When it comes to picking a 7-inch tablet, the options are not as small as they used to be. Manu manufacturers are realizing that not every consumer wants a 9 or 10 inch tablet and as such they have adjusted their approach. Most famous for their infamous refusal to make something smaller than 9.7 inches is Apple, who as of now entered the 7-inch tablet scene, though many in their marketing division will be quick to point out that the iPad Mini is not really 7-inches but 7.9-inches. At any rate we include it here.
Nexus 7
With a starting price of just $199 for a 16GB Wi-Fi only version, there is no use in arguing that the Nexus 7 is the best 7-inch tablet available. It comes with stock Android, over half a million apps, all the great Google services and a great 720p screen and quad-core processor. If you need more storage, you can add a 32GB version or even give it 3G on AT&T’s or T-Mobile’s network. Of course those options will cost you but even with that it is still less than the base iPad Mini.
iPad Mini
Maybe Apple finally realized that people didn’t agree with them about the whole bigger is better issue. Or maybe they convinced themselves that they didn’t bow to pressure but instead blazed their own trail. Whatever their logic was, it was good and as such the iPad Mini has been born. With a starting price of just $329 for the base model, it’s a lot less than the $499 asking price of its bigger brother. With the iPad Mini you get 16GB, 32Gb or 64GB of storage with 3G and 4G options for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Only reason why it ranks below the Nexus 7, it’s screen is disappointing.
Kindle Fire HD
The Kindle Fire used to be our favorite 7-inch tablet but in the wake of the iPad and Nexus 7, the venerable tablet has taken third place in our hearts. That’s not to say that the Kindle Fire HD isn’t a good tablet. It is quite good and currently has tens of thousands of popular Android apps in its App Store. Only issue is the web browsing isn’t as great as we would like it to be. But if you can excuse the minor issues we have with this tablet for $199 this tablet is a great bargain. Need more memory? Add another $50 and you get double the memory. There are even 4G options available and that screen is 720p.
Nook HD
