Need advice on a tablet/reader

[JJ Husker]

I'm in the market for a tablet, reader, or inexpensive laptop. I plan to uae this item pretty much like I use my Droid smart phone. Primary uses being; surfing, posting on Huskerboard, reading Kindle books, playing games like Words With Friends, etc. I don't think I need full PC functionality but it might be nice to be able to do stuff like Excel, Word, Outlook type things. Oh I almost forgot, would like to use it to watch movies. I think wifi only will be fine- will use primarily at home and some at work, both have good wifi. Don't plan on using 4G access. Might be nice to use it for movies to my TV and might be nice if I could send docs to a wireless printer. The major problem I hope to solve over my smart phone is size for surfing and posting on HB.

 

Have not done a lot of research and am currently thinking- 1-Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 2-iPad Air. 3-iPad Mini- in that order. Also am curious about MS Surface. Any advice for an older, partially tech challenged guy?

[carlfense]

I'm in the market for a tablet, reader, or inexpensive laptop. I plan to uae this item pretty much like I use my Droid smart phone. Primary uses being; surfing, posting on Huskerboard, reading Kindle books, playing games like Words With Friends, etc. I don't think I need full PC functionality but it might be nice to be able to do stuff like Excel, Word, Outlook type things. Oh I almost forgot, would like to use it to watch movies. I think wifi only will be fine- will use primarily at home and some at work, both have good wifi. Don't plan on using 4G access. Might be nice to use it for movies to my TV and might be nice if I could send docs to a wireless printer. The major problem I hope to solve over my smart phone is size for surfing and posting on HB.

 

Have not done a lot of research and am currently thinking- 1-Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 2-iPad Air. 3-iPad Mini- in that order. Also am curious about MS Surface. Any advice for an older, partially tech challenged guy?

The Kindle Fire is a great buy. You might also want to check out the Google Nexus.

 

If you're already into the apple ecosystem or just appreciate the build quality either iPad would be worth a look.

 

Personally, I'd stay away from the Surface. I've used my brother in law's Surface a bit and was not at all impressed. Other than staying away from the MS Surface you can't really go wrong with any of the leading tablets. You'll probably be quite satisfied with any of them.

[Landlord]

Are you planning on obtaining all of your movies legally? I only ask because tablets aren't the most 'open' in terms of the software allowing you a lot of control and torrents or other means of obtaining movies outside of iTunes or Amazon or wherever could be pretty problematic on a tablet.

 

 

Otherwise, it's hard to go wrong with either. I don't know what the Kindle Fire's screen resolution is, but if you'll be doing a lot of reading, keep in mind the pixel density for each screen. Those iPad retina displays make reading a whole lot easier on the eyes, especially over prolonged periods of time.

[knapplc]

I have a Nook HD, and the reasons I bought it over the Kindle Fire are

 

1) Price - Kindle Fire 9" is $229 for 16GB, $314 for 32GB, whereas the Nook 9" is $149 for 16GB.

 

and

 

2) Memory. The Fire comes with built-in memory, and you can't expand it. The Nook also has built-in memory, but it also has a MicroSD slot for expandable memory. I have a 16GB Nook with a 64GB card, and when bigger cards become available I have more memory.

 

You have to figure the cost of the memory card into your tablet price, sure, but I think even with the memory card added in, the Nook was cheaper. The Fire touts their Cloud storage, but if you're somewhere without WiFi you don't have your cloud, so that storage is useless in a car, on a plane, or anytime you can't connect to the cloud. I don't trust cloud service, and there are legit reasons why you shouldn't, but others swear by it.

 

Performance-wise they're about the same. I'm not really into the nuances of what makes a tablet better than another, so if there's a glaring weakness in the Nook I haven't seen it. Nooks are all Android-based and you have the whole gazillion-app Android library to choose from. There are more apps available than you'll ever need.

 

 

A BIG CAVEAT to the Nook is, I believe Barnes & Noble is getting rid of their Nook line, spinning it off to Google or some other company as a vendor, but you can still get in on pretty good deals with the Nook this Christmas.

[StPaulHusker]

I have an Ipad and a Kindle Fire 7".

 

I like the Kindle because there are a lot of free movies and books that can be watched instantly or downloaded from Amazon Prime. The downside of the Kindle is that they don't seem to have as many apps as the Ipad. But it serves the purpose well as I bought it to take with me on business trips.

[JJ Husker]

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the opinions. We're already fairly heavily invested in Kindle/Amazon based books so that, and the relatively inexpensive price, is why I was already leaning pretty hard towards the Kindle Fire HDX. My wife has the "paper white" Kindle screen and I am really impressed with that. The eye strain is much less than the Kindle app on my Droid phone. I guess I already knew their apps were significantly more limited than iPad/Apple but I just don't see me going overboard with apps.

 

To answer Landlords question, I've always acquired my movies legally and would expect that to continue. If I can't afford to get it legally, I don't need it.

 

And Knapp, your comments on storage probably convinced me to go for the 64GB model. I'm not too worried about not having wifi access to my cloud storage. I make due now with my phone- I just plan ahead and load up what I think I may want before I go. I've learned to be pretty frugal- I still only have a grandfathered 500MB data plan on my smart phone because I don't want to pay the $30 or $40 per month for 2GB or more, and it doesn't bother me at all. Plus, I pay the bill so if I ever really need to go over my limit, I'll just bite it and go. However, the same limitation would absolutely kill my kids- they've both got 2GB plans (that I pay for ). One of these days we'll come into the 21st century and get a family share plan with 6GB or 8Gb or more of data- but currently happy saving the $30-$60/mo.

[zoogs]

Kindle Fire doesn't have the paper white screen. If all you're looking for is a reader, I'd recommend going with the paper white. That stuff is great. The Kindle app itself exists on any platform I believe - Windows, Mac, definitely Android. I've never owned a Kindle Fire tablet or seen anyone who has but it seems like Amazon would be really, really, really behind in the app department compared to anybody else.

[MichiganMan]

I have a Surface beacause it has a USB port (ipad does not) and a full key board

 

[JJ Husker]

Kindle Fire doesn't have the paper white screen. If all you're looking for is a reader, I'd recommend going with the paper white. That stuff is great. The Kindle app itself exists on any platform I believe - Windows, Mac, definitely Android. I've never owned a Kindle Fire tablet or seen anyone who has but it seems like Amazon would be really, really, really behind in the app department compared to anybody else.

 

I agree, that paper white display is awesome for reading. But I'm guessing any Kindle will be ok for reading and my top use will likely be what I'm doing right now- surfing and posting on HB.

[krill]

Biggest downside to the Fire in my experience is the Silk web browser is complete garbage compared to the iOS browser and various Android browsers. Because the Fire is a split from Android, you don't get the Google play store, only Amazon apps. There is a workaround to side load apps on the Fire, but it's a big hassle for most people.

 

You can get an e-ink Kindle for $70 new, or for practically a few bucks used, and a much better tablet like the iPad, Nexus, or Samsung Galaxy in the 7" or 10" size. Personally I would an e-ink Kindle for book reading, and a 10" tablet for heavy internet browsing. The regular Kindles reached a technology plateau years ago and tablets are about there as well. So it's not like you'll be needing a new one in 6 months; they will last years if you don't break them.

[JJ Husker]

Thanks krill. I don't want a junk browser so I'll research that a bit more. Plus I better look a little closer at the apps available. Now I'm leaning back towards an iPad. I guess I could use my wifes Kindle for books...

[sd'sker]

i have an original kindle fire, which is alright. but if i had to do it again i would get a google nexus. just because i like google.