07
Aug
tab101_1

[Weekend Poll] Tablet Owners: So You Bought An Android Tablet - Is It Worth The Money?

Posted by in Polls, Tablets
Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Amazon Has Now Given Away More Than 100 Apps - Which One Is Your Favorite?

Many discussions have broken out around the Android Police e-offices about tablets and whether they're productive, valuable products. Some team members are of the opinion that they're really just expensive toys, good as a minor luxury but not really worth the high cost. Others have found that they use their tablet quite a lot and find them worth every penny. As an added bonus, what do you mainly use your tablet for - business or pleasure?

Sound off in the poll below, and share your thoughts via the comments. If you don't own a tablet, please don't answer as though you do. We're looking for first-hand opinions.

So You Bought An Android Tablet - Is It Worth The Money?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
Tags:
Aaron Gingrich
 Aaron is a geek who has always had a passion for technology. When not working or writing, he can be found spending time with his family, playing a game, or watching a movie.

Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:
  • BeatBlaster_

    I've purchased a Galaxy Tab 10.1, an ASUS Transformer and an iPad 2. They've all been returned in anticipation of Kal-El and Ice Cream Sandwich instead. Or a PS Vita. Still haven't made up my mind....

  • http://tantrajnaan.com Robert Dunn

    I love my Xoom, but I don't really need it. I won't do without it though.

  • Adam

    I got an iPad 2 a week ago and it makes web surfing fun again. Other than that though it's mostly just an unnecessary entertainment device.

  • http://www.AndroidPolice.com Artem Russakovskii

    I have 2 - bought the XOOM and got the Tab 10.1 at I/O. Absolutely and without a doubt for me, having a laptop and a desktop, the tablet is just a luxury, and not a very good one at that, as it doesn't play video files nearly as good as a laptop. I got the XOOM to stay relevant with Android Police, otherwise no way I can justify spending money on it.

  • Kyle

    My hacked 180 dollar on sale nook color is very much worth it! Best tab for a low price. Impossible to brick too.

  • Marc

    I'd say yes. It's cut my laptop usage in half, and with SyncSMS it's relegated my phone to, well, a glorified, umm, phone.

  • jdm4u

    I've owned a Xoom. Honestly, it's just a luxury toy. The only reason i liked it was because it was more convenient than surfing the web on my phone, due to a bigger screen obviously, but aside from that, not many apps that are tablet specific, which would be nice. I ended up returning the tablet and can't say i miss it. I do plan on replacing it with a Galaxy Tab 10.1 though. Even though I feel its a luxury, it sure beats out a small 4 inch screen or a heavy laptop/netbook. So if you don't mind the price and want something practical to browse the web, then yea, i'd say its worth it.

  • http://activeinspiration.wordpress.com billc

    Dude I had just bought a new i7 laptop a couple of months before my Asus EEET and now I feel like I'm neglecting my computer. The more I use my Transformer, the more it comformes to my needs Both Pro, and fun.

  • http://www.mobiledeluxe.com bainelaker

    My Galaxy Tab 7 has been in constant use since I picked it up. Things I'd previously use my laptop for, the tablet now has taken over - especially reading, surfing, going through images, etc. I'm also a games developer, and it's been great having both a tablet and WVGA devices (Evo 4g + Xperia Play) to develop, play test, and demo on.

  • greg.

    I had a Xoom for five days (terrible screen) and now I'm on my second week with a Transformer (ok, but w/obscure, expensive, 3' proprietary charging cable that no one else makes). I'd love them both if I'd never ever owned an iPad. There's something to be said for usability and consistency, even if I can't easily access the file system or use widgets. I know w/Android you're partially buying into "potential" and "the next version" but if so, why charge so much? That's like paying a rookie the same as your proven star quarterback. I'm afraid the TF's going on the block if iPad 3 is anything like "they" say it is. I love the quirks and tweaks available for my EVO (graduated from bby, never owned an iPhone) but I want a tablet to be something I don't have to think about as much.

  • mskks64

    where's the meh comment?

  • z3ro

    I love my Nook Color. $238 brand new and it works like a champ. Runs CM7 beautifully and I don't regret that purchase. It gets used quite often by both my girlfriend and I. Best $238 ever dropped on a device.

