Tablet Shopping

[bjarvis]

Continuing my exploration of Android tables, I've just returned from Best Buy down the road, checking out their selection. My goal is a 10" unit, wifi, bluetooth, Honeycomb, 16GB of RAM (pref. 32GB), built-in USB port, front & back web cams, don't care about HDMI. Probably will use a bluetooth keyboard & mouse. I primarily want a device which can give me convenient Internet access around the house instead of lugging around & booting my laptop. I also want to be able to take docs, spreadsheets, ebooks & PDF files with me when I travel for quick reference. Music, movies and photos are lower to non-existent priorities.

• Asus Transformer. $400 for 16GB unit. Optional docking station but I'd prefer a detached keyboard & touch pad/mouse rather than a connected unit; the docking station has the USB ports though so plan on an extra $150. Felt heavy. Crappy camera resolution.
  
• Acer Iconia A500: $400 for 16GB unit. 1 USB port, 1 micro-USB port. Optional docking station. Thickest of all models thus far but didn't feel heavy.
  
• Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tab: $500 for 16GB unit. 1 USB port. Crappy camera resolution. Slim & light though.
  
• Toshiba Thrive: $480 for 16GB unit. 1 USB port, 1 micro USB port. Lightweight & slim.
  
• Motorola Xoom, Blackberry Playbook, HP Web Tab: Not even in the running for various reasons
  

So far, for my purposes, the Acer Iconia A500 is the leader. But do I want to spend $400 for a tablet ($300 if I use my Staples coupon before July 31)? I'm not yet persuaded a tablet is the best use of money.

Edit: I've decided against purchasing in the near future. There's some nice hardware out there, but nothing compelling enough to make me open my wallet.

Comments

[weekilter.livejournal.com]

OK, here's a question for you. You've settled on an Android tablet of some sort and it's going to cost you upwards of $400 or more to get a decent one. Why have you limited yourself to Android vs. iOS or WebOS? I know the app infrastructure isn't a great as it is for Android in WebOS, but just curious for your choice of OS.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

WebOS isn't in the running simply because it's a niche player at best. Unless HP does something miraculous, it's going to stay a niche player and probably be dropped from the product line in a couple of years.

Apple's iPads aren't in the running because they lack USB ports, plain & simple. Any tablet I buy of whatever make & model must be able to accept a flash memory drive on demand, otherwise it doesn't fit my day-to-day needs. iPad and iPad2 can't do that.

I'm going with Android-based tablets because our personal phones are all Android-based (or about to be). There's no learning curve required and shopping for apps for both the phones and the tablets will be greatly simplified. We also make extensive use of Google Apps, especially Google Contacts and Google Calendar: Android makes good use of these, although admittedly the native calendar app could use some improvements. I've worked with iCal and would rather chew my own foot off than deal with that mess again.