Tablet musings

[jeriendhal]

Not that I actually need another expensive high-tech gadget that wasn't required for my life, but I was thinking about getting one anyone once I saved up enough from my ebook sales.

Initially I was tempted by the Kindle Fire, which has a nice price, but it's capabilities are limited by it's small screen and I've been hearing bad things about it's web browsing capabilities, which is what I'd be using it mostly for. The next obvious contender is an iPad, but I really don't care for the excessive price and Apple's obnoxious DRM.

Which leaves me with basically choosing an Android capable unit, which I know little about. What I'm looking for is something that would let me easily check my personal email and web surf, and perhaps watch my Netflix stream on. Anyone have strong personal preferences?

Comments

[ankewehner.livejournal.com]

Well, I got myself a Sony Tablet S (the "cheapest" model of that, 16 GB and WiFi only; I got a reduced display model... seems like they're discontinuing that one)

When I saw (and picked up) the tablets available locally I really liked that one because one side is thicker than the other and rounded, and the back is textured. It makes holding it way more comfortable than the super-slim tablets, particularly in portrait orientation. Since the whole tablet tapers, if you lay it on a table in landscape orientation, the screen is slightly tilted, which is more comfortable to look at (for one person rather than a group circling it) or work on.

Surfing works fine, and I just watched a not-horrible-quality video for half an hour to see how it worked, and liked it. Email also works nicely, though I only tried my gmail account, not any other.

The screen is at 9.4'' not terribly big, but bigger than Kindle Fire's. I just downloaded Comixology and a free Marvel comic (Captain America movie prequel), and I think the tablet is big enough for that format.

On the downside it includes some superfluous-to-me Playstation whatever in the system updates, but then, you have a Playstation? So it might actually be relevant for you, whatever it is.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure that's what I'm looking for but thanks for the heads up.

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

I've got an HTC Flyer, which has a 7" screen, which is pocketable if you have big pockets (cargo shorts, jacket, etc). I can watch Youtube without problem and browse the web without too much issue either. I don't have a Netflix account, but I expect that ought to work as well.

The main limitation I've seen is that an on-screen touch keyboard is no replacement for an actual keyboard. When I make posts from the tablet they tend to be a sentence or two.

If you use Gmail, support for that is pretty much baked into Android. I haven't set up any apps to check other accounts, so you'll have to check elsewhere for how well those work.