When the iPad first came out, it immediately faced competition from 7-inch
tablets running Android.
Unfortunately, they all cost too much and most of them
came with a two year contract.
Eventually, some genius figured out that the way
to compete against the iPad was to make a solid, cotract-free table t for around
$200.
I???m Donald bell and in this week???s Top 5 we???re counting down the best cheap
tablets under $300.
These are the tablets that are keeping things interesting.
Starting off at #5, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
Now don???t confuse this with
the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, or the Galaxy Tab 7.7, or the Tab 8.9, or the Galaxy
Tab 2...
10.1.
This tablet has more sequels than Harry Potter, but this particular
tablet hits the sweet spot on price: $249.
It also has an IR blaster to control your
TV, and best of all, a microSD expansion slot.
At #4, the 2012 Kindle Fire.
No, not the HD version, but the old design Amazon
updated with a faster processor, a new OS and twice the RAM.
There???s still no
camera and the design is pretty blah, but the price is $159.
That???s the lowest
price on this list and makes this tablet a great value.
At #3, the Barnes & Noble Nook HD.
For $199 you get a lightweight 7-inch tablet
with a beautiful screen and a microSD card slot.
And because it???s from Barnes &
Noble, it might even shame you into reading a book or two.
Coming in at #2, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.
Here???s another $199 7-inch tablet
with a great screen.
You also get a 720p camera for Skype video chat, and some
of the best speakers you???ve heard on any tablet.
And with Amazon, you???re getting
a selection of music and video content that truly rivals Apple.
Now before we get to the #1 iPad mini competitor, let???s take a look back at the
top 5 tablet flops.
Remember when they wanted $550 for the Dell Streak?
Those
were dark times.
Alright, and now the #1 reason the iPad Mini should just crawl back to Cupertino:
the Google Nexus 7. I still don???t know how they pulled this off.
$199, Tegra-3
processor, and a completely polished front-end for all of Google???s best software.
I
still say it???s a microSD card slot away from being perfect, but it???s pretty darn
close.
So there you go, those are the best 7-inch tablets out there right now priced
around $200.
Be sure to check out Eric Franklin???s roundup over on iPad Atlas.
And for more Top 5???s like this head over to Top 5.cnet.com
I???m Donald Bell, thanks for watching.
