I saw another thread that was similar to this but I think my concerns are different enough to ask in another thread. I'm looking into buying a tablet. I've got $300-$400 to spend. About $100 of those are tied up in best buy gift cards which limits my options. I have played around with an iPad so I'm favoring the 10" display right now. Considering the Android has a little more freedom with transferring files and other capabilities, not to mention the added price tag usually associated with apple products, I am favoring that system as well.
Things I want my tablet to do:
-Read PDFs, have apps that make DMing PF easier, browse the internet, the ability to display and edit a character sheet as a pdf, be able to watch Netflix with a decent quality, have the ability to play games.
And they are ranked pretty much in order.
As far as memory goes how much do I need? I know a few tablets have SD cards so I can switch out things if the memory gets to full. Is this a bad plan to fall back on?
How much processing power do I really need? I want something I won't regret in 2-3 years but I also don't need to run an HD graphics intense game on it.
I don't have any Bluetooth items and I plan on just running off home Wifi for now. But when I get kicked off my family phone plan are there any considerations I should make with this purchase to make it compatible with a phone plan?
Are there any other do's and don'ts that I haven't thought of? I'm not very tech literate so feel free to use small words so I can understand what is going on.
Before I got the iPad2, I was looking at the Galaxy Tab2. What stopped me was the report of Apple's lawsuit. I wasn't sure of the outcome so I went with the Apple.
Even though Apple has a larger amount of software, there isn't a specific pathfinder app. I think I have read of an android app people have used.
The thing about tablets is that there is always going to be something new and better a year down the line. I have always heard it is good to get an extended warranty. Unless you have tons of money and plans to get rid of the tablet in a year or two, get the warranty.
If you are wanting a good long-term investment you've got two major targets in my opinion: (1) expandable memory is a big consideration and (2) the best processor you can get is important. As apps evolve, you want to have the best processor possible so you don't fall behind the curve too fast on performance. Memory expansion slots let you store more for the device at cheaper cost. Buy a 32 GB version with no memory expansion and when you fill it up you're done. Buy a 8 or 16 GB version with memory slots and then buy much cheaper 8-16 GB microSD cards to never run out of storage space.
You might also consider supportability, i.e. will the hardware continue getting software support during the expected life of the device. Apple, for instance, is dropping support for the older iPad and some Android devices never get OS upgrades. If you are willing to root the device, you can find updates for a ton of devices. However, you need to have the technical ability (or desire to learn) to make this viable.
While the apps for Apple are always mentioned in comparisons with Android, I've not found any appreciable difference between the number/quality of apps for Apple vs. Android. I generally see the hardware-to-price ratio as a more competitive aspect, and favor Android there.
I don't go for separate data plans for a tablet--get a data plan for your phone and tether it to the tablet when needed. There are WiFi hotspots everywhere nowadays, so having to pay for a data plan you don't have to use as much...I suppose if you travel a lot and it's not in areas with WiFi that could change this point.
And a "note"...be careful with the Samsung Note--there are versions that are 5.5" vs. 10.1". From what I've heard from friends that own both, they are good devices and they definitely like the stylus.
So, with all that said, my order of recommendations for a tablet would be ASUS's Transformer line (with the docking keyboard), the Google Nexus 10, and the Samsung Note 10.1. The ASUS has expansion slots, standard HDMI output, etc. and is just all around a fabulous device if you've got the money to invest (you can split the purchase up between the tablet and keyboard too...). And they're on sale at Best Buy online right now!
The other stuff is all apps, and there you've got a good selection of options. I favor ezPDF for reading and marking up PDF docs. Netflix works great (and check out Rhapsody for a tunes subscription option that works very nice). Go to Google Play apps and search for "Pathfinder" and you'll find lots of good tools for gaming. You can do the same, of course, for other systems or generic RPG stuff.
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Even though Apple has a larger amount of software, there isn't a specific pathfinder app. I think I have read of an android app people have used.
There are a number of apps on the apple store that use all of the OGL data to support Pathfinder. The issue is that Pathfinder is a trademark, so you need to search for things like PRD or PFRPG to find them.
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If you're going with a newer Android Tablet, remember that the expandable storage of a microSD card isn't going to expand your storage for apps. Google has gotten away from the practice to make some things easier and more stable in program design (ensuring that apps won't disappear when you remove the sd card). So go with I'd go with the largest internal storage you can. Personally I'm planning to get a 32GB Nexus 10 when they're back in stock, as I've been a big fan of the updates in Android 4.2 and I want to stay up-to-date which sadly unless you're getting a Nexus device you'll likely not get the newest OS updates right away.
For PDF readers, I loved ezPDF Reader for a long time, but recently I tried out Mantano Reader and I love that one even more. Everything just seems smooth. I even upgraded to the $6.99 pro version.
For app installation memory, at present I can get about 100 apps installed before a stock Android build starts running low on space (the actual number varies based on size of the apps of course). The app storage is actually in a specific partition of the memory, so even having 32 GB won't help since only a portion is used for the apps (I'm rooted, so can get around this on non-stock builds). Right now I believe the default app partition is only 1-2 GB. All that techno-babble is just to say, if your device starts saying you're running low on space, but you still see free space on there, it's because the actual system partition is getting full.
The Android 4.2 release is very nice, with user profiles allowing multiple users to share the device easily. I've got it running on my ADAM (again, thanks to being rooted) and will shift to it as my main OS a soon as the app storage on SD is worked out.
Haven't seen the Mantano reader yet--I'll have to look into that!