Pre-Purchase Confusion: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 vs. Google Nexus 7 Tab???

[slow_mo_panda]

Ok, so you know how when you are trying to do research on multiple devices to find the "best bang for your buck" and you inevitably end up getting stats and features mixed up between tablets that appear to be extremely similar??? Well, I think that's what I did. :-[
So, I was originally planning on getting the Nexus 7 Tablet, because I thought it had everything I wanted on it. But then, upon watching a YouTube comparison review, I noticed the dude said that the Nexus does NOT have any kind of SD card slots. I was like ??? ???
So, here is the breakdown for me, please feel free to butt in and let me know if I have anything wrong or missed!
I WANT:
-Good e-reader (epub and pdf)
-Good BATTERY Life!
-Expandable Memory (Unless I can get a 32GB+ at a decent price)
-Keyboard Attachment (either connecting or with USB)
-Both Front AND Back Cameras (or at least one on the front)
-Wi-Fi Home Connect
-HDMI a plus
-Video Playback (either downloaded or from web sites)
-Good mp3 music player
-Portrait AND Landscape Modes

So, since I do not have the $600 to get the amazingly awesome Microsoft Surface or the stunningly sexy Asus Transformer Pad, I need to find something that is remotely comparable for around $200. ALTHOUGH, I am considering selling off my current Desktop PC (custom-built for gaming and web browsing) so I can possibly afford the Asus Transformer. So, the question THEN is: Will the Transformer be everything I want also? I noticed it has the HDMI, plus the better quality Front & Rear cameras, plus the better over-all reviews!
IF this is allowed, here are the links to the Tablets I am considering:
Galaxy Tab: Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab 2 WiFi 7-inch Tablet PC - Titanium Silver
Nexus 7: Newegg.com - ASUS Google Nexus 7 Tablet 32GB - Brown
ASUS Transformer: Newegg.com - ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T Tegra 3 32GB 10.1" IPS Tablet - Blue

WHAT DO YOU GUYS SAY?? PLEASE Help!!
P.S. Do you guys know where I could enter my PC specs to get a estimated value for sale?
Thank Y'all!!

 

[extraclass]

I had a Nexus and the two problem I found bothering were the lack of an SD card and no external audio input! I have always used the SD card to store music and movies and on a long trip I could load up a second SD card with enough entertainment to last for hours. I have several uses that require external audio input that is not available on the audio plug and I could not get Bluetooth to input audio either. Of course this leaves out Skype type programs with a headset!I sold the Nexus and purchased a Galaxy Tab 2 7". No regrets!

 

[slow_mo_panda]

Yes, I decided to go with the Galaxy Tab 2 also, got it at WM, but am waiting to open it in the morning. I am hoping I can be happy with it, and maybe be lucky enough to come up with the money for the accessories! Do you know if you can use a keyboard with this?

 

[extraclass]

I purchased a small keyboard on ebay that works great with Bluetooth. You can also get an adapter plug that will let you connect a keyboard or mouse or thumb drive. The little adapter pigtail is called OTG adapter and has a plug for the Tab on one end and a female USB on the other end. I tried using a usb 4 port hub and you can actually plug in all three at the same time. I would use a usb adapter with an external power supply if I was going to do this for ant length of time. It has to be a drain on the battery and not sure how much current the tab port can supply.

 

[MAXXTX]

I got a HP Touchsmart PC and it has a Dongle that connects the keyboard and mouse wirelessly. So I bought a USB Host and hooked up my dongle to it and it works
30-Pin to USB OTG Adapter Cable for Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, 7.7, 8.9, 10.1, 10.1v - Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" Looks like one of these but I bought mine off ebay for roughly $4

 

[Ed Bak]

The memory card is not that big of a bonus, since you cannot run apps from it. My son and I both bought the tab 2 7. You run out of app room real quick, even when you use the sd card or cloud for music, picture and video storage.
After 1 month, my son sold his and bought the nexus 7 that was just released. Sure, no sd, but he has ample airspace with the 32gig. Files/music are stored on Google cloud or dropbox till he needs them...what is amazing on the nexus is the gpu. The tegra 3 ...wow, the games are amaZing! Look on YouTube for glowball hd for the tegra 3/nexus. The graphics are capable on a tablet?
If you are a gamer, then the nexus is the one you need. I hope they are similar for the nexus 10...dad is getting one for Xmas since this tab 2 is too small to read at my age (yeah right!)
Tab 2 7" is a great starter system, but don't throughout the packaging. You may want to sell it and get a little "more".

