Is a tablet without a camera at a disadvantage?

tonyp

Member
Nov 1, 2011
73
1
I've been drooling at the thought of getting the new Nook Tablet, but to get the most from a new tablet is a cam of great necessity? I'm thinking primarily of those new coded "widget" squares that are popping up all over the place (in magazines and the like). Without a cam to read those things, do we lose out on part of what makes a tablet so handy?
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
Honestly, I never use the cam in my tablet, if I need a pic I use my phone. As far as the ScanCodes, most of those right now don't really lead anywhere too interesting that you can't already get to just as quickly from the main site. This is sure to change, but I certainly haven't found it to be a requirement in any way.
 

tonyp

Member
Nov 1, 2011
73
1
I guess I'm worried about how future proof my selection should be. Does a dual core get me more "future-proofness" than a cam and mic?
 

rockstr

Member
Nov 8, 2011
3
1
I have a Nook Color (rooted) and love it, but there is one app for which I dearly wish it had a camera, and that is a dvd library app. The major apps available will let you manually type in the product code, but it takes forever if you have many dvd's. With a camera, I could scan in the dvd barcodes quite quickly, making it much easier for initial setup and then for later updates to my library. Other than that, I haven't missed the camera at all.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Android Tablet Forum
 

Androidfonefan

Senior Member
Jan 14, 2012
474
49
Any normal Android tablet can run the Kindle or Nook apps turning one device in to both for the purpose of reading ebooks.
If you are prepared to spend near 200.00 for this reader you might consider buying a Android tablet instead.

I recently purchased a Vizio VTAB 1008
1766vtab1008-tablet_rt_hort_500.jpg


The picture you see her is exactly what the home screen looks like, but for 3 dollars you can buy the VTL Launcher from the Android Market and give this tablet the look and feel of any other tablet, VTL Launcher works great on mine.
I picked this tablet up from my local WalMart for less than 200.00 a little over a month ago. Vizio is getting ready to release its new 10.1 inch tablet so expect to see the price on the 8 inch models to drop in the near future.
This tablet has one front facing camera and no back. The camera works very well provided you have plenty of light, low light conditions not so much. But this is true for about any digital camera.
And despite what you might hear about Vizio, it is not a cheap do nothing brand, it is just a lower cost option, and it is an American brand, unfortunately not made in the US but what electronics are these days, but Vizio is a US American company based out of California.
 

J515OP

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jan 6, 2011
5,172
899
Camera isn't a huge deal unless you really, really want to use you tablet for communication. As has been noted if the scan codes are something you are interested in you are more likely to use a phone that a tablet for that purpose. If you are on a budget the camera is an easy thing to skip. If not, most of the higher price tablets come with a camera whether you decide to use it or not, so it isn't really an issue.

Tablets are basically disposable items at this stage in the game so don't worry about "future proofing" too much. This isn't a desk top that is going to serve you for years and years. Not that it won't last that long but more than likely you can't expect you tablet to be relevant for more than about two years. At that point it will be forgotten and probably unsupported by the manufacture for updates and so on.

Generally speaking though I would say it is a good idea to go with a dual core tablet at this point just to make sure you do have a decent experience with your tablet for the next couple of years.
 
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