Tablet Confusion - Need a Hand

[MeowMeow]

Hey everybody and thanks for reading!

I hope you guys are total nerds, because I need more substantial answers than "It just works" or other clichés. So far, I've only got my good ol' desktop for all computing purposes.

If you could help me decide which model to get, I'd greatly appreciate it.

So here's my situation and why I think a tablet computer would be very helpful indeed.

What the device should do:

70% .pdf files. Sheet music for my piano stand, lecture notes, e-books with illustration
20% videos - some recent TV-shows, E-Lessons for guitar, Starcraft 2 streams
5% games. I'd love to run an SNES-emulator
5% calendar, e-mails etc.

WiFi:

I do have WiFi in an near all university buildings, but for some strange reason, public transportation in my city doesn't have it. Neither, by the way, does my place. I use my university's internet connection, which one the one hand is blazing fast, on the other hand won't allow me to use a WiFi-router.

Mobility

I spend some time in public transportation and lazing about outside. About one month per year I spend at my parents' place, where I have no other computer.

Devices I considered

Ipad 4
+perfect aspect ratio
+sick ass screen
+sick ass accessories
+sick ass exteriour
+most tablet apps
+quick hardware
-restrictive
-expensive
-additional cost through apps
-no emulators
-no sd-extension
-a little cumbersome, not portable w/o bag
-not even simple drag and drop to get files on the device (are you kidding me?)
-I'd be supporting the most dogmatic, evangelic cult since the Catholic Church was still a thing

Galaxy Note 10.1

+awesome pen for .pdf-annotations
+nice hardware
+large enough
+Android much less restrictive
+sufficient storage via SD-card
-16:9 isn't perfect for me
-low-res. screen
-mobile internet capabilities
-a little cumbersome, not portable w/o bag

Note 8.0
as compared to 10
+more portable than 10.1 / could fit in some pockets (?)
-not sure if you can even read sheet music, not to mention lecture note

Transformer Pad Infinity

+sick design
+sicker screen
+sickest hardware
+keyboard dock
+so. much. storage.
+most battery life
-no mobile internet
-no stylus
-almost as expensive as the Ipad
-non-ideal aspect ratio

So as you can see, the Ipad has by far the most pros, but also by far the most cons.

Could you guys help me out and point out anything I might have missed?

Cheers guys!

 

[w35t]

The Transformer Pad would be my choice, I'm actually looking at buying one in the not too distant future. I love the dock and battery life. I'll be using it for my entertainment while on the go, mainly watching movies. I have an iPhone 4 and it will be my last apple product. And lol @ "-I'd be supporting the most dogmatic, evangelic cult since the Catholic Church was still a thing"... So true.

 

[MeowMeow]

Thanks for your reply. The Transformer seems really neat, but the lack of mobile internet is rather disconcerting. On the one hand, it'd save quite a bit of money, on the other hand, I don't see how I could get WiFi at home.

Also, did I do anything wrong in the OP?

One reply after a hundred views seems a bit meagre, I hope I didn't insult anyone with my nerd-remark.
The term only has positive connotations in my mind.

Maybe anyone who has worked with iOS and Android tablets could talk about their experiences with both systems, as I have used neither.

 

[FnordMan]

Have you looked at the Nexus 7? It'll get updates rather quicker than the other android tablets listed in the OP and has AT&T or T-Mobile versions for a bit extra if you want 3g data. Plus it's cake to root if you should need it. (backups are rather better with a rooted device)

though there's one caveat there: it's almost a year old and due to be replaced soon-ish.

 

[w35t]

I haven't used a lot of Android products but the reason I will be going to them is because of the restrictions on iOS. Apple kind of has you by the balls with their software. For the not very tech savvy iOS is great, it's streamline and super easy to use. For anyone else, and I'd imagine most of us on [H] are rather tech savvy lol, Android is likely a better option.

Didn't know you didn't have wifi at home, that could be a problem. A buddy of mine has an iPad that has 4g LTE through Verizon and it's pretty freakin sweet for on the go. They're very pricey though.

 

[jimh425]

If you have a phone, you probably can get internet connection sharing with a data plan. For simple surfing, etc, I find using my phone's connection works fine. Paying $150 for the privilege of connecting plus a monthly fee seems insane to me. For reading, you don't need the connection after you download the pdfs.

