posted Nov 24, 2011 7:01 AM by Jeff Karpinski
[
updated Nov 24, 2011 7:11 AM
]
All the rage this holiday season are bargain 7" media tablets. Kobo was first to market with their Vox, followed a few weeks later by Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet. Sexy little things, promising to be the be-all of media consumption for the fraction of the price of an iPad. As someone who owns an iPad as well as a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7", and have gone hands-on with both the Vox and Fire (I haven't handled a Nook Tablet yet), allow me to tell you why you probably don't want to invest in this generation of media tablets, unless $200 truly is disposable income to you and you're OK chucking it in 6 months.
I'm going to skip over technical reviews of each. Suffice it to say there are subtle differences - the Vox delivers the most pure Android experience, the Nook has the best screen, and the Fire has the best media catalog with Amazon Prime under the hood. I encourage everyone considering one of these devices to read the great reviews of all three over at The Verge. Then, what I want you the potential buyer to do is carefully consider your usage cases for this kind of device. I'll break down the essential ones here along with my experiences and comments:
- Reading books: Love to read? Me too. While most of us stare at computer screens for hours a day, how many long-form books have you actually read on your computer? For hours-at-a-time reading enjoyment, trust me, eInk is what you want. eInk offers a wonderful reading experience anywhere a paper book would. eInk readers are also dirt cheap now - well under $100 from all the major players. Reading on a backlit LCD screen - even a 7" one - is fatiguing for most people. Also consider where you frequently read. Outdoors or in bright conditions? eInk is your only option. All three of these devices fail miserably in outdoor reading. Now, if 100% of your reading is at night in bed, you're probably not doing 2-4 hour reading sessions so eye fatigue isn't such an issue and a backlit device could very well be ideal for you.
One last point on reading books - unlike music, DRM (Copy Protection) is still going strong in the ebook publishing world. This means you generally cannot buy / read Amazon books on your Nook or visa versa. So, if reading is your focus, chose your horse before the saddle. Personally, I'm a big fan of the EPUB format that Kobo and Barnes & Noble use (though their DRM is incompatible). EPUB is also more prevalent in the Overdrive ebook loaning system many libraries use. Also worth noting is that Kobo is extremely device agnostic. They offer ebook apps for just about any electronic device imaginable, including the Kindle Fire. This means from the Fire you could actually read both Amazon and Kobo books (I'm not sure if the Kobo app is in the Nook app store).
- Web surfing: I think just about everyone has a dream of a simple device that they can leisurely and pleasantly surf the web on. Sadly, it's still just a dream. Even on full tablets like the iPad, surfing for anything more than a quick google search or IMDB lookup is an exercise in frustration. Pages take forever to load and are often rendered incorrectly. UI features like drop-down menus simply don't work most of the time. Browser crashes are the norm (the-non mobile version of Google+ will crash both the iPad and Galaxy Tab browsers in seconds). There was brief hope with the Kindle Fire as Amazon promised a new browsing technology called Silk that was supposed to dramatically improve tablet browsing experience. Sadly, it has been universally reported as a failure so far - even slower than native tablet browsers. My experience with Silk confirms this. If you've got a smart phone with web browsing support, consider that your browsing experience on these devices will be just as painful; only on a larger screen.
- Loading apps: All three devices offer "app stores" where you can purchase and install other goodies like Angry Birds. An important point to consider however is that none of them offer the real Android Marketplace. Kobo's Vox relies on the Getjar app market wich is quite limited in selection (and quality) of apps. B&N and Amazon both run their own app stores. While this has the advantage of insuring the apps are vetted for proper operation on their respective devices, the selection of apps pales to the full Android Marketplace. It's worth noting that all three devices can be "hacked" to allow what's called side-loading of apps from other sources but this probably isn't something you're going to walk grandma through. One positive app experience that is worth mentioning however is email. All three do offer email support and do so extremely well.
- Watching video: OK, buckle up, I've saved the best for last. Think carefully. When exactly would you watch video of any kind on a tablet? I can tell you, I've had Netflix and HBO on all my devices - tablets and phones - since day-one. I've watched exactly one movie (An Evening With Kevin Smith) on the iPad and one TV show (an episode of Top Gear while waiting my turn at the barber shop) on my phone. If your house is anything like ours, TV watching is a shared experience. Nobody's going to huddle around the Nook to watch the latest South Park episode. Consider also that all three of these devices are WiFi only. This means you're not going to watch Netflix on the train during your commute, nor while waiting in line at the DMV, and not even enjoy a Top Gear as I did at the barber shop. Then I hear the argument "But WiFi is available free everywhere these days!". True. Now exactly why would you hop in your car and drive to Starbucks to watch Mad Men reruns on a 7" screen instead of on your 50" surround sound experience at home? Think you'll be able to watch Game of Thrones during your layover at O'Hare? Think again. I've yet to see an airport WiFi anywhere in this country that delivers enough bandwidth to run streaming video services. Everyone's different however. Perhaps your gym has great WiFi and burning up some calories and Keeping up with the Kardishians episodes at the same time is your thing. All I'm saying is, carefully consider your use cases and device limitations before dropping $200 for watching video on a 7" screen. It's also worth mentioning that none of these devices offer video out solutions like full-featured tablets do. One way video on a tablet has worked well for us in the past is on vacations. We'll use the hotel WiFi to download current episodes of our favorite TV shows from iTunes and then hook the iPad to the room TV via an HDMI cable.
So, what would I put under the Christmas tree this year? For the book lover, it's a no-brainer. Every reader needs an eInk device, period. For someone really itching for a tablet computer however? There's a reason Apple owns the market with the iPad. Yeah, $500 is a lot more than $200, but the iPad will be usable for years. These gen 1 economy tablets will be replaced / forgotten in less than 6 months (Amazon's already announced the next Fire device). Also worth considering are the full-featured Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tabs. They can also be had for around $400 on contract from your cell carrier. Yes, you're also signing up for a monthly data plan, but depending on your usage needs this may be very well worth considering.
Finally, if you're dead set on dipping your toe on the bargain tablet market this holiday season, I think I'd lean towards the B&N Nook Tablet. In reality it's a 2nd gen device whereas the Fire and Vox are 1st attempts. The Nook has (by review anyway) a better screen with less glare. It also uses EPUB so you can take full advantage of library lending. Protip: The Singapore National Library has one of the largest ebook collections in the world any anyone can sign up for free!
I do think Amazon's going to sell a ton of Fires this holiday season. I also think there's going to be a fair bit of buyer's remorse when people hit the device limitations and wish for the full tablet experience. On the upside however, this could end very well for Apple as frustrated bargain tablet users "upgrade" to an iPad next year. Time will tell... |
|
