Looking For Tablet Recommendations

[SilverLady(SO)]

Hi, everyone -

I'm interested in purchasing a new (or possibly refurbished) tablet, with WiFi but not requiring an internet/cell phone plan/contract. I'd like to get your input, advice and recommendations, and any pros/cons if you should have any of these devices.

I'm looking for a good but not expensive tablet (preferably $300 or less), a device that I can use while out shopping, restaurant, or at a friend's house, to either surf the web and/or access email, download videos or photos, etc., and it should have camera capabilities.

It must have the ability to connect and/or transfer data, photos, etc. to either my desktop or laptop pc via USB, both of which run Win10. If it also had the ability that I could also use it with my Nikon Coolpix camera that would be even better. If the tablet had a geo-locator/tracker I would need to disable that feature, same as I do for my computers.

While I'm not too concerned with the brand name, I will *never* use an AMD processor, and Celeron only if necessary.

So, what do you suggest? What are any pros/cons, or your experiences with tablets?

Note should be made that I'm one of the few who will *never* get a smart phone.


Thanks!

- SL

[Diana Michelle]

I have always been a laptop girl but a while ago I decided to take the plunge into a tablet. My needs were not that different to yours, basically a simple surfing device, some uploads and downloads, easy to use and carry, and compatible with my digital cameras, mine are Canons not Nikon. I talked with the people at Best Buy and to be honest they were zero help. All they wanted to do was sell me the most expensive thing. After talking with someone at church who was into these things he told me that any "decent" Android based tablet would meet my needs, I ended up finding a Trio tablet at a local store. It has a 10" screen and with a case and the stylus (get one it makes things a lot easier), Bluetooth keyboard (I only used that maybe 3 or 4 times so IMO not necessary) and of course the charger and it was on sale for $99. Not sure what it is now, it has been a year or so since I bought it.

I guess my point is from what I have learned and was told pretty much any tablet will do what you want and I would think you can probably get it for well under your price target. I would highly recommend you buy one with the largest memory available and ideally with expandable memory. I am not familiar with your Nikon camera but I do know the pictures from my Canon can be quite large files.

BTW, many smart phones will do the same thing. I would be lost without mine. I have a friend who prefers the old style phone and that is what she has for a phone. She also has a Smart Phone from TracFone. It is WiFi capable and does almost as much as my Samsung through AT&T and it cost her a neck of a lot less. She says she has to buy an airtime card every 3 months and that is $20 as she never uses it for a phone. Just something to thing about.

[Davita]

The first thing is that Apple products are most likely off the table since they are simply expensive. That said, then you are looking at Windows (yuck, but a familiar look and feel for you) and Android. I think ASUS has an inexpensive tablet like they have inexpensive PCs.

I'm an avid fan of online reviews that I start looking for with "top 10 android tablets under 300" BTW, there is a site that rates the reviews on reality. They have some algorithm that says how many of the reviews are fake on a site like Amazon and other seller sites.

[Joan Grey]

If you've got an AT&T cell phone, they often offer a tablet for $10/month. My last one was free, and I usually just use it via wi-fi rather than cell. I have the Nikon Snap-bridge ap on it, but for some reason I can't get my D500 to sync up (my last tablet synced fine). I'm not too miffed over it, as I just load my pics directly into my desktop.

[SilverLady(SO)]

Thank you for all of your input, advice and recommendations.

I am not looking for Windows-based tablet products, I just noted that both of our desktops and my laptop are using Win10 as that must be taken into consideration for transfer of data, photos, videos, and the like.

I agree that all Apple - as well as Samsung Galaxy - products are overpriced when compared with other tablets such as Kindle Fire, Nextbook Flexx, Insignia, etc.

As for cell phones - nope, I don't have one, really don't want one, but if I did get one it would be the most basic cell phone for emergency use only and possibly text messages, but definitely not for internet access. Ever. If someone really wants to talk with us, they can call us at home and leave a message if we don't answer, send us an email or, better yet, come see us at our home. Technology is great but it has taken away, or interfered with, the face-to-face socialization that are very important to all of our lives.


