Tablet advice.

So Christmas is coming up in a month! My family is thinking of getting my dad a tablet. We're thinking of a Kindle Fire. I would like to give him an iPad or iPad mini but that would be too expensive for us. The Kindle Fire is around our price range at $200.00. But here's the problem, I have no knowledge of the Kindle Fire at all. My dad would primarily use the tablet to surf the web, watch videos, and listen to music. So would the Kindle Fire be good for him or is there another better suited tablet out there? (The only tablet I know of is the iPad)

The Google Nexus 7 is supposed to be pretty good.

16 GB @ $199

32 GB @ $250

I'd imagine it's better than the Kindle Fire.

Here be a comparison from Tested highlighting some differences between Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD.

Nexus 7 or 10 hands down. They're fast, powerful, have a good app library, and best of all, affordable.

I love my Acer A500. Dirt cheap, runs SNES9X for Android like a charm which connects to the Wii classic controller via Bluetooth very easily, has a standard mini HD output on board and comes with the cord. My fourteen year-old self would have committed unspeakable acts to own this thing.

@BestUsernameEver said:

Nexus 7 or 10 hands down. They're fast, powerful, have a good app library, and best of all, affordable.

That's not really true, Android has a pretty horrible library for tablets. The Nexus 7 gets away with it because blown up phone apps don't look quite as bad.

Tablet droid is only worthwhile when the screen size is around 7" I think, the 10" tablets don't have the apps to back them up. Nexus 7 is a good device but I still think 16:9 is a dumb ratio.

OP if you mean the new Kindle Fire (not last years shitty one) then that will be fine, either that or the Nexus 7.

I find it hard to say good things about Android on tablet, think it's fan-fucking-tastic on the phone side though, way better than iOS.

For ~$200, Nexus 7.

@SexyToad: i have a nexus 7 and it's the best computational purchase i've made in years. a fantastic device and an absolute steal at the price. the kindle fire HD is supposed to be a very similar device too. if so, you can't go wrong.

I just bought a Nexus 7. Seems pretty cool, if not a bit useless.

Keep in mind that the Kindle Fires all run custom versions of Android that are currently based on the dated Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Not a huge deal, but Android advances quickly, and this is going to become more of a downside as time goes on. It's unlikely the Fire tablets will see any significant software upgrades, while the Nexus 7 will presumably receive each new version of Android for as long as it makes sense, which should be a little while.

I've been looking at the Nexus 10 lately. It's new so I'm thinking about the next version of it once Google/Samsung work out all the kinks. It's twice as expensive as the Nexus 7 model but still cheaper than an Ipad. The Asus Transformer Infinity looks pretty good, too for an Android tablet but comes in around the Ipod price range.

Get the Nexus 7. It's a tad more but it's a much better device.

I love my iPad but maybe that's not something you're interested in right now. But that's the tablet I use and love.

As others have said, Nexus 7. It's leaps and bounds over the competition at that price.

Throwing my hat in for the Nexus 7. Great price and the best Android tablet on the market. I picked one up a month or so ago and I love it.

@Sooty said:

@BestUsernameEver said:

Nexus 7 or 10 hands down. They're fast, powerful, have a good app library, and best of all, affordable.

That's not really true, Android has a pretty horrible library for tablets. The Nexus 7 gets away with it because blown up phone apps don't look quite as bad.

Tablet droid is only worthwhile when the screen size is around 7" I think, the 10" tablets don't have the apps to back them up. Nexus 7 is a good device but I still think 16:9 is a dumb ratio.

OP if you mean the new Kindle Fire (not last years shitty one) then that will be fine, either that or the Nexus 7.

I find it hard to say good things about Android on tablet, think it's fan-fucking-tastic on the phone side though, way better than iOS.

That's true, I haven't used the Nexus 10 obviously, but own a Nexus 7. Like you said, the phone resolution apps scale up to 7 inches decently enough to not notice it.

The asus tablet is actually really good, i have one

Thanks everyone, I will be going with the Nexus 7.