  • Greg

    U couldn't get my Transformer out of my cold dead hands. By far the best purchase I've made in years. I've not run into anything that I want to do and can't. Once in a while I will remote into my work desktop to use work specific software but even then I'm on my Transformer!

  • JayMonster

    Thanks to QuickOffice HD, PocketCloud and my Xoom, my laptop has become my " desktop" computer, relegated to development work, while demos, email, meeting notes and presentations all are now done with thef Xoom.

  • Shane

    Had an Ipad and xoom and got rId of them for the galaxy tab 10.1. We now own two of them and you can not pry them from our hands! tablets make the perfect device for read only tasks, such as reading news blogs lIke thIs one, books, etc. with pulse on this larger screen format it saves me so much time, and organizing/following through on tasks has become much more efficient on the gtab. the screen brightness and resolution blow away the Ipad and having the same widgets and apps on my evo3d keeps everything uniform and in sync! the new touchwIz uI has complemented honeycomb just enough to make it a great update. the size and weight make this tablet the best out right now and swype is just a lifesaver on the tablet if you have any dataentry to do, lIke thIs comment :-) the xoom was just too thIck and heavy, and not even close to as good of a screen..

  • NYC_Dave

    Scored a brand new VZW Galaxy Tab 7" for 200 when i got mine. Had the Asus TF first, returned it, HTC Flyer, returned that pronto, then got the Tab 10.1, returned it as well. It was very nice but not worth spending 500 over.
    The Tab 7" hit the perfect spot, portable to carry around out of the house (rather than a glorified sitting-on-the-toilet-browsing-the-web toy), great for music. videos, internet and so on. I take it everywhere with me, fits in my trousers just fine or my man purse/bag.

  • http://www.theandroidsite.com Ben Marvin

    The new Archos G9 tablets look nice and are priced right, but I may just wait till ICS before actually purchasing a tablet.

  • http://zackeryfretty.com Zackery Fretty

    I preordered an iPad in the start of all this tablet mess, and I quickly sold it off. I waited a while and decided to get an XOOM. I ended up returning it. I then got a iPad 2 seeing if anything improved, ended up returning it, and eventually landed with a GalaxyTAB 10.1 that too found it's way back to the store within a week.

    Tablets are just eh, I decided to go with a SSD instead. I don't think tablets are very useful. Everything I do on them takes me 4x longer than it does on my MBP.

  • Lou

    I must say I love my galaxy tab and use it everyday for web browsing and games and as a remote for my Logitech revue. Now I'm gonna be honest, tablets are way overpriced. IMO they shouldn't be more than $299. So even though I love it $499 is a bit too much for any tablet even an ipad.

  • Freeman Pascal

    I own seven Android devices. Two (Xoom and Nexus S) I use all the time. The others are development devices. I use the Xoom for nearly all my online communications and social media. Lately I have been using it for work notes and design input. Now if I can get an Android wrist display, I'll use that for notifications and input.

  • http://lettersfromdave.wordpress.com daveloft

    I sold my laptop to buy an ASUS Transformer and I use it way more than I ever used my laptop. I mainly use it for reading and browsing the web and the tablet excels at that.

    $400 for this tablet was well worth it and has slowed my need to buy a new smartphone every three months. Without this tablet I would have likely replaced my Nexus with a Galaxy S II by now.

    I also see no reason to own a laptop anymore. They're too expensive, not portable enough and they just don't offer the same level of battery life.

    I still have a desktop for heavy lifting and if I need to work away from the desktop the ASUS keyboard dock and a vnc application have worked well for me.

  • aeneas

    Have a
    1) viewsonic gtablet- bought it as a cheap for media/net access - with ginger root
    2) Sammy 10.1 - bought for work and home, now just work after getting thrive - sadly pulled down update, so now less prof looking
    3) thrive which I use at home - along with laptop, its ports make it perfect for media load and unloading, plus playing video to tv, given all the ports and no need for adapters (reason for purchase (more functionality, ports, no adapters needed), despite the thickness, weight, and bloatware))

    My goal was a tablet for different parts of the house and work, file sharing between them. I have enough now, so it will take something pretty great for me to get another for a while. I use our family laptop very little, and use the Sammy at work as a third monitor and for meetings. Might spring for a nook at some point... I need a 7inch to bridge the gap between our two about to be replaced rooted hero phones.

