I got given a nexus 7 which I am pretty happy with so far. There is no sd card slot which is a bit of a downside and the colours are not quite as sharp as my old Ipad but you can always use usb storage via an otg cable.


It mostly gets used for n64 and ps1 emulation. If you root it you can use a ps3 dual shock controller

 

I'm hunting about for a cheap android tablet that is good enough to play games and do Skype and whilst the Playbook is a steal at £129 currently there just isn't enough Google Play support. I still think the Nexus is the cheapest available that ticks all boxes but not 'cheap' at £199.

 

Samsung are doing their newest tab2 for £199 and are even offering cash back offers on it.

 

Had a go with a Nexus, for the money pretty good.

 

Yep seen that with the £30 cash back but it's for an 8gb model although has SD slot. But the cpu/gpu are last years tech compared to the quad core tegra3 in the Nexus. Not sure the £30 cash back hassle (only a 15 day window to claim it and is some point in the next few weeks so trying to catch people out with it) will be worth the saving over the Nexus as the Samsung will likely not see any more android updates.

I wish Blackberry had released 2.1 this week so I knew for certain just what android apps improvements were included.

 

Another downside for the nexus 7 is that it comes with a Jeffrey Archer novel pre installed.

 

If you're not fussed about getting a branded item, this place is worth a look:
http://hongkongeek.co.uk/21-google-android-tablets

Better prices than the many and varied knock-off salesmen on Ebay, massive choice of spec and styling, and best of all, they guarantee to refund you any customs fees that RM or DHL try to sting you with.

I know several people who've shopped with them, and they're 100% reliable.

 

Nothing else even comes close to an iPad IMHO, battery life is rubbish on most android tablets

 

I haven't used that site but yes i've been looking at some of the cheap android tablets for about £100 coming out of China but warranty is an issue as is future support. I've been looking at the NATPC ones with A10 cpu and Mali 400 gpu but they all have pretty poor battery life like this one:

 

We have a couple of Asus tablets in work - seem to work well.
They're a fair bit more then £400 quid though.

I saw some really cheap tablet on play.com recently - depends on what you want it for really.

 

Nobody has mentioned the HTC FLyer.

Does everything and does it well.

Can be used easily like a carputer, very clear and bright screen. Cracking good audio/video, custom ROMS galore, ICS/JellyBean for the Flyer is in the pipeline by XDA developers, runs Gingerbread or Honeycombe stable and quick right now with fully working telephone like mine if you run the 3G version, great battery life, can be used for OBD diagnostics or viewing running parameters in real-time when linked up to a bluetooth OBD device and the Flyer is very reliable.

Run thousands of apps from 3rd party developers, lots and lots of fully working decent free apps to be had, decent 32Gb internal memory will run 32Gb external too. Decent nav apps for it too like Sygic and Copilot. I think TomTom are finally sorting out an Android version too.

Very affordable right now in used condition, and what few new ones (3G) are about are £300 - £350, all i would say is don't bother with a WiFi only model as that does limit usage in terms of browsing when you're out and about.

7" is perfect to carry around, stick in the car in a tablet holder, and the telephone function means i haven't got to carry 2 phones.

 

we have the samsung galaxy, the Motorola xoom and Ipads at work

if u can handle the Ipad size, then go for it, dont buy anything else, just save up and have done.

if you just cant muster that cash or want something smaller then go with the Samsung Tabs, good support windows ready and ok to use. just be aware anything Atom based isnt great and slow.

Dells new Tablet we have 200 at work Atom Based and its ok but painful, the new I5 samsung is awsome but 700 quid.

If i had to buy 1 it would be

Ipad
Samsung s7 Windows version
Microsoft Surface.

Im not an apple fan boy in fact ive been designing windows envirmoents for 19 year and i still think its the best Opp Sys, even though ive got a MAc retina on my desk with Mountain Lion. But the Ipad is an engineering Marvel and one thats heavily supported and used everywhere.

Its just a good piece of kit.

