*lol* The Bugatti has the same problem many convertible tablet PCs have had -- disproportionately high price, although not on the same scale as the Bugatti. :)

That said, there's a lot of interesting experimentation going on -- both from the Android tablet side and on the Windows 8 PC side -- and while I don't think either one has truly found the right formula for convergence yet, in the long run a best of both worlds device is going to be a much better deal than a dedicated tablet at least at the higher-priced/larger end of the tablet market.

Sure, although the better convertibles offer relatively few tradeoffs compared to whichever device they are evolving out of. (The Surface Pro is not one of them, although it's an interesting experiment.)

You confuse peripherals (and in one case software) with the form factor, especially when many of those are available in many laptops, at least optionally.

GPS: Almost every laptop today as a WWAN option; pretty much every WWAN card has GPS. A few laptops have GPS without WWAN.

Virtually every higher-end laptop in the past few years has an 3-access or better accelerometer; while it's normally used just as a free fall sensor, it's available for other purposes if software wanted to use it.

For that matter, Microsoft was selling an orientation-sensor version of the Sidewinder game pad something like a decade ago, and it's quite a great deal less unwieldy to use something like that -- while the screen stays static -- than wail around with a 2-pound tablet and have your viewing angle have to move with the motion sensor.

"Always-on" internet is a misnomer, since tablets/phones have a hard-off state just like computers do; the ability to pick up updates in sleep mode is a software feature, not a matter of hardware, and has been available for about two years on some Windows 7 machines as "Intel Smart Connect" and is now even more common in Windows 8.

Further, not every tablet has every one of those features -- the one I just bought (and am very much enjoying) has no GPS, probably no compass, and no rear-facing camera. Don't miss them for what is in essence a dedicated and very cheap e-reader.

Pretty useless, IMO, except for looking like a right prat using a full-size tablets... narrow AR-type applications like the one you mention aside, and even there, a mobile phone sized device is much less unwieldy.

:rolleyes: Immersizeness is necessarily subjective, and as far as I can tell, for a lot of things, having to obscure part of the screen with your hands is more likely to break immersion than make things more immersive.

Further, with the exception of entertainment apps, it's far from clear to me that "immersiveness" is in any way a plus... and meanwhile, touch input is slow and inaccurate for the vast majority of productivity tasks.

Sounds very much like a niche product, but sure. Of course, that would work vastly better with something like Google Glass, and in the absence of that somewhat more comfortably with something mobile phone sized.

For that matter, given a GPS with compass, not too different with a laptop, except you have to look down to use it.

Sounds easier with something mobile-phone sized.

Having flown my share of model aircraft and a few RC helicopters, I'm not sure why that's supposed to be a plus compared to a pair of joysticks.

Yes, the slate form factor is easier to deal with for AR type applications, and as I said, it's a great deal more mobile. None of that in particular addresses my original point:
I've yet to see anything that works better with touch than with a mouse, keyboard, or both (or a graphics tablet) -- not saying they don't exist, but I've yet to see them.

Nor the one you were replying to: tablets are a new form factor with apps that could never exist on a traditional computer.

You said "could never" not "are clumsier."

Yes, but my point is that you can fix it if you need direct access to various things. For the most part Android doesn't limit you in that way, although there are a few exceptions:
*roflol* I believe that you believe that, but it's incredibly limiting to many power users.

...and you're still free to get at the underlying files, and to work with a variety of tools, not just Lightroom. Very different from the iOS model.

Within a very limited range of use cases, perhaps, but it least via Apple's solution, working outside those use cases is quite limiting.

[QUOTE]they look and function the same. the fact that one is bluetooth and the other is direct doesn't matter.

I already gave one difference that matters to some of us on FT (even if it doesn't to you:)
...and there are some others bluetooth is still more expensive and one more battery to charge just to be rid of a short cable.

