Android tablet recommendations under £300.

Dandle

Dandle

Dandle

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Toying with the idea of getting my wife a tablet for her birthday but I dont really know whats out there apart from the obvious galaxy tab 10.1 which is out of the price range. She would like one with a large ish screen so over 9" and running on Android. I have set a budget of up to £300 but if we can spend less then thats better.

Any recommendations for me to look at?
 
Assuming you want a tablet around 10 inches you can get an iPad 2 for £289, to be honest that's what I'd go for as the tablet apps are much better on iOS, especially when it comes to things like 4oD and TVCatchup (the website equivalents on Android are awful). Then you have Sky Go which isn't available on Android tablets yet without a lot of faffing about that Sky always end up blocking. I guess a lot of it depends on what you are going to use it for though, the only use I can find for a 10 inch tablet is as a portable TV/media hub in the kitchen and sometimes bed and this is where the iPad apps excel.

So for me the best combination is an Android phone and an iPad currently, I expect that to change at some point though but not for a while.
 
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I would strongly consider the Xoom as you can now pick it up for around £250 for the 10.1" 32GB Wi-Fi version. I bought one a few weeks ago and it is now running a 4.0.4 ICS and runs a treat.
I considered waiting to see what the iPad 2's were going to go for but as I already have bought around 70 or so apps and games for Android it made sense to keep with that, if possible. Also I really prefer the aspect ratio on the Xoom over that of the iPad.
 
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Dandle, the other good thing about the iPad is that your wife will be able to get all the apps she misses from her old iPhone, so you get the best of both worlds really.
 
Had my Xoom a fair few months now & use it loads & Love it so well worth a look.
 
Strange isn't it that even when you put "Android" in the subject line, someone always recommends an i-Pad! :D

Having looked at tablets recently, I'd probably recommend the Sony Tablet S which has recently dropped to below £300 and looks very nice imo!

I'd definitely recommend having a look at one in a shop first though as they are a bit different to most tablets in that it is a strange "wedge" shape - although I think it sits in the hands really well!

The only thing that put me off the Xoom 2 and/or Xoom 2 Media Edition was that I read somewhere that you cant just drag and drop files with windows explorer but rather had to "sync" with the Motorola software, much like the i-Tunes system!

Other than that I am looking at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 but that's the wrong scree size for you and out of budget!
 
wait for the Galaxy tab 2 10.1 - will be out shortly for about that price - runs a good soc and ICS out of the box. Much better than the current 10.1. Has a sd card too iirc.

GALAXY%20Tab%202%20(10.1)%20Product%20Image%20(1)-580-75.jpg


http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/samsung-galaxy-tab-2-10-1-announced-1066429
 
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Thanks for the input. She isn't worried about missing Apple apps now Em3bbs. How does the iPad fair with missing flash player still are there many websites that don't work properly as that would be more of an issue. I quite like the idea of a Tab 2 but I doubt that they will be under £300. I will do more reading about different tablets and come back.
 
I bought a Xoom for about £245 delivered last week. It's took an absolute hammering so far and has been used far more than I ever thought I would use a tablet. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 so a lot of the apps I used on there (like TeamViewer, Unified Remote) have been great to use on the tablet.

Also very impressed with Honeycomb, with ICS on it's way now OTA.

Only thing I've disliked about the tablet is the frequency of screen wiping (though I imagine this is common :p) and the weight. Not sure how it compares, but I've found it's tiring on the old fingers to hold one handed. Oh, it doesn't have haptic feedback either.
 
StevieP said:
Strange isn't it that even when you put "Android" in the subject line, someone always recommends an i-Pad! :D
Click to expand...

It's not strange really, I know Dandle and his wife very well in real life and I personally think she'd prefer the better tablet apps that are on the iPad. I also currently have 5 Android tablets (and have owned others I've sold like the Transformer and Galaxy Tab) as well as the iPad so I am probably quite qualified to know what I'm talking about in this particular case. ;)

But now I'm home I'll speak to him on the phone in case I offend any other fandroids. You guys are getting as bad as the Apple zealots these days. ;)
 
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Em3bbs said:
It's not strange really, I know Dandle and his wife very well in real life and I personally think she'd prefer the better tablet apps that are on the iPad. I also currently have 5 Android tablets (and have owned others I've sold like the Transformer and Galaxy Tab) as well as the iPad so I am probably quite qualified to know what I'm talking about in this particular case. ;)

But now I'm home I'll speak to him on the phone in case I offend any other fandroids. You guys are getting as bad as the Apple zealots these days. ;)
Click to expand...

It was merely a comment - not wishing to start a war! Believe me, I'm sick to death of every thread turning into a debate!

All I was saying was the OP couldn't have been more clear about wanting an Android tablet and as far as I know, you cant get the Android OS on an i-Pad! :p

Had no idea you knew the OP and the comment since indicates you might be right about the suggestion!

My apologies....
 
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Hahaha I was in a bad mood last night as had spent all evening trying to remotely fix a PC problem for my parents (which turned out to be a dodgy network cable that was spazzing out their router). So sorry for being snippy. ;)
 
Even though you want Android, I agree entirely with Em3bbs.

The iPad is just so good that it's the best option by a country mile for the majority of people (and by the sound of it, your good lady would be one of those people :p).

I can count the amount of times I've missed having Flash on one hand.
 
Em3bbs said:
as had spent all evening trying to remotely fix a PC problem for my parents ;)
Click to expand...

That sounds like a contender for ultimate nightmare ;)

The saddest part of my dads life is that I am his "computer" guru and I'm illiterate, when will they make a PC that fixes itself when sworn at :confused:
 
The best option would probably be an iPad2
The best Android option would be a Samsung Galaxy 8.9 - this really is the best option for a 'home use' tablet at the moment. I have one at the moment and is much better than the Xoom, Transformer and even Galaxy 10.1 in terms of size, weight, and useability.

The screen quality is subjective - but I would say the Galaxy is the best of all Android Tabs at the moment in this price bracket.
 
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