Xmas Pressie - Tablet

[Simster]

Yesterday I ended up buying three tablets.

I bought the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" for wife and I - a product that has been well documented on here. I also bought a couple of cheapies for the kids: 7 inch ARNOVAâ„¢ 7h G3 Touch Tablet : Tablet PC's : Maplin Electronics


I'm not expecting much from the Arnova tablets, but for £63 after applying a voucher code it'll probably be a case of getting what I paid for. Still, it was either this or about £55 for a 6" screen e-reader which just seemed a waste of money by comparison for the kids needs when they can still download books onto it.

Can anyone tell me what the point of them is? I'm genuinely interested. I see a smartphone and laptop as essentials but can't imagine why anyone would want tablet.

It's an interesting question. A personal answer is:

For the kids: we wanted our kids to feel reasonably connected to the current technological world, and want to encourage reading through use of an e-reader. In addition, it's something for them to play with during their downtime.

For us: it's going to live on the coffee table for two purposes. One of us watches telly, the other peruses the interweb. Much easier than using the laptop for that purpose. Secondly, I do like the idea of being able to control both my AppleTV and Squeezebox from a tablet. I can do so from my mobile phone of course, but that doesn't "live" in the lounge.

And of course, tablets really are very affordable. You can't buy a laptop for £60.

 

[Bozza]

Yesterday I ended up buying three tablets.

I bought the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" for wife and I - a product that has been well documented on here. I also bought a couple of cheapies for the kids: 7 inch ARNOVAâ„¢ 7h G3 Touch Tablet : Tablet PC's : Maplin Electronics
.

That's very possibly what I bought for one of mine this time last year - it was certainly an Archos Arnova. It was twice the price, or more, then.

It's truly f***ing terrible and, as such, was returned. The shop assistant said they'd had a lot back, and I'm not surprised.

I'd be surprised if any kids would accept the experience - it's slow, laggy and just all-round rubbish. I genuinely would take it back, now, and either get them Kindles if you want reading or swallow the small amount extra and get them Galaxys too.

 

[Simster]

That's very possibly what I bought for one of mine this time last year - it was certainly an Archos Arnova. It was twice the price, or more, then.

It's truly f***ing terrible and, as such, was returned. The shop assistant said they'd had a lot back, and I'm not surprised.

I'd be surprised if any kids would accept the experience - it's slow, laggy and just all-round rubbish. I genuinely would take it back, now, and either get them Kindles if you want reading or swallow the small amount extra and get them Galaxys too.

f*** it.

 

[Flex Your Head]

Anyone know if there are due to be anymore Nexus 10s available before Christmas? If there aren't, what's the best alternative at that size?

Thanks.

 

[Monkey Man]

My advice to anyone buying any tablets this Christmas is DO NOT BUY THEM FROM CURRYS ONLINE.

Absolute shambles, the worst incompetency I've ever seen from any retailer, ever. Still not sorted and I'm still out of pocket. You have been warned ...

 

[Bozza]

f*** it.

I had a quick Google after I wrote that and maybe mine was the Arnova 2, so maybe it's improved. The reviews I saw didn't seem to be too bad. I just don't want you to have wasted cash on expensive paperweights.

It might be worth getting one out, carefully, updating the firmware and having a quick play. Then you'll know whether it's going to be OK, but will give you a chance to swap ahead of Christmas if required.

 

[Simster]

I had a quick Google after I wrote that and maybe mine was the Arnova 2, so maybe it's improved. The reviews I saw didn't seem to be too bad. I just don't want you to have wasted cash on expensive paperweights.

It might be worth getting one out, carefully, updating the firmware and having a quick play. Then you'll know whether it's going to be OK, but will give you a chance to swap ahead of Christmas if required.

Yeah cheers. After your comments I did go and have another look at the reviews to make sure I wasn't going mad, and they do seem OK. The recurring theme seems to be to download a decent web browser as the one that comes packaged with the hardware is shithouse and flash apps limp along. So that's what I shall be doing.

 

[sam86]

Yesterday I ended up buying three tablets.

I bought the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" for wife and I - a product that has been well documented on here.

If you don't mind Sir, where did you end up getting this, and at what cost?
Also, do you know how the Samsung cashback works? I've heard it's not straightforward.

 

[Simster]

If you don't mind Sir, where did you end up getting this, and at what cost?
Also, do you know how the Samsung cashback works? I've heard it's not straightforward.

If you are as canny as me, this is what you'd do:

Get a credit card with 5% cashback for the first £2k spent. Use it to pay for your big ticket items such as this.
Ideally, you'll have a set up an account at QuidCo (or similar) which provides links to TescoDirect and pays you something like £5.17 for going through their site.
Buy it from Tesco Direct, where you get an additional 1000 points on top of the 158 points for purchasing it for the sum of £158. (That is worth anywhere between £10 and £40 when you exchange those vouchers).

Alternatively, buy it at John Lewis if you value their free 2 year guarantee more than the Tesco points. I would literally only consider buying from these two places.

The cashback you have to recoup from the Samsung website I believe. I'm only picking mine up at 4pm from a local store so can't be more specific than that.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

If you don't mind Sir, where did you end up getting this, and at what cost?
Also, do you know how the Samsung cashback works? I've heard it's not straightforward.

I got mine, for the wife xmas pressie, (I have an iPad, naturally ) at CarPhone warehouse - £149.00, with £30 cashback, plus free 8gb memory card.

The cashback offer is actually from Samsung, so which retailer you use isn't relevant. Its not the easiest thing in the world, but you fill out an online form, and have to scan your receipt and upload that with it. You have to claim it in a window, between 15 and 60 days of the purchase date, then it takes up to two weeks to be validated. Mine was vaildated yesterday, and the e-mail said the funds will be in my account 'within 45 days!'! Not recieved the memory card yet either - not sure how / when that is sent.

the machine itself is pretty smart. nicely put together bit of kit. It is very slow in comparison to my iPad though. The 15 seconds or so it takes to switch on, seems like an ETERNITY when you are used to flipping open the case and having it start instantly.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

For us: it's going to live on the coffee table for two purposes. One of us watches telly, the other peruses the interweb. Much easier than using the laptop for that purpose. Secondly, I do like the idea of being able to control both my AppleTV and Squeezebox from a tablet. I can do so from my mobile phone of course, but that doesn't "live" in the lounge

For me: the Ipad will serve one main purpose and that is newspaper and magazine reading. I am loving it already.