7" tablets

I got my son a Nexus 7. He uses it constantly, and I think they've done quite a nice job designing it.

I have an iPad I hardly use.

We got a very nice Lenovo, the A1, for a great price and with some great specs.  It's for my daughter.  But that was before the Google Nexus 7 came out.

I don't think you could go wrong with either the Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7.  Price might be the deicing factor.  Neither are THAT expensive as to make you lose sleep over the choice.

bradword - 2012-11-27 12:45 PM

JoshR - 2012-11-27 8:05 AM Any suggestions? I'm looking at a Kindle Fire HD or the Nexus 7 I think. Apple is not an option for me.

iPad mini, absolutely an APPLE ipad Mini

Or I could buy 2 Nexus 7's, one for my wife and one for myself for about the same

I have the Kindle Fire HD and if you buy books and movies from Amazon you'll love it.  The screen is beautiful and I would recommend the Amazon Prime membership.

Kindle Fire HD does run on Android, but it has an Amazon front end limits that limits you to buying from Amazon direct, not through the Google Play catalog, so it's probably not as flexible as the Nexus.

resurrecting this thread...i'm reviewing tablets, thinking of buying the husband one for christmas...and can't decide between 10" and 7"

anyone have any input/experience on the size/convenience of the different tablets?  he uses his smartphone for a lot of reading of sports sites and slate-type sites, as well as manage his fantasy football.  it's a pain to lug out the computer for this stuff, but i'd like him to have a more convenient tool for all of this.  he may also use it to watch gangnam style on youtube...

it would be an at-home wi-fi connected device.  i don't see him taking it places with him, especially since his smart phone can do the gps and camera functions while fitting in his pockets.  this is really for reading websites at home.

I use an older non-HD Kindle Fire and it works great for most websites.  There have been a couple flash-heavy sites that slowed it down but most are great.  I have not had an issue with the size.  The screen seems plently big, at least for the websites I normally go to.  If your husband is used to surfing the web on his phone even a 7" screen will seem huge.

We also use it alot for streaming video and it works great with Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Youtube.

I am buying the wife the Kindle 8.9 as she has looked at many different ones and thinks that is what she wants.  Just to give you an option.  It is $299 at Amazon.

any thoughts on 7" vs 10"?  i find the ipad heavy and don't like them, the nexus 10" is about 40g less than the iPad and i wonder if that is too heavy, but balance that against is a 7" screen too little?  i have an original nook, and love it for reading because 7" is book-sized, but not sure i would like web-browsing on it...

My wife has a 7" playbook, and I just bought a tablet for my 4 year old. 10" is good for the office or boardroom, where the 7 is better for public transit, waiting rooms, etc. If I needed a tablet I'd get a 7" samsung.

Only thing to watch for is that it's certified for the Google Play (store) - some of the really cheap ones are not, and you have to go through the tablet company web portal to get limited apps which doesn't often work right.

This is the one I got for 99 bucks on black friday/weekend sale:

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-MTP-710-SmartTab-Tablet-Capacitive/dp/B008DYN1TC

Pretty amazing for how cheap it was.

I posted the below in a different thread and to be fair it pertains specifically to the difference between an iPad and an iPad Mini.  So I do not know if scaling is the same between android or kindle size variations but it at least is food for thought/consideration.  This has been the only issue I've seen and while I mention games and apps in here, it is relevant to websites also:

"Another consideration..... kind of depends on the size of your hands.  some websites, games, apps, etc. the buttons get too small for your hands.  you have to zoom to get to the button instead of just pressing it as with the 10 in screen size.  They designed the screen to allow developers to be a bit lazy if they choose.  exact same dimensions so that they didn't have to change the apps if they chose not to.  It "uses" almost the same as the 10 in size, but if the apps etc haven't been optimized for the smaller screen then everything scales down accordingly.  So "next" and "submit" buttons are smaller and it can tend to feel like working on a big phone.  So if you have big hulking man-hands, it could get annoying, but if you have refined philosopher fingers it could be a non-issue."

I have not noticed any problem whatsoever with books.  In fact the 7 inch is probably preferable for books.  Overall though, personally I prefer the 10 inch size, and that doesn't mean that I dislike the 7.  I just like the 10 more.

+1

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab7 2.0.  I love it.  I originally wanted a 10" tablet, but I found a deal at Best Buy on the 7".  They called it the student package.  White tablet, matching keyboard, an adapter to run a USB external HDD, and a cover, all for $250. 

Here are my thoughts. We were looking for a while, but have derailed the idea for a bit.

I looked at 7" and 10" in person, and the 7" was a bit disappointing. It didn't seem all that much bigger than a phone. I ruled out the Nooks and Kindle because I wanted to be able to add storage through a memory card. Therefore, not necessarily having to worry about memory size of the tablet as much.

I was looking at the Lenovo 10" (or 9") Ideapad. They only sell them at Best Buy, but they looked to be a good tablet for the price. (I think this link will take you to the Lenovo IdeaPads). Lenovo, as a brand, isn't quite as familiar as other brands but it is what IBM's personal computers became (with a merger, I'm sure.)

The other cool one I saw was a Lenovo Yoga, but I'm not sure what the cost was and/or what your budget is :-)

Good luck!!