I have a Nexus 10. I find it just right for me, but I'm not an iphone user. I'd also take a look at the new tablets by Toshiba and the Sony.

 

[Snowdog]

Also, did I do anything wrong in the OP?

No, but you seem to have already well covered the differences and only you can appropriately weight each category matters to you.

But here are my thoughts:


For viewing a lot of PDFs, I simply would not accept one of the lower DPI screens. Which may mean dropping active stylus.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about an active Stylus unless you are plan to take extensive hand written notes. You can still annotate on capacitive screens, you just lose some resolution. But since you can instantly pinch/zoom while annotating, that doesn't seem like a big deal.

But if you are married to Active Stylus, and want a high res screen, Toshiba has you covered:
http://tablet-news.com/2013/06/04/c...ite-and-excite-pro-tegra-4-and-stylus-models/

But of course you pay more for high dpi and active stylus.

 

[w35t]

If you have a phone, you probably can get internet connection sharing with a data plan. For simple surfing, etc, I find using my phone's connection works fine. Paying $150 for the privilege of connecting plus a monthly fee seems insane to me. For reading, you don't need the connection after you download the pdfs.

I have a Nexus 10. I find it just right for me, but I'm not an iphone user. I'd also take a look at the new tablets by Toshiba and the Sony.

Good point, but isn't tethering an additional fee as well? Still it's got to be much cheaper than the fees associated with a 3g/4g iPad.

 

[jimh425]

Good point, but isn't tethering an additional fee as well? Still it's got to be much cheaper than the fees associated with a 3g/4g iPad.

It depends. For AT&T, for example, you can either have a data plan that has free calls or a phone plan that has data. The cheap price to add an ipad is if you already haved a data plan. But, if you have a data plan, you get free tethering. I have 4 phones on my data plan and we share data. It works out to almost exactly the same for us montly either way.

However, you don't have to buy a iPad that can connect on it's own which saves approximately 150 per device for the initial purchase. In our case, we have 3 iPad Minis and my Nexus 10, ereaders, and four laptops. With the data plan, we can connect from any of them. The minis would jump from 329 up to 479 each plus tax.

 

[XenIneX]

Since PDFs are your 70% use case, you're going to want as large a display as possible with as high a resolution as possible -- minimum 1080p. Because of the way PDFs are rendered, they go to crap really quickly at lower DPI or resolution, to the point that I don't even bother trying anymore on my Nexus 7. On low-res 10", it's large enough, but it turns into a hazy mess -- on my Touchpad, sheet music looks like someone made a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy. You'd be amazed how much just being a little bit sharper does wonders for making PDFs more legible.

For aspect ratio, you can't beat 4:3 for single-sheet PDFs. For piano sheet music, you might want two pages side-by-side, in which case 16:9 is...marginally better, but uncomfortably (or unusably) small. Then there's the fact that a 10" 16:9 tablet in portrait is just ungainly...


The current iPad is going to be my recommendation number one, simply for the combination of form factor and resolution. It's perfect for PDFs. It has all the usual video suspects (Netflix/Hulu/Amazon VoD/etc...), and is the only mobile platform with a viable Twitch.tv client for Starcraft streams. (Seriously; Twitch's Android client is horrible. No, Flash doesn't count; Adobe dropped it, and so should everyone else.) It has all the usual productivity stuff, as well as the best selection of games.

The one missing piece is the SNES emulator (unless you jailbreak, if/when a new exploit shows up). It's not as great a loss as you'd think, because on-screen touch controls are terrible for emulated games. Also, about twice a year someone manages to sneak something with MAME embedded in it onto the app store for a long weekend -- Apple eventually pulls it, but if you manage to snag it first, you're good to go.


If it weren't for the damned rounded sides, the high resolution screen of the Nexus 10 might make it a good second choice. It shouldn't be too hard to slap together a stand to keep the thing from keeling over sideways in portrait, but still...dumb design decision.

