What's the best Android tablet and why?

[eds817]

As you can tell from my limited posts I am both new here and not very knowledgeable of the Android OS or devices.

My wife has an HTC Inspire with AT&T and loves it. I'm quite sure she only uses a fraction of its features.

I'm a BlackBerry man myself. It was my first smartphone and I even had a PlayBook for a little over 2 months. Just returned it today to Best Buy because they damaged it putting on a Zagg invisible shield.

So now I have a $750 Best Buy gift card that wants to get spent. Before I buy another PlayBook I wanted to take a look on the dark side.

It's only been a day and I miss my tablet already. Like all tablets the PlayBook has its pluses and minuses. Great display and video recording, 7" size is convenient but certain sites like the NY Times doesn't render well in portrait. But I'm not here to discuss the PlayBook. Rather I'd like to get your input on the Android devices. What in your opinion is the best tablet right now of about to be released and why?

I plan on taking a look at the Toshiba Thrive when it comes out this Friday. I like the replaceable battery as well as the SD card reader. If I'm able to store items on the card and read from it then I don't see the need to anything bigger then 32GB, maybe even 16. Being hot swap-able would make it even nicer.

In addition to the positive points please tell me the negatives.

I forgot to mention that iPad is not an option. I like the Flash site too much.

 

[drethos]

there really is no best imo atm. i think its all personal preference. i found to be partial to the g-tab 10.1, its light but still gives you the 10 inchs that the ipad boasts. buts got one thing i love, no buttons on the face or directly on its back. the power button on the back of the xoom pissed me off to no end. i kept bumping it and turning it off.
now many may say the toshiba or acer or what ever, personally what you should do is take a trip to best buy or another tech store, try all of them. the dell, the ipad, the hp, the playbook, the htc, the g-tab, the acer, all of them availible and find the one that fits your needs. is size and protability then any of the 7 inch tabs maybe in your range, or is it something you wanna loung about playing games? then you want a 10 inch android or the ipad. now i know you said the ipad is out completely, i dont blame you for this. i owned a ipad 2 for a day and am glad i returned it everytime i turn on the galaxy and my playbook.
my personal opinion is that the galaxy tab is the best tablet for ME. but i also own a playbook (despite rims short commings). find the tablet that is best for you thats all i can really tell you in good faith.
Mind you the Xoom, g-tab, the Acer (I think), and the trive have card reading abilities. But the g-tab requires an accessory for it and I don't know if the xooms works yet.

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[tagacapiz]

my SD card for the xoom works as well as USB hosting. I'm rooted of course.

I would recommend you get the US xoom. but the Toshiba thrive looks good as is. Toshiba is a reputable company but they're new to android so no one really knows how OS updates are going to be. US xoom is Google flagship tablet so it should get the updates first.


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[Xenovic]

I've also been looking into getting an Android tab, and I'm on the fence. The problem is, I know where and how I would use it, but it doesn't seem like the one no-brainer feature is available... an IR out.

Sounds strange maybe, but I sit in front of the tv and use my phone to browse the net and then I have to pick up the remote, fast forward, play... why can't I do that with my tablet... seems like a pretty obvious app-space...

Does anyone know of a solution to this? Or is it something that I'll never see, and if so, any idea why? I'm not adverse to using an RF remote, either... but still not something I'm seeing... or at least not something I'm noticing on the spec sheets...

 

[Major]

As of right now the Motorola Xoom is running Android 3.2 with SD card support amongst other improvements. It's also built like a tank compared to the others. Some people complain about the weight and the screen's quality, but if you try it out and are okay with those things, it's a good buy at the new $499 price point.

 

[tagacapiz]

i second major's statement here.

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