Which tablet do you recommend?

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runningconfig

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I have some people who are looking to put a tablet in each employees hands.

I really know nothing about the tablet market nor about managing multiple tablets in an organization. I've had the iPad 1 in my hands for like 20 minutes so know much I do not.

There would probably be around 20-30 tablets with no need of 3G, they just want to have them on the floor instead of pen and paper. They also want to be able to show customer product, etc., via browser so just wifi will do.

I know this isn't much information but I don't even think they totally understand what they need.

Any ideas of what I should be looking at, or maybe the questions I should ask so we don't waste a whack of money here.
 
Not sure from a business standpoint, but my thought would be NOT AN IPAD due to the fact that it won't play nice with Flash. If you're looking for a fully-featured browser on a tablet, Apple isn't it.

From a personal standpoint, I have used both the Acer Iconia Tab and the Asus Eee Transformer and like both. The Acer has more connections on the tab and I like the feel and look of the metal back, but it's also heavier than the Asus. Plus, both are cheaper than the Xoom or the new Samsung Galaxy.

As far as questions, my thoughts would be size (10" vs. 7"; larger screen = easier demo) and connections (I would want a USB port for a thumb drive to make it easier to load/ unload content).

My two cents.
 
Any custom applications? The programmer here at work can write custom application for my android phone/tablet. I can load them up without using the market place app. The Ipad would be harder to do this with. I am not sure what productivity applications are available for the android tablet are available. I have never looked.
 
LightingGod said:
Not sure from a business standpoint, but my thought would be NOT AN IPAD due to the fact that it won't play nice with Flash. If you're looking for a fully-featured browser on a tablet, Apple isn't it.

From a personal standpoint, I have used both the Acer Iconia Tab and the Asus Eee Transformer and like both. The Acer has more connections on the tab and I like the feel and look of the metal back, but it's also heavier than the Asus. Plus, both are cheaper than the Xoom or the new Samsung Galaxy.

As far as questions, my thoughts would be size (10" vs. 7"; larger screen = easier demo) and connections (I would want a USB port for a thumb drive to make it easier to load/ unload content).

My two cents.
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Very good points here, I'll have to check out these two.

Have you any experience with WebOS and the new HP tablet?

The only reason I ask is that our vendor said we could get a good deal on them.
 
I agree with LG about not buying iPad due to the lack of Flash. Personally, if I was going to buy one for myself it would be the ASUS Transport. I almost bought one last month but then they announced version two due out later towards end of the year so I'm waiting on that. With the Kal-El units due out in about 2 months I'm not sure I would recommend any tablet right now.
 
iPad 2. The lack of Flash is a non-issue, mainly because pretty much all of the major video sites support flash video, and those that don't for DRM reasons have apps.

From a business standpoint, I don't see how Flash is relevant given that Flash is pretty much dead on the web, save for restaurant websites for some reason. What really matters is the selection of productivity applications, and nothing comes close to the iOS in that regard. I even do stock/options trading on the iPad, works great. Even Microsoft has some productivity applications on the platform with things like OneNote. Go on iTunes, there are loads of work apps on the platform.

If you need anything more, skip the Android tablets and go for a Windows notebook instead.
 
There is an android setting to show you a full version of a website. There is no such thing on the iPad. I think it depends on how your product demos are created personally as neither one of them are going to be super accurate with a stylus to replace pen and paper.

I've used both an Ipad 2 and various Android tablets. They both have their pros and cons.
 
I bought a $99 Touch Pad yesterday, and after a little hands on time there are some things I like better about it than the iPad. But it's a moot point now. I'd just say that the lack of flash for web browsing with the iPad is less an issue now, and getting less significant. It has good battery life, and if you're handing over to a customer to look a promotional materials -- well the screen is great too. I'm not that into Android tablets, but that's really the only other option. Check out Samsung's products if you want to go that route.
 
