Lets Talk Tablets. I love them, but...

Recently I've been shopping around. I'm no where near close to buying something. First I need more money ;). But I always love saturating myself with knowledge about the field of electronics. C|net has always seemed like the perfect place for the reviews of the top products, and I most often agree with them. So I looked at about 15 of the leading tablets.

When I was comparing these tablets, C|net kept saying "But you can often find a better value in a full fledged laptop. So I spent some time looking at laptops... They lied! Sure, laptops can be much more efficient when it comes to power, but the price ranges just do not match up! So I went back to the tablets.

Thank god for tablets, or we would all be playing angry birds with a damn touch-pad mouse or on our 2.5" screen iPhones. But the more I play around with them, the more I wonder why none of the companies making them have had the balls to make a one-size fits all tablet that's actually amazing?

The market is extremely well balanced. When one product falls behind even a little bit, the competitors outclass them by leaps and bounds. Even the iPad is susceptible to this competitive market. But what I've come to suspect is that these companies are HOLDING OUT ON US.

There are two questions I ask when I'm looking at a tablet. The first is, "How functional is it?" Does it have good specs and features? Is the OS nice and can it be updated? With Android there is almost always at least one major problem. Either it's $200 too expensive, or it's missing some major feature like a camera, expandable memory, or the newest version of android. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is very good in these respects. However, it's really confusing that this tablet is a year newer but has worse hardware than the Tab 7.0 plus! It's worse in most respects to it's predecessor, except for it's updated OS. When it comes to functionality, the iPad reins supreme. It doesn't have expandable memory, but it makes up for it with the nearly flawless iOS and the whole apple package (apps, itunes, apple store).

The second question I ask is, "How comfortable is it to use?" When I hold an iPad, I feel like I'm going to drop the damn thing. That 10" monster is impossible to type on unless you put it down and use both hands. It's great for watching movies and playing games, but it's heavy and the new ones get super hot! All of this really wears your hand out after a few mins. So, that is where the 7" tablets come in!

I love this size! It's pretty much perfect. The tablets are lighter, have better battery life, and are always cheaper. Even the clunky Kindle Fire is really comfortable to use! The Google nexus is pretty much the most comfortable tablet I've ever held. (Seriously, if you ever see one, pick it up!... then just make sure to wipe the drool off your chin.) The nexus is at an amazing price too! But, unfortunately, it does lack a few features. I simply don't know why things like an expandable memory slot should mean the difference between a $200-$300 tablet and a $400-$500 tablet!

What I want:
-An apple or android tablet that is a comfortable 7" tablet so I can hold it while typing with my thumbs.
-It should have an operating system that's not just a version of android that's been overhauled and rendered half as useful (like the nook or kindle fire) and needs to be up-to-date and/or updatable.
-I want at least one decent camera. I don't need a rear-facing camera. I'd rather see what I'm taking a picture of than be able to do video chats. A flash would be great too.
-I'd like expandable memory but don't absolutely need it.

Right now the only thing that seems to be holding people back is putting all of those features into a tablet that's around the $250 price range. Right now for $250 you can get a B+. For $400 you can get an A-, and for $500 you can get an A. But there is no A+ on the market right now. If anyone were to ever do it, I'm assuming it will be Apple. But, I hate to say it, we haven't seen a decent product come out of the company since Steve Jobs passed. And we know, even if that rumored iPad Mini ever does come out, the price difference to the full iPad is probably going to be negligible.

Lets hope that the new iPhone is amazing, or that apple does something impressive in the next few months. Even though it literally became the most valuable company ever this past week, the future does not promise smooth sailing.

But that's another story.