Pads
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:25 pm
So, I just concluded a 2hour market check for tablet PCs as I was looking for the tablet pc we will gift to the competition winner.
What is best from sharing the valuable info I found ?
First of all, before buying a tablet (same goes for computers) you have to define how you intend to use it. The highest demands for hardware are usually when you are looking to play games on any device, same goes for the pad. In this case, the cost will soar, as there is need for good processor and good graphics card.
In our case, gaming was not the target. We were more in the search for a tablet that would be good for internet browsing. This is why we wanted Android 2.0 at least, because it offers multitouch which is very important in browsing (and not only there).
Our primary hardware target was a capacitive touch screen which is far superior than a resistive screen. Resistive screens are considered old technology and they require pressure from the user in order to function, in compare to capacitive screens. The pressure required, makes navigation a bit harder while it is more risky to end up with a bad touch screen when going resistive. Capacitive though has it negatives and the two primary ones are cost and the performance on large screens.
We went for the 7" as the ideal size, perhaps 5" could be good too (cheaper as well!) but we wanted to stay true to what we have declared at the start of the contest.
Regarding processor speed, it is important but not crucial. There are pads with 400MhZ while Android can run with as low as 200MhZ. I think that at least 600MhZ is needed while anything above 1GhZ is considered great. Android needs at least 32MB of RAM and most run at 256MB. In general, the hard part when talking about an internet pad would be flash rendering - this is the most common heavy thing in internet today. Zorg Empire in the other hand, would run greatly in a very low end pad so we had not to struggle much about it anyway.
Hard disk size comes to different sizes but I believe it is uinmportant by the time you can use SD cards to extend it.
Battery life is a hint as well. Most pads have a life of about 3 hours of use, which is not much. About 7 hours on standby in the same time. If you want to go higher in these values, the cost will go much higher and this is why it might be better to have 2 batteries. (Although our selection can last up to 10 hours of use and 24hours of standy and it is not expensive)
There is a wide range of offered pads. Some are very cheap but come with resistive screens which I think should be evaded, unless you can find a review by someone who has used it and can tell you that the screen is ok. Still, it will most probably be worse than any capacitive screen.
My final suggestion, if you are looking for a pad, is to go for a cheap one and limit its use for internet browsing. If you want to play games... play Zorg Empire
Our final choice for the winner was: http://www.cruzreader.com/tablet.php
Perhaps he can get us some feedback on how good it finally is, once he gets it.
What is best from sharing the valuable info I found ?
First of all, before buying a tablet (same goes for computers) you have to define how you intend to use it. The highest demands for hardware are usually when you are looking to play games on any device, same goes for the pad. In this case, the cost will soar, as there is need for good processor and good graphics card.
In our case, gaming was not the target. We were more in the search for a tablet that would be good for internet browsing. This is why we wanted Android 2.0 at least, because it offers multitouch which is very important in browsing (and not only there).
Our primary hardware target was a capacitive touch screen which is far superior than a resistive screen. Resistive screens are considered old technology and they require pressure from the user in order to function, in compare to capacitive screens. The pressure required, makes navigation a bit harder while it is more risky to end up with a bad touch screen when going resistive. Capacitive though has it negatives and the two primary ones are cost and the performance on large screens.
We went for the 7" as the ideal size, perhaps 5" could be good too (cheaper as well!) but we wanted to stay true to what we have declared at the start of the contest.
Regarding processor speed, it is important but not crucial. There are pads with 400MhZ while Android can run with as low as 200MhZ. I think that at least 600MhZ is needed while anything above 1GhZ is considered great. Android needs at least 32MB of RAM and most run at 256MB. In general, the hard part when talking about an internet pad would be flash rendering - this is the most common heavy thing in internet today. Zorg Empire in the other hand, would run greatly in a very low end pad so we had not to struggle much about it anyway.
Hard disk size comes to different sizes but I believe it is uinmportant by the time you can use SD cards to extend it.
Battery life is a hint as well. Most pads have a life of about 3 hours of use, which is not much. About 7 hours on standby in the same time. If you want to go higher in these values, the cost will go much higher and this is why it might be better to have 2 batteries. (Although our selection can last up to 10 hours of use and 24hours of standy and it is not expensive)
There is a wide range of offered pads. Some are very cheap but come with resistive screens which I think should be evaded, unless you can find a review by someone who has used it and can tell you that the screen is ok. Still, it will most probably be worse than any capacitive screen.
My final suggestion, if you are looking for a pad, is to go for a cheap one and limit its use for internet browsing. If you want to play games... play Zorg Empire
Our final choice for the winner was: http://www.cruzreader.com/tablet.php
Perhaps he can get us some feedback on how good it finally is, once he gets it.