Android Tablet advice

[JLT]

Yeah, I know that this doesn't relate to VWs, but I've come to trust the advice that y'all have given me about this and that, so here goes:

Now that the Samsung Tab 4 10" Tablet has dropped to below $300, I'm mighty tempted to get one. However, I know that I'm going to use it mostly reading e-books and such, and I'm wondering if it's worth plunking down another $100 plus for the Tab 4 Pro (or whatever it's called) with the higher resolution screen. Has anybody had problems reading the lower-res screen, or am I just worried over nothing? I mean, it looks pretty good in the store, but...

[glasseye]

My interests run more to images than text on screen, but I suggest that you check out the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S series. There are two versions- an eight inch and a ten inch. Since much of what you're buying is the screen, it makes sense to get the best one you can.

The Galaxy Tab S series uses an AMOLED display whose image quality is superb. Screen res is something like 2500X1600 pixels. That's higher than print resolution. Well worth the slight upcharge, IMHO. Their introduction is the reason the "Pro" series has seen recent discounts.

If you mainly want to read books, why not get an e-reader? They're about a hundred dollars, are easily viewable in direct sunlight or total darkness and have battery life measured in weeks, not hours.

[JLT]

My interests run more to images than text on screen, but I suggest that you check out the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S series. There are two versions- an eight inch and a ten inch. Since much of what you're buying is the screen, it makes sense to get the best one you can.

Good point. But the Tab S 10.5 S is over $450 at the moment, and it's over my budget at the moment, since George, my camper, needs some new tires and a steering box replacement. Ain't that always the way it goes?

If you mainly want to read books, why not get an e-reader? They're about a hundred dollars, are easily viewable in direct sunlight or total darkness and have battery life measured in weeks, not hours.

Another good point. My wife got a Kindle Fire, which she originally bought just as an e-reader, but now she's found a zillion other uses for it surfing the net, playing games, and so on. So I didn't want to paint myself into a corner. (And she's also got one of those Kindle e-readers, which she still uses, but not so much now that she's got the Fire.)

[Cindy]

My cousin loves her Nook HD from Barnes and Noble. E-reader and tablet. $150-200 and it sometimes comes with a rebate or Barnes and Noble gift card.

[BumbleBus]

I've had a Nook HD+ for almost two years and love it to death. I got it for, what I thought at the time was cheap, $249 and now they're like $179. So cheap. The screen is gorgeous and HD and the battery life is phenomenal. Having said that... the very first thing I did was hack Android KitKat onto it and ditch the uber-crappy default Nook software. They at least opened up the Google Play store for it recently, but running pure Android on it is waaaaaay better and very easy to do with things like AndroidForNook ( https://www.n2acards.com ).