The new crop of high-res tablets announced at Computex could be contenders, but there are a couple caveats there... Time to market of a lot of these manufacturers can be pretty awful, so these things may take months to hit store shelves. And I'd hold off on the Tegra 4 devices until someone reputable actually gets their hands on one of them and benchmarks the hell out of it. NVidia has over-promised and under-delivered on every Tegra SoC to date, so at this point they've lost all benefit of the doubt. And don't try to extrapolate any NVidia Shield benchmarks that show up to tablets; the thermal envelopes are so wildly different between the platforms that nothing can really be inferred from one to the other.

 

[MeowMeow]

I live in Germany (that's in Europe), so data plans aren't as advanced and more expensive as over there in the US:

46,95 € monthly, 179,90 € once gets you:

1. iPad 4 (32gig) or equivalent
2. 100 MBit/s Download | 10 MBit/s Upload
3. 10 gb limit, then the speed gets capped to something insanely diminutive
4. Hotspot flat (whatever that is, aren't wifi hot spots free anyway?)

So I'm not sure if I really want to make that commitment, as much as I love the notion of lazing about in bed, the garden or wherever and having fast access to the net. Then again, 10 gigs are used up really, really fast.

Xen's post:

If the aspect ratio is really that important (I don't doubt that it is, which is why I wished that all media used the A4 aspect ratio..), I think I should try to get a used iPad 3 WiFi only that I can jailbreak. Then I can use drag and drop, play SNES games via bluetooth controller and have the ideal aspect ratio and high resolution.

What's Apple's answer to sd cards? Surely if you take 120 € per 16gb increment you offer some way of extension?

 

[Sly]

I have both the iPad3 and the TF300.

So far, i've consistently used the TF300. I'm heavy into media consumption, that would be manga, comic books, anime, so i cycle gigabytes of anime through it regularly. Of the two, the TF300 is the easier one to move files through, and that's not even counting the memory cards.

The ability to get into the file system also makes it easier to organize your files especially if you already have them inside folders on your PC. My media and ebooks categorized inside folders on my PC, an identical structure is on the transformer (Actually, all my PCs and even the Mac mini has it, it makes moving files between them consistent). If i need to put something on the tablet, i enter them and drag and drop from windows explorer. I don't have any special procedure or preparation for the tablet. I just treat it like any other PC on the network or as a thumbdrive if it was plugged in.

And the best part is that when you have the folder structure, the android apps don't discriminate. All of them can access it.

On the iPad3, in order for an app to access a file, you need to upload the file directly into the application. Which means either iTunes, or if the app supports it, an FTP client. If you have two ebook readers, you'll need to upload the file twice. One for each app.

As for the PDF reader. Here's some screens of Adobe reader on the TF300. The pages scroll vertically so it doesn't really matter what aspect ratio the ebook is.

Screenshot #1: Programming ebook

Screenshot #2: Graphic ebook

Screenshot #3: Graphic ebook

 

[Sly]

One more thing, i took this a bit earlier, may as well post it as well. The picture is really big, open at your own risk.



That's a local printed flyer next to the TF300 and the iPad3.

The iPad3 is obviously wider than the TF300, but how is the readability really?

These are the crops from that picture, they have not been resized. Top is the paper print, middle is the TF300 and the bottom is the iPad3. Is any one more readable than the other? No.

 

[Snowdog]

These are the crops from that picture, they have not been resized. Top is the paper print, middle is the TF300 and the bottom is the iPad3. Is any one more readable than the other? No.

I am calling total BS on this one. I suggest anyone check out this screens in person at a local Best Buy before they rely on someones opinion of what is more readable. Find some small fonts on the web and compare.

The 264 dpi on the iPad makes a HUGE difference over the 150 DPI on the lower res screen for small fonts in PDFs. Sure you can take a photo from far enough back of a large enough font to hide the difference, but check it out for yourself in person. I find the difference is huge.

If you want Android Tablet, at minimum get a 1920x1200 one. There is simply no need to go with low DPI of a 1280x800 10", at this point.

 

[Sly]

Just calling it as is. I have both and it makes no difference whether you're using LCD or a retina display. If you're into fluff, rather than flexibility, that's your choice.

 

[jimh425]

I can't see the difference between 1920x1080 and 1280x1024 if I don't have my reading glasses on. My Asus 1366x768 laptop in 11.6 is still usable, but not anywhere close to my 2560x1600 Nexus 10!

