Which Android tablet should I buy?

[jiacheng]

I currently use Pleco on my iPhone, but I have an WM Pleco license that I'm not currently using, so I've been mulling the idea of getting an android tablet to play around with as well. I want to get the most for my money, so I prefer something inexpensive, but would be willing to pay more for some extras if they are truly worth it.

I'm very curious to know other users' experiences have been with their android tablets, specifically with Pleco OCR/camera quality, reader, etc.

 

[Kaliki]

Im running Pleco on the Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 (7"). I only took it because I managed to get a used one really cheap, but haven't been disappointed. I use it as cell phone (via bluetooth headset), media player and of course for Pleco. It's small enough to fit in any handbag, built quite solidly and still fast enough for surfing (some Roms other than the original tend to be much faster than the 2.2 Android Rom from Samsung tho).
I can't think of anything negative right now... Pleco and OCR works fine as well, although I never use it... writing the characters on the touchscreen is almost as fast and a good way to practice your handwriting

 

[JimmyTheSaint]

You first need to decide on which form factor you want. 10" tablets just never fit my workflow or playflow, which is why I gave away my iPad and ASUS Transformer to friends who now owe me big time. Pleco is fine with my Galaxy 7.7 and Galaxy Note. Both are phones, so you don't need to carry two devices. Unless you want to go the whole ten inches, I'd recommend the Note because it's just big enough to let you experience Pleco in a tablet-y way, while still handling reasonably like a normally pocketable phone. The Note's camera is better than the 7.7's if that matters to you, though it won't matter crucially for Pleco's OCR.

 

[burdenofhope]

I wanted to wait for the presentation of the Nexus 7 but no micro SD slot is somewhat of a deal-breaker for me, so I got the Odys Next ( http://www.amazon.de/Odys-Tablet-PC-Tou ... B007YYAYKG ). It hopefully arrives tomorrow, I have never had a tablet before. I think 7" is perfect for me and according to tests the screen is pretty good (plus, you can watch even Full HD movies, Android 4.0.3, full Play Store integration). So I hope I will have fun with Pleco and my new tablet. I'll keep you posted.

 

[burdenofhope]

My tablet finally arrived on monday. I like it so far, the battery is alright, the touchscreen reacts well, I can watch Full HD videos without problems and it basically does everything that I expect from a tablet. One of the first things I did was to install Pleco, one of the main reasons I got the tablet in the first place. Although I still use flashcards on my phone (3.7") I wanted something bigger, so a 7" tablet seemed the perfect choice. Everything is working fine except flashcards in landscape mode. I don't know if this is related to this tablet or if other tablets encounter the same problem: the input fields are too slim, written characters don't fit in there, here is a photo of what I mean:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38537672/IMAG0289.jpg

Is this a known problem because Pleco has not been optimized for tablets or is it just this tablet? If I can't fix this I might have to think about sending it back.

Thanks a lot for your help, Michael.

 

[mikelove]

My tablet finally arrived on monday. I like it so far, the battery is alright, the touchscreen reacts well, I can watch Full HD videos without problems and it basically does everything that I expect from a tablet. One of the first things I did was to install Pleco, one of the main reasons I got the tablet in the first place. Although I still use flashcards on my phone (3.7") I wanted something bigger, so a 7" tablet seemed the perfect choice. Everything is working fine except flashcards in landscape mode. I don't know if this is related to this tablet or if other tablets encounter the same problem: the input fields are too slim, written characters don't fit in there, here is a photo of what I mean:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38537672/IMAG0289.jpg

Is this a known problem because Pleco has not been optimized for tablets or is it just this tablet?

Known problem, we're doing more testing / optimization on tablets for our next major update so it should be fixed in that but I can't say exactly when that'll be ready. Pleco actually is tablet-optimized, as much as it is on iPad anyway, but the vast assortment of Android screen sizes / manufacturer-supplied fonts / etc makes it a lot harder to do it well than on the iPad.

 

[thefriendlygeek]

The HTC Flyer tablet can run both gingerbread and honeycomb officially, (and ICS unofficially) and is the only 7 tab readily available with real stylus support. It also has a rear camera for OCR use. After upgrading to HoneyComb the pen is usable for all interactions that would have required a finger before.
Yes that means you can use the stylus to write in characters, just like you are used to in WM and palm versions!

This makes it the best choice for Pleco use, in my opinion, at least until the samsung 7 tab with stylus support comes out.
If you are waiting for the Nexus tablet, just keep in mind that it only runs android 4.0 (which many apps are still not compatible with) and it has no rear camera.

There are some issues with GPS performance after upgrading to Honeycomb, but you can fix that by rooting while on gingerbread, and then installing leedroids, or one of the other custom ROMs that have the fix in them, as well as other cool goodies. These can be found on xda-developers forums.

Also if you are on a cell provider that is GSM based, or if you are on sprint you can buy the 3G, or 4G flyer, and have a 7" phone. Take that galaxy note

I picked a refurbed one up for $200 at cowboom. They are sold out now.
buy.com has them still for under $200. check link below:
http://www.buy.com/prod/htc-flyer-7-tab ... 59799.html
It doesn't come with a stylus. Styli can be picked up on amazon for around $30.

 

[burdenofhope]

When I was in China two months ago I bought the 7" Ainol Novo Fire (it is being sold as the Ainol Novo Flame in other parts of the world). For me, it is right up there with all the other tablets like the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD and so forth. It has a higher resolution than the iPad 2(and for that matter the iPad Mini), the battery is great (5000mAh, good for 4-5 hours of power usage), it has a microSD slot, miniHDMI, USB OTG support and the overall feel is also very good as the backside is brushed aluminum. Considering the tablet is not that well known the developer scene is also pretty good, there are quite a few very good ROMs out there, plus Ainol is planning an official Jelly Bean build sometime in the near future. Outside of China the tablet comes at about 150$, which is a pretty good bargain I think. They are also releasing a new tablet pretty soon with about the same specs as the Fire/Flame but with integrated 3G and GPS support which the Fire only supports via a dongle.

 

[MarcoD]

Hi,

I was considering to buy the Nexus 7 mainly to use Pleco with it. Now I think as it does not have a rear but only a front camera, how does it work with the character recognition? Is anyone working with that tablet? Does it work or can you recommend that?

Thanks
Marco