My Happy Ending Story With Tablets

For the last little while I've been really itchy about getting a tablet to replace my outdated Viewsonic G-Tablet 10.1", I've urged myself to buying a tablet before Asus releases it's new Nexus 7 2nd Gen! I had in mind that I probably wouldn't have any use for such a big tablet specs wise.


I first jumped onto the $170 Canada Day deal at Future Shop and got a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" and a nice bi-fold type case for $30. It was my idea to keep the tablet as-is and not root/flash it since all I wanted to do with it is:
  • Read my magazines from the Play Store
  • Read my uploaded epub books in Play Books
  • Watch Netflix
  • Watch Tou.TV
  • Watch videos using MX Player Pro
  • Read the news

After the first day of owning it, I started to feel that ALL the Samsung crapware was getting in my way and filling up my app drawer for nothing so I decided to root my Tab 2 and freeze/uninstall them all. Hey! you can't blame me, I'm used to have a clean OS with my Galaxy Nexus.

I really liked the Tab 2 for it's overall performance and the possibility of upgrading the storage if needed using the expandable micro SD slot. And it was cheap at only $170...

One thing I didn't like with my case was that my hands were getting too much fatigue with one hand holding the cover part that's really light and the other hand holding the whole weight of the tablet.

Then came Tom Gray in the picture as he sent me a tip about the Nexus 7 being "only" $230 for the 32 GB. What!! I just paid $170 for a 8 GB tablet! So I went back to Future Shop to get the Nexus 7 just to find out that all 3 locations in my area were out of stock and only had the 16 GB. The only 32 GB ones were open boxes and I usually try to not buy products from open boxes. Surprisingly this time, I felt okay with the idea and that meant saving an extra 10% on top of the sales price. Needless to say that I left the store with a 32 GB tablet (a very well rated one!) for only $207! For a "small" $37 extra, I would jump from a 8 GB to a 32 GB, from a 1 GhZ dual core to a 1.3 GhZ quad-core and so on with the specs. After just a few minutes of using it, I was completely convinced that I would return the Tab 2 and keep the Nexus 7.

Advantages of the Nexus 7 over the Tab 2:
  • Jelly Bean 4.2.2 over 4.1.2 and a possible update to 4.3
  • NO crapware what-so-ever (Ahhhh.. it feels soooo clean and pure!)
  • Better tactile experience since it feels more smooth and more responsive
  • Already has 32 GB of space instead of 8 + SD

As for accessories, I already have a stand I was using with my 10.1" Viewsonic so there's no real need to buy the Nexus 7 dock. I bought on eBay a Gel Rubber Silicone Case Cover Skin in black for $3.63 and a Soft Bag Case Pouch almost the same price; all with free shipping. Once I get them, I'll show them off during our weekly #FNH.

Go Nexus!



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