Updated December 8, 2021
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Mini tablets are now mainstream. With Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, Apple’s new iPad mini and Amazon’s Fire, the battle is on for market share as we head into the holiday buying season. Price tags aside, I suggest you first figure out what you want the device to do. Otherwise you’ll get lost in the marketing hype describing the latest bells and whistles. Do you really need 3G? Or is wireless connectivity sufficient as you’ll most likely use it at home or other location with wifi access.
As the proud owner of a first-generation Nexus 7 tablet, here are a few of my favorite features:
- Light and compact, it’s perfect for reading in bed or as a second screen when watching TV on the couch.
- Free Kindle app so I can read my “books.” It was fairly easy to register and I can send book downloads to my various devices (including my Android phone).
Easy access to my “Google World” like documents in Drive, Music Manager and of course email, calendar and other apps that keep me organized and in sync.- Stay in touch via social media apps like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn when I just can’t stand sitting at my computer one more minute.
- Browsing via Chrome which is my favorite browser because I can sync my bookmarks between all my Googly devices.
Easy access to my “Google World” like documents in Drive, Music Manager and of course email, calendar and other apps that keep me organized and in sync.To be fair, choosing the right device is based upon which camp you’re in. Either you’re Team Google or Team Apple. That doesn’t mean you can’t straddle both worlds, but it requires being comfortable in both operating systems. Unless your life revolves around the latest gadgets and cache of calling yourself an early adopter, my advice is to stick to one or the other. Our lives are complicated enough. In the long run simplicity just makes sense.
Teaching Kids at Stanford University