 

[jtskier11]

Im too afraid to buy another Nexus 7 after my debacle. I really want a 32gb too. But until I get to see someone I know own one, for more than a week, and not have any problems with it........ Dead pixels, raised screen, failed charge port, dead speakers, bad battery, display panel banding, ghosting, whatever the case may be. I dont know if I can pay for another Nexus regardless of specs.

 

[sojodave]

I bought my 32gb and I have no dead pixels, no raised screen, no failed charge ports, no dead speakers, no bad battery, no display panel banding, no ghosting, and JB 4.2.1 is awesome.

 

[Kingfrog]

I am in the same quandary/ I have decided to buy either the Galaxy P3100 that I can use with my N7100 on ATT or the Nexus 7 if I cannot get the full phone experience.
There are many many happy Nexus users. But the idea of having a back up phone and Carrier data on an unlimited Dumbphone plan intrigues me enough to go with the Samsung. not to mentiopn the easy Rooting and many custom ROMS available. especially internationally) Definately worth $150 more for the International P3100 Tab 2 7 with GSM and 64GB Data Storage. If I had to choose between the US non GSM version and the Nexus i would still be doing some research as the Tab is not a slam dunk against the Nexus. On paper the Nexus shines. The better front camera is nice for video calls. Especially without GSM calling. The Nexus is dependent more on the cloud for storage.

Rear camera is not important as the note has an excellent camera. Front is more important for Skype and Video chats. In that regard the Nexus has it right. If thre Nexus had SD card storage it would be an easier choice. The USB port is another advantage Nexus for me. I don;t care for Proprietary iCrap type ports. Tough choice. fro me it comes down to using the TAB in the ATT arena as a dumb phone option to the Note on occasion. and there is a $349 price tag on that

Having the Note 2 I think the Nexus would be a nice choice.But Samsung is compelling. Now I realize there are no warranties with International devices but I destroy any possibility of having a warranty after unboxing and rooting I turn it on make sure all is working then immediately root it and Flash a custom ROM I have researched before I buy.

 

[HisSvt76]

I own both got the Samsung as a gift gave it to my kids, I use the nexus 7 both are nice but the nexus is the superior tablet hands down. Better screen better battery and hands down faster and obviously the os is updated allot more often. Both can be had for the same price.

 

[Kingfrog]

Tried the Nexus and the Tab 2 7. For what I use the extra HP on the nexus is not neccesary. I love using the Tab 2 as a Phone and 3G device under the radar on ATT. The screen is not as good as the Nexus but its not bad either. In fact the screen is brighter on tha TAB. My eyes cannot determine the pixel count on either 7" screen. At the end of th day it came down to being able to add Storage, and use the device on ATT's 3g network.

I am not a gamer at all so that is where i would chose the Nexus over the TAB 7 because of the processing power. I may sell the Note 2 at some point and use the Tab Full Time as a phone and Tablet device since I don't carry both devices at the same time. right now my SIM card is in the P3100 running JellyBean 4.1.2. MUCH faster and smoother than the stock ROM.

If I had to choose between the US VERSION TAB 7 and the Nexus, the 32GB latter would probably get my coin. .The P3100 is an easier sell on Ebay if I decide otherwise as they are far more rare in the US market.

 

[thoots]

I'm a little late to this party, but I thought I'd chime in with my thoughts, anyway.

With the new lower prices, the Nexus 7 and the GT 2 7 caught my attention. I have the original Galaxy Note phone, and the Note 10.1 tablet. But it's hard to say no to a $200 7-incher.

Boy, what a quandry, though. Yes, the Nexus 7 is the better device on paper, but, dang it, I AM HAPPY with how Samsung does things. My local retailers helped me make a decision, though -- the only thing I could find in town was the Nexus 7, so I got the 32-gig model.

Well, right off the bat, I found that "I wasn't in Kansas anymore." EVERY SINGLE DEVICE I have ever used to log into my router has worked just fine, but not the Nexus 7 -- if you are considering one, go do a Google search for "Nexus 7 WiFi Authentication" first. And see the thousands of pages from folks who couldn't get to first base with the Nexus 7. The bottom line is that the Nexus 7 wants specific router settings, and gives you no abilities to change its settings to work with your router -- YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR ROUTER, because you can't change the tablet. After screwing around with it for a while, I finally got moving, but I DO NOT WANT TO MESS UP MY ROUTER SETTINGS that work with a half-dozen other devices, just to get some cheapo-$200 tablet to work with it.

