Best tablet for gaming around the $200 price point?

By LOC
in Mobile Gaming

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Grand Master

KingCracker

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ugh, i hate those slip cases personally, they're just too bulky IMO

that's why i like the case i linked so much, it's minimal because it just snaps on yet it gets the job done :) took forever for a non bulky one like that to come out for the nexus 7 though

anyway, i didn't realize that the fire hd supported smart covers as well. it's really a nice feature when you can get a cover that makes use of it

I don't find it to be a problem I like mine personally,I guess its a personal preference thing. I like how I can fold it any way I like it has two magnets in it to hold the position you choose together.

For you downside, for many others it's an advantage. The Nexus 7 is portable, can be held in one hand, fits in your jeans pocket, and offers pretty decent screen real-estate - 7" at 1280x800 (which is the same as kindle fire hd 7"). Nexus 7 is far superior than Nook/Kindle Fire without any doubts - there is no third part lockdown like Kindle/Nook and specs on Nexus 7 are better overall. Unless you are invested in Amazon Prime services, there is absolutely no reason to get the Kindle (same with Nook). You can just download the Kindle/Nook apps and use their marketplace if you wish to do so on Nexus 7.

Personally I wouldn't be sticking anything that large in a pants pocket regardless of size, any tablet is probably going to be thrown in a backpack if its going some where with me anyway. I can hold my kindle fire hd in one hand easily, I can barely palm it but I can hold it in one hand. I have prime and I love it so its not a downside for me plus there are ways to root the kindle fire hd now. And its not like you can't use the web browser to find other apps thats not on the amazon store.
Veteran

Darrian

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I got some Nexus 7s for my daughters, and they're great. However, I am a bit irritated that there is no SD card port. If you're considering the Kindle Fire HD, you should also consider the Nook HD. The Nook HD has better specs at the $199 price point, except for the internal storage, but it does have a SD card slot, so that's mostly a non-issue. It has been rooted so you can install CM10 on it now, and it might give you a better gaming tablet than the Kindle for the same price (though neither are as good as the Nexus, they're both probably more than good enough for Android games; I'm still gaming on my Nook Color running CM10, which is a dinosaur compared to what is available now).

Grand Master

KingCracker

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I got some Nexus 7s for my daughters, and they're great. However, I am a bit irritated that there is no SD card port. If you're considering the Kindle Fire HD, you should also consider the Nook HD. The Nook HD has better specs at the $199 price point, except for the internal storage, but it does have a SD card slot, so that's mostly a non-issue. It has been rooted so you can install CM10 on it now, and it might give you a better gaming tablet than the Kindle for the same price (though neither are as good as the Nexus, they're both probably more than good enough for Android games; I'm still gaming on my Nook Color running CM10, which is a dinosaur compared to what is available now).

I guess but you're not going to be playing xbox/ps3 type games on them any way. The way I see tablet games is a casual type gaming device, where I really don't care about graphics all that much, just games where when i'm bored I can pick up the tablet for 5 minutes and play and then be done with it. I use it for movies,music and books more though. But I mean its up to the end user to decide what they want. For me the Kindle Fire HD was good enough, I don't need to do any technical stuff with it or have ultra high quality graphics ( whatever that means for adroid games) so its more than enough.
Grand Master

tsupersonic

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Personally I wouldn't be sticking anything that large in a pants pocket regardless of size, any tablet is probably going to be thrown in a backpack if its going some where with me anyway. I can hold my kindle fire hd in one hand easily, I can barely palm it but I can hold it in one hand. I have prime and I love it so its not a downside for me plus there are ways to root the kindle fire hd now. And its not like you can't use the web browser to find other apps thats not on the amazon store.

I mentioned the pocket comment because it just shows you how small the device really is. I personally wouldn't pocket it either, but I definitely can fit it in my jeans. What's the point of rooting/custom ROM'ing your kindle fire? Why go through all that trouble when you can get a Nexus device for the same exact price with better specs and runs stock Android (with timely updates)? Like I said, unless you are invested in Amazon Prime, there is no advantage to having a Kindle Fire over the Nexus 7, in many ways the Kindle Fire is far inferior than the Nexus 7. Besides if you are interested in rooting/ROM's, the Nexus 7 has an excellent dev. community that whips out custom ROMs. There's a reason why the Nexus 7 gets so much praise for what it offers at that price point...
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SkyDX

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Well I sadly can't say anything about the Nexus 7 but I have to say pairing a DualShock controller makes gaming on a tablet very very convenient :) And my Galaxy Tab 2 pulls this off even in CPU limited mode:

FusjI.jpg

Grand Master

KingCracker

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I mentioned the pocket comment because it just shows you how small the device really is. I personally wouldn't pocket it either, but I definitely can fit it in my jeans. What's the point of rooting/custom ROM'ing your kindle fire? Why go through all that trouble when you can get a Nexus device for the same exact price with better specs and runs stock Android (with timely updates)? Like I said, unless you are invested in Amazon Prime, there is no advantage to having a Kindle Fire over the Nexus 7, in many ways the Kindle Fire is far inferior than the Nexus 7. Besides if you are interested in rooting/ROM's, the Nexus 7 has an excellent dev. community that whips out custom ROMs. There's a reason why the Nexus 7 gets so much praise for what it offers at that price point...