I'd go for the Asus Eeepad Transformer (/w or /w out docking station), its the only tablet i'd even consider at the moment personally
 
runningconfig said:
There would probably be around 20-30 tablets with no need of 3G, they just want to have them on the floor instead of pen and paper. They also want to be able to show customer product, etc., via browser so just wifi will do.
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I suggest you rack up lots of those 99$ touchpad while they last. Bird from the word says the HP site is having more of those in stock soon.

fits what you want too. i dont think webOS isnt fully developed when it comes with apps so its probably only good as a "pen and paper", and an internet browser.
 
runningconfig said:
There would probably be around 20-30 tablets with no need of 3G, they just want to have them on the floor instead of pen and paper. They also want to be able to show customer product, etc., via browser so just wifi will do.
Click to expand...

Apple has 75% of the tablet market share. It's OS is the most mature and stable, it's the most embraced tablet by businesses. For what you want, it seems like the safest choice.

Though if the website you are using for customer presentations has Flash on it, then you can't do that with the iPad.

I love Android, I think it's a good consumer tablet, especially for people that like to tinker and mess around with the OS. But I don't believe Honeycomb is even remotely mature and stable enough to recommend for business use.
 
Ravynmagi said:
Apple has 75% of the tablet market share. It's OS is the most mature and stable, it's the most embraced tablet by businesses. For what you want, it seems like the safest choice.

Though if the website you are using for customer presentations has Flash on it, then you can't do that with the iPad.

I love Android, I think it's a good consumer tablet, especially for people that like to tinker and mess around with the OS. But I don't believe Honeycomb is even remotely mature and stable enough to recommend for business use.
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I hear people say android tablets are not up to par with ipad, but that's because they are comparing a $200 android tablet to a $600 ipad.
Compare a asus transformer to an ipad. I have both on my desk and the asus is far better.

Anyone that thinks ios is easier hasn't used honeycomb.
 
How is android with Netflix, Youtube etc? How is the transformer specifically for e-books? I have been eyeing one, but have been holding back until I can do more research.
 
My friend just got one, he streams 1080p mkv video (even though the eepad dont have that resolution) to his eepad from his computer wirelessly...works flawlessly, i was really amazed. So somehow i doubt netflix and youtube will be an issue if your internet connection can handle it
 
Ravynmagi said:
Apple has 75% of the tablet market share. It's OS is the most mature and stable, it's the most embraced tablet by businesses. For what you want, it seems like the safest choice.

Though if the website you are using for customer presentations has Flash on it, then you can't do that with the iPad.

I love Android, I think it's a good consumer tablet, especially for people that like to tinker and mess around with the OS. But I don't believe Honeycomb is even remotely mature and stable enough to recommend for business use.
Click to expand...

None of those toy tablets are ready for business use unless you are a business selling an app on the app store or market.
 
Ravynmagi said:
Apple has 75% of the tablet market share. It's OS is the most mature and stable, it's the most embraced tablet by businesses. For what you want, it seems like the safest choice.

Though if the website you are using for customer presentations has Flash on it, then you can't do that with the iPad.

I love Android, I think it's a good consumer tablet, especially for people that like to tinker and mess around with the OS. But I don't believe Honeycomb is even remotely mature and stable enough to recommend for business use.
Click to expand...

this sounds just like VHS vs betamax, VHS = apple, betamax = others. Betamax was a superior product, VHS had superior marketing.
 
darkstarcow said:
this sounds just like VHS vs betamax, VHS = apple, betamax = others. Betamax was a superior product, VHS had superior marketing.
Click to expand...

Betamax had Sony behind it, and VHS was widely available from any number of different manufacturers at lower costs.
 
Serpico said:
iPad 2. The lack of Flash is a non-issue, mainly because pretty much all of the major video sites support flash video,
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The above makes no sense at all. Flash is dead? What planet do you live on? Certainly not earth.
 
The Tab 10.1 is a pile of sex. Used it for about 15m today.

Snappy, Gorgeous screen, Thin and functional.
 
darkstarcow said:
this sounds just like VHS vs betamax, VHS = apple, betamax = others. Betamax was a superior product, VHS had superior marketing.
Click to expand...

It's kinda hard to call Android a superior product right now. I've had a Xoom, Transformer, and Galaxy Tab 10.1. I ended up returning every one of them because Honeycomb just wasn't what I'd call stable. Browser crashes, app crashes, Market not installing apps correctly, very laggy keyboard response (mostly after 3.1 update).