I remember years ago viewing the first LCD screens and noting how they weren't as clear as my good CRTs. Then, years later I happened to see a LCD and thought they had improved them a lot. However, it turns out that it was just that I needed reading glasses because when I got them. The LCD dots showed back up. If you can't see the difference, something similar might be going on.

 

[Snowdog]

Just calling it as is. I have both and it makes no difference whether you're using LCD or a retina display. If you're into fluff, rather than flexibility, that's your choice.

You are are calling it, as you see it. But I think you need a visit to the optometrist.

Which is why I suggested people go to a best buy and see the difference between a low DPI and high DPI screen for themselves. Vision is a big variable between people.

 

[Sly]

I can't see the difference between 1920x1080 and 1280x1024 if I don't have my reading glasses on. My Asus 1366x768 laptop in 11.6 is still usable, but not anywhere close to my 2560x1600 Nexus 10!

I remember years ago viewing the first LCD screens and noting how they weren't as clear as my good CRTs. Then, years later I happened to see a LCD and thought they had improved them a lot. However, it turns out that it was just that I needed reading glasses because when I got them. The LCD dots showed back up. If you can't see the difference, something similar might be going on.

Nope, I see it fine, and since I use them for programming websites, I look both over *very* closely. And that's just it, it makes no difference unless you're some sort of resolution whore. One is just as readable as the other, it may have a higher res, but it really does not make the other any less readable as shown in the picture.

Lets put it this way. Every time a comparison between a PC and a Mac comes up, it inevitably goes into a price war, which then goes into "But the Mac has a sick monitor". For those of us that are practical, we can't justify the price (you can buy atleast two PC's for a mac!) just for a monitor when a regular high res TNT monitor will work just as well. In this case, you want to sacrifice storage, a working file system, less restricted apps, a keyboard dock, extended battery, and USB hosting for a high res screen that really doesn't make a difference in how you use it.

 

[Sly]

You are are calling it, as you see it. But I think you need a visit to the optometrist.

Which is why I suggested people go to a best buy and see the difference between a low DPI and high DPI screen for themselves. Vision is a big variable between people.

It's low priority when you're looking for features that you can use for work. By your standards, you'd rather sacrifice all the useful features just for the sake of an LCD. But as I've told you, I use both, and I lean heavily on the TF300 because of its flexibility. Do you even realize the difference between getting your files into a TF300 vs an iPad?

 

[CEpeep]

If you like the iPad, get an iPad 3 or 4 and Jailbreak it. Fixes most of your gripes (SNES emulators, drag-and-drop to internal memory or SD card in the adapter, get apps through Cydia and other non-Apple sources). You just can't beat the aspect ratio, and most Android manufactures still have yet to figure out that 16:9 sucks for productivity and reading.

 

[jimh425]

I'm not sure what you mean by saying a 4x3 is better for productivity. If that was the case, almost all monitors and laptops would be 4x3, but of course, that's just not the case. Tablets also aren't super productive compared to most laptops or desktops.

Actually, 4x3 falls short for pure web browsing reading email if you want to also view folders, watching HD content, etc. 4x3 is only an advantage if you primarily use apps or viewing documents that won't reformat to fit the screen. There are lots of ways to read most every other type of content including PDFs that will reformat to fit the screen with the right PDF reader.

BTW, I have no issues reading in 16x9 or 9x16, and there are many others like me.

 

[CEpeep]

I'm not sure what you mean by saying a 4x3 is better for productivity. If that was the case, almost all monitors and laptops would be 4x3, but of course, that's just not the case. Tablets also aren't super productive compared to most laptops or desktops.

Actually, 4x3 falls short for pure web browsing reading email if you want to also view folders, watching HD content, etc. 4x3 is only an advantage if you primarily use apps or viewing documents that won't reformat to fit the screen. There are lots of ways to read most every other type of content including PDFs that will reformat to fit the screen with the right PDF reader.

BTW, I have no issues reading in 16x9 or 9x16, and there are many others like me.

