Created on 28 Sep 2012 ; Modified on 29 Sep 2013 ; Translation: italian
This article reports only my opinion, taken on the basis of personal use and as stated in the technical specifications by the manufacturers of the systems that I looked at.
I can not guarantee the completeness and accuracy of what is written, nor take responsibility for any direct or indirect damage.
Among the lovers of technogical gadgets, and not only them, one of the hot topics is I WANT THE TABLET!
The premise is: think about it. Are you sure? Do you need it?
For example. If you have a fairly modern laptop (with wi-fi, or even the possibility of using a SIM card), you should be able to do more than tha allows a tablet. Perhaps some drawbacks are:
A tablet is fully justified in case of specialized users, that do not require a panoply of complex and articulated functionality. For example, if you frequently need to read and/or surf the Internet on the move, a tablet is a plus very useful. Not by chance is quite common to see persong using tablets to read during transfers by public transport. On the other hand, if you have to drive, you can forget the use of the tablet (like that of the laptop). And if you're driving a car stopped in the queue, I think it is much better not to have a tablet at hand: it is better to avoid the evil temptations.
Instead, if you are a power user, the only tablet is not sufficient to the task. At least for now. Think about writing an article with formatting that is not trivial, consider switching to a spreadsheet to simulate a scenario with the use of a bit of mathematics, open and edit a project schedule as Gantt's format, perhaps by changing the allocation of resources and, finally, write a few lines of code just to see if you can use that new idea you had to interface that certain subsystem: it is not a scenario to recommend the use of a tablet. On the other hand, at least for my mental realm, it is not even thinkable to face that tasks in a disturbing environment. So if the environment is relatively quiet, you may lean your laptop on a desk and to work: you do not need the tablet.
Ok. Premise or not premise, rational or not, make the decision: I want a tablet!
At the time of writing this note, in September 2012, the opportunity to purchase a tablet are a lot.
We restrict the analysis to a limited number of machines. Let's say we go back to four famous brands:
Kindle and Kindle Fire;Nexus x7;iPad 2 and new iPad;Galaxy Tab 2 7 and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.We restrict our analysis to a little number of technical parameters, and try to pull down the following comparative table.
| Kindle | k.touch | k.fire | k.fire HD | Galaxy T.2 7 | Nexus 7 | iPad 2 | new iPad | Galaxy T.2 10.1 | notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price (€) | 80 | 130 | 160 | 200 | 250 | 250 | 400 | 480 | 500 | 1 |
| Resolut. (Px) | 600x800 | 600x800 | 1024x600 | 1280x800 | 1024x600 | 1280x800 | 1024x720 | 2048x1536 | 1280x800 | - |
| Diag. (In.) | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 10.1 | - |
| Sight camera | - | - | - | - | yes (3.2 Mp) | - | HD (720p) | HD (1080p) | yes (3.2 Mp) | - |
We have limited ourselves to the bone, especially considering these devices as useful for reading. So paying attention to the video and price. Assuming the Wi-Fi connectivity, and ignoring connectivity via SIM card (it increases costs).
If you want a pure reader, products as Kindle and Kindle Touch require careful consideration. They are inexpensive and sufficient for the purpose. On the other hand, drew attention to the fact that you come into the Amazon world. This attraction is limited with the new devices, as they are able to read directly documents in PDF format, but is always present.
The Apple machines are placed at top prices. Are undoubtedly beautiful products, mainly the new iPad with its Retina display. But even in this case the same as for the Kindle: iPad is irresistibly attracted to the Apple world. Also screens with a diagonal of 10 inches may almost be a bit bulky.
The 7-inch machines by Samsung and Google seem to be the best compromise between price and performance. With a moderate capability to pay attention to habitats that are not exclusively by the manufacturer, at least for now.
You can find a more extensive and technical comparison in Wikipedia.
About comparisons between different Android machines and in Italian language: you can find them in AndroidWorld, or Android section of HDblog.
For Apple and Amazon prices are uniform in the market. Even fairly homogeneous situation for Google. Different Samsung, whose street price can vary greatly. ↩