Right now I'm leaning towards - but have not yet bought - the Amazon Kindle Fire 10 as I believe it will do just about everything that I want it to do, has the largest expandable memory option and battery life, and it will do more than I was hoping for, meaning downloading music, books and movies, etc. as I'm already an Amazon Prime member.




- SL

[Davita]

My grandbrats have Kindles and that tells me they are fairly reliable. I know the prices are decent too.

[Stephanie M]

I have a Fire 7. I think, it has terrible battery life and freezes often. Hopefully the newer ones are better.

[Sarah Beth]

We have had a Kindle now for a couple of years and haven't had any problems with it. I don't use it that much but my wife uses it all the time. We don't have it connected to any cell phone plan so it only works on wifi. I got for her on the cyber Monday sale thing and it wasn't expensive. If you track them on Amazon they have sales on them a lot and they are not that expensive.

Our kids had one the got it was ipad or whatever those things are called and they had nothing but trouble with it right out of the box. They took it back and got another one and it didn't ever work right either. They now have three different kindles.

[Janice]

My wife has a 8 in Nobo which she uses mainly for downloading and reading books, and I found the on screen keyboard a bit fiddly for my fingers. so I decided on 10 in As tablets have a bigger screen than a smartphone, last summer I was looking for a tablet to use when I was in hospital and checked out various websites and and saw a couple that I though would do me.
I then visited Currys/PC World which is the UK's largest electrical and communications equipment chain and chose a 10 in ASUS at around my budget price.
Once I mastered the Android system, rather than Windows, I have found it very versatile, and easy to browse the web as long as I can get wifi connection.It has its own built in camera (front and back) which are great for Messenger and Skype and, of course, photographs.
An addition which I did not get was a base unit so that it can be used a laptop.

[Alizee_Noelle]

Just a few comments from my side of the pond:

and it should have camera capabilities

Almost all tablets have crappy cameras - the higher prices ones go up to 5 Megapixels and are reasonable, but most have awful 2Mp shooters which are barely passable in good light and downright unusable indoors.

It must have the ability to connect and/or transfer data, photos, etc. to either my desktop or laptop pc via USB, both of which run Win10.

All Android tablets support either mass storage or MTP transfer via usb and they are plug and play in windows. Additionally, I recommend Total Commander + Send Via Wifi plugin - if both your laptop and your tablet are on the same wireless network, you can share specific files on your tablet and access them on your computer's web browser, no cables or additional software needed.

If it also had the ability that I could also use it with my Nikon Coolpix camera that would be even better.

If your camera appears as a regular USB drive when you connect it to your computer, make sure that the tablet supports USBOtg (USB On The Go) and you should be able to connect it to the tablet and copy photos. Otherwise you can take the memory card out of the camera and use a memory card reader connected via the USBOtg cable.

If the tablet had a geo-locator/tracker I would need to disable that feature, same as I do for my computers.

No tablet that I know of comes with tracking software enabled by default, aside from the regular snooping that Google does. Either way, you have the ability to turn off GPS and assisted location in the settings. However, I do advise to enable the Android Device Manager that Google provides - in case your tablet is lost or stolen, you have a small chance of being able to locate it or, if all hope is lost, you can trigger a factory reset so that your data doesn't get compromised.

While I'm not too concerned with the brand name, I will *never* use an AMD processor, and Celeron only if necessary.

Whoa there, easy on the AMD bashing, they've been good to me until now. Either way, 99% of Android tablets run on ARM processors and the rest on Intel Atom, so you're safe

So, what do you suggest? What are any pros/cons, or your experiences with tablets?

Look at the offers from your favorite store and see what is in your price range/screen size that you desire, then look up online reviews for them and take note of the ones that comment on stability and battery life.

Hope this helps,
Alizee


LE: I'm just a month late . Oh well, ignore me

[SilverLady(SO)]

I really do appreciate all the advice and recommendations given, and I've decided to 'go big or go home' and get the Amazon Kindle Fire 10 HD with 64GB internal memory.

I'm just impatiently waiting for it to come back in stock, as I wanted to have it before our next road trip which is fast approaching.

It appears that Amazon sold all of their inventory just before Easter, and that was when I made the decision to buy it.


Have a great day, everyone!


- SL