4:3 aspect ratio tablets are a similar aspect ratio to paper. Most people who use tablets for productivity purposes (like myself) are simply evolving their workflow from physical paper to a tablet computer. Documents I create at the native resolution of the tablet translate easily to a printed paper document if I need to share my work with others. Scanned/PDF documents are presented at their native aspect ratio without having to zoom or waste space with excess widgets on the screen. 4:3 is also more effective for a tablet used at various rotations. It's neither too skinny when held upright, nor too short when on its side. It's not that 16:9 tablets are ineffective, it's just that 4:3 tablets are a more natural aspect ratio for the type of work that people normally do with tablets. If your main purpose for a tablet is to watch movies, you should get a 16:9 tablet.

Also, laptop and desktop screens are not generally 16:9 because it is "better" for anything. They are only 16:9 because extensive pushes by the film industry have made 16:9 aspect ratio displays inexpensive, at the cost of usability. These same fools are responsible for 1080p being the highest resolution display available to most consumers for most of the last 10 years. If it were possible to get a moden, high-resolution 4:3 monitor for my computer at work, I'd be all over it. As soon as I can buy two 4000x3000 pixel displays, that's what will be on my desk.

 

[jimh425]

Most people who use tablets for productivity purposes (like myself) are simply evolving their workflow from physical paper to a tablet computer.

Most people won't have 4x3s pretty soon. If you are evolving to computer screen and most screens are 16x9, why would you work on a 4x3? Seriously though, 4x3 is on it's way out. I wouldn't migrate paper to 4x3 because it is not at all correct for almost all laptops or desktops.

Although Apple has a head start, they are being caught by all of the other variations are predominately 16x9 or close including phones. Beta might have been a better format but lost to VHS, and that might be 4x3 compared to 16x9.

 

[CEpeep]

Most people won't have 4x3s pretty soon. If you are evolving to computer screen and most screens are 16x9, why would you work on a 4x3? Seriously though, 4x3 is on it's way out. I wouldn't migrate paper to 4x3 because it is not at all correct for almost all laptops or desktops.

Although Apple has a head start, they are being caught by all of the other variations are predominately 16x9 or close including phones. Beta might have been a better format but lost to VHS, and that might be 4x3 compared to 16x9.

As I discussed above, the usability of a 4:3 tablet is superior, unless you are watching movies. Other manufacturers are using 16:9 displays because they are cheaper, not because usability was the primary factor in that aspect ratio choice. Apple has enough control over their supply chain that they don't really care what's cheaper for other manufacturers, they'll continue to use whatever produces the best experience for the user.

From a work standpoint, paper aspect ratios aren't going anywhere anytime soon. If you work in Law, Health or Education, paper is and will continue to be a fixture of how your organization functions at some level for decades to come.

 

[Snowdog]

It's low priority when you're looking for features that you can use for work. By your standards, you'd rather sacrifice all the useful features just for the sake of an LCD. But as I've told you, I use both, and I lean heavily on the TF300 because of its flexibility. Do you even realize the difference between getting your files into a TF300 vs an iPad?

This isn't an Android vs iPad issue.

There are many 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 Android tablets. Work or not, I would pay the extra $100 for a better screen. I will never understand people who nickle and dime on important features. What is $100 spread over the years you use it?

 

[Sly]

This isn't an Android vs iPad issue.

There are many 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 Android tablets. Work or not, I would pay the extra $100 for a better screen. I will never understand people who nickle and dime on important features. What is $100 spread over the years you use it?

No it's not about the brand. It's the usability of a screen for actual reading and i even included a regular print media to prove my point. The way these thing are marketed, it's like 16:9 makes a PDF unreadable, but as shown in my picture, there's barely any difference. They're the same size and just as readable even tho the screen is narrower. If people are going to nitpick on the minute size difference, it's actually still bigger than the paper one.

@CEpeep
How exactly is 4:3 superior? I just posted a comparison picture of them side by side on how they're actually used. Just right for what? Can you give an example?

 

[jimh425]

I think CEpeep meant to say it is superior for him.

 

[Snowdog]

No it's not about the brand. It's the usability of a screen for actual reading and i even included a regular print media to prove my point. The way these thing are marketed, it's like 16:9 makes a PDF unreadable, but as shown in my picture, there's barely any difference. They're the same size and just as readable even tho the screen is narrower. If people are going to nitpick on the minute size difference, it's actually still bigger than the paper one.

