Android Tablet

[Pondscumz]

My son Parker is asking for the Kindle Fire for Xmas. He already has the Kindle and a bunch of other small electronics. I have a problem with the Kindle Fire because of the way it is tied into Amazon. They try to suck you into purchasing a bunch of crap from them for it. Does anyone else have any experience with any of the other 7" tablets that are out there. I do not want a tie in to a cell phone bill, I already have a Samsung Galaxy. I am looking for less than $250.

 

Thanks

[Masterlixx]

I have research android tablets extensivly over the last few months.. there  are some nice ones out there..  You can get wirless only tablets for a descent price. but there are a couple of things you must look out for.  First of all make sure it can access the android market fully.. a number of tablets out ther can only access their own market or no market at all.  Alot fo tablets now come with honeycomb or android 3.   But the full market access is the key thing to look for.  Example the Nook color is an android dcevice but Barnes and noble have it tied to them for ordering anythign on line. 

 

Now that being said... depending on how technical you are.  you can easily load your own android on alot of  these proprietary tablets.. and its not really difficult.

 

Example the nook color or even the plain nook, you simply put andoid SDk on the sd card and make if boot from there and voila full android capabilities

 

Now i have oversimplified as ther are several steps along the way but its not rocket science..

 

But essentailly what you do is put the honecomb image on a sd card, power down the tablet and it will boot up with honeycomb.

After that you install the market APK and your good to go..

 

I pick the nook color as it is a nice tablet, very resonably priced at $198 at walmart.

 

If your want to get him a bigger tablet (10.1") then i would go with the ASUS tablet.. it is rated the best tablt for the price  at $398 now.. both are at walmart..  The acer is also a good tablet but is a little more money..  Yes the samsung 10.1 galaxy tablet is nice.. but very costly..

 

By putting your own APK or OS on your tablet you can get around the restirctions tey have as well, example the nook color is by Barnes and Noble, it would nto alow me to purchase or buy books here in Canada,   Some other tablets are for Amazon only.. If you search ebay and such you can find cheap tablets out of China.. it is a crap shoot cause you really dont know what yer getting..  But they are very cheap..