Just to be clear (Fozzer), we are talking about, for example, iPads or such like, not what you have in your medicine cabinet.....

Anyway, I am thinking about buying one. The laptop takes up too much space on the end of our butcher block and is too big for the coffee table. I want something for a bit of sofa-surfing, to use with Skype (we have relatives all over the world and use Skype a lot) and show the odd photo when we go places. I want one in the 10 inch range (Fozzer............ ) and with a camera. So if you have one, what is it and why did you buy it.

Thanks
Matt

I own a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (32 gig deep grey) which is running Android Jelly Bean. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone seems really turned off by the S pen. That thing (the pen) is amazing! And if you don't want the pen then simply leave it in its little compartment and forget about it!

The Note is fast sleek and light weight (great for carrying around for a while) and is extremely fast and user friendly. I got mine as a Christmas present this last year and mine came with a case. I looked up the case and the one I have is only about 20 $ (US) and it's leather and also folds into a stand (great for skyping my girlfriend).

Another great thing about it is you can put external storage in (in other words there is a slot for a Micro SD  ). I have a 32 gig Micro SD in mine but you can know buy them up to 64 gigs!

I was allowed to pick the tablet I wanted and it came down to the Note or the Surface from Microsoft. The reason I chose the Note is because every review I had seen said it was a spot on hit. The Surface hadn't come out yet so I couldn't really compare it. In the end I just bit the bullet.

The Note is also great if you are artistic (lots of artsy apps and paint things and stuff). I don't really use those but sometimes it is fun to take a silly picture and add stuff to it. I will also be using it for Collage when I start in the fall (great Collage tablet). It's called a NOTE for a reason

It does not come with 3G but the Wi-Fi is really good. I can connect it to my computer and my Galaxy MP3 using Bluetooth (works great). I can watch movies no problems and it takes really good pictures. You just have to play around with it before you can truly see how awesome it is.

One thing the Surface comes with is a detachable keyboard that also acts as the cover (gotta admit, that's creative). If I were to get another tablet it would definitely be the Surface.

And, to keep everything honest, there is also the Apple iPad (not a fan of Apple myself but it's your decision). The iPad is cool and everything but really not a whole lot has changed since the original iPad.

Acer also has some tablets I think that run Windows 8 (or RT, I'm not sure which one). My suggestion would be the Galaxy Note 10.1 from Samsung and that is coming from someone who owns one.

One thing about my Note is that is came with Ice Cream Sandwich installed which is still a very good OS but is not the newest one. It wasn't until last week I got a notification from Samsung that my unit was still running ICS and asking if I wanted to upgrade for free to Jellybean. I did and it took 15 minutes tops and a simple re-boot. Anyways, I'm telling you that so if you do get this and it's not running Jellybean then just wait and you will probably get a notification. (you're gonna want Jellybean)

The only thing I don't like is the Gmail app crashes a lot on it. It works fine on my MP3 but my tablet, if I want to check email, then I have to actually log on through a browser ( I have like five browsers not including the default) and check it like that. That's the only thing that needs fixing I think. Other than that it's a great tablet.

Hope this helps!

I'll be the first to come in with the iPad then

I've always hated Apple, their marketing schemes, their users, their company as a whole for being style over substance. When the iPad first came out I dismissed it as useless and expensive. I've owned android phones for 5 years now and don't plan on getting anything else.

So why iPad?

This was about a year ago now, but I tried out a few tablets in store etc. and none of them came close to what the iPad did in terms of something you can quickly pick up and easily browse the net/show photos. The screen is superb, the battery life amazing and I find I use it more than my computer to browse the net on now!

.mic (owner of iPad 2 32Gb with 3G)

My 2 cents... I use an iPad (3rd gen) and my wife uses a Galaxy Tab 2 (7-inch, Android 4.0). My opinion is that no Android tablet today provides the user experience smoothness that the iPad does. I am ok with an Android phone - they run pretty smooth - but for tablets, the iPad is still the one to be beaten IMHO.

You could do a lot worse than actually look at the slightly smaller Nexus 7. Stunning bit of kit for an amazing price!

ViperPilot wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2013 at 4:08pm:


..and if you wanted to know more....

Review:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/22/toshiba-thrive-review/

Paul... ....

..mind you...all this i-Pad/Tablet/Kindle stuff is a total mystery to me... ...!

..and the Nexus 10 review...>>> http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-10-review/

(They really did like the Nexus 7!)

Paul.

I still don't get Ipads.
They are practically identical to the Galaxy tab IMO,we use ours regularely and it's just a bit slower than our PC,Ipads are the same story only much more expensive. :/

But I don't get people who think androids are hard to use,a friend of mine said he doesn't understand that you have 2 menus for apps,the normal thing that shows up and the full applist thingy.

And of course,it depends on taste and use...