Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Holiday Shopping: Tablet Season Is Upon Us

With the holiday season upon us, we have another thing to look forward to besides having extra time to spend with friends and family. It is also a pivotal time to get the best deals for gifts for our loved ones (as well as yourself!) One of the most wanted gifts in the tech world right now is the tablet. With the current economic atmosphere you may feel that this may be a less than spectacular time to give and to receive. Well think again! There are some alternatives to the iPad that are both spectacular devices and are easy on the budget.

Samsung Galaxy Tab: A close rival to the iPad recently has been the Galaxy Tab. The hardware specs of both devices are quite comparable, only major differences lie with the operating system (Android) and the price ($400). To those of you that have a Android mobile device, you are more that prepared to use the Galaxy Tab. It is essentially a larger Android smartphone without the phone capability (but don’t all tablets fit that description?)

Kindle Fire: The hottest new device out right now is the Kindle Fire. At first glance you may wonder what the big whoop is since it looks just like a regular Kindle. However, it is so much more than that. In addition to going from e-ink to a full color display, the Fire sports a web browser and multimedia Android apps such as Netflix, Pandora, and of course, Amazon Marketplace. Although some people initially labeled it as the “iPad killer” that is far from the truth. The hardware and functionality it has simply can not stack up against iPad, but the $200 really does change the entire tablet market. You certainly get more bang for the buck than you would with the iPad.

Nook Tablet: No surprise that Barnes and Noble decided to beef up their own Nook Color to better compete with Amazon for the cheap tablet market. The Nook Color was the first of the e-ink manufacturers to come out with a device with a color display and a touch screen. They now added superior hardware specs to Amazon’s Kindle Fire and the ability to officially add apps to the tablet. Although the price take is $250, its still a far cry from the more expensive tablets out there.

Coming next: Holiday Shopping: The right mobile device for you. Stay tuned!

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