And, if you don't get it to work with your router, "you are done." Can you skip past it and try to use the tablet otherwise? No. Period.

Anyway, so what is "plain old Android" like? "Bleah" is my impression. I really do like what Samsung has done with Touchwiz and the apps it has selected, and I sorely missed them in the "plain old Android." Ick.

Finally, I noticed that the "much better screen" had "pretty awful color." People in many of the videos I played had noticeably yellow skin tones, for instance.

I zapped the thing and took it back, claiming I couldn't get it to work with my router (partly true). And then I spent an hour on the freeway to get myself a proper Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.

Price-wise, the Nexus 7 32-gig is $250. The 8-gig GT2-7 is $200, and 32-gig microSD cards are $25 or less. Yes, use that microSD slot and get more memory for less money.

And this is part of what burns me up about Google. True or not, I have read things like "Oh, Google doesn't want manufacturers to add microSD card slots" and other such nonsense. Let me tell you right now, I will never ever again buy a phone or a tablet without some user-installed memory slot.

And in the end, I've got a nice little Samsung tablet with all of the nice tweaks and better applications (oh, how I prefer the folder-playable Music Player app on the Samsung over whatever was on that Nexus 7), for a bit less money, and the "inferior" screen has good color. I couldn't be happier.

 

[extraclass]

Well put thoots. You covered it pretty well. The Tab-2 gives you about 4Gig for apps! How many apps can you put in 4 Gig, maybe 150-200? You can't need that many apps! You can't use that many apps. If you have used all the memory with apps I will bet good money you have icons on your tablet that you have no idea what they are. I have 87 apps on my Tab-2 and plenty room left for more apps. I think people see this as an imaginary problem that is not a real problem.

I also have at least a hundred songs, a couple hundred photos and several full length videos including a couple football games. They are on my SD card and I have room for more! If I want to take some more movies with me when I make a long trip I just load them on another SD card!

BTW I still have 1.92 Gig on the Tab-2 and 2.25 Gig on a 16 Gig SD card. There is no memory shortage here!

 

[ChrisMarinUK]

Once you install NOVA 3, Rayman Jungle Run and ShadowRun on the Tab 2, you are left with less than 700mb.

 

[thoots]

Once you install NOVA 3, Rayman Jungle Run and ShadowRun on the Tab 2, you are left with less than 700mb.

Can those be moved to the SD card? That would be the wise thing to do, if possible. Otherwise, installing enormous games on 8-gig devices isn't the most optimal way to go....

 

[HisSvt76]

No you can't and this is why I use my nexus 7 and the kids have this one.

 

[FiOS Dan]

Do you know if you can use a keyboard with this?

Yes, either Bluetooth or with an adapter via direct USB connection.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk HD

 

[Alex Pearsall]

Nexus 7 Will get key lime pie when its released before Samsung. Samsung's support for devices only last like 3 months they always want you to buy the new thing they have. It took them 10 months to get ics to the tab 10.1
I love my nexus 7 never will not love it! Nexus 7 beats the tab 2 with quad core which most new tablets are going to have. Then the tab people are going to feel owned and the SD doesn't matter with Google drive and drop box which you can put apps on!

 

[macbook5]

I have the 32 gb Nexus 7 Running Android 4.2.2 . The wifi is not good. I had no problem connecting to my wifi network, but the signal is up and down in strength and therefore speed. I cannot go 'anywhere' in my house like I can with my ipad2. I regret buying it due to the wifi issue. If you search for something like "wifi problem on Nexus 7" you'll come up with a lot of people with problems to do with the wifi on their Nexus 7's. I wish I had done that before I bought it.
Anyone know of something to fix this? (Doubtful due to all the people experiencing these issues...)

 

[macbook5]

Got up today and took my packaged up Nexus 7 back to Best Buy 2 and a half months after I bought it. I told them how I walked around my 2600+ square foot house with my iPad2 in one hand, the Nexus 7 in the other comparing wifi signals. iPad2 was exponentially better. I also brought in a 22 second video clip I recorded last night showing them how the wifi signal went up and down randomly for no apparently reason. I explained the lengths I have gone to, to find out about this problem, how I tried every 'fix' out there short of rooting and lo and behold, right away they offered me a trade to another device! Couldn't believe it! 2 1/2 months after purchase. Sure tells me that they know there is a problem with these devices and their wifi. So I picked myself up another iPad, but this time a mini. I will miss having an Android tablet, but at least I will always get on line if wifi is available.