Tablet Buying Guide: The 10 Inch Android Tablet

We’ve already covered the importance of buying an Android Tablet with the Android Market a.k.a the Google Market. Now we’re going to cover the size of the tablet.
At the time of writing there are 3 popular sizes of tablet 7 inch , 8 inch and 10 inch, and then there is the choice of either resistive and capacitive screens (this we will go in to at in another post).
The majority of you out there are going to be after a 10 inch tablet, after all that’s the size Job’s and Co. opted for when they made the iPad and (to date) that’s the tablet which others are to be measured by (whether you like it or not).
However are 10 inch Android tablets really the way to go?
Then we have 7 and 8 inch tablets. 7” being the size Samsung went for when creating the Samsung Galaxy tablet and 8” being the size of a few …. well…. Chinese tablets.
So which is the better?

Well, it’s not as simple as just saying one is better than the other just down to screen size, but as the screen is the single largest component (and most expensive) the size of the screen does play the largest role in how (current) Chinese made tablets work.
Let’s start with the latest and greatest 10 inch Android tablets. Believe it or not these capacitive screened tablets (the ones which look almost identical to the iPad) have only just made there way on to the market in the past few months! Any 10 inch screened  Android tablet released earlier than around 4 months ago was either:-

• Expensive

OR

• Using a resistive screen and lower specification internals.

The current 10 inch capacitive screened tablets look absolutely fantastic on paper and even go as far to impress in real life however, the high prices and lack of functions really hinder the current range of larger tablets.

Due to 10” capacitive screen tabs only becoming readily available in recent months, however screen prices for the factories are still high. What’s more due to the high screen prices most Chinese factories are put off from entering the 10” battle ground.

This means that those who do join the 10″ battle ground can charge even higher prices for their offering and not worry about competition.

Now, look at the specification. Yes, you get a 1Ghz CPU and you more than likely get 512 Mb  RAM, but don’t kid yourself in to thinking your going to get iPad performance just because the numbers are similar (the iPad actually has less RAM at 256Mb).
I know first hand that the web browsing experience on these tablets isn’t all that great.

Tablets running 2.1 or less can’t play Flash content (due more to lower hardware spec’s rather than the O.S) and those running 2.2 suffer because of Flash!, that 1Ghz CPU isn’t enough!

To make an Android tablet that looks like an iPad at a relatively good price means a few cuts in specification when compared to the smaller 7 and 8 inch tablets.
A 10 inch tablet will more than likely not get 3G, HDMI out, USB or a web camera, yet by the time you’ve paid for the device and shipping from China to your home you’ll only be around $100-$50 shy of the entry level iPad!

Our advice for you is this:

• If you want an Android tablet either buy a smaller screened tablet (we’ll go over 7 and 8 inch screens tomorrow).

OR

• Wait for a few months for competition to heat up, prices drop and specifications to improve.

Tomorrow we’ll cover 8 inch tablets.

Follow us on Twitter for more Android Tablet Buying advice.