.
At this point I see it as basically a judgement call between the lack of camera(s) on the Nook for things like Skype) vs the lack of (Micro-SD) storage expansion with the Kindle.
Seems bonkers why they didn't add this capability - and assumed everyone would want the 'Cloud' for extra storage

Other than that are there any other sensible options?

[jimbouk]

Trying not to put a spanner in the works, but is there wifi in the hospital? If not you're either going to have to get a tablet that has 3G built in and a data allowance, or share the data connectivity of a phone with bluetooth/a wifi hotspot and need a large data allowance.

We don't want you spending £100 on a tablet then racking up another £100 going over your data allowance, set limits and be sensible (because children aren't always).

Tablet recommendations, if it was 7" then I'd say a second hand Nexus 7 (1st generation). If it's just a video player and internet browser than I'd just look for something with a mostly up-to-date Android version and reasonable screen resolution and not worry about the finer details. 7" does seem to be a lot more common in that price range though.

[meggiedude]

Trying not to put a spanner in the works, but is there wifi in the hospital? If not you're either going to have to get a tablet that has 3G built in and a data allowance, or share the data connectivity of a phone with bluetooth/a wifi hotspot and need a large data allowance.

We don't want you spending £100 on a tablet then racking up another £100 going over your data allowance, set limits and be sensible (because children aren't always).

Tablet recommendations, if it was 7" then I'd say a second hand Nexus 7 (1st generation). If it's just a video player and internet browser than I'd just look for something with a mostly up-to-date Android version and reasonable screen resolution and not worry about the finer details. 7" does seem to be a lot more common in that price range though.

Know what you are saying mate, and he is due to be there for a few weeks.

Have checked and free Wifi is avail in hosp he is going to.

Would love another Nexus, but want to get him something larger this time.

Happy to put Cyanogenmod on it if necessary (nook, Kindle for example)

[StaticFX]

I have the Nook HD+ and while, for the money ,its great.. its not the snappiest - thats for sure. You may want to root it

[meggiedude]

I have the Nook HD+ and while, for the money ,its great.. its not the snappiest - that's for sure. You may want to root it

Thanks.
And when you say - its not the snappiest, is that pre - or - post rooting + cyanogenmod build, or both??