The tablet and iPad craze has firmly taken root with many a gadget geek or casual tech consumer, yet many still wonder why they should purchase a tablet computer. Apple’s iPad may be more popular in some circles, and tablets running Microsoft Windows loom closer, but snapping up an Android tablet is one of the best buying options for many reasons.
E-books
Sure, an Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook may be the top selling e-book readers, but your Android tablet can double as both and then some more.
Call them E-books or digital books – which also goes for magazines, newspapers and comic books – they’re a great reason to buy a tablet. The bottom line to the tech talk is any good tablet computer worth its salt can run apps enabling you to use it as an E-reader. Amazon and Barnes & Noble don’t want to lose customers, so they’ve released – entirely free – apps to turn a tablet into a Kindle or Nook. Your tablet won’t have all features of the respective devices, but all main functions will allow you to buy and read e-books from all the big sites.
Music
Yes, you have your iPod or generic MP3 player or whatever you listen to music on, but Android tablets play digital tunes too.
You can choose from all kinds of nifty apps with album cover art, liner notes and all sorts of web connectivity – just like an iPod or iPhone or any other Android smartphone. Best of all, you can digitally crack open the new Twilight or Hunger Games e-book, while listening to The Beatles, Lady Gaga or Beyonce.
Movies
Will a tablet replace your DVD or Blu-Ray player for watching movies or Redbox selections? Probably not, but it allows you to watch “Star Wars” or “Titanic” anywhere.
Many DVD’s now come with a digital copy, so to save to tablet to bring anywhere. Miss watching Harry Potter and X-Men while taking the bus to work? Your Android tablet has your covered. Even cooler, most tablets come with an HDMI output. This means you can hook it up to any monitor or even a flat screen LCD TV. Visit friends with your tablet full of the “Twilight” movies and when you want a marathon, it’ll be easier than a vampire sinking fangs into a victim. Also, you can download movies from Amazon and other sites, or stream them on a wi-fi connection.
Internet
Most of us surf quite nicely on smartphones or notebooks. Android tablets do the same, but in a cooler way.
Tablets boast more screen size and real estate than a smart phone. When you surf on a tablet, it’s much more like surfing on a notebook or even PC. Pinch to zoom and swiping functions are there, so when you want to Facebook or Twitter on the move, it’s a much more natural, though still mobile experience.
Productivity
Many see a tablet as simply a smartphone on steroids. They can’t imagine it being anything but a toy. Think again.
Android tablets run tens of thousands of apps for any imaginable use. They surf and make Google Docs accessible to you, and run all sorts of legitimate productivity software. In many ways, a tablet is a slimmed down notebook or netbook, and while there’s a learning curve, it can do nearly all of what’s capable on larger computers. Most tablets – even budget ones – boast multiple USB ports, HDMI ports and SDHC slots, so you can expand that little tablet into a truly mammoth computer.
Price
In real estate, it’s location, location, location. Here, it’s price, price, price. Android Tablets aren’t iPads, but that’s OK, because you won’t pay an iPad price.
Android Tablets range in price from $100 to about $500. While Apple lowered the price on its older iPad, it’s still over 400 bucks with all bells and whistles, and the HD iPad with retina display starts at $499.99. Throw in tax and other ‘goodies’ and the price for a basic iPad configuration goes over 500 bucks. Android tablets – with various flavors of memory, CPU power and OS version – have a much more variable price point. You get what you pay for, but with Android, the budget minded consumer, or one simply lacking the cash, still gets a great tablet for way less than a pricey iPad.
