buying first Tablet – confused….

PC World are giving a years free Norton along with it at the moment.

Free?
it’s over-priced

jota180 – Member

PC World are giving a years free Norton along with it at the moment.

Free?
it’s over-priced

Well as i don’t know what AV options come on Tablets i thought it was silly to refuse. We use AVG on her home laptop, my work one runs Symantec. But for now until we find something better it may get installed. I think i have AVG on my Android phone… dunno actually.

theotherjonv – yes, I was reading that thread too – would also like to know how much shipping is – am tempted to put in basket and see what it comes to…

jon – shipping is a tenner for me, just checked. Probs better getting from pc world 🙂

@ianc – I’d say yes its worth the extra for the memory on the basis you cannot add it later and you may find you are using the tablet for movies which are quite memory intensive. Also it means you can have more/all of your music on there without thinking about selecting which albums etc.

@jambalaya – yes, good points, and not a lot of extra dosh, thanks

I think this may go into another thread possibly….

But how will she/we put movies etc on it ?

We usually do everything through iTunes.

another Q from me – is it worth buying AV stuff like Norton for tablets ? and if so what is reccomended ?

We usually do everything through iTunes

Should have bought an iPad then 😉

[EDIT] sorry, not very helpful. I’ve only scan read this thread but if you’ve not yet bought a tablet and you’re already in the Apple table with iTunes, iPods, iPhones etc I strongly recommend paying a bit extra for an iPad. I’m no fanboi but it does all work really nicely together.

@weeksy if you’re using windows the nexus will show up as another item in your my computer like a camera does when you plug it in. You can then find the movies folder and just drag and drop files in.
Don’t bother with syncing using windows media player as it won’t let iphone compatible files be synced to the nexus even though it will play them. I’ve made sub-folders in my movies folder to organise thm a bit more.

Should have bought an iPad then

[EDIT] sorry, not very helpful. I’ve only scan read this thread but if you’ve not yet bought a tablet and you’re already in the Apple table with iTunes, iPods, iPhones etc I strongly recommend paying a bit extra for an iPad. I’m no fanboi but it does all work really nicely together

Don;t have the budget for that i’m afraid

jon – shipping is a tenner for me, just checked. Probs better getting from pc world

Cheers. but i need to get mine from Comet as i’ve a credit balance there currently, hence i need the cheapest price and ge tthem then to price match (they have on for £189 currently)

Looks like £169 then.

@weeksy – for movies I buy via iTunes and out into the iPad – I have to assume that works fine for Nexus tablet. For example the Strength in Numbers movie was roughly half price on iTunes vs buying the DVD

What I also do is, cough, make copies of discs with ripping software and encode them in a format the tablet can read. Obviously all this is for my own personal use with DVDs I have purchased.

BTW the tablet’s are very good for BBC iPlayer downloads, Podcasts etc (like the 5Live cycling/doping special recently)

jambalaya – Member

@weeksy – for movies I buy via iTunes and out into the iPad – I have to assume that works fine for Nexus tablet. For example the Strength in Numbers movie was roughly half price on iTunes vs buying the DVD

What I also do is, cough, make copies of discs with ripping software and encode them in a format the tablet can read. Obviously all this is for my own personal use with DVDs I have purchased.

BTW the tablet’s are very good for BBC iPlayer downloads, Podcasts etc (like the 5Live cycling/doping special recently)

Thanks. 100% of the media we have is either CD format or bought from itunes, so as long as we can get into a format the tablet can read then yeah, that’s all cool

Be aware that Adobe were trying to withdraw support for flash and it won’t be supported on Android after ICS (I think).

They are still supporting it for older versions of android due to pressure from people like the BBC, as iplayer relies on flash.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19428902

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19648600

as iplayer relies on flash.

iPlayer does not need Flash if used on iOS devices so I assume they have a non-Flash version ready for Android too.

I assume they have a non-Flash version ready for Android too.

Yes they do. IPlayer works fine on Android 4.1 without flash.

I just want to say thanks to all for this thread… it’s been very informative and helped me lots.

weeksy – you are very welcome 😀

TurnerGuy – Member
Samsung Galaxy 2 10.1 has £50 cashback off £299, today is the last day I think:

I think everyone’s headed down the Nexus route anyway here, but I bought a Sammy Galaxy tab 2 10.1 from Amazon on Sunday for £279 and the £50 cashback offer is valid there too. According to the T&C, it’s available for purchases up til 31 December, which brings the price down to far more palatable just-above-£200.

