The Android Tablet Watch Thread
 

Since the iPad thread is 90% Mac vs. PC (Android) BS, I figured I'd start a separate thread now that some viable Android tablets are starting to be available. (Yeah, yeah...vaporware, etc., etc.)

Discuss.

I'll start the thread out by throwing in a few of the ones that have been mentioned in the other thread.

The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is the first one that's really gotten me excited.

http://www.asus.com/websites/global/...zhdV/P_500.jpg

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=gHh4q7I8dvWJzhdV

No guarantees on release date or price, but it's already out overseas, and accidental postings on BestBuy.com and NewEgg.com have put it at $400 (without the optional keyboard dock).

Sometime soon???

My gtab r0x0rs my b0x0rs. One XDA as a working gingerbread/honeycomb rom working, ill be the happiest boy in the world.

Acer's Iconia is now available for pre-order at $450

http://androidos.in/wp-content/uploa...a-Tab-A500.jpg

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+I...onia&cp=1&lp=1

Feel free to post links to it and reviews. I mainly just wanted to get the conversation going.

I'm intentionally ignoring the Xoom, though someone can post links to it if they want to. It's just too overpriced to really be attractive IMO.

Toshiba's announced theirs, but there's not a huge amount of info out about it yet.

http://www.thetoshibatablet.com/

OK, I'm done for now. Hopefully this thread will be a useful place to dump info about new options. If not, we can keep arguing about whether Android tablets are better than iPads in the other thread. :D

I picked up a galaxy tab from sprint. On friday for 199..love the form factor and the screen is amazing ... still trying to see how I'm best going tobuse it bug it deserves a mention in this thread

Sent from my GalaxyTab

I like Motorola's products, but they were stupid for not releasing a wifi only version along with the Verizon version. They could've sold the wifi for $500 and done very well.

Is that running Honeycomb or Froyo?

I think the Xoom is the only tablet out running 3.0

LG has a tablet coming

http://www.pcworld.com/article/21954...irst_look.html

HP has a WebOS tab coming soon. It's the one I'm waiting on. Had a thread about it but it died quickly.

Probably because its WebOS :)

I'll be curious to see what happens with it. From what I've heard anyway, WebOS is pretty solid, but the lack of outside development for it seems like it'd be a pretty big issue.

Its running froyo but there are some alpha honeycomb ports as well as gingerbread .. we will see if Samsung will offer official releases or if the community will have to step up to bat on that...

Either way is a good little tab with decent hardware for the price

Sent via tapatalk from the EVO 4G

Slightly off topic:

Slag,

when you had a Palm Pre did you root it? If so how did it work and how difficult was it to do?

I did root it... and it is pretty easy here is a good place to start:

http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/...ccessing_Linux

And slightly back on topic-

The GalaxyTab went back yesterday as it seems the sprint Xoom is about to drop so i'm going to wait for that

Looks like the Eee Pad may be delayed a bit. Not because of any tech issues this time, but because they can't keep up with demand overseas. :sulk:

http://www.pdfdevices.com/asus-eee-p...ional-testing/

What's the new launch date looking like? I've been reading these threads recently as my wife has been begging for an iPad. I think they're overpriced and want to actually research the best tablet, rather than just buy the name everyone talks about. If you had to buy now, what would you purchase or is there something getting released soon you'd wait for?

This thread sucks :harumph:

I'm personally holding out for the Eee Pad, but it'll be at least a couple months it sounds like.

Looks like ASUS is also working on a variant called the Eee Pad Slider (the other is the Transformer) with a built-in slide-out keyboard. Here's a good resource with info about it:

http://www.asuseeepad.net/eee-pad-slider.php

http://www.asuseeepad.net/eee-pad-sl...pad-slider.jpg

Review from BB website. DaFace, can you confirm the bolded part at the end and if true, why continue to wait for the Asus for an unknown number of months still? The review makes it sounds like it's pretty much the same tablet.

