Linux Mint Forums

I' m looking to buy my first tablet; I am a college student with plenty of computer knowledge, have an older Kindle, and am looking to try out a tablet now. The things I would use it for mostly would be Netflix, reading, and internet browsing. I would need to be able to install the Amazon Kindle Store so I can transfer all my ebooks on to it.

I don't want a top notch tablet right now because I know my intended uses for it aren't worth the cost of a pricey tablet just yet. I also want to keep it simple now because I am a college student and do not want to dish out $300+ on a tablet when I am already low on funds and a conservative shopper. I have done research on plenty of tablets and would just like to hear about some of your experiences with inexpensive tablets to help me make a choice.

Not sure if it counts as inexpensive to you, but I've handled the Nexus 7 and that is a pretty awesome tablet. It should be around $ 250 for the 32 GB storage version. Priced much lower than competitors, easy to hold in one hand, feels good (though not as indestructible as an iPad), and you are the first to get new Android versions and you are running Android as Google intended it. I've used Kindle reader on it, but not Netflix (not available here). Only issue, and I believe they are still working on a software fix for this, is that the automatic backlight dimming is not working properly in low-light conditions for some users. It makes the backlight flicker (like once or twice a minute) when displaying a mostly white screen. Setting the backlight to manual is the current workaround.

Kindle Fire tablets are pretty solid and priced well. If you want the tablet for the Android operating system as much or more for netflix and reading books, I'd go for a Nexus tablet.

+1 for the nexus 7. You can get the kindle app for free from the google play store.

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I'm very satisfied with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. Cost about €150 this side of the pond - don't know what that is in $.

I would keep the Kindle for book reading. I only need to charge the Kindle once a month. The battery life on a tablet is much shorter.

If you install Calibre on Mint you can download all your books from the Kindle, change the format to whatever you want and then upload to your tablet.

Russell.

I have a Nexus-7 tablet on which I have managed to install Ubuntu/Mobile via it's own Virtualbox. (there's a no-root App to do this, on Google-Play store)

Any way the battery life on my Nexus is not bad, I throw it in my backpack and take it everywhere. I only have to re-charge the battery every 2 weeks or so, depending on how much I use it.

I have two tablets: Acer Iconia ten inch screen. I like it, it serves me well, but I don't recommend it only because Acer refuses to upgrade it to Jelly Bean. I also have an Ideatab by Lenovo seven inch screen. It is a POS. Not because it isn't made well, it is, you could probably throw it against a wall without breaking it, but the software is crapped up with Lenovo apps that make it unusable. After removing the crud it works fairly well, but Lenovo dropped the ball here. The Acer I use like a regular computer. The Idea pad I mostly use for music and reading. I think the Google tablets are the way to go, and Amazon is not bad for some people.

I have heard nothing but good news about nexus, (I don't own one but develop for them so I yak with a bunch that has them).
acer is nice, I own an acer phone (rooted) and laptop, but if you want android be careful, there's a bit of a war going on with google and acer and not sure what the outcome will because of some software issues dealing with china. Although I always acer myself, and not sure if that's only for phones although if it's for phones it should be for tablets also, and the only one they advertise on their site is the liquid E.
But nexus has been the number one that i keep hearing about from quite a few folks and never heard a bad thing about it yet. Reasonably priced and runs good.

Nexus and Samsung seem to have the nicest tablets. Yet I think the low end tablets coming from China are looking better, better screens and specs in the $99 price range, so will be interesting to see if they hold up well compared to the better known tablets. Also very interested in the $199 Androidbooks, hybrid devices with a tablet and docking keyboard running Android with Intel chips, they are due later this year, probably from Asus and Acer. I want to see how well they are received and what effect they have on the PC market.