Honeycomb is just such a rush job and it still doesn't feel finished.

I love the openness of the hardware and the operating system. But I don't think a real Android tablet OS is coming out until version 4.0. Android will be unified again, hopefully the developers will finally get interested in making tablet apps more aggressively.

And hopefully people will stop using Tegra 2 processors, they suck so bad at video playback.
 
That^ is why you don't have to settle on the stock experience. Every phone I've had gets rooted and custom flashed and suddenly becomes much better.
 
i have a nook color running android... It's a bit buggy, definitely not as refined as iOS
 
Ravynmagi said:
It's kinda hard to call Android a superior product right now. I've had a Xoom, Transformer, and Galaxy Tab 10.1. I ended up returning every one of them because Honeycomb just wasn't what I'd call stable. Browser crashes, app crashes, Market not installing apps correctly, very laggy keyboard response (mostly after 3.1 update).

Honeycomb is just such a rush job and it still doesn't feel finished.

I love the openness of the hardware and the operating system. But I don't think a real Android tablet OS is coming out until version 4.0. Android will be unified again, hopefully the developers will finally get interested in making tablet apps more aggressively.

And hopefully people will stop using Tegra 2 processors, they suck so bad at video playback.
Click to expand...

Wow...i dont know what you were doing wrong....i've seen transformer tablets stream live hd video over wifi before with not even a milisecond pause, let alone playback video on its memory
 
I don't have an ipad2 to compare, but my wife's Transformer is just plan awesome. No crashes, no video playback issues, just awesome.
 
i had an external HDD connected via USB to my Acer Iconia A500 last night and tried to play a 6~8Gb sized mkv high def movie file. It played but not at an acceptable framerate and the audio was out of sync. I know its not the files. I didn't try copying them to local memory, that may have helped.

The fact that Honeycomb treats internal memory as a virtual "sdcard" and refuses to store on the actual removeable sdcard is annoying as hell. Basically any app that stores data, like if you install Google Music Beta and tell it to make your music available offline, instead of saving the music files to your actual removeable sdcard like the phones do on Gingerbread, it saves it to internal memory because it labels the internal memory "sdcard" by default.

That part really blows. Because all of a sudden my tablet has no free memory left and i have a 16Gb sdcard in the slot that's fucking empty. Inexcusable if you ask me.

Other than that I'm happy, already running 1.4Ghz without any issues, makes this thing fast as hell. Battery life is great too as the cpu can handle most things at 216Mhz.
 
Have you given any thought to slate PC's? I picked up a Fujitsu Stylistic ST5112 slate PC on eBay a few weeks ago for $200!

Specs:

1.2ghz Core2Duo processor
2GB DDR2 RAM
12.1 1024x768 Wacom Pen LCD (uses a pen and looks better than my iPad screen)

Its slightly under an inch in thickness, got a new battery and it lasts about 9 hours and best of all? ITS A FULL ON WINDOWS PC! Forget about needing specific apps, because it can run ANYTHING including FULL 100% web browsing with Flash (actually does 1080p YouTube flawlessly)!

And the pen input is FAR superior to finger touch input as its pin point accurate and writing/drawing is as accurate as pen and paper.

Things like this slate and its price to peformance ratio that makes me wonder why people buy any sort of Android or iOS tablet to begin with...

Just my 2 cents of course...but at $200 plus the stability and usefulness of Windows 7 (which it does flawlessly) makes it far and out a superior choice to any new "tablet" out there hands down. Period.
 
nobody_here said:
i had an external HDD connected via USB to my Acer Iconia A500 last night and tried to play a 6~8Gb sized mkv high def movie file. It played but not at an acceptable framerate and the audio was out of sync. I know its not the files. I didn't try copying them to local memory, that may have helped.

The fact that Honeycomb treats internal memory as a virtual "sdcard" and refuses to store on the actual removeable sdcard is annoying as hell. Basically any app that stores data, like if you install Google Music Beta and tell it to make your music available offline, instead of saving the music files to your actual removeable sdcard like the phones do on Gingerbread, it saves it to internal memory because it labels the internal memory "sdcard" by default.