Nvidia Tegra 2 is going to become the standard cpu to power all tablets for some time to come. 1 GB RAM is currently the highest amount in any tablet as well. In terms of hardware, Iconia does everything that Xoom does, with arguably better software (SD and Flash support out of the box). Honeycomb, or Android 3.0, was designed specifically with tablets in mind. Without ranting off of every single spec users may see on Best Buy's webpage above, here are a couple of questions that are not addressed yet.
1. True multi-touch. There are some tablets with similar specs (e.g. eLocity A7) out there with capacitive screens that claim to be "multi-touch" when in fact they only support "1+1 touch", which is used for pinching and zooming only. 1+1 touch has very little practical uses as far as gaming and other more advanced apps are concerned. Acer Iconia has true multi-touch.
2. Access to Android Market. Some tablets with similar specs (e.g. Viewsonic g Tablet) do not come with ready access to Android Market. Unfortunately this is more of a problem with the Android platform overall. But this is one of the trade-offs you get choosing between iOS (iPad) and Android-based tabs: uniform controlled experience versus customization.
3. Regular LCD screen. Capacitive screens for the most part fall in to two camps. One camp uses IPS (in-plane switching) LCD (e.g. iPad 2 and Asus Eee Pad Transformer), which gives greater viewing angles (~178 degrees) and more vibrant pictures. The other uses just regular LCD for about 160 degrees viewing angle. Acer Iconia uses the latter rather than the IPS LCD. Chalk this one up as a minor con.
4. Lastly, no word yet on whether or not it is possible to root Acer Iconia so that if you aren't happy with the firmware, you might very well be stuck with it and are at the manufacturer's mercy.
And for those who are confused by the A500's twin, W500, the ONLY difference is that A500 uses Android, and W500 uses Windows 7. So if you would rather have a Windows 7 based version of this tablet, you do have a choice. Maybe not through Best Buy though.
Finally, for comparison purposes, Asus EeePad Transformer is basically identical to Acer Iconia in terms of hardware. The only difference in between the two are type of LCD screen, and battery life. EeePad Transformer's battery life is estimated to be somewhere around 9.5 hours, longer if keyboard docking station's used. Acer Iconia's top range is somewhere around 8 hours.
What's great about it: Customization, powerful hardware, front-and-back cameras, price and value.
What's not so great: 160 viewing angle, battery life (8 hours)

Honestly, I haven't dug into a lot of comparisons thus far, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're using largely the same hardware. Honestly, my main preference for the ASUS is a bit of fanboism.

I've used ASUS motherboards for nearly a decade and have always loved them. My wife owns an ASUS laptop. I just like the quality of their work. Acer's always been kind of meh to me, but I couldn't tell you why.

If you're not worried about the battery life and the dock, you're probably fine either way.

I know its not android, but the lack of love for the blackberry playbook is really astonishing. Not just here, but in general.

Digging into the stats a bit, they look extremely similar. Here are the few differences I noticed:

1. Battery life: 8 hours (Acer) vs. 9.5 hours (ASUS)
2. Weight: 1.7 lbs (Acer) vs. 1.5 lbs (ASUS)
3. Front Camera Resolution: 2M (Acer) vs. 1.2M (ASUS)

Aside from that (and the dock feature), they're probably about the same.

So does the Acer not have docking functionality?

It'll be interesting to see how it does. The fact that it can run Android apps makes it kind of a weird player in the market, but we'll see what happens.

I don't THINK so, but I don't really claim to be an expert. I wanted this thread as much for others to point out to options to me as for me to inform others.

There's a slightly different model (W500 instead of A500) that seems to have docking capability, but it's Windows 7 based. Looks like $550, based on this article.

Nevermind. Looks like they ARE planning for docks for the A500 as well. I can't seem to find any pics of it, but I'd bet it's basically the same as listed in the article about the W500.