I did have an Acer Iconia A510 before that, but in all honesty it was rubbish. Screen sensitivity was utter bobbins and the browser kept freezing and crashing.
Sent it back to Amazon and took a punt on the Samsung instead and am loving it. Is everything the Iconia was not and more.

Toyed with the idea of sending it back (literally received it the same day the Nexus 10.0 was announced and had been waiting for that after hearing great things about the Nexus 7) but would have been looking at paying almost an extra £100 on top, and couldn’t really see what it would offer over the Sammy tbh.

To add my tuppence worth: I’ve had a 7″ Galaxy Tab for the past year or so, the kids love it and it’s ideal for a quick bit of breakfast mail / news / twitter. it’s also perfect for watching films, the smaller size isn’t a problem in practice.

What it’s not so good for is lengthy web browsing, although Android allows you to quickly zoom in/out of text – and it resizes to the window – the small size is a bit limiting, the screen’s just not big enough. Personally it’s not a problem, I wanted a smaller device and am prepared to put up with this limitation, but if you’re planning on spending hours browsing it’s something to bear in mind.

for the money, i’d buy TWO Playbooks. They all multitask, but having two means you can mult-USER too. I’ve not tried web-based games on mine, but the web experience on the Playbook is the best.

best sort of tablet..the Scottish type

I may well buy a playbook, but in all honesty it’s barely a major inconvenience for me to pick up the laptop to browse the forums, i have to take it home anyway due to being on call.

Does the Nexus have an SD slot or are you stuck with the memory that you’ve bought?

And theotherjohnv, I’d get into Comet quickly before the administrators do…

Microsoft Surface RT tablets went on sale last week, Intel-based versions (which will run full Windows 8 ) due in about 3 months time..

They look like an interesting proposition.. can’t quite decided if they will carve out their own niche or be not quite one or the other (tablet/laptop).. nice hardware though. Tempted to get one to play with..

But how will she/we put movies etc on it ?

Just copy the file into the Movies folder on the Nexus.
I use ES File Manager – it has the option to browse my local network, so I can connect to my Nas, copy and paste onto the Nexus over wireless. Or connect direct via a USB cable.

Other options, if you have a DVD, rip it using Handbrake.

You can also purchase or rent movies over the Play store. Once rented they can be streamed or ‘pinned’ so they are downloaded and can be watched without a connection.

Google Play Music also goes live in the UK on the 13th November, so you can upload up to 20,000 songs to Google then stream them wherever you have a connection (or tethered 3G phone).

If you have iTunes on a machine in the house, load up TunesRemote+ and you can remote control your library from your Nexus.

Stick AirBubble on the Nexus and you can also use it as remote speakers from iTunes so play music back to it.

Does the Nexus have an SD slot

No. Probably best to get the bigger one to future proof it unless you have no need of storing stuff. Some games coming out for the Tegra 3 chip are over 500MB each.

Some recommendations:

ES File Manager – manage Nexus, LAN, FTP and cloud.
Flipboard – pretty cool app for news, articles, content
GTA 3 – crank setttings up to full, plays really well
Dead Trigger if you like shooting zombies

Another tip – pick up a USB OTG cable for about a quid and you can connect USB devices to the Nexus. I had a hub on there, with keyboard, mouse and card reader!

If you install Nexus Media Importer (paid but cheap) you can access card readers or memory sticks (read only). Got a movie on a USB stick? You can stream it, so effectively increasing capacity. I also used it to backup and watch my GoPro footage.

This function gets round the connection issue that limits cloud storage.

Wow.. thanks for them posts mate.

I’m thinking for ease of use for now i may get an iPad for the wife, will make the transferring of music/movies a lot easier in the short term. I keep the Nexus 7 for myself which gives me more time etc for installing what i need or doing the cloud scenario longer term.

I think this is the most useful thread I have ever started on stw ! 😆

once youve bought your first ten or so things will be come clearer

oh sod…. the iPad has sold lol.

