[PCWorld]

Post your comments for How to Buy a Tablet here

[BryanMann]

You can buy a refurb ipad from apple.com for $349 with a full warranty!

Blessings,
BW

[hydind600]

Great tips on what to consider if you are thinking about an iPad 2, or one of the other options.

[JohnSeltenreich]

for goodness sakes just get a nook color, root it and load up gingerbread now, and honeycomb when they get it down, and you'll have a fairly nice tablet to play with until the prices of the top models come down to earth. That is a $200-250 tablet that works fairly well. go for it.

[GeorgiaK]

JohnSeltenreich, on 08 March 2011 - 04:49 AM, said:

for goodness sakes just get a nook color, root it and load up gingerbread now, and honeycomb when they get it down, and you'll have a fairly nice tablet to play with until the prices of the top models come down to earth. That is a $200-250 tablet that works fairly well. go for it.

Hi John,

Please explain your comment. I'm a dumb laptop user considering the leap into the 21st century and would love a tablet. Your post was intriguing.

Thanks!

Georgia from Cayman

[reor]

GeorgiaK, on 09 July 2011 - 03:35 AM, said:

JohnSeltenreich, on 08 March 2011 - 04:49 AM, said:

for goodness sakes just get a nook color, root it and load up gingerbread now, and honeycomb when they get it down, and you'll have a fairly nice tablet to play with until the prices of the top models come down to earth. That is a $200-250 tablet that works fairly well. go for it.

Hi John,

Please explain your comment. I'm a dumb laptop user considering the leap into the 21st century and would love a tablet. Your post was intriguing.

Thanks!

Georgia from Cayman

Goergia,

I did that myself, and it's a solid solution - there's even an easy-peasy route to it! As follows:

1. You can get a refurbished Nook Color for $150 from B&N, or a new model for $200;

2. Then go to N2A Cards < http://n2acards.com/ > and purchase one of their Android Cyanogenmod cards;

3. Completely shut down the Nook Color, insert the N2A card into the Nook's card slot, and boot the Nook. The first time takes several minutes - after that it's much faster. You'll get a boot menu - pick Android and boot into a full Android tablet interface.

4. Enjoy!

You can go back to using the native Nook OS any time you want - just reboot and pick Nook from the boot menu. The N2A card does not touch your native OS installation. You can shut it down and take the card out, and you will still have your original Nook Color e-reader, just like you left it. The N2A card does not void your warranty.

I've been happy with mine - the Nook Color has a single-core 800MHz processor and half-a-gig of RAM, which according to the article should be too wimpy, but Android runs fine on it anyway. It's a much more capable OS than the OS on a stock Color (or, I suspect, a Kindle Fire), and you get the full Android OS capability and the Market. No compromises. The Android OS even unlocked the Nook Color's Bluetooth radio! It is equipped with one, but for some reason BT doesn't work under the native Nook OS. I haven't used it yet, but some folks on the forum say they've used that capability for a BT keyboard. I just use mine as a tablet.

You can make your own Cyanogenmod card, too - I didn't bother, the small cost premium for the N2A was worth it to get a finished product with no hassle.

N2A is now working on a card for the Nook Tablet ($250), which has a dual-core processor and more memory, so it should be faster still. The N2A site is very good with lots of information, a good user community forum, and good support from the company. Solid outfit. It was easy to do, worked great, and rooted my Nook without changing what I bought or voiding the warranty. Not advertising for N2A, but they are selling a great, easy-to-use product with good user support. Recommended!

Reid

[reor]

reor, on 22 December 2011 - 04:36 AM, said:

GeorgiaK, on 09 July 2011 - 03:35 AM, said:

JohnSeltenreich, on 08 March 2011 - 04:49 AM, said:

for goodness sakes just get a nook color, root it and load up gingerbread now, and honeycomb when they get it down, and you'll have a fairly nice tablet to play with until the prices of the top models come down to earth. That is a $200-250 tablet that works fairly well. go for it.

Hi John,

Please explain your comment. I'm a dumb laptop user considering the leap into the 21st century and would love a tablet. Your post was intriguing.

Thanks!

Georgia from Cayman

Goergia,

I did that myself, and it's a solid solution - there's even an easy-peasy route to it! As follows:

1. You can get a refurbished Nook Color for $150 from B&N, or a new model for $200;

2. Then go to N2A Cards < http://n2acards.com/ > and purchase one of their Android Cyanogenmod cards;

3. Completely shut down the Nook Color, insert the N2A card into the Nook's card slot, and boot the Nook. The first time takes several minutes - after that it's much faster. You'll get a boot menu - pick Android and boot into a full Android tablet interface.

