Cheap tablet for reading technical PDF books?

[doodab]

Sounds like a bit of a mess.

That pretty much sums up the whole world of android tablets IMO. I can see why so many people just go for the ipad.

I had a poke around a few of them in currys and maplins this afternoon. The samsung galaxy 10.1, asus transformer and motorola xoom all seem fairly decent, the ipad is just a bit slicker, they had a cheapo one (advent?) as well but it was frozen which isn't confidence inspiring. Most of the cheapo ones in maplins advertised the fact they supported some other app store than the android market

[AtW]

Not quite understanding the requirements, are you?

I do, read the spec:

"Cheap tablet for reading technical PDF books?"

If he wants cheap he should not expect performance.

HTH

[Freamon]

I'm not sure TBH, I think unless the market app is installed on the device to start with there is no way to install it

Is this true? Surely you just need the APK file for the market app, which you can put on an SD card and place into the device, or email it to yourself or whatever?

[doodab]

Is this true? Surely you just need the APK file for the market app, which you can put on an SD card and place into the device, or email it to yourself or whatever?

You might be right.

[PAH]

"Cheap tablet for reading technical PDF books?"

If he wants cheap he should not expect performance.

How much performance is needed to open a PDF?

That's why I'm after cheap as I have other devices for other tasks, so don't want to spend 400 quid on a tablet when I'll probably only use it for technical books and the occasional surfing.

Unfortunately as the screen size and resolution is the most crucial aspect for my main requirement it moves the price into mid-range territory.

At which point I may as well pay a bit extra and get a full feature tablet for around 300 quid with better future proofing.

At which point I'm thinking 300 quid to read a few PDFs. Hmmm, might wait to see what new tablets come out soon, and how low they drive the current ones in price.

[VectraMan]

Is this true? Surely you just need the APK file for the market app, which you can put on an SD card and place into the device, or email it to yourself or whatever?

I don't know how it all work exactly, but you have to register your device with Google to use the market, and presumably that doesn't work with these unofficial devices.

But with the way the Android hacker community is going, it's fair to assume somebody somewhere will find a way round all these problems, and if the demand is there, somebody will find a way of upgrading these tablets to ICS too.

I imagine the screens aren't great on these cheapo tablets, which is what would put me off.

[Freamon]

I don't know how it all work exactly, but you have to register your device with Google to use the market, and presumably that doesn't work with these unofficial devices.

But with the way the Android hacker community is going, it's fair to assume somebody somewhere will find a way round all these problems, and if the demand is there, somebody will find a way of upgrading these tablets to ICS too.

I imagine the screens aren't great on these cheapo tablets, which is what would put me off.

I expect that any device which can be rooted (which is all of them, eventually) would theoretically be able to access the market. I've got VillainRom installed on my android phone, and I can use the market.

[doodab]

I expect that any device which can be rooted (which is all of them, eventually) would theoretically be able to access the market. I've got VillainRom installed on my android phone, and I can use the market.

The market filters what you can see based on the device capabilities so even if you can get the market app installed it may not work very well. TBH I'd rather spend the extra money and get something that is going to work properly.

[PAH]

I imagine the screens aren't great on these cheapo tablets, which is what would put me off.

Seems the common offerings around 10" are IPS (giving reasonable viewing angles) at resolutions of:

1024 x 600 (cheapo, basically Netbook spec screens with touch capability)

1024 x 768 (iPad and mid-range, yep going by screen only the iPads are mid-range )

1280 x 800 (iPad alternatives such as Motorola Xoom).

[Freamon]

The market filters what you can see based on the device capabilities so even if you can get the market app installed it may not work very well.

Ah, interesting, I didn't know that. My Android phone is very old now, so perhaps that's why sometimes apps that I hear about from others don't appear in the search results for me.