Archos 70 (250GB)

Pros: 250 Gb disk - unique AFAIK
Small, light, decent screen.

Cons: Not he most robust construction - handle with care. Requires the user to "get his hands dirty" with a few mods to get the most out of it. Think of this as buying a work in progress.

Summary: I spent a couple of hours in a local electronics emporium playing with half a dozen tablets and this one, apart from the iPad was the standout. I have to say I do not understand the viewing angle comments in the review - this unit had the best of the bunch (again aside from the iPad).

If value for money is your thing and you must have an android tablet but are not stupid enough to think of one as a laptop replacement then this is the one to go for. Further, if your primary desire is a portable media player with the added benefit of being able to do other things (all those Android goodies) then this one supports more video and audio codecs out of the box than any other option I have seen.

Right now the only competition I can see is an older iPad first generation. These can now be had for very little money more and offer a better overall experience (accepting the lack of flash).

In fact - were in not for the almost total absence of parental controls in Android this would have been my choice.

The screen resolution is lower than some other options out there but remember that this is only a 7 inch screen. In use, particularly when watching a decently recorded video on the screen it is actually excellent. That it offers an HDMI out is a huge bonus where 720p works out of the box and 1080p is possible with 3rd party software.

Also uniquely amongst the cheaper tablets - this is a conductive screen - so multi-touch is there and works very well (pinch to zoom and all that).

The only caveat to all of this is that I still haven't managed to get my hands on a Nook color - so that might be an option but that one needs far more hacking to get the most out of it.

In summary - the Archos 70 is the price a tablet OUGHT to be. At the prices of other options you could get a massively more powerful laptop in a variety of sizes.

After saying all of that I have to confess that despite being the local Android fanboy I got my daughter a Gen 1 iPad 32 Gb for her birthday in the end. Parental controls are essential IMHO for a 9 yea old.