Tuesday, December 10, 2013

30+ Days of Christmas: #16 Tablet Buying Guide

Welcome back to the gift countdown.  For real, this time, it's tie to look at those popular portables - the tablets.


Like the previous couple days, there are a lot of choices, and no universal winners.   Today, though, we're going to look at  features to look for, screen size, processor/memory, and run over the options from Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, & Google, take a look at convertible laptops, as well as take a bit of a look at "economy tablets". 


The tablet is not as new an idea as it may be seen.   They had them in Star Trek.... Oh wait, that was on TV.   Seriously, though, the tablet has predated the iPad or Android by over a decade.   There were early convertible laptops that would allow a stylus to be used on the screen.   Let's not forget  PDA's, like the Palm Pilot and Toshiba Pocket PC.  Devices like these would merge with cellular technology giving us things like the Palm Pre.  Also, during the later part of the 2000's, Amazon introduced the Kindle, which was primarily an e-reader, which could buy and store content from Amazon cellularly.

In 2010, Apple released their first generation iPad.  This came with a lot of fanfare, and had six fixed options - black or white, in three memory configurations.   It had a nice appearance (unlike some of the less-stylish earlier tablets), came loaded with software, as well as an app store - the iTunes Store, where a user could purchase movies, music, books, games and more.   The iPad has enjoyed a great deal of success over the past three years of its existence.   In 2012, while a newer version of the tablet was introduced, so was the iPad Mini, a smaller version.  This year, upgraded versions of both have become available.   There are a lot of pros to the iPad, but also some limitations.    Apple's manufactured a slick-packaged device that's fairly light and easily portable.  Battery life can be about 10 hours - depending on use - and there are a wide variety of apps to choose from from the iTunes store.  There are a couple of considerations to keep in mind with an iPad, though.   Apple is the exclusive manufacturer of the iPad.  As such, there is no variety, but for color and memory.  If you buy a 16GB iPad, you cannot upgrade it to 64GB - short of buying a new one, or being very handy with a soldering iron (which will void your warranty).Unlike some of the competitors, the iPad may lack expansion ports, and may not have the "best" camera, but they work very well out of the box, and Apple offers phone support and in-store support at their Apple Stores.

Google introduced the Android Tablet not long after the iPad debuted.   Unlike Apple, Google is merely the creator of the operating system.   This allows for a greater degree of variety.   There are, or have been, such choices as the Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy, Acer Iconia, Asus Transformer, and Toshiba Thrive.   This allowed for a greater variety of choice in device.   As opposed to the iPad, most Android tablets had an expansion slot to increase storage space.  Another advantage was that the price of an Android tablet was often considerably less than that of an iPad.   Unlike Apple, there was no uniformity in devices.   Similarly priced models may have different features, or may not be officially supported under the next released OS upgrade.    Components vary by manufacturer and product line.   My Acer Iconia has microHDMI port, a full sized USB host port, as well as the microUSB transfer port.  My father's Motorola Xoom has the microUSB and microHDMI, but not the USB.  At the time, his cost b bit more than mine.   With the competition, companies like Samsung have been improving their displays and cameras to attract greater market share for a "better product".  Apple actually entered the "mini-tablet" market late.   There had been several Android based devices in this product class well before the announcement of the iPad Mini last September.   It's very important to make sure in choosing a tablet, that you get one with the memory and features that you will need.   Economy-line models are available, (see below) that may also be a consideration.

As noted earlier, Amazon had their Kindle reader as the sell-out item several years ago upon its initial launch.  Since them, the design has been improved upon, Kindle has added an app that will work on other tablets and smart phones.   The new Kindle Fire HDX is no exception.   Amazon has continued the evolution of their popular reader.   It now offers a better screen, higher resolution camera, and improved access to a constantly growing media library.   Instead of an e-ink mini-tab, these new(er) Kindles are feature-rich tablets, that allow for you to check your social media sites, email, surf the web, take pictures, or - as they were initially designed - read a good book.  

