I am considering getting an Android tablet at some point.

[Guest gindarty]

I am considering getting an Android tablet at some point.

My primary use for such a tablet would be as an e-reader.

At first I was considering Kindle but I´d never gotten around to getting one, and this was before Ipad hype.

Now when you look for e-reader/tablets it´s all Ipad Ipad Ipad. I effin hate Apple due bad experience with ipods.

I am not going to start flaming apple or anything, let´s just say I´m not getting an Ipad.

The positive about it though, at least I think, is the screen size.

Seems good for e-reading and it give the option to do other stuff with it also.

And I´ve already tried to use my HTC Desire as an e-reader, not exactly a pleasant experience.

So I am looking for a tablet with the same screen size as Ipad, but powered by Android.

And I found this Android 2.1 Tablet PC

http://www.gindart.com/buy/7-google-androi...pad-p-1370.html 7 inch touch screen, wifi Google Android Market, Google Android 2.1, 3D graphics acceleration / Gravity Sensor GAME, ARM 11 high processor, all these attract me. The high light of this Android tablet is 1080P Full HD video playback while Apple ipad can’t do.

Should I set my sights on this tablet? or continue looking?

Hope you can help.

Kind Regards

[Guest Nemes1s]

And I found this Android 2.1 Tablet PC

http://www.gindart.com/buy/7-google-androi...pad-p-1370.html 7 inch touch screen, wifi Google Android Market, Google Android 2.1, 3D graphics acceleration / Gravity Sensor GAME, ARM 11 high processor, all these attract me. The high light of this Android tablet is 1080P Full HD video playback while Apple ipad can’t do.

Should I set my sights on this tablet? or continue looking?

Check out the Advent Vega. At £250 you can't go wrong. Only available in the UK though. Once Pauls custom ROM is applied you have yourself an all singing and dancing Android tab with capacitive touch screen and Flash.

[Guest pajn]

If you want a cheap pad I would go for the Wopad http://www.merimobiles.com/Wopad_WR701Rock..._p/meri0547.htm

[Guest RScullion]

As far as 10 inch tablets go I've owned the Zenithink 180 (ePad) - £150, the Archos 101 - (£180, now £275) and the Advent Vega (£250)

The Zenithink is effective but a little sluggish. It's resistive screen works perfectly well (and with a stylus if you prefer). It's light-weight but feels fairly cheap and plasticy. However, it can play 720p videos without issue and they display really well on the screen with no viewing angle or reflection issues. The firmware is under constant development with a new release every month or so and there is a beta of Froyo out for it already. There are no bells and whistles (no g sensor in games, no camera etc) and the wifi reception is a little poor, though it worked fine throughout my flat and is much more stable with later firmware releases. It's the only one of the three that comes with Marketplace and Google Apps out of the box. It has dedicated host USB, slave USB and mini-ethernet ports. There are three standard buttons (home, back and menu) and the back button is on the front to look like an iPad. The battery life is around 4 hours with the wifi on. The speakers are small and tinny - there are no volume control buttons which can be annoying. Most annoying about the Zenithink is that the screen never fully goes off. This means that you can't leave it in standby for any length of time without it going flat. This coupled with a long boot time means you leave it plugged in a lot. However, I believe the latest beta firmware now allows you to turn the screen off. This is the only one of the devices without built in bluetooth.

The Archos is the least iPad like of the bunch. It has a metal frame round the screen which makes it look quality and it is incredibly light (400g) and thin. There is also a kick-stand out at the back which feels a bit cheap but is very effective, especially when listening to music or typing. The screen is vibrant when displaying graphics but the highly reflective screen is a problem when viewing dark scenes in a bright environment. When viewing films, there is a very narrow angle where the blacks are visible but don't invert. It can play all the video files I was able to throw at it and has a high quality mini-HDMI output which means you can play high definition content on it and view it on your TV or projector. The sound quality is pretty good (which you expect from Archos) and the battery life is around 10 hours. Archos have customised the interface and, though the only buttons on it are volume controls, you get permanent soft buttons on the edge of the display. This is very convenient but you lose a little of the display area. The Archos comes with it's own Apps Store out of the box, but there is a program on Modaco which you can run to enable everything (Google market, apps etc). This is the only one of the three with a g sensor for games. The built in camera exists but isn't great. The 256 MB of RAM can get a little annoying if multi-tasking as you often find that you switch from one program to the next and the original one has closed when you come back to it, The Archos also has a host USB port built in and the wifi connection is rock solid. When displaying via HDMI, the tablet display goes off and the touchscreen acts like a trackpad. This isn't great, but you can plug an external mouse of trackball in to improve things.

When you pick the Vega up, it instantly feels different to the other two. It's solid, though not not excessively heavy and feels really well made. It seems a bit snappier than the Archos, boots faster, and doesn't have its memory limits (512 MB). Out of the box the programs were awful. No apps store, no flash, links on the main page to YouTube that didn't work. Fortunately, Modaco also have an upgrade for this (though a little tricker to employ than the Archos one [i couldn't get it to work at all in Vista and required some playing with drivers in Windows 7]) which gives you the full Market and Apps experience. The wifi sits somewhere between the other two, it seems to have reasonable reception but will then drop out for no reason. Some of the keep-alive programs seem to help and it may also improve with firmware updates. The screen is vibrant, but reflective and the blacks aren't perfect but not as bad as on the Archos. Out of the box it only has a slave USB port but this is fixed in software, again via a Modaco update. Sound playback is OK and the camera is again present, but poor. There seems to be an issue with the touchscreen where it often hits the same key multiple times when typing. This may be a firmware issue or it may be due to the fact that you don't actually have to touch the screen to 'click' it. It has hardware volume, back and menu buttons and if you keep menu held down it acts as a home button. When displaying via HDMI this gives a dual screen display, which is easy to control but crashed a fair bit.

In summary, if you think you might want a 10" tablet but aren't sure, you can't go wrong with the Zenithink. It will perform all the main things a tablet needs to and give you the full Android experience out of the box. However, if you get hooked, be prepared to stick it on eBay and upgrade to something a bit faster. Between the Archos and the Vega it's a tough call. On balance, the Archos feels the most finished of the two. It was easy to upgrade to the full android experience and just feels polished. However, the Vega probably has the most potential if you're prepared to hack around with it. I suspect the upgrades will keep on coming, possibly all the way to Honeycomb.

Edited January 9, 2011 by RScullion