UPDATED: Tablet Buying Guide: Comparing Major Brands, Specs & Prices

UPDATED 11/6: We’ve added Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablets. For more on the Nook, go here.

UPDATED 10/31: We’ve added Google’s new Nexus 10 tablet to the chart. For more on the Nexus 10, go here.

It may be impossible for us to pick a tablet for you. After all, personal preferences and needs account for a lot when it comes to gadgets. But we can at least help you know what’s out there! There’s a ton of different choices, so we’ve broken out the specs on some of leading tablets (including Kindle, iPad, Surface and Nexus)  to help you compare and contrast.  Plus we’ll be updating this chart as more devices are released.

A few things to consider as you look at the chart below:

– What size tablet would be the most useful for you? When and where will you use the device most often?
– Is cellular connectivity important to you? There’s a significant price hike on devices with 3G and 4G LTE capabilities (they all include WiFi).
– We’ve listed the base prices below. Upgrades for additional storage or in the case of Kindle, devices without ads, will cost more.
– Pixels per Inch is a good guide to display quality, but quality is also affected by things like contrast and illumination. If this is a big concern, we recommend trying a device in person.

Are we missing a tablet you’re considering purchasing? Have more questions? Let us know in the comments!

tablet comparison chart buying guide
Questions? Let us know in the comments!

 

Ready for the new iPhone? Sell your old tech for cash or credit

Apple iPhone buyback offer
My iPhone buyback offer from Apple

Between last week’s new Kindle announcement, the new Nokia Lumia announcement, and this week’s new iPhone 5 announcement, you may be itching for some new tech. And if you’re upgrading old gadgets, you might want to sell your old tech to raise a little cash for a new purchase.

If you decide to sell your device, definitely do some comparison shopping! There’s a lot of competition in the used gadget buyback market, and some pros and cons to each competitor. But the idea is the same across the board: sell your old gadgets, get cash or credit. The basics about each site below, plus what they offered my for my 8GB iPhone 4. For each site I said that it was in fair to good condition, with no water damage or screen cracks, but that I wouldn’t be including the charger.

Gazelle.com
Classic. Gazelle is one of the originals in the gadget buyback game, and they still have one of the easiest consumer experiences. They buy all kinds of smartphