which tablet for my husband?
October 9, 2012 7:14 PM Subscribe
I want to buy a tablet for my husband for Christmas, but am unsure what would best meet his needs. Details inside.
From talking with him about his likes/dislikes regarding the Kindle Fire (he got me one for Christmas last year and I love it), I know he would like the following:
...word processing capabilities with the ability to save/send documents (in windows compatible formats)
...a decent keyboard, or the ability to hook up an external usb one
...decent memory capacity.
He's llooking to use it mostly for our D&D games and watching movies on netflix or otherwise. I'd prefer to spend under $300.00, but I.'m flexible.
Thanks in advance!!
From talking with him about his likes/dislikes regarding the Kindle Fire (he got me one for Christmas last year and I love it), I know he would like the following:
...word processing capabilities with the ability to save/send documents (in windows compatible formats)
...a decent keyboard, or the ability to hook up an external usb one
...decent memory capacity.
He's llooking to use it mostly for our D&D games and watching movies on netflix or otherwise. I'd prefer to spend under $300.00, but I.'m flexible.
Thanks in advance!!
Both the Android and Apple platforms have Apps that will read and write Office formats, although I wouldn't use them for complicated documents. You can't (without hackery) attach a USB keyboard, but a bluetooth keyboard (the Apple ones are very nice & will work fine with Android) will work just fine.
posted by pharm at 3:53 AM on October 10, 2012
posted by pharm at 3:53 AM on October 10, 2012
Best answer: I use a Nexus 7 and LOVE it. If you purchase an OTG cable (like 2 bucks on amazon) you can actually use a usb keyboard with the device. As mentioned above, bluetooth also works.
The size and weight of the nexus 7 makes me like it a lot more than the ipad or other larger tablets, but he may want the extra size.
Seconding Google docs for the word processing.
The storage space is my only true issue with the Nexus.You can sync it up with the Google cloud(if you are down with that sort of thing) but there is no expandable memory card slot on it(truly my one complaint).
I have discovered that using that same OTG cable and an app you can hook up a USB drive though and that expands your storage in a roughshod way.
posted by Twain Device at 6:14 AM on October 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
The size and weight of the nexus 7 makes me like it a lot more than the ipad or other larger tablets, but he may want the extra size.
Seconding Google docs for the word processing.
The storage space is my only true issue with the Nexus.You can sync it up with the Google cloud(if you are down with that sort of thing) but there is no expandable memory card slot on it(truly my one complaint).
I have discovered that using that same OTG cable and an app you can hook up a USB drive though and that expands your storage in a roughshod way.
posted by Twain Device at 6:14 AM on October 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Quick note with the Nexus re the memory you can use a thumb drive and a cheap adaptor plug/cable to increase the memory with this App. Having said that I mainly use the thumb drives for movies, I have the 8G Nexus and still haven't managed to fill it up with all my music and App addiction.
I am a crazed Nexus fan and have used various office aps on the tablet and have to say if I was going to be using it a lot for anything other than simple word documents or a bit of premeeting document editing it's a pain in the neck if only because of the screen size. If he's going to be doing a lot of large spreadsheets you might want to look at a larger format like an iPad. Having said that I like the size of the Nexus better for pretty much everything else.
My MIL has this Asus that comes with a keyboard and it feels very much like a tiny App based laptop when used together. She got it on a great sale for about $400 all up, which I know is more than you budgeted but you'd have to buy a keyboard anyway if you go one of the other formats so I thought I'd mention it. She loves it.
posted by wwax at 9:19 AM on October 10, 2012
I am a crazed Nexus fan and have used various office aps on the tablet and have to say if I was going to be using it a lot for anything other than simple word documents or a bit of premeeting document editing it's a pain in the neck if only because of the screen size. If he's going to be doing a lot of large spreadsheets you might want to look at a larger format like an iPad. Having said that I like the size of the Nexus better for pretty much everything else.
My MIL has this Asus that comes with a keyboard and it feels very much like a tiny App based laptop when used together. She got it on a great sale for about $400 all up, which I know is more than you budgeted but you'd have to buy a keyboard anyway if you go one of the other formats so I thought I'd mention it. She loves it.
posted by wwax at 9:19 AM on October 10, 2012
Best answer: I came in here thinking 'Nexus 7' as well, but I wouldn't really want to use mine with a physical keyboard, even though I seriously considered getting an Asus Transformer for a while.
The software based keyboard that comes with the Nexus is fine. Although I still prefer touch typing with a physical keyboard for most things, I have started taking notes with my Nexus when I'm attending talks and lectures. I ended up installing the Swype beta, which improved my speed and accuracy greatly.
It's a shame the rptools.net suite doesn't run on either Android or iOS, but there seem to be a bunch of other basic RPG apps for both platforms, and if you're playing D&D it's likely that most of them will have templates that'd work for you.
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:27 PM on October 10, 2012
The software based keyboard that comes with the Nexus is fine. Although I still prefer touch typing with a physical keyboard for most things, I have started taking notes with my Nexus when I'm attending talks and lectures. I ended up installing the Swype beta, which improved my speed and accuracy greatly.
It's a shame the rptools.net suite doesn't run on either Android or iOS, but there seem to be a bunch of other basic RPG apps for both platforms, and if you're playing D&D it's likely that most of them will have templates that'd work for you.
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:27 PM on October 10, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks a bunch everyone. I ended up going with the Nexus, and I think hes gonna love it. I got him the 32gb version that was just released a short while ago. Fantastic deal for the wifi version ($249.00).
I'm going to look into the swype app as well if hes going to be typing a lot on it and doesn't want to lug a Usn keyboard around.
Thanks hive! I love MetaFilter.
posted by Verdandi at 6:52 PM on December 2, 2012
I'm going to look into the swype app as well if hes going to be typing a lot on it and doesn't want to lug a Usn keyboard around.
Thanks hive! I love MetaFilter.
posted by Verdandi at 6:52 PM on December 2, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
Keyboard: Both the android (4.1) and iPad keyboards are good. Neither does USB out of he box (but I think you can jury rig something for an android tablet). Your best bet would be to get a Bluetooth keyboard. The nice ones are still under $100 and they're ridiculously easy to use with tablets.
Memory: What's decent? If he's just looking to store D&D books and character sheets, I doubt he'd even need 8G. If he wants to store videos on there, then it just depends.
I have experience with all the iPads, the Nexus 7 tablet, the nook tablet, and the Xoom. I don't know anything about the Windows tablets.
Given your price range, I would suggest either the Nexus 7 ($290 with shipping for the 16G version) or getting a used iPad 2. (I got one this last weekend, 32G with cover, for $320. But that requires an active Craigslist community near you and some effort to find the non scammy deals.) The differences really come down to three things:
1) Does he have a strong preference for one brand or the other?
2) Does he (or you) already have apps in one of the ecosystems and if so, does it matter if you'd have to repurchase them?
3) Do you have a preference for screen size? The iPad's 10" screen is nice, but the Nexus 7's 7" screen is much more comfortable to hold, especially with one hand. I would encourage you to take him to a store and try both.
posted by ethidda at 11:44 PM on October 9, 2012 [1 favorite]