Here's a decent article that compares the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and the Acer Iconia A500:

http://www.androidauthority.com/andr...sformer-12404/

The ASUS Eee Transformer has officially been announced! Release date is Tuesday (April 26th). Pricing is as follows:

16GB - $399
32GB - $499
Keyboard Dock - $149

You can also register to win one if you're so inclined at their facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/ASUS

Here's an unboxing video on the Transformer for those of you who are into this kind of thing.

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KEpCam1DJFM&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KEpCam1DJFM&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

Full review of the Transformer.

http://computershopper.com/laptops/r...mer-tf101-16gb

I think the biggest thing I didn't realize is how thin the "dock" is, and how it basically turns it into an android-based netbook with a detachable screen.

http://computershopper.com/var/ezweb...right-side.jpg

B&H has them on pre-order. Would you pull the trigger w/ them or wait for other retailers to start doing pre-orders or stocking them?

the gtablet is up for sale on woot again. 285 shipped. worth every penny

http://www.woot.com/

The new Galaxy TAB looks awesome. I might buy it, although I'm tempted to wait for Ice Cream Sandwich (seriously...what are we going to call this, ICS? Doesn't sound nearly as good at Froyo). Google said Q4, but I wonder if they'll partner with a manufacturer for a holiday release? Or just dump the code + upgrade the Xoom?

I'm hoping that Google's pimping of it today at I/O means they're active in the developing and insuring updates. They did say it would be getting 3.1 in a couple weeks, so that makes me think yet.

OK, this one's just weird.

http://campuslife.asus.com/index/222...fone-unveiled/

Essentially, it's a monitor of sorts for your phone that turns it into a full-size tablet when "docked." I guess it's a nice way to get both a phone and a tablet with 1) a slightly lower up-front cost and 2) only a single data plan.

I have my doubts on this one. Even so, it's nice to see ASUS pushing the envelope a bit by coming out with a nice variety of concepts. It'll be interesting to see which ones survive.

The Toshiba Thrive looks pretty amazing. I've heard it can accept HDMI input as well as output. Can anyone confirm this? That would make it ideal for me since I would love to use it for a monitor.

No clue on that one. ASUS has already announced a Transform 2 to be released in October, for what it's worth.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/a...the-ipad/13442

Two new ARCHOS tablets... both have great looking specs and both are priced to MOVE...

8" tablet = $279
10" = $349

THIS is the price point which should start to see these things fly off the shelves. I expect the rest of the industry to start matching this price point soon (next 6-12 months).

If Amazon is smart, they will price theirs in this range and make a huge splash this holiday season.

Damn. That 8" one is pretty tempting...

250gb HDD. Shit, I think I just found my Gtab replacement. I'm going to wait and see what Amazon comes out with first though because I have a ton of credit available to use with them.

http://www.archos.com/products/gen9/...try=us&lang=en

There is a video link on this page that shows you the units up close.

BUT the one with the HDD is 7mm thicker... (insert fan boi bitching here)

According to their website...

Flash for portability
ARCHOS’ G9 tablets with hard drive storage are only 3mm thicker than their flash counterparts. And with the flash version weighing only 450g2 your tablet truly is portable.

Where the hell did I get the 7mm number.. I am going senile... (either way, someone will bitch about the extra 3mm .. dumb as it is)

I am interested to see what battery life will be on a tablet with a HDD.

Holy shit! I want that. That ****er is gonna fly off the shelves at those prices.

What's amazing is that they put together some REALLY solid specs for it as well. It's not just a low end cheap knockoff. (although I doubt it's going to be particularly high end either)

A friend of mine just got an Acer Ionica. Pretty sweet. Using it right now.

Its running Honeycomb 3.0. Not sure why it hasn't upgraded to 3.1.

One of the drawbacks of Android is that each of the manufacturers have to modify the OS a bit to make it work. With a new tablet like that, I wouldn't think it'd be too long before it gets the upgrade, but it's tough to say for sure.

EDIT: It looks like Acer may have already rolled it out. Try Settings > About Tablet > Check for Updates.

http://phandroid.com/2011/07/06/acer...e-rolling-out/

Are there plans for a pure Andriod tablet? Something like the Nexus S phones???