 

For what its worth, have a look at the AINOL Novo 7 AURORA and AURORA II
they use an IPS screen, 1gb ram, 8 or 16gb storage with an sd slot capable of doubling that again. Uses ICS 4 android and best of all costs just over 100 quid.
I bought one from Dracotek for my daughter and I have to say it is great, I did a lot of research beforehand even down to making sure there were hardware volume buttons.

 

There is two of them in our house and I think they are excellent, they play every game with no problem and I have a card filled with N64/Nes/GBA/Snes games.

I am not too bothered about the 3g on them as its just another bill so I just wifi hotspot them off my phone as its cheaper and easier

 

What's it like for playing games? Will it handle the more resource hungry games such as Grand Theft Auto from the android market?

 

Just to be typically contrary, I wasn't as impressed as I hoped. Walked away after realising I was trying to talk myself into one, which is never a good start.

Couldn't say if it was because I didn't feel it gave me enough over my Gnex (no HDMI out? Tsk, the Gnex has it...), or because of a lingering dislike and mistrust of Asus (got shafted on a laptop from them).

I continue to wait for the 'perfect' tablet for me - Tegra 3, 8"+ size and vanilla android that's updated as soon as Google release.

Basically, an updated Xoom.

 

Havent played gta but know that it handles movies and 3d games with ease as it has the full 1gb ram as opposed to the 512mb that most tablets have. The IPS screen is a joy to watch also and is worth the few quid over the non ips elf model etc.

 

I have an iPad so no way would I buy one, but compared to the £60 tablet I used last night the Nexus was excellent. The £60 thing is going to be a car stereo and no doubt it'll do that well, apart from no radio! Which he hadn't considered!!

 

Cheers Brendy. Having contemplated the Ainol tablet, the Playbook, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and the Nexus I think i'm going to stump up the extra cash and get the Nexus. The Playbook not having 2.1 yet and therefore no proof Android apps will be any better supported was a deal breaker for me otherwise it's an excellent bit of kit for the price.

The Nexus will always get the latest updates quickest and comes with a £15 voucher plus a film and having tried one again this is what i'll be happiest with splashing my money on.

 

That's the same as the ipad isn't it?

 

pretty much but in a 7" variant, very easy on the eye.

 

Got my Son the Nexus in the end and what a cracking bit of kit.

 

Yeah? Is that the one with the 7 inch screen though?

 

Yep. I've got an ipad 2 64gb which I wouldn't swap for anything (including the ipad 3 as I had one and took it back) but the Nexus is a very good 2nd place to my ipad. Put it like this, my 15 year old Son hasn't put it down all day and is over the moon with it. If I didn't have my ipad and didn't want to pay ipad money then the Nexus is the one I would be buying. The £15 credit in the Google Play Store is a nice touch too.

If an ipad mini is on the cards it's going to have to be something special to beat the Nexus at £200.

 

I'd have one. Nice piece of kit at a good price.

 

All depends on the price point of the iPad Mini. Rumors are $200 - $250, think the Nexus 7 is $199 for an 8GB unit. As usual, Apple's kit will be a little more expensive than the competition, but it's the Apple desirability side of things that could win consumers over.

If you had an 8GB iPad Mini and 8GB Nexus the former at $250 and the latter at $200, I can see quite a few people spending the extra to get the new wonder device from Apple. Yeah, sheep, I know, but you have got to admit it does work.

 

I know I would pay the extra, cause it means the apps I've already bought for the iPad/iPhone will go straight on it.

 

What's the screen like though, compared to the ipad.

Touch sensitivity etc - is it just like the ipad, because I find the ipad screen fantastic to use.

 

The screen reaction was the best I've seen with Android, very fluid. Android users don't seem to notice but after using iPad and iPhone it's bloody obvious that even the highest horsepower device just isn't as smooth as an Apple device but they seem to be catching up at last.

 

+1

I've used it when I could prize it away from my Son and the screen was spot on. He is playing Batman on it at the moment and it looks and plays fantastic, no lag at all.