So i’m either saving some extra for a new iPad…. or she gets the Nexus 7 as planned

2 weeks ago I really wasn’t sure I ‘got’ tablets – now I can hardly put it down! The stuff you can do with it is crazy, I’ve even been VNCing in to my Mac (taking remote control of the desktop), chucking files and photos round the place and streaming to the telly!

If you have a DLNA telly on your home network, Twonky Beam is incredible. You can share content, choose TV and it’ll stream – the TV auto switches to the source and up it comes. Twonky has its own content browser too, with YouTube, Vimeo ,TED etc.

Also – don’t forget you can take control of the Play store from your browser and install apps on your device from there! Just search, click install, pick a device and it auto downloads and installs on the device, so app is ready to go when you get to it!

https://play.google.com/

Another useful tip – look up Google Cloud Printing.
If you have a computer with a printer connected, you can open Chrome, install the printers then print to the Cloud printer from your Nexus (app : Cloud Print) as long as that computer is on.

Just try playbook

Replying just to follow the thread, tablet shopping this weekend!

I had to bring the convo up with the wife…

It looks like i’m buying an iPad for Xmas….

The plus side is…. i get a Nexus for myself tonight 🙂

In response to the earlier query about the Kindle Fire HD here is some feedback having had mine for just over a week – note this is not an answer to the question of “what is the best tablet?”

Whole family are apple mad with probably ten devices of various types between the four of them and I am the sole rebel. I use a toshiba latop and a HTC phone, both of which I love. I also read avidly on a kindle.

When I traipse into Londinium for the day I often take all three devices as whilst the phone can do pretty much everything at a push it’s screen is a bit small to do things for long. So I decided to get a kindle fire hd and now leave the laptop and original kindle at home. At this level the Fire is a huge success. The fact that it only cost £159 helped too.

I also find myself sitting on the sofa in front of the telly and using the Fire rather than the Tosh, because it really is good enough for most things I want to do.

BUT, I am not into games and probably have a total of 8 apps on my phone. If you are into multiple apps and like to play millions of games then the Fire’s restriction to Amazon store will drive you nuts. I can’t believe that an organisation like Amazon will allow themsleves to miss out on sales of apps for too long, but right now you should be aware of the limitations.

So I love my Fire, but currently it wouldn’t be the best choice for everyone.

The company I run makes accessories for the iPad so whenever a new tablet comes out we always check it out to see if it worth making accessories for. To start off with I will say that the iPad isnt perfect so I am not a pure Apple fanboy.

First of I would recommend ordering all the tablets you are interested in via mail order. You can then play with them to your hearts content and see which one you get on with. You can then return the ones that aren’t wanted for a full refund. Normally you can do this within 14 days. The reason I say this is playing with things in the shop is not seeing how you would use them in real life. Funnily enough all tablets look to be great in the shop but when you start using them the limitations come out.

If you want something idiot proof and easy for all the family then get an iPad. iPad 2 is fine as the iPad 3 & 4 isn’t really that much better. iPad mini is also a good choice as this is getting rave reviews with lots of reviewers saying it is even better than a full size iPad. Yes the iPad isn’t perfect but unlike many of the others it does just work.

Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 are good and cheaper but after using an iPad they just seem clunky and not very slick. They are however better at surfing. Personally I would go with the Kindle Fire but thats because we use Amazon so everything is fully integrated and you are getting a whole ecosystem, a bit like the iPad. The Kindle Fire and Nexus seem to me more setup for watching movies and just doing over simple things.

We have also just started testing the Microsoft Surface and this really could be a game changer. Initially it is a bit more expensive but the interface is really good and the keyboard and more importantly the mouse are just brilliant. With all tablets the biggest problem is that you can’t really replace your computer as you cant do intricate things like Excel easily or do much typing. With the surface you can do all of this. I have to say that so far I am very impressed. It does have full windows on it so it is a little bit over complicated and confusing behind the scenes like all PC’s. So for example when the Wifi can’t connect it says to check your network cable, however the Surface doesn’t have one (this is just hangover from the PC setup)

So all in all I would go for an iPad or a Surface. If you want to go risk free then get an iPad as resale values are very good and there is a reason they hold so much of the market!!

Microsoft… What could possibly go wrong?… No I think I’ll go for an android.

I really liked my Nexus 7 but it’s now sitting unused as the screens cracked and you can’t get spare parts for it. Something to keep in mind but even after this I’m still tempted by the Nexus 10.