That part really blows. Because all of a sudden my tablet has no free memory left and i have a 16Gb sdcard in the slot that's fucking empty. Inexcusable if you ask me.

Other than that I'm happy, already running 1.4Ghz without any issues, makes this thing fast as hell. Battery life is great too as the cpu can handle most things at 216Mhz.
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I have the Acer Iconia A500 also and I love it, but the sdcard thing does stink but I thought the 3.2 update that comes out this month was going to make it better. As far as your video off the external HDD, what player do you use because I have had success with Rockplayer so far. But as far as the internal and external sdcard issue I can't for the life of me figure out shu why they didn't do it like android phones with sdcards there must be a reason.
 
kirbyrj said:
Betamax had Sony behind it, and VHS was widely available from any number of different manufacturers at lower costs.
Click to expand...

Vhs also had porn which, coupled with lower prices, sealed betamax's fate.

Ive used an ipad1, 2, acer and transformer. The transformer is best all around imo.
 
Kaolinchemist said:
I have the Acer Iconia A500 also and I love it, but the sdcard thing does stink but I thought the 3.2 update that comes out this month was going to make it better. As far as your video off the external HDD, what player do you use because I have had success with Rockplayer so far. But as far as the internal and external sdcard issue I can't for the life of me figure out shu why they didn't do it like android phones with sdcards there must be a reason.
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I only tried moboplayer so far.
 
I picked up and HP touchpad for 99 bucks. It was definitely worth it. If I had the money, I'd get an Asus transformer.
 
Anything over $250 will be a fairly decent tablet... anything below that is usually below par.

And the ipad is definitely A LITTLE overpriced, but its obviously one of the better-made ones. If buying Apple for some reason, I would definitely look for a used(rarely) one for way below cost. Those are pretty abundant to find in "mint" condition and easy to find in most cities on craigslist, as most people treat them nicely after they paid $400+ for it.....
 
Ravynmagi said:
It's kinda hard to call Android a superior product right now. I've had a Xoom, Transformer, and Galaxy Tab 10.1. I ended up returning every one of them because Honeycomb just wasn't what I'd call stable. Browser crashes, app crashes, Market not installing apps correctly, very laggy keyboard response (mostly after 3.1 update).

Honeycomb is just such a rush job and it still doesn't feel finished.

I love the openness of the hardware and the operating system. But I don't think a real Android tablet OS is coming out until version 4.0. Android will be unified again, hopefully the developers will finally get interested in making tablet apps more aggressively.

And hopefully people will stop using Tegra 2 processors, they suck so bad at video playback.
Click to expand...
I don't think I've ever really had my asus transformer crash on me. DolphinHD has force closed once or twice, but since the latest updates I haven't had any issues with in etheir on my phone (LG Optimus V) or the asus transformer.

Not sure what to make of the video playback issues you had... I can play youtube vids in "HD" with the youtube app no issues at all.

JoeUser said:
Have you given any thought to slate PC's? I picked up a Fujitsu Stylistic ST5112 slate PC on eBay a few weeks ago for $200!

Specs:

1.2ghz Core2Duo processor
2GB DDR2 RAM
12.1 1024x768 Wacom Pen LCD (uses a pen and looks better than my iPad screen)

Its slightly under an inch in thickness, got a new battery and it lasts about 9 hours and best of all? ITS A FULL ON WINDOWS PC! Forget about needing specific apps, because it can run ANYTHING including FULL 100% web browsing with Flash (actually does 1080p YouTube flawlessly)!

And the pen input is FAR superior to finger touch input as its pin point accurate and writing/drawing is as accurate as pen and paper.

Things like this slate and its price to peformance ratio that makes me wonder why people buy any sort of Android or iOS tablet to begin with...

Just my 2 cents of course...but at $200 plus the stability and usefulness of Windows 7 (which it does flawlessly) makes it far and out a superior choice to any new "tablet" out there hands down. Period.
Click to expand...
I kinda wish I knew about that before I bought my tablet. That thing looks sweet for the price :cool:
 
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