In either case, a proper docking solution is better, since it does not require an external case or (in most cases, MS's poor implementation of the surface aside) a kickstand -- the machine becomes, like a laptop, relatively solid and self-supporting, which greatly improves the number of surfaces you can use it on.

The Surface Pro is a relatively high-powered system compared to almost any other tablet out there, a few other i5-based systems aside. By laptop standards, its battery life is already decent... and it is vastly faster than any ARM-based system.

The extended battery also helps the stability of the system, and in the case of the Transformer (and anecdotally, the Latitude 10/XPS 10, although I haven't had a chance to play with either one one with a keyboard dock) extends the battery into a truly all-day device, something not true even for most tablets.

Convertibles as something other than a niche "tablet pc" product are a very new market, and tend to be pricy, but they are being refined rapidly, and in the long run, I think they're where ultramobile computing is going... absorbing both the larger tablets and the subnotebook/ultrabook space.

Pdxer will have kittens over the Asus Padfone Infinity. :) Having used the older version, I think the padfone is where the market should be going.

7 in tablet recommendation
 

My 7 in acer tablet died on me once again. First time was still under warranty so shipped it back to acer and they fixed it free. Now it is out of warranty. Anyone have any suggestions for a good reasonably priced tablet? I'm in NYC so need US one. Wifi not necessarily 3 or 4 g.

Nexus 7. Should be tons available on your local Craigslist.

Im liking my kindle fire HD.

Snappy performance easy access to apps and tv series and movies.

The ipad minis screen isn't as nice and the bigger ones are too big for international travel for me.



Uncle Dave

Nexus 7 is the obvious choice - there's probably a refresh coming in a few months so prices have dropped recently from retailers.

The nexus 7 is a great tablet.

The only area the kindle fire hd wins against the Nexus is in connectivity to a larger display device.

The kindle has an HDMI port so you can watch your movies or run your apps on a huge tv screen in you want.

Otherwise I agree the Nexus is superior.

UD

Galaxy tab 7, cheap and versatile.

If price isn't a huge factor, I've heard good things about the new Sony tablet: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Xperia-SG...peria+tablet+z

The Amazon Fire does not have Android apps right?

Almost all of the work just fine.

I went through the hassle of sideloading some stuff only to find out I really just browse read and use the tablet for lite apps anyway.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396276,00.asp

The Kindle environment has tons of free apps that are quite nice.

UD

Did you purchase it with a credit card that automatically extends the warranty? Many will double the warranty (up to a year, max). Most of my experience is with Amex, which has a tendency to just credit you the purchase price if it's not worth repairing.

How soon do you need it? As others have said, the new Nexus 7 is coming out soon... ditto the Galaxy Tab 3, and both look worth waiting for to compare.

If not, what's your budget, and is the 7" size a strict requirement? As I said above, if fI had to buy a new tablet right now at that size range, I'd be looking at the 8" Galaxy Note 8 (although it's still only available in white... feh), which has a great set of features and is a VERY fast and capable tablet.

It's also more than twice the price of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (although it's more than twice as fast, higher resolution, and has twice the RAM) and almost twice the price of the Nexus 7 (which is a little slower per core but has the same number of cores, has the same resolution, and has half the RAM -- and no SD card slot.)

If you need something inexpensive right now, the Nexus 7 is the obvious choice unless you really, really need the SD card slot; there's nothing else quite that cheap that's anywhere as good.

Looks nice for a 10" model, although the 9.7"/10" and the 7"-8" models are not really interchangeable in use.

USB adaptors for the Nexus 7 are so cheap that I don't see why lack of an SD card slot should put anyone off.

Because not everyone wants a little dangly thing hanging off their tablet all day. :rolleyes:

I only put the little dangly thingy in when I need to, which isn't that often. Usually to run presentation videos. YMMV

It puts me off. I don't like to compromise, so I pick a device that offers what I actually need.

Then your use case is very different from how I use SD cards in my tablet and phone; I've got a 32 GB card in each, and it's full (as is the memory in my tablet, which is only 8gb; in the phone -- 16gb -- it's about half full.)