Well the reason I chose the Kindle Fire HD over the Nexus is the storage space, to me 8GB isn't enough and if you want more than you're going to have to up the money you want to spend. I'm not a techy and I really don't care about doing anything to the device, I am invested in Amazon prime, the 2 day shipping, free movies and books are at my disposal on my kindle so why should I change it? What little gaming I do on it I don't notice any lag or slow downs so it doesn't really matter what specs the Nexus has as the kindle performs nicely for me.
Grand Master

spaceelf

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Well the reason I chose the Kindle Fire HD over the Nexus is the storage space, to me 8GB isn't enough and if you want more than you're going to have to up the money you want to spend. I'm not a techy and I really don't care about doing anything to the device, I am invested in Amazon prime, the 2 day shipping, free movies and books are at my disposal on my kindle so why should I change it? What little gaming I do on it I don't notice any lag or slow downs so it doesn't really matter what specs the Nexus has as the kindle performs nicely for me.

They come with 16GB or 32GB at the same price points now, the 8GB version seems to have been discontinued.

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_7_8GB?id=nexus_7_8gb

Grand Master

tsupersonic

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Well the reason I chose the Kindle Fire HD over the Nexus is the storage space, to me 8GB isn't enough and if you want more than you're going to have to up the money you want to spend. I'm not a techy and I really don't care about doing anything to the device, I am invested in Amazon prime, the 2 day shipping, free movies and books are at my disposal on my kindle so why should I change it? What little gaming I do on it I don't notice any lag or slow downs so it doesn't really matter what specs the Nexus has as the kindle performs nicely for me.

Like Deranged said, the Google play store only sells the 16 GB ($199) or 32 GB ($249) variants. I agree, Amazon Prime service is great. I just find the Instant video service to be very lacking in titles, so I just use Netflix. There are rumors that the Instant video service is coming to all other Android tablets, as they released an iPad app. The only thing I'm missing is the Kindle lending library feature.
Grand Master

KingCracker

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They come with 16GB or 32GB at the same price points now, the 8GB version seems to have been discontinued.

https://play.google....?id=nexus_7_8gb

I Never thought to look on the google play store, amazon is selling it for 259. I may pick up the Nexus 7 when I get paid.

Like Deranged said, the Google play store only sells the 16 GB ($199) or 32 GB ($249) variants. I agree, Amazon Prime service is great. I just find the Instant video service to be very lacking in titles, so I just use Netflix. There are rumors that the Instant video service is coming to all other Android tablets, as they released an iPad app. The only thing I'm missing is the Kindle lending library feature.

I had Netflix but I changed to prime as its cheaper in the long run and you get more content (more than just movies).
Grand Master

LOC Veteran

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I'm curious, something I haven't heard to much about but is probably important being the Nexus 7 doesn't support memory expansion (mostly) - how much of the 16GB (which is the one I'm getting) is usable and how much is taken up by the OS itself?

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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ever heard about razor gaming tablet to be released soon?

what does it matter? it's definitely not going to be in his price range

heck, I'd be surprised if that thing will be as low as $1,500

I'm curious, something I haven't heard to much about but is probably important being the Nexus 7 doesn't support memory expansion (mostly) - how much of the 16GB (which is the one I'm getting) is usable and how much is taken up by the OS itself?

android only takes about 2 - 2.5 gigs
Grand Master

LOC Veteran

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Ah, that's not bad actually. I suppose if I go the USB OTG thingie route, I won't have to worry to much about it either way.

And yes medhunter, I've heard of the Razor tablet from CES. If that comes out at $200 or so, I'm pretty sure the internet would implode.

Grand Master

spaceelf

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Yeah the Nexus 7 didn't use too much, but 16GB wasn't enough for me. I'm glad I sold it off and can acquire a 32 now.

I'd rather get a Windows RT box bot those don't have much of an ecosystem and seem to be geared more to business users than casual users at the moment.

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Dotdot

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Nexus 7 here, cant fault it. Great wee gaming machine. Plays all my roms and anything else I can throw at it with ease.

Cant imagine life without it now tbh :)

Well, got my Nexus 7 today. Got it loaded up with a few apps and games, but so far i'm just trying to get used to it. Heh. Not sure if I'm gonna root it or not yet though.

No real need to root it yet here tbh, theres an app for using usb memory sticks etc without needing root access aswell.

i may root mine at some point when I can gain a performance boost from it, but so far it just seems so uneeded.

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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like Colicab said, you don't necessarily need to root the nexus 7, but if you do decide to at least you'll know that it's a very easy device to root :) http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/

Grand Master

LOC Veteran

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Hmmm, if you can use a memory stick without rooting, I'll go that route for sure then. Also, I hate all these stupid Zynga like mobile games! Though Dead Trigger sure looks amazing considering what it's running on and all. Kinda disappointed Epic didn't bring over Infinity Blade to android now, dumb dumbs.

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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Hmmm, if you can use a memory stick without rooting, I'll go that route for sure then. Also, I hate all these stupid Zynga like mobile games! Though Dead Trigger sure looks amazing considering what it's running on and all. Kinda disappointed Epic didn't bring over Infinity Blade to android now, dumb dumbs.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple is paying them a good amount for them to keep it iOS only :/
Grand Master

Aergan

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Been playing Sega Megadrive games on a Nexus 7 this evening, highly recommended. Not the most demanding of applications but worked well in fullscreen with a 2xSuperEagle filter. :)

Grand Master

+Eternal Tempest MVC

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Another Vote for Nexus 7 (I own one).

Solid tablet, runs well, get's newest Android OS's the fastest.

Also can easily restore the tablet back to factory in case the adventures of installing custom builds / rooting, etc. doesn't go well.

https://developers.g...id/nexus/images

Grand Master

+Eternal Tempest MVC

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iPad has the most games and much better quality games / Apps

iPad's start at $329 and go up. OP is looking for something in $200 range.

There's also quality games on android. Not saying apple doesn't have them either.

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