Thursday, June 23, 2011

Why I bought my Coby Kyros 7015 tablet

I have always wanted a tablet computer. Maybe it goes back to when I was watching Star Trek as a kid. I was excited when PenPoint OS and the Newton came out in the early 1990's. It took another 15 years for tablets to get into the consumer market.

Why do I want a tablet computer? What do I plan to do with it? I've used a Palm for many years and have been waiting for something with more capabilities. I like to keep some basic reference information and reading material with me. I would also like to be able to do some work at times away from my office. My laptop is great, but I'm looking for something lighter, with a longer battery life than 2.5 hours.

The iPad is a marvel of technology but carries a premium price for this technology. I also don't like the fact that it is a closed system, without USB ports. If I had the money, I would have bought a Notion Inc Adam tablet. It has an open Android architecture, is reasonably priced and has several technological firsts.

But I don't have a lot of money, so I researched the low priced Android tablets and the Coby Kyros had the best reviews.

Some of the features that influenced my decision:
  • Low price: I bought mine from Walmart for $138
  • 7 inch screen which is a good size; anything smaller would be too small and the iPad 10 inch screen is not that much larger. I was never impressed with the Droid phones because the screens were too small to do anything with.
  • Has accelerometer
  • Runs Android 2.1
  • Has one of the better resistive touch screens
  • Is supposed to have a 5 hour battery life, although I haven't done a time test yet.
  • Plenty of external memory - supports 16 GB external micro SB card
  • 256 meg of RAM
  • 4 gig internal memory
  • USB port can see 4 gig drive
  • Has standby mode of sorts - the screen can be turned off to preserve power

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