  • L boogie

    Enjoying 3.2 honeycomb on my transformer like many proud owners of said device and enjoying the on-the-go portability of the gingerbread running htc flyer

  • Me

    Got my SGT10.1 on Thursday (launch day). Definitely a luxury toy insofar as I don't have to carry 800+ page books in my bag every day, and don't have to get out of bed to catch up on my RSS at the weekend.

    Already wouldn't be without it if I could help it though.

  • MichaelZarathustra

    I bought a Galaxy Tab 7.0 back in March and have found it invaluable, especially for reading Via Taptu & Pulse, and for keeping up with tech when not near my desktop. I even take it to bed with me at night. I will probably also buy a Sammy 10.1 in the very near future, to go along with my Droid 2 phone, which I use constantly in & all & every situation when I'm away from home.

  • K. D. Morgan

    I bought an Asus Transformer in May and my Windows 7 laptop has practically become an orphan. I use my Transformer at home for nearly everything. I like that Honeycomb 3.2 is based on a Linux kernal, so I feel comfortable using my tablet to manage my finances - a task I would never ever trust to Windows 7. I also use my tablet to check the news, e-mail, play games, and manage my podcasts and photos. I use my tablet from the time I awake in the morning until I go to sleep at night. I love the gorgeous display, the versatility with the keyboard dock, and the non-stop battery life. My tablet is so much fun to use, while using a laptop now seems like a chore.

  • https://plus.google.com/117702410245683101961/posts Lucian Armasu

    If I were to buy a tablet soon, I'd at least wait for it to have a quad core Tegra 3, Android 4.0 and at least a 2048x1536 or 2048x1200 resolution.

    I'd also only buy one if it came with a keyboard dock, like the Transformer, because I'd want to make it my "main computer" and do some real work on it, too. It's impossible to do any real work involving writing on a tablet. You have to either write with one hand, while holding it with the other, or write with your thumbs, if you use a virtual keyboard like Swiftkey X, that splits to the side of the screen.

    But this is if I really wanted to get one soon. But I don't. I want to wait for them until I can actually use them as a notebook replacement (for most of my needs). Therefore, I'll wait until they have a quad core 2.5 Ghz CPU (Cortex A15 or Krait) in them and have LPDDR3 memory, and also I'd like them under 500 grams (600 is still too high, 500 is more acceptable, 400 would be ideal for 10"). And last but not least, I'll wait until the app ecosystem becomes a bit more mature.

    All these should happen in about the same time towards the end of 2012 and into 2013. So that's when I'll probably get a "Transformer" type tablet. Until then, I can't justify spending money on one, and I'd rather spend my money getting the new Nexus 3 (and I'll probably do that).

  • jaamgans

    My Transformer replaced my broken laptop and haven't looked it back.

  • Darkseider

    Purchased a Transformer w/ the keyboard dock and it has relegated my laptop to CD/DVD burning duty. Rooted stock OS and the Netflix hack and I am golden. Best investment I have ever made.

  • Steve

    Love my Hp touchpad. To be honest after getting my evo I have used laptop mostly for work. Portability is key with my touchpad I run google Apps and get my work done, and now with vpn to work remotely with evo tethering. The also for reading, games watching the movie's its great

  • jonhern

    To me it was worth it because I got rid of sprint and my evo. I basicly used my evo like a tablet anyway. Now i have virgin with the LG optimus v which I manily use as a phone and for GPS. I use my tablet for everything else, even for SMS with this app sync SMS. I only use my phone when I am out now and it does everything I need it to, the tablet is my main device for everything else, and I use my laptop to do professional things like photo editing and using windows only apps like AutoCAD. I would say my answer would be different if I had paid full price for the xoom because honeycomb is half baked even at 3.2 and is not worth the premium. I was about to sell this week because of that but I swicthed to a custom rom that is much more stable so i think I will keep it. I got it for only $350 and only paying virgin $25 a month for unlimited data and text so I will actually save money, 3 months on virgin will pay for the tablet in savings over sprint. In the end I would rather have a tablet over the latest smartphone, the bigger screen is just more usefull and you can do things you can't do on even the largest smartphones, like use the full WordPress admin dashboard, full tumblr dashboard and other websites that I tried to use on my evo but ethier did not work or were just unuseable.

