This is me joining the tablet world

I want a tablet.

Why, because everyone else has one.

I think I need a tablet.

Yeah sure whatever, but which one?

Depends what you are going to do with it?

Same thing everyone else does...I think.

I want to read books, listen to music, keep up with my pod casts, surf the web, update my blogs, check e-mail, watch T.V and movies, and best of all play all those fun games that everyone is playing.

O.K. time for me to shop the snot out of it like I do every big major purchase that as long lasting ramifications and will make a huge impact on how I will operate in the coming future.

A bit dramatic...maybe but that is just me.

If I am going to use a touchy feel interface then by golly it better work.  Me and touch devices have not gotten along very well in the past so any device I end up with had better work well enough on the touchy part to avoid any regrets as well as a processor that will keep up with today.

I have found that there are five basic approaches to tablets so I will begin by a process of elimination.

5.  Generics.  They don't count because they are just copy cats of the real McCoy.  They maybe cheaper and will get you by if you are not too demanding or of lowered expectations but they will always come up short.  I am tired of coming up short due to compromising.  So anything that has a name I have never heard of or is a we have one of those too (HP, Dell, Sony) I am not interested and you are off the list.

4. Windows 8 and/or 8.1.  I will admit I have tried several times to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt but they have continued to disappoint me.  I have demoed many times on many different machines in may different stores with many salesman that tell me that "I have this at home and I love it after I got use to it".  I have looked for a replacement for this old home computer as well and I still don't love it anywhere close enough for me to get rid of my old box and I am running Vista if that tells you anything.

So when it comes to their tablets you would think that the Surface would be the shining example of what to look for in a Windows based tablet.  Sorry.  The entry level is overpriced and with just enough memory to open up (compare system memory requirements vs. available on the base unit and you will see what I mean).  The screen is smaller and the font is smaller.  This makes it a real pain to touch and select with any precision.  Remember me and my touchy problem, I saw much foreshadowing here.  The keyboard (option and extra) looks like a nice solution but is another not ready for prime time item from Microsoft.  Bundle this with price that made Apple look reasonable by comparison (more on this later) and Windows was quickly out of the running.  This includes the cloneables (see above).

3. Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook.  As I narrowed down the selection it became harder, not because of the hardware itself but because of the cloud world you would have to become tied to.  Both Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook are good units and you won't go wrong with either.  They are fairly priced for what you get.  Between the two I would go with the Kindle over the Nook because the Amazon world is so much broader than that of Barnes and Noble.  Having said that it became apparent that for that very reason I would have to leave them in 3rd place.  The whole world is so much broader than either Amazon or Barnes and Noble individually that by choosing one of these you would be limited to their offerings and not much beyond.  This is not an altogether bad thing as their is much, much to choose from but it is a limit.  As a side note I have noticed that some of the games that I can get for free with ads are sold for $.99 or something similar on these two sites for their own machines, not cool.

4. Apple iPads.  There are many Apples to choose from and they would all be pretty good to have, at least from what all the users tell you.  There is nothing to compare to Apple when it comes to brand loyalty.  There must be something to it., and there is.  They make a good product with a well developed system.  In Apple world things are simple; simple to learn, simple to use and they work.  There is much to draw you in to the Apple world.  The excuses of not being compatible with the MS world doesn't seem to matter at all anymore.  Apples can accomplish pretty much anything you want them to do and do them as well as any other system out there.  In fact they are able to do a lot of other things better making those other systems only wishing they could.  It is not that their product is anymore robust as a look at returns will so them to be about average but when they are working they integrate into the Apple world like only Apples can.

There is one thing Apple can't deliver for me and that one thing has turned me away from buying anything Apple literally hundreds of times, and that one thing is "Value".  Notice i did not say Price.  Pricing is a marketing gimmick that is used for placing your product in the worlds market.  There are certain price points that consumers respond to and usually the market will deliver product at those price points regardless of the value they represent.  Apple has been very good at training its customers to respond to a different set of price points than users of other similar items.  They are very good at maintaining those price points as new product is rolled out and sending the now obsolete prior generation stuff to a new but still high price point for which their loyal customers have become accustomed.  This may work for them but as an outsider it does not work for me.  As I have said before when I was looking for an MP3 player I can not justify spending 2 to 4 times as much for an Apple product.  I might have to compromise on somethings but I can do a lot of other things with the price savings.  I realize that value is more than just price, but when it comes to Apple it is about price too.

1. Nexus 7 (2013).  So I ended up with a Nexus 7.  When you are talking about who's world you are going to play in, the next best one outside of Apple is the whole rest of the web, and the one that seemed to best exemplify access to that is Google, Nexus and the Android platform.  I am going to do and extensive review of the Nexus 7 later but for now, here are the highlights.  Awesome screen with resolution that delivers, better than Apple in most cases.  It is smaller than the mini but that makes it very portable and with all my scriptures a finger touch away I can always carry it with me.  Besides it will fit in my pants pocket even if it does make them sag a little.  Google Play is a click away as well as aps for Amazon Kindle world and many many others.  I can't get Apple iTunes or any Apple content but that is part of the reason this became and either/or decision.  There are many games to be had as well as many aps to choose from.  I spent much time playing with the screen and although it is not perfect it is much better than they used to be and will work well enough until the next generation comes along.

There are some things I think could be better but that is to be expected with technology that is still advancing at a fast clip.  We are at one of those tipping points where how we operate and interact is advancing so fast that manufacturers are trying hard to figure out the next new thing while hanging on for all they are worth.

The biggest decider again was the price.  I was able to go for the unit with double the memory while adding a screen protector and fancy overpriced case with a $25 credit to Google Play and my bundled price with tax was still $100 less than the mini iPad.  Is it any wonder I went with the second gen Nexus?

I have said it before and I say it yet again, if Apple ever decided to they would own the market and wouldn't have to settle for the 9 - 12 % market share in PCs.  Although they think they are all that now with tablets and phones they could be so much more.  It will be interesting to watch them going forward and see if as in times past, when they lost their visionary leader will they lose their vision again, or will they come up with a new vision and purpose?  One that isn't willing to be so exclusionary to the other more practical 88%.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.