Journey of the PoeT

A good tablet, eh? Hm, well a lot depends on what you’re willing to spend. I have owned three Android tablets so far, and I’ve discovered you really do get what you pay for. And it’s a very thin line, too.

In general, it seems, you aren’t going to get a “good” one for less than $200. My Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus cost me about $280, and that was refurbished through Amazon.com (new at $300). It’s a very good tablet though.

The Galaxy Tab 2 is nearly as good, but at a much lower cost, around $250 brand new for the 8GB version. It still has a micro SD port for expanded storage. It also has the newer Android OS. The only downside is a minutely slower processor, a lower quality front camera and a fixed focus back camera. But all reports are that it’s quite good. If you’re looking for a 10 inch tablet the Tab also comes in that size, but for more cost.

The other tablets I have owned were a Sylvania one that wasn’t too great, but was good as a beginner’s tablet, and the Coby Kyros. Both were less than $200, but they were very lacking by comparison. The biggest drawback to the cheap tablets is the general lack of post-purchase support. Once you buy them, you’re basically on your own.

My best advice to you is to work out what you want from the tablet and find one that best suits your needs vs the price you want to pay.  In my case, I really wanted one with a good rear-facing camera, so I could have it as a back-up camera when I didn’t want to lug my Nikon D3000 around with me ($900 of camera vs $300 of tablet, one is much harder to replace than the other ;D).

Also check out options for used or refurbished devices to shave a bit off the cost. Refurbished electronics have usually been inspected and tested after being returned. That sounds bad, but that means that you know it’s been fixed, and been given a hands on inspection. It’s almost better than new.  I’ve done this several times now and it works out quite well each time.  Both my tablet and my camera (and it’s lenses) were bought refurbished and neither have given me any trouble.  I also chose the 7 inch size because I like the portability and feel it works better as an E-Book.

I hope this helps :)

Feel free to ask any further questions if you need.