Android Tablets

[Tanooki]

Currently I'm looking at the following...
Shield Tablet
Nexus 9
Samsung Tab S (not S2)

Prices seem about the same, just not sure on the quality at least of the Tab S as far as the entertainment side (games) things go. Nexus 9 bugs me because of no expansion you're stuck with what it has, but seems quite good otherwise. And it's similar to the Shield in that respect for overall performance and I like the stylus thing on the Shield.

[noiseredux]

IF I was going to buy a nice tablet for gaming, I'd go with the Shield. Reviews have been fantastic. And Nvidia hardware is always solid. Plus you know it will work great w/ that Nvidia controller - which again will be solid hardware. The stylus is nice too, yeah. And you've got access to in-home streaming from a PC if you've got a GTX. And you've got access to game-streaming from Nvidia's servers should you want to investigate their GRID service. It's got a lot going for it as an honest-to-goodness GAMING tablet.

But so far I've found no compelling reason to do so. Any of the tablet-centric Android games I play aren't especially taxing work just fine on relatively low-level devices. I use a budget Acer tab currently.

[Tanooki]

That laptop I saved up last year for like 6 months to get, that still is as top of the line as you can get today especially with video. Nvidia GTX 980M 6GB of video ram on it. I've seen plenty of what it can do in relation with their portable devices and that is tempting. Also I was surprised to find as hearty as the thing is on parts, it's affordable. Other things offering what it has for that price isn't quite as nice, especially without a sale.

The problem is with that battery recall, you can't find one. Even with them having fixed batteries in them now going to stores, a lot will not I guess carry it because all the former links to Best Buy, Staples, Amazon, NewEgg, and others are all dead. A few have after market, and those trolls want a premium if it's new still. There's a v2 of the tablet coming which is a pocket version of the Shield console but that feels overkill to me. Maybe by the time the 2 rolls out I can find a 1 at a discount. $300 is about as much as I'm willing to pop for a tablet anyway and I don't mind if it's 16GB when you can offload stuff to a micro sd card and store/install it there.

[marlowe221]

Interesting suggestions - I will definitely look into all of them.

The Shield looks pretty cool but I think it might be kind of overkill for what I want to do with it, a bit like swatting a fly with a cruise missile.

[noiseredux]

Interesting suggestions - I will definitely look into all of them.

The Shield looks pretty cool but I think it might be kind of overkill for what I want to do with it, a bit like swatting a fly with a cruise missile.

I've not found anything I'd want to play on a tablet that I'd need a Shield Tablet. But the Shield Portable - with its built in controls - def makes sense to have such power. I've ripped my PS1 discs and played them on there for instance.

[Tanooki]

Well I actually nailed down a new post-recall shield tablet along with their accessory case for it on ebay mid-day Saturday, obo'd it for $320 shipped (saved $40+tax from retail.) Did not realize he was sitting right there, but he was in CA and shipped it moments later. I'm supposedly going to have it in the mail here anytime whenever the postman shows up.

Yes because of the TegraK1 CPU/GPU chip in there it's somewhat of a heavy hitter, but it'll last and for the other reasons I had mentioned like synching to my laptop I went for it. I did almost pop on the Tab S 8.4 an hour earlier as they were $100 off at BestBuy that day, but I didn't like their forced OS and some other junk, though that AMOLED screen was nice.

What pushed me also from the Tab, Samsung tactics, they won't allow linking it to a TV or any device without buying a closed adapter they make. The Shield their jack on the side also works as a mini-HDMI port, so a basic off the shelf mini to normal HDMI cable makes it basically a Tegra K1 version of their TegraX1 console(as the non-pro also has 16GB inside.) I have my steelseries free mobile bluetooth controller so I can take it around, or easily pop it into my TV with no problem at all. The nexus supposedly could do it, but the cable I bought that works for it would mostly cut out or just not play nice and chromecast streaming outside of netflix and youtube just didn't work right would just lose sync and die. Games would other than the tap type lag and disconnect too.

It is beefy but for what I was liking to get out of it in relation to itself and linking to other devices I have it hit the top of the list.

[AmishSamurai]

I'm interested in this too. Looking for one that's:

-$250 or less
-a 10.1" tablet
-Decent build quality, feels like it has some actual weight
-decent specs, like if I emulated psp/dc games there wouldn't be an issue
-I know they're super rare if not nonexistent but any with a full usb port would be nice.

Also, do people still root android tablets? Is that still a thing?