Best $200 tablet to buy?

Ron Spencer · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:35 am

With so many choices out there I'm baffled on which is the best tablet to buy for approx $200. Here is what I need it to do:
Access to the android apps marketplace
Wifi access so I can connect to home and other networks
movies (occasionally)
Email

That's it. Not willing to pay the $4 for an Ipad. Just looking for a reasonable tablet that offers reasonable performance. The Coby products while priced right seem to get mostly poor marks so they are out.

Your input is welcome.

Thanks

Ron

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

The "best" option was to get on those HP Touchpads that went on liquidation a few months ago and hack it to put Android on it. Unfortunately, a bunch of people from slickdeals and fatwallet had to ruin it for everybody so they could stockpile a ton of them to sell them for $240 dollars on eBay.

If you're technically savvy at all, it still might be worth looking into getting one of those Touchpads.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:23 pm

I hear good things in tech website reviews about the $249ish ASUS transformer, but also some negatives in the customer feedback/reviews. Worth checking out, though.

I have a Kindle Fire and love it. It does 90% of what my iPad does, but at less than half the price.

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:23 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

I hear good things in tech website reviews about the $249ish ASUS transformer, but also some negatives in the customer feedback/reviews. Worth checking out, though.

I have a Kindle Fire and love it. It does 90% of what my iPad does, but at less than half the price.

What is the 10%? Or why would you need the iPad over the fire?

Ron Spencer · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:34 pm

Steven does the Kindle have access to the Android market?

Thanks
Ron

Ron Spencer · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:55 pm

An update. Seems the Barnes and Noble Nook is a contender and easily modified to allow access to the Android Market. Am leaning towards it since it has a microsd card slot while the Kindle Fire doesn't.

R

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:03 pm

Michael Westerfield wrote:

Steven Carter wrote:

I hear good things in tech website reviews about the $249ish ASUS transformer, but also some negatives in the customer feedback/reviews. Worth checking out, though.

I have a Kindle Fire and love it. It does 90% of what my iPad does, but at less than half the price.

What is the 10%? Or why would you need the iPad over the fire?

Camera stuff mostly. I have used it (fire) mainly for books, video, music and some apps (android market) but am only just getting started as I got it late last week. IMO, one doesn't "need" either, but it is a nice addition when you don't want to lug a notebook around. Or when your eight-year old is hogging the iPad so he can play AngryBirds.

edit: I guess a more accurate way of phrasing it would be "it does 90% of what I do with my iPad" as i am sure there are some technoApple types that use it for substantially more than what I do. But remember...the Fire is a $200 web appliance. It has shortcomings, and it's not designed to be the do-everything device. But for what it does, it does it quite well.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:04 pm

Ron Spencer wrote:

Steven does the Kindle have access to the Android market?

Thanks
Ron

yes, and it has the added bonus of the Kindle sharing Library and Amazon video if you have a Prime account. Both of those factors tilted me to it over the Nook, but that's a personal preference thing.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

although its not an android device, the Blackberry Playbook also does have access to android apps.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:17 pm

FYI: Kindle Fire thread.

http://www.roadraceautox.com/showthread.php?t=37170

KendtEklund · **Joined:** Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:29 pm **Posts:** 1204

BriceJohnson wrote:

although its not an android device, the Blackberry Playbook also does have access to android apps.

I think there's a hacked Android build out as well - saw it in a deal forum, but no link provided.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Ron, for what it's worth I have been using a Nook Color modded for stock Android for over a year. It's been great. Kids watch Netflix on it occasionally, and I read books on it a lot. It also sits near the remote controls for post-movie IMDB reviews, and often at the dinner table to answer random trivia questions.

I think there is a new Nook tablet out, and there is the Fire and Touchpad, and a bunch of stock off-the-shelf cheap tablets, but I couldn't tell you which one is best these days...

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:56 am

its a bit above 200, but there is a tablet on woot.com for the day.

MarekRozanski · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:49 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

Ron Spencer wrote:

Steven does the Kindle have access to the Android market?

Thanks
Ron

yes, and it has the added bonus of the Kindle sharing Library and Amazon video if you have a Prime account. Both of those factors tilted me to it over the Nook, but that's a personal preference thing.

x2. Amazon Prime content makes the Kindle Fire an easy choice over the more expensive Nook Color.

BTW, although it's easy to root, you don't need to root the Kindle to run Amazon Marketplace apps. If you can get the apk files (either by direct download or from another Android device), they install/sideload without issues. (This doesn't apply to apps that require phone or camera features, obviously.)

MarekRozanski · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:00 am

For what it's worth, Woot Sellout is running a today-only sale on a "pure" Android tablet for $200. Probably won't last long.

http://sellout.woot.com/sale/22556

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