Tablets tablets everywhere

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
07/14/2015 at 17:58 • Filed to: None

Oh look, another post from me about buying a tablet! I’m still trying to replace my old iPad 2 that I bought back in March 2011, and is now worthless for multitasking or even really loading a web page in a timely fashion, but still pretty good for watching streaming videos.

The thing that is keeping me from just making up my damn mind already, is that I generally prefer Android over iOS, but Amazon Instant Video works way better on iOS. Amazon Instant Video on Android is a piece of shit and tops out at 720p resolution. Netflix is my primary video streaming service, but it would certainly be nice to watch Amazon Instant Video at full resolution, what with being able to do that right now on my iPad 2.

Fun fact: I have the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for Amazon Instant Video on Android. It is not a positive review.

So Oppo, what do you think? Should I stick to my OS of choice and hope that Amazon gets their act together on video quality? Or should I stick with my preferred OS, and not worry so much about Amazon Instant Video because I don’t watch it too much on a tablet and the video quality is not entirely unwatchable?

These are the options I’ve narrowed it down to. It’s still too many options.

(Before you try to tell me some other tablet to look at: please don’t. I’ve spent way too much time obsessing over tablets. These are the options I’m considering. That’s it. Please don’t bother suggesting some other idea, especially if your idea involves Windows.)

Apple iPad Air 2 64 GB wifi refurbished
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from Apple (including 5.5% sales tax)

Pros:
+ Great hardware
+ Ideal (imho) 4:3 aspect ratio for tablet
+ No bloatware & prompt OS updates
+ Amazon Instant Video works at full 1080p
+ Apple refurbished products have the same 1-year warranty as new
Cons:
- Expensive
- I prefer Android over iOS for things like widgets, Google Now & opening links in apps

Google Nexus 9 32 GB wifi
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from Amazon (including 5.5% sales tax)

Pros:
+ Great hardware
+ Ideal (imho) 4:3 aspect ratio for tablet
+ No bloatware & prompt OS updates
+ I prefer Android over iOS for things like widgets, Google Now & opening links in apps
Cons:
- Screen is smaller than I’d like
- Amazon Instant Video on Android currently maxes out at 720p

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 16 GB wifi + 32 GB microSD card
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from Rakuten (no tax) + $14.49 microSD card = $412.48

Pros:
+ Reasonably good CPU & GPU + 3 GB of RAM (the others are all 1 or 2 GB)
+ I prefer Android over iOS for things like widgets, Google Now & opening links in apps
+ It’s on Lollipop & Samsung has slightly reduced their pile of bloatware from Kit Kat
+ Samsung is generally ok if not great with OS updates
Cons:
- While less bad than in the past, it’s still a lot of bloatware
- Amazon Instant Video on Android currently maxes out at 720p

Apple iPad Air 32 GB wifi refurbished
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from Apple (including 5.5% sales tax)

+ Reasonably good hardware
+ Ideal (imho) 4:3 aspect ratio for tablet
+ No bloatware & prompt OS updates
+ Amazon Instant Video works at full 1080p
+ Apple refurbished products have the same 1-year warranty as new
Cons:
- I prefer Android over iOS for things like widgets, Google Now & opening links in apps
- Only 1 GB of RAM but this is less of an issue in iOS than Android

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 16 GB wifi + 32 GB microSD card
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from Best Buy on eBay (no tax) + $14.49 microSD card = $314.48

Pros:
+ Reasonably good CPU & GPU (same as Galaxy Tab S 10.5 but 2 GB RAM)
+ I prefer Android over iOS for things like widgets, Google Now & opening links in apps
+ Lollipop update coming soon
+ Samsung is generally ok if not great with OS updates
+ Very similar to the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 for $100 less
Cons:
- The current build of KitKat is laggy and drowning in bloatware
- Amazon Instant Video on Android currently maxes out at 720p

DISCUSSION (22)

bob and john > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 18:01

Get the OS you like. Sooner or later there will be an update.

you cant exactly change the OS your on. (or not as easily)

PS9 > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 18:03

Solution to your problem;

Buy every 10” tablet being made currently. Live with each one for a day. If the contestant doesn’t meet your needs, send it back/eBay it, and move on until there is only one left.