4. Enjoy!

You can go back to using the native Nook OS any time you want - just reboot and pick Nook from the boot menu. The N2A card does not touch your native OS installation. You can shut it down and take the card out, and you will still have your original Nook Color e-reader, just like you left it. The N2A card does not void your warranty.

I've been happy with mine - the Nook Color has a single-core 800MHz processor and half-a-gig of RAM, which according to the article should be too wimpy, but Android runs fine on it anyway. It's a much more capable OS than the OS on a stock Color (or, I suspect, a Kindle Fire), and you get the full Android OS capability and the Market. No compromises. The Android OS even unlocked the Nook Color's Bluetooth radio! It is equipped with one, but for some reason BT doesn't work under the native Nook OS. I haven't used it yet, but some folks on the forum say they've used that capability for a BT keyboard. I just use mine as a tablet.

You can make your own Cyanogenmod card, too - I didn't bother, the small cost premium for the N2A was worth it to get a finished product with no hassle.

N2A is now working on a card for the Nook Tablet ($250), which has a dual-core processor and more memory, so it should be faster still. The N2A site is very good with lots of information, a good user community forum, and good support from the company. Solid outfit. It was easy to do, worked great, and rooted my Nook without changing what I bought or voiding the warranty. Not advertising for N2A, but they are selling a great, easy-to-use product with good user support. Recommended!

Reid

I should also mention, in connection to the above, that in switching to Android you don't lose your B&N reader library, or even your place in books! It's all still there, just install the B&N app on the Android side of your Nook like any other app from the Market. If you were reading Don Quixote in your library on the Nook side, you could shut down your Nook Color, restart in Android, go to your B&N app, and open Don Quixote again - and you'd find yourself reading on the same page in the Android B&N app that you left off with on the Nook side. Cool.

In addition, you can just as easily install the Kindle app on your Android tablet, and have that fully functioning world, too. And of course, in Android you can borrow from your local library, read e-pub and most other formats, and install games or kids apps. Like I said, nothing lost, a lot gained! Well worth a look.

Reid

This post has been edited by reor: 22 December 2011 - 07:50 AM

[anonymousr46j]

This is real simple:

1. Wait until Windows 8 gets released.
2. Buy metro-only (ARM?) tablet
3. Enjoy the best tablet experience.

[MLStrand56]

If I wanted to buy a TOY computer, I'd go to Toys-R-us!

When I need a Computer, I build it.

MLStrand56

[HankRearden]

Use Visa.

[newyork97]

I bough a tablet from BestBuy with Getjar. A day later, I went back & change it for another with Android Market. It would be better to buy a tablet with 10".

[MrMojo]

I got a hand-me-down iPad and I was both excited and really bummed out.
Excited cause I received a tablet.
Bummer out because the iPad is SLOW AS HECK! Certain websites, like Google+, is KNOWN to be INCOMPATIBLE with the iOS esp v5 currently as it CRASHES safari,
which really S@CK! It's terrible!

Now I'm saving money for a REAL tablet (NOT iPad!) but Android based since many reports have shown it CAN handle those websites due to Better specs like processors/memory
/video.

Whether Apple CORRECTS iOS to fix these problems, who knows?! It takes it sweet time in correcting its iOS, similary to Microsoft!
Then again, I heard/read that Android needs an update, too!

Heaven help us all as the public all became Beta testers in the tablet world!!!

[JaredGisby]

what di yiu think about the knidle fire compared to the samsung tablet?

[schuck6566]

From Dell->Certified Refurbished

125V Power Cord
30W 3-Pin, AC Adapter
Stylus with Tip
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32-Bit Operating System DVD

Price........ $399.00

[LeeVivian]

entry level tablet: WM8650 model. $45-$55/pcs
support wifi, ethernet, 7inch resistive screen.
there is android 4.0 version coming.
It is enough for kids.

middle level tablet: allwinner A10 CPU models. $75-$85/pcs
capacitive screen, 800 x 480 resolution, android4.0. wifi
screen resolution is so so. to this price and this speed, it is acceptive.

upgraded middle level tablet: $200/pcs
TI CPU, 7inch 1024 x 600 IPS screen, android 4.0
GPS, bluetooth, wifi, HDMI, external 3G
it is very good already. there is 8inch/ 9.7inch/ 10inch as choice.

full function tablet: $300/pcs
GPS, bluetooth, 1024 x 600 IPS screen
3G WCDMA SIM phone call, Sumsang CPU, 5.0MP cameras
you can judge it from the price.