I am in the market for a tablet computer. I feel that the platform is mature now and that I needed something handier than my aging laptop to do mobile internet with. So my principal criteria are:

  1. High resolution screen of no less than 1280 x 800 resolution.
  2. Great sound
  3. Large internal storage of 16GB or higher
  4. Fast processor. At least dual -core
  5. USB connectivity
  6. Bluetooth connectivity
  7. HDMI out
  8. Rear-facing camera preferred but not required

Turning to the internet to do some research work, I found some candidates from the current crop of tablets available in the market. These are:

  1. Apple New iPad (don’t call it an iPad 3, it’s not)
  2. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
  3. Acer Iconia A510
  4. Amazon Kindle Fire HD

The Rundown

Apple New iPad (PhP 23,990 at the Apple Store)

Apple New iPad

I like Apple products for their quality and technological innovations. But what I strongly dislike is their policy of tying down their customers into their closed eco-system. You buy an iPad (or any Apple device running iOS,) you are compelled to install iTunes and buy your software, books, and music from Apple. I say no! I want freedom of choice. The moment one goes with iOS, you lose that freedom and have to course all content purchase  through Cupertino.

Although the New iPad (don’t call it an iPad 3) has some great specifications (specially the so-called “Resolutionary” Retina Display), it only satisfies criteria 1-3 on my list. Connectivity is bad. It has Bluetooth but you can’t really easily do file transfer with it, only stream out audio and connect keyboard/mouse. No USB connectivity here too, This is done by design so smarter users won’t have an easy time bypassing iTunes and loading software and other content into the iPad. Remember the closed eco-system?

So Apple products are out for me. Crossed out of my list.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (PhP 22,990 at the Samsung Store)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Korean electronics titan Samsung’s second 10-inch tablet offering selling locally for P28,000. I had a hands-on on this machine in Samsung’s showroom in Mega Mall and was quite impressed. Fast dual-core processor, bright and vibrant 1280 x 800 screen,  USB and Bluetooth connectivity, dual cameras. While not a feature that is important to me, this also has 3G capability so you can use it as a phone for voice calls and SMS.

For PhP 22,990 I felt that the price was a bit high; perhaps owing to the fact that it has 3G capability. But that is not important to me.

But for now, this one stays on my list.

Acer Iconia Tab A510 (PhP 19,990 at Villman Computer)

Acer Iconia Tab A510

Taiwan computer manufacturer Acer’s latest tablet offering was lying way below the radar that I almost missed it. With all the recent tech news focusing on Apple, Samsung, and even Amazon’s tablets, the Iconia A510 did not get a lot of attention from the media and what reviews from American tech writers may be found online are not too kind on the A510 either—criticizing the product more for its aesthetics that technical aspects.

Checking the Iconia A510’s specifications reveal a marvel of electronics engineering that features a quad-core processor, an Nvidia Tegra 3 GPU, 1GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage, Micro SD slot, 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, GPS, HDMI out, Micro USB connector, Bluetooth, and a massive 9800 mAH battery. This thing fits my criteria and more!

The Acer Iconia Tab A510 definitely stays on my list. Now on to the last one.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD (PhP 10,700 at sulit.com.ph)

Amazon Kindle Fire HD

US giant online retailer Amazon followed up its Kindle Tablet with the Kindle Fire HD. While it is not yet officially available to the Philippine market, some enterprising importers have imported some and are selling it locally as grey market units.

I like the Kindle Fire HD. It boasts of some great specs and a low price—because this is a 7-inch tablet but most of all is that Amazon is actually subsidizing part of the cost of the machine and plans to recover and profit later from content sales. Amazon offers its Prime Membership for US-based Kindle users. Amazon Prime is one of the Kindle’s main selling points. For an annual subscription fee of USD 79 members are eligible for Free 2-day shipping to any US street address on items purchased from Amazon.com, unlimited commercial-free streaming of movies and TV shows, and thousands of books to borrow with no due date for free! A very good business model BUT ONLY for consumers in the United States. This is this same great idea however that brings some disadvantages to getting a Kindle Fire HD for users in the Philippines. Among these are:

  • Customers outside the USA cannot really buy the Kindle Fire HD officially at this time hence must purchase through grey market channels. This means that product warranty and servicing might be a problem later on.
  • Kindle users are tied to purchasing their content from Amazon. No Google Play here. Sure you can do sideloading or even root the device but why bother?
  • Google services like Maps, Gmail, YouTube are missing from the tablet’s line up.
  • Amazon Prime is not available to users outside the USA.

So taking all that into consideration, I scratch out the Amazon Kindle HD off of my list.

Conclusion

Now I am down to two Android 4 candidates: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and the Acer Iconia Tab A510. I am leaning towards the Acer A510 at this point because it wins on specifications versus the Samsung Tab 2. The A510 simply trumps the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 on all counts in my criteria. I called up Villman Computers to ask about the A510’s availability and if there is any further discount. They have it on stock and is willing to bring their price down further if I pay in cash.  Not bad.

All I need to do now is to check out the A510 actual unit and see its physical appearance then decide on which one to purchase.