Textured Soy Protein > PS9
07/14/2015 at 18:04

Haha that’s what I’m trying to avoid .

Also I have played with all of these in stores and have a generally good sense of how they work. It really comes down to choosing Android, which I prefer, or going with iOS for full-quality Amazon Instant Video.

TheHondaBro > bob and john
07/14/2015 at 18:05

you’re*

bob and john > TheHondaBro
07/14/2015 at 18:05

close enough

TheHondaBro > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 18:18

Not to worry, all of Oppo is rooting for you.

TahoeSTi > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 18:23

what are tablets even good for? Playing games and Facebook i guess? why even bother replacing it?

Textured Soy Protein > TheHondaBro
07/14/2015 at 18:23

Only so they don’t have to see any more posts like this!

tromoly > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 18:38

Buy another iPad since it sounds like getting higher resolution video is more important than everything else.

Brickman > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 18:42

Nexus 7 :D Has 5.0.2 or something, quad core, play those racing games that are fun for 10 minutes and back to Forza. Use as e-reader and vehicle repair guide computer.

Textured Soy Protein > Brickman
07/14/2015 at 18:47

You broke the rule of not suggesting something else.

Textured Soy Protein > tromoly
07/14/2015 at 18:51

I guess that’s what I’m trying to figure out—how important is full-resolution Amazon video to me really? My tablet video watching consists of two scenarios:

A) I’m getting ready to wind down for the night and just feel like watching something.

B) I’m continuing watching something that I started watching on a tv but now I feel like watching in bed. Usually my gf is the one who suggests we do this.

In situation A, really I’m pretty much fine with sticking to Netflix. There’s plenty to watch.

I’m more concerned about situation B, because my gf is always finding stuff to watch on Amazon, and then wanting to go finish it lying in bed. In which case we’d be stuck with the crappy video quality. It likely wouldn’t bother her but it bothers me.

This doesn’t happen too often but it happens.

tromoly > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 19:00

Put a TV in the bedroom, problem solved.

Textured Soy Protein > tromoly
07/14/2015 at 19:22

We have our upstairs tv in the guest room in order to avoid having a tv in our room. We have a PS3 downstairs and a Roku upstairs, both of which work just fine with Amazon Instant Video.

There are plenty of times we start watching something downstairs, and decide to continue watching it upstairs, and watching in the guest room is done from a bed.

But occasionally there’s the wanting to watch stuff in our bed.

It’s not that this happens very often, just that it happens, sometimes.

Battery Tender Unnecessary > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 19:24

Just a heads up that we’re just a couple months from a new iPad and likely price drop of all the existing models.

Textured Soy Protein > Battery Tender Unnecessary
07/14/2015 at 19:33

You do have a point there. I guess the iPad Air 1 & 2 were both announced in October so it stands to reason the next one will be here relatively soon.

Amazon Prime Day is tomorrow so maybe they’ll have some wild ‘n crazy deals on one or more of the options here.

BKosher84 > Textured Soy Protein
07/14/2015 at 21:08

Keep in mind, tomorrow is Amazon Prime Day (15th birthday of Amazon) and there will probably be a ton of stuff like this on sale tomorrow.

Textured Soy Protein > BKosher84
07/14/2015 at 23:26

Yep, definitely going to be keeping my eye on it.

Textured Soy Protein > TahoeSTi
07/15/2015 at 01:34

They are great for putzing around with internet things while being a bum lying on the couch or in bed, aand providing a larger screen than a phone.

Granted, this is an entirely non-essential purpose, but I do it a lot.

RockRam > Textured Soy Protein
07/15/2015 at 09:00

When you see it, you will know

Rico > Textured Soy Protein
07/24/2015 at 10:17

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/23/bes…

They are discounting iPad Air 2s today 16 GB is 375, 64GB 475 in case you were interested at all.

Textured Soy Protein > Rico
07/24/2015 at 10:44

Thanks for the heads up, but actually I picked up something else at Best Buy last night.