Tablet: iPad, Kindle, Nook, oh my!

Give us a good rundown when it arrives, I keep hearing good things about the Nexus tablets but at the same time I like the idea of the Transformers. It'd be nice to hear about a Nexus device from someone that's not reviewing for a tech site.

 

My Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 at 7 inch has upgraded to Jellybean in the last month, and I am even more impressed, if anything than I was. It beats the Nexus by having a better (but slightly slower) hardware spec.

 

*Other than Martian

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Since I'm going back to school, I'm thinking I may need a new device, and thought a tablet may be the best way to go. I gotta keep up with all these young college kids. However, I'm going crosseyed looking at all the tablet options these days. Will someone just tell me what to buy.

1. I am dumb when it comes to technology
2. Major purchases make me nauseous (I thought my brother was going to have to admit me to the hospital when I was buying a new car)
3. I don't know what works best for what.

What I need:

I need something light-weight. Has capabilities to work with various disability software if needed. Has a keyboard. Easy to work with. Easy to read. I will be using it to take notes, write papers, research....you know, school stuff.

For personal use, I want to be able to skype with my niece and nephew and play angry birds or some shit.

I am familiar with the apple model after having had an iPhone for awhile. I hate all the constant updates though. Mine is a 3 and I refuse to get a new phone until I absolutely have to. I don't need all the bells and whistles just as long as it works, however, the operating system doesn't run a lot of the apps I use so very often so it's becoming a bit obsolete. But I digress.

Just tell me what to buy you smart TFP tech savvy folks.

 

I'm not tech savvy, but I've been looking at tablets for a while now, before I decide to buy.

Here are a bunch of images for the Galaxy Note 10.1
galaxy note 2 - Google Search
With the Note, you can use the stylus to take hand-written notes which you can convert to text.

And the smaller sized Nexus 7
Nexus 7 - Google Search
There's a Bluetooth keyboard that you can buy for the Nexus 7. Not sure if there's one for the Note.

 

Thanks Fremen

Those two keep popping up in my research

Thanks snowy, i'd love to try it out

 

There is also the increasingly legitimate option of using something like Swiftkey on-screen on 10" tablets. It's almost spooky accurate on my phone after a learning from me a bit, to the point I can just about put in gibberish and get almost exactly what I meant to say. I wouldn't rely on it for heavy note taking classes but when you're getting a few lines per powerpoint it's hard to beat.

 

Swiftkey, Swype and similar input methods work only as well as they are implemented for your language. Many things can factor in in how well they work, like if the device language and input language are different. I set English as default language on most devices as I don't always understand the translation. Auto correct is also lifted to new level when using multiple languages

 

Personally, I have an iPad and I use the Notability app to take notes in class. It means I can hand write my notes, draw pictures, etc. which is far more effective for me in terms of memory. I then take those notes and type the really important stuff out later to study for exams.

 

i missed not having a keyboard with my iPad so i recently purchased a laptop

i also build websites on my iMac 27" desktop, so not being able to see a finished site live on a smaller screen was also extremely frustrating. like PonyPotato, i have the Notability app on my iPad too but handwriting takes up a lot of room so you can end up with pages and pages using the Notability. tpying notes into the laptop usually takes less than one page

in comparison, like the iPhone i tried, i wish i'd never bought my iPad

 

It's all about the iPad, IMO. Mrs. Levite and I both have one, hers full size, mine mini. I use the Kindle app for reading (and a bunch of various Judaica apps, not that that's relevant for most here). Awesome sauce. Thought briefly about a Kindle device, but...nope. I have been an Apple devotee since before Macs. Not about to change now.

 

i find it far easier to type with a real keyboard myself so even on my smartphone, using the stylus is slower because of the typos resulting from the neighbouring character entered

i strongly suggested PonyPotato, if you think you may need/want a keyboard, buy a laptop with a keyboard

if you don't, the error will cost you when deciding not to after discovering you do need a keyboard on your keyboardless tablet