Last year, Microsoft introduced the Windows Surface.  Microsoft was entering the tablet market (as well as making drastic changes in the Windows operating system).   I've been interested in the Surface since its release, though I haven't had the opportunity to really get intimate with one.   The Surface had some problems in its first year, and did not live up to the hype that the company (likely) had on the release.  This year, Microsoft has released an upgraded OS, and a new version of the Surface.   Some may remember that I was intrigued, at the very least by the Surface.  I was not in the market for either a laptop or tablet at the time.  Also, I'm more of a Penguin guy, myself.  I liked what I saw though.   Microsoft had a tablet that could convert into a semi-notebook with an attachable keyboard, had twice the memory of the iPad at each level, and could use a full office suite.   One distinct disadvantage of both the iPad and Android were their lack of ability to use productivity software.  Microsoft Office was not available, and neither were open source suites like Open Office and LibreOffice.  .   In my opinion, this made the Surface a better choice for those who wanted one device, rather than needing multiple.  Microsoft has some similar disadvantages to Apple, though.   Being the sole manufacturer, limits the customizable options to color or accessory.  However, the Surface does allow for a bit more flexibility in expansion.   In addition, it's prone to similar exploits as the Windows operating system itself.   Some may bash Microsoft for this, but (as I'll detail in another post this afternoon) the greater one's presence in the market, the bigger a target they become. 

There are an assortment of "economy line" tablets that are available for purchase.   I've seen sizes ranging from 4.3" through 10".   Names have included, but are not limited to Apex, Proscan, Nextbook, eFun, and Envizen.   Sometimes, depending on sales, these tablets may be at $50 or less.   In general, these economy tablets will run on the Android operating system.   Very often, though, as opposed to their higher priced counterparts, they will be lacking in component quality, features, or storage space.   One local retailers advertises a particular economy tablet most weeks for $50-70.   While this will give you something usable for a low price, it may have some trade-offs.   As opposed to the 10 hour active battery life of higher end tablets, some of these may only get 4 hours of active battery use before needing a charge.   Also, they may ship with single core, or low-speed dual core processors, and 512MB system RAM (while the major brand may have a higher speed quad core, and greater system RAM).   Onboard storage may be small, but is (often) expandable with microSD media cards.   Some other considerations when buying a budget tablet are the access to app stores, and the support for new(er) versions of the operating system.   I received a Nextbook 8, free, as a bonus, along with a purchase this past summer.   Short of being rooted, though, it has limitations.  It will not accept certain Android upgrades, and does not use the Google Play Store.   I've also found it a bit lacking in power & features to my older Acer Iconia, but I've still been able to put it to some good, if infrequent, use.     For those who have the knowledge or the desire to tinker around, economy tablets may be a source of fun for experimentation.   By "rooting" a device, you may be able to reprogram it for some other purposes.   I'm not going to go into any detail on how to do that.  Keep in mind, also that by rooting your device, you will void any warranty that you had.  You may also "brick" your device.   Bricking, in this sense is a fairly simple term.   It means "turning your nice electronic gadget into a high-priced brick".    This should only be done if you know what you're doing, or are not worried about the results.

The last subject I'll cover here today are the "convertible" tablets.   Toshiba was one manufacturer years ago that made a notebook computer with a screen that could twist backward and work as a tablet.   These didn't perform so well on the market in the Windows 98/Me/NT and even XP days.  Lately, though, they've become much better.    There are rotating screens, detachable tablets, and even dual-display devices.   These can give you "the best of both worlds" so to speak.   You can have a fully functional notebook, with the functionality of a tablet, when needed.   Many of these now take advantage of the touchscreen potential on Windows 8, although they can be used under Linux, as well.   This technology  is improving, but the better convertibles still command a premium price tag.  For some, it may be more cost effective to stick with a notebook, and a tablet, unless convenience and "clutter" are bigger concerns than cost. 

All in all, there are a lot of choices available.   Ultimately, if you're in the market for a gift, or for yourself, then there's quite a bit to choose from.   There is not absolute "best" device, as that is very subjective to your needs, budget and preference.   I hope that this gave you a bit of insight on the options available.   This guide is not all-inclusive nor exhaustive, but was meant to give you a place to start.   If you have further questions to help in choosing a device, don't hesitate to contact me.

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