That would be the U.S.version of the Motorola Xoom. It is a Google Experience device that is installed with stock Honeycomb. The only drawback is that stock Android 3.1 does not support SD cards, so the SD card slot on the Xoom is still inactive. However, there is a rumored 3.2 update coming up within the week to fix it.

3.2? I heard the next upgrade for tablets is 4.0 Ice cream sandwich. Due out this fall.

No, the next release will be 3.2. The most notable feature is the "Zoom to fill screen" feature to force stubborn apps to take up the whole screen on Honeycomb tablets. There are also a lot of impatient U.S. Xoom owners that are hoping that the 3.2 update will finally activate the SD card slot. Huawei's 7 inch "MediaPad" will also launch with 3.2.

4.0 a.k.a Ice Cream Sandwich is still scheduled for this Fall.

It still says 3.0. No update available.

Android 3.2 is now rolling out for the Xoom.

The 3.2 update will also officially support 7 inch tables and is rolling out on wifi only xooms at the moment.

The update will also support qualcomm processors.

Nice.....

http://www.woot.com/

Motorola XOOM 10.1” 32GB Android Tablet with Wi-Fi

<abbr class="currency" title="USD" lang="en">$</abbr>399.99

Condition: Refurbished
Features:

• 10.1” multi-touch, HD widescreen
• 1 GHz NVIDIA Dual Core Processor
• 32GB internal memory, memory expansion via microSD card (card not included)
• Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)
• Adobe Flash Player 10.2
• Android Market Place – eBooks, games, movie rentals and applications
• Front-facing 2-megapixel camera / Rear-facing 5-megapixel camera with LED flash
• 720p video playback & video capture
• 802.11n Wi-Fi networking
• Expanded Bluetooth Features – Mouse, Keyboard, Shortcut Keys
• HTML5-based Android Webkit browser
• Battery life for up to 10 hours of Wi-Fi Internet browsing
• Scrollable and stacked widgets
• Google Talk with Video Chat

i want a damned tablet, but ****, they are fairly expensive. My laptop took a shit finally. Ill, pull the trigger on something eventually. I am ok with waiting a bit til some reasonable prices.

The HP TouchPad with WebOS is out. Still too expensive.

The touchpad is getting mixed reviews and is the most disappointing product of the year in my opinion.

3.2 is expected to be released on the transformer very soon.

Well, at least it seems like the manufacturers that ARE out there are trying to keep up with the software.

Welllllllll........F!

Why is it getting poor reviews Crush?

Sure wish I could figure out how to keep my tablet from stopping an app when the screen goes to sleep

Software is laggy, which is easily fixable. However, the some reviewers are turned off by the lack of a camera, usb, and sd card slot. Also, some reviewers did not like the actual feel of the product. Checkout mobiletechreview's review on youtube, which is the most comprehensive and unbiased review of the Touchpad in my opinion.

SwiftKey is now optimized for Honeycomb and is now available in the market.

Prices have changed...

Archos 80 G9 (8" model):
$299 - 8GB flash, dual core 1GHz
$329 - 16GB flash, dual core 1.5GHz
$369 - 250GB HDD, dual core 1.5GHz

Archos 101 G9 (10" model):
$369 - 8GB flash, dual core 1GHz
$399 - 16GB flash, dual core 1GHz
$469 - 250GB HDD, dual core 1.5GHz

Notice the dumbed down CPU as well.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4511/a...s-in-the-world

****. Figured that was too good to be true.

Still getting closer to the correct price/performance point. The first manufacturer who can release a quality product at $100 below these prices will see pretty significant sales. Everything I have read says that that is the sweet spot.

I assume you mean $299 is the sweet spot.

$100 off any Tablet at staples

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/07...et-at-staples/

I wonder if microsoft is making $5 bucks off each android tablet.

sort of.. $200-$350 is the sweet spot .. meaning your low end model should be around $200 and high end around $350... I don't expect anyone to release anything decent in that range in 2011.