If manufacturers didn't overcharge for flash, having the SD card would still be more convenient (and safer, since the card contents will survive many things that can lead to the phone dying, although by no means all of them) -- but the OTG cable adapter would certainly help with some of the convenience issues.

It really does nothing for the fact that manufacturers overcharge like crazy for a bigger internal storage, unless you're willing to let it hang there all day.

Fair enough, then you'll pay a lot more extra than the $3 for a USB adaptor. The Nexus 7 is really a "play and display" device, rather than a "create and store" device. (although you can do that)
Actually that's probably true of most small tablets. It probably costs them (and ultimately, you) more than it's worth to put in full-size USB and card ports.

I don't let my adaptor "hang there all day", any more than I would leave a USB stick in all day, I just keep it in my pocket or bag attached to the USB stick. In terms of inconvenience, it's right up there with taking my reading glasses off my nose.

More local memory, whether on a card or built in, is very useful for a media consumption device (your "play and display") when you're away from the internet (like on a lot of planes), or when you're on a capped data plan away from home, or when the wifi is flakey (as at my gym), slow (lots of places), or where streaming sources are blocked for being overseas.

Full-size card ports aren't on any tablet except some of the biggest converged ones like the surface, and the cash cost if putting a micro-SD card slot in is negligible (if sub-$40 prepaid dumbphones can do it, any tablet can.) The space used and design tradeoffs of a door or a visible prt are also minor.

Google has made a conscious choice to make their devices cloud-centric, just as Apple made a conscious choice -- whether it was mainly a design one or to make a profit on overpricing flash upgrades, or if those were both equal are unknown outside of Apple.

Most (although not all), non-Nexus, non-Apple tablets have an micro-SD card slot.

Fair enough, get one with an SD card slot then.

I have.

Uncertain when/if I'll upgrade, but the next Nexus 7 will probably not be on the short list. For many people, it won't matter (although paying for the 32gb model may be worth it, overpriced though $50 for 16gb may be), but it's worth keeping in mind for people who plan to use it away from reliable or home-country wifi.

The beautiful thing about Android is the variety of available devices. Want or need an SD card? Get a device with one. Don't care? Get one without it. :D

Want an SD card once in a while but not all that often - get an adaptor.

will follow Nexus 7
 

I heard a rumour about a 64GB Nexus 7 being available around Christmas.
I have the 32GB 3G. Very happy with it.

+1 ^ for all nkedel's comments about the cloud not always being that convenient or cost-effective. 64GB is probably not enough to make me trade up from the 32GB because I do have and use the OTG/USB stick solution so that I don't run out of stuff to watch on long trips when I've filled up the 32GB.

I'll probably jump for the 128GB or bigger 3G/4G when available, though. For price/performance at present I plan to stick with the Nexus 7 range unless Google lets anyone else make it for them that does a worse job than whoever made the current ones.

Asus.

Does the job for me. Was using it in conference today to make notes on Evernote.
"Swiping" words on the Google screen keyboard was actually quicker than my pen and paper which is not bad for non-typist 58yo me. Hardly any corrections required.

Don't get me wrong, an iPad's a nice bit of kit and I might have bought one but I ended up with the Nexus 7 by default and don't feel like I need to change.

A really great little tablet for a great price right now is the Nook HD+ at $149. Big screen, nearly all Google Play apps available, Google Chrome browser, microSD expandable memory.... Almost as good as an iPad when I played with it at the store the other day.

It looks like you can run Cyanogenmod on those, so you won't even be tied to the B&N/Nook ecosystem if you don't want to be.

Again: for some time now you have Google Apps access so install whatever :)

Can you ditch their launcher? Ads? Browser customization?

Google Play Store access is great; beats Amazon. It's still not quite the same as a general Android tablet, let alone a fully open distribution like Cyanogen.

(In fairness, I run Touchwiz, not Cyanogen or AOSP.)