WTF? I never said it was about brand, you did. I said it was about DPI, and not cheaping out when there are much higher DPI screens. Points your ignored and answerd with Aspect Ratio (AR).

But as far as AR, since you bring it up, 16:9 sucks for just about everything but watching 16:9 Video IMO. I don't want it on my desktop/laptop/tablet/watch or phone.

For a tablet I would prefer 3:2, then 4:3, then 16:10 and never 16:9.

 

[MeowMeow]

I'm glad you brought some life into this thread.

Preferring an aspect ratio that is mostly similar to A4 seems like an intuitive thought.

But then again, buying an iPad 3 instead of the Transformer Pad Infinity means you pay a little more for worse hardware, much, much less storage, less battery power, a more restrictive OS and the lack of the awesome dock.

So now it comes down to a jailbroken iPad 3 vs. the Infinity, both used.

 

[TheReproducer]

What's your budget?

I'm only familiar with prices from UK POV but you should hold off till Tegra4 tablets arrive if only because they will drive down the prices of other tablets.

Although I loathe to recommend Toshiba they've recently announced their Excite Pro tablet which has a 2560x1600 screen which is equal to the Nexus 10. Incidentally, why haven't you considered the Nexus 10?
The Asus Infinity is due for a refresh but the older models which run on Tegra3 really can't be recommended as the chipset will be superceded very soon by a supremely more efficient chipset (Tegra4).

If you read a lot of pdfs, have you considered getting an e-reader like a Kindle?

 

[Sly]

WTF? I never said it was about brand, you did. I said it was about DPI, and not cheaping out when there are much higher DPI screens. Points your ignored and answerd with Aspect Ratio (AR).

My answer to that is that it makes no difference and does not make one any less usable than the other, which you apparently blatantly ignored. XenIneX put an emphasis on the screen because it's apparently the perfect size for PDFs, i countered with screenies and even a real picture of them side by side showing either one is just as readable. What's there to argue about?

But as far as AR, since you bring it up, 16:9 sucks for just about everything but watching 16:9 Video IMO. I don't want it on my desktop/laptop/tablet/watch or phone.

For a tablet I would prefer 3:2, then 4:3, then 16:10 and never 16:9.

Sucks in what way? I already posted pics showing it made no difference. If you're so adamant, post some examples rather than going "Because i said so"

 

[MeowMeow]

What's your budget?

I'm only familiar with prices from UK POV but you should hold off till Tegra4 tablets arrive if only because they will drive down the prices of other tablets.

Although I loathe to recommend Toshiba they've recently announced their Excite Pro tablet which has a 2560x1600 screen which is equal to the Nexus 10. Incidentally, why haven't you considered the Nexus 10?
The Asus Infinity is due for a refresh but the older models which run on Tegra3 really can't be recommended as the chipset will be superceded very soon by a supremely more efficient chipset (Tegra4).

If you read a lot of pdfs, have you considered getting an e-reader like a Kindle?

I don't really have a budget, I'll just pay whatever seems reasonable to me.
If there were a device that stood above all the rest, I could see myself spending up to 1000€, but that device doesn't exist (think: iPad 4 hardware and resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio, real stylus, keyboard dock).

I just brought up the price as the Infinity and the iPad 3 are in the same price-range, while I can easily get 5 times the storage on the former.

 

[TheReproducer]

Well if the iPad 3 is a possibility then you definitely can't discount the Nexus 10.

I know it sounds silly to keep waiting but we're right on the edge of another wave of new tablets with A15 ARM cores which will yield substantial increase in performance; not saying it's a necessity but always best to get value for money, right?

Have you considered the Xperia tablet Z? It's the lightest 10in tablet and has 1920x1080 screen, it matches the current Asus Infinity but has a weight of only 500 grams!

http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/toshiba-excite-pro/4505-3126_7-35781392.html

The Excite Write will have a stylus like the Note 10.1 although the software it hasn't isn't as well integrated but the screen is obviously far superior.

 

[Snowdog]

My answer to that is that it makes no difference

Saying 150 dpi vs 264 dpi makes no difference can be most charitably described as a minority opinion. You should recognize this applies to you, and not everyone. I said from my first reply to you, that people should check it out for themselves at Best Buy. I recognize that it may not matter to some people, but you seem to fail to recognize/acknowledge, that it does matter to others.

