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It dawned on me this weekend that a Tablet could help improve my gaming life. These are the reasons I believe it would be proactive for a gamer such as myself to invest in a tablet:

Currently, the games I play are as follows (and in order of prevalence):

Warhammer 40k
Warmachine/Hordes
Tabletop Games (Carcassonne, Ikuza, Settlers of Catan, Arkham Horror, etc)
RPG's (just learning to enjoy them)


As such, a tablet seems like a viable option for simplifying my gaming life. With tons of apps available from character creation (for RPG's), stat trackers, list builders, and tons of PDF's for various army lists and the like, it seems like a tablet could be a huge asset. Add to it that most tablets are fairly functional in the area of multimedia, and now it can help be a tool for productivity in the respect of playing music and videos while working on models and/ or playing board games.

I don't have a whole lot more to say on the topic, becuase I've essentially convinced myself that it's a smart idea (regardless of if it is or not hehe) but I want to get the communities feedback.


Currently I am considering 3 Tablets - The Google Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, and the Kindle Fire.

While the Kindle fire is a solid device with plenty of success with PDF's and ebooks as well as various media, it does not have all the apps I'd like to have. However the Galaxy Tab 2 and the Nexus 7 both have a plethora of apps thanks to the Google Marketplace (YAAAAAY ANDROID!!!). However, Samsung has a history of releasing devices and not giving solid support for updates. Despite this, however, it does have a back mounted camera (good for taking pics of miniatures and of games as they progress) and a microSD expansion port for up to 32GB added storage. However, the backmounted camera is notable for not taking great photos, and the fact that it may not get much support for future itterations of the Android OS makes me a tad leery. Then we have the Nexus 7. It's got the same benefits as the Tab 2, but with the added benefit of being made by Google, so it will get plenty of android support. It does not have the expansion ports of the Tab 2, but w/ the emphasis on cloud storage it should be fine (also, I don't plan on storing much more than documents and a few songs I love on the device, so the default 8 or 16 GB model should suffice). The downside of the Nexus 7 is that it is the newcomer to the tablet industry, and as such has yet to have the same playtesting of the other two devices. A minimal ammount of research has shown a growing complaint from Nexus 7 users that their screens have been defectively installed and are either loose or coming loose. This affects the tablets clarity of type and makes it difficult to make function. However, the design is sleek and slim and is reported to be very comfortable to handle.

Each device gets approximately the same battery life with average use (from what real users are saying), and each has a form factor and price that is comperable to one another.

My gut reaction is to go with the Galaxy Tab 2, as it is solid and has been out long enough for many of the issues and problems with the device and its support to surface. However, the fact that it is likely to not get much support in the future is a concern that pushes me away.

Logic tells me that the Nexus 7 would be the best bet, as Google is notoriously good about focusing on what customers want (minus their whole tracking your internet usage debacle), and as the paternal creators of the android OS, it is highly unlikely to get neglected as far as updates and compatability issues are concerned.

However, my heart says not to count out the Kindle Fire. Supposedly a Kindle Fire 2 is going to be released (as most are suspecting) in late July to August, or at bare minimum be announced. It will most likely still face the same issue of app deficiency however, so waiting may prove inneffective and useless.


What do you think?

P.S. - iPad is not a viable option for me as I despise apple and would not like to pay for every app I want to use haha.

I picked up a Archos Arnova 10 G2 as a gaming tablet and for my kids to play apps or watch netflix on. It has a big screen and microSD. It's Droid like all our phones and even uses the same charger and cables as my Inspire and my wifes Galaxy 3. It was less than 150 I think and does everything we ask it to.

Out of the 3 you have picked I would go for the Nexus, but that is not based on any higher tech knowledge... that is just what would work best for my family. Happy hunting!

I got a Kindle Fire for free for xmas at work.. the company gave em to everyone as part of our bonus. I'd say it's worth the price I paid, nothing more.

Kindle Fire 2 rumored to have street date of August 7 and specs to match the Nexus 7. Biggest thing Amazon can do is price it cheaper than the Nexus 7.

You can use 3rd party file managers to install pretty much anything on a Kindle Fire, including Google Play from what I'm told.

Worst case scenario you install App on Phone, copy it to sd, copy SD to PC, copy App to Kindle, install with File Manager.

All three (Nexus, Galaxy, Fire) are solid choices.

I have a kindle fire and while I like it I wish I had gotten a nook tablet. The kindle fire has 512 ram and 8 gigs storage with no expansion slot. The nook on the other hand has an expansion slot plus it has a model for 249 that has 1 gig ram and 16gig internal memory plus an expansion slot. With the nook i know you can go into books a million and b&n and read all their books for free for a few hours a day plus i believe it also supports ebook checkout form the library like the kindle does.

All that isn't a big deal as I knew that before buying but what I figured out later that really disappointed me was that the kindle fires pdf reader doesn't have a search function for pdfs which is really annoying. Coupled with the fact that the kindle fire has a custom android OS and you can only install apps from the amazon app store, which has no where near the selection of the full android store (though Im sure you can jailbreak it easily) so I haven't been able to find another pdf reader app that works well for searching. The plus side of the custom OS is that all the apps work very well and look great on the kindle fire since only amazon approved apps are allowed onto the app store.

Well, fun story. Ended up ordering the tablet this morning!

And the winner is............


NONE OF THE ABOVE!!?


Surprised? I know I was. I ended up going with the Asus Transformer Infinity TF700t.

Why did I choose this one over the previous options?

I thought about it, and realized that the 10'' screen would be more functional. Asus has already confirmed the OS will get the Android upgrade to Jellybean (and Asus is great about customer support and product support from my experience). And arguably best of all it has an HD display and many other fun features that I would never have thought about looking for in a tablet.

The most interesting ap to me is one which allows streaming access to programs on your computer from anywhere! This means I can play Space Marine, DoWII, or many other games and fantastic apps from anywhere as long as I have wifi access!!!

I'm also assuming this means streaming access to Army builder, but even if it doesn't work I can still stream access to my PDF lists from dropbox.

It is more expensive than the originla options, but I believe it is worth the extra funds with all the additional functionality. Also as it is one of the latest gen iterations of the Asus Tablet line, It comes equipped with some sweet internal components which are sure to keep me happy for quite some time. Thanks for the feedback on here guys, it's helped me to pick something much better than I orginally intended to get.