  • http://www.slipshft.com Slipshft

    I use my transformer as I would my laptop, after rooting and installing openvpn & BTEP I no longer carry my laptop around with me as I can do 99% of my work on the docked tablet (if it weren't for the dock, it would be a toy).

    Overall, there are still some limitations, but not many.

  • Lotek

    Bought my Xoom the day it was released in Can'tada - almost took a run to Seattle to pick one up earlier. We're still in the early stages with the tablet as a platform, but I'm still. in love. I do about 90% of my computing on the tablet now. I still need real machines for higher power tasks, but for consumption or connectivity, the Xoom meets all my needs.
    Netflix on the treadmill... Its worth every penny for that alone.
    Now if only Motorola could get their heads out of their asses and push and update (Canada is still on 3.0 unless you load a US image)

  • http://techx64.com Tushar Agarwal

    I think if you already own an android phone like samsung galaxy S or S2 then android tablet is a luxury. Bcoz you can still do variety of tasks on your phone for others PC is there.

  • paul

    it is a toy, i dont have one, i know plenty who do and all of them would agree. but its the price it is because it can be, lots a people will still buy it and they'll make a profit, nothing can be done about that, i want one. be fun to have. its important to indulge from time to time..

  • Steve

    I have a Viewsonic GTablet, and while it works great (after getting a decent ROM on there of course), and does everything I want it to, I've used it maybe 2 dozen times since I got it back around March. I'm planning on trying to sell it on Craigslist in the next week or so.

  • Ch3vr0n5

    Ever since I bought my G Tablet my netbook mainly sits on the sidelines now adays. I still need my powerful desktop for encoding video, compiling programs etc. but just about everything I got my netbook for my G Tablet can do. Its more convenient as an e-reader than my netbook and compairing boot time to the simple wake of my tablet its much faster to use it for web browsing and everything else I used my netbook for. I can hook up a keyboard and mouse for when I need to be more productive with QuickOffice and the like or I can hookup a 360 controller for some more advanced gaming. I can watch HD video as well as netflix, hulu and crackle. Add the fact that it is simply more fun to do these things on a large touchscreen device then I would have to say that a tablet is just as worth the price as a netbook/laptop if you have the need for one.

  • Jon Garrett

    I got my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 because I wanted an Android device (I currently use an iPhone 4)

    I use it as a go-between my laptop and my phone.

    I use it every day, I love it and Im so glad I have it.

    * cant say the same about my Toshiba Thrive. my wife dont want it so Im taking it back today for a refund.

  • Eva

    I got my Nook color as a birthday present back in March. I don't use it too often since I have a laptop, just for reading or playing games. But the two times that my Macbook was in the shop, I was very glad to have the Nook for everyday web browsing and to do assignments for my summer class.

  • Steven Thomsen-Jones

    We used to have a laptop we used when downstairs away from the two desktops in the office, however the laptop died. Fortunately. We both had smartphones, her an phone 3Gs me a HTC Desire so became used to doing without the laptop but viewing many websites can be less than ideal on the smaller screens. So the idea of a tablet struck us as the perfect compromise.
    We do find that we often still use our phones but its great to have the ability to swap to a larger screen when we feel the need, such as right now to type this message. I think if you have a laptop then there really is no need but as a more portable alternative a tablet is a fine choice.

  • Enikfox

    So can someone please tell me why "I don't own a tablet" made it on there as an option in a pole titled "so you bought an android tablet is it worth the money"

    • JayMonster

      To avoid all the comments asking why there isn't an option for that, most likely.

    • Vince

      What's a "pole" and why does it have a name?

  • Ray Revette

    ViewSonic is under fire with the G-Tablet community regarding their almost total absence of support for thisn Tablet. Visit FB to read. http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=58738271675

    Over 400 responses to the ViewSonic invitation and with many of the post deleted.
    Soon they plan to release another Tablet.

  • cj_31

    I don't find tablets useful if I already have an SGS 4G and a laptop.