Your pictures are in no way equivalent to seeing the screens in person, as I am sure many who have seen them in person here can attest.

I considered buying an iPad Mini, until I had one in hand at Best Buy, I found the 163 dpi was inadequate on smaller fonts, making them less readable and uglier. 150 dpi screens are a complete non starter for any handheld device, for me, and many others.

 

[MeowMeow]

Well if the iPad 3 is a possibility then you definitely can't discount the Nexus 10.

I know it sounds silly to keep waiting but we're right on the edge of another wave of new tablets with A15 ARM cores which will yield substantial increase in performance; not saying it's a necessity but always best to get value for money, right?

Have you considered the Xperia tablet Z? It's the lightest 10in tablet and has 1920x1080 screen, it matches the current Asus Infinity but has a weight of only 500 grams!

I don't see the Nexus' appeal compared to the Infinity.

The higher resolution certainly is nice, but do I really want that many more pixels when I can have an ~100 gigs more space a neat keyboard and a more polished design?

The Z: again, I'd rather have the extensions and dock as opposed to a couple of grams less. The Infinity also has 16:10 instead of 16:9.

Imagine poppin' a 64 gig SC-Card in the device and something like
http://www.amazon.de/Sandisk-Cruzer...22538&sr=1-1&keywords=Sandisk+Cruzer+Fit+32gb
in the dock, you'll have four times as much room as on the Xperia.

I think your best advice is waiting for the next model.

 

[TheReproducer]

Those are fair points but the Tegra 3 chipset pales in comparison to the A15 Exynos and the Snapdragon S4 Pro otherwise the Infinity would be ideal. Asus have pretty good build quality so I think it's worth waiting.

 

[Sly]

Saying 150 dpi vs 264 dpi makes no difference can be most charitably described as a minority opinion. You should recognize this applies to you, and not everyone. I said from my first reply to you, that people should check it out for themselves at Best Buy. I recognize that it may not matter to some people, but you seem to fail to recognize/acknowledge, that it does matter to others.

Your pictures are in no way equivalent to seeing the screens in person, as I am sure many who have seen them in person here can attest.

I considered buying an iPad Mini, until I had one in hand at Best Buy, I found the 163 dpi was inadequate on smaller fonts, making them less readable and uglier. 150 dpi screens are a complete non starter for any handheld device, for me, and many others.

Same as some here who talk as if high DPI is the only feature that matters, and for those that insist not having a 4:3 is a deal breaker. I have just as much right to call them out on it that it DOESN'T freaking matter! Especially if you have to sacrifice storage, windows explorer compatibility, a file system, flexible apps, etc. Someone lists all those features that are really useful, then someone counters with "Oh but this one's 4:3, that's good for PDF", WTF??? So i posted proof that it doesn't make a difference.

Dude, the only way you can counter it is if you can post something that show some sort of disadvantage. As it is, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN READABILITY!!! Maybe if you were reading far smaller text, but i've already shown they're not much different from paper. You want him to sacrifice the features he wanted for the sake of a redundant feature?

 

[jimh425]

FWIW, I bought a Nexus 10 because I wanted to stay bleeding edge. I can't say it is highly recommended for everyone. The display is super nice for reading. I can't say I'm super happy with the software but I have friends with the supposed bulletproof iPad that have issues as well. Accessories are somewhat limited at launch for the Nexus 10 but I have what I need now which mostly consists of a Poetic leather folding case. If I didnt already have a super high res screen, I don't know if I could tell the difference. My wife seems to get by just fine with her iPad mini. Her biggest reason to buy the mini was the small size.

 

[Snowdog]

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN READABILITY!!!

What applies to you, doesn't necessarily apply to everyone. Maybe you will realize that one day, when you mature.

For now there is the ignore filter, welcome to it.

 

[Sly]

What applies to you, doesn't necessarily apply to everyone. Maybe you will realize that one day, when you mature.

For now there is the ignore filter, welcome to it.

Are you referring to yourself? You do realize you're the one that's been pushing a single feature instead of looking at the tablet as a whole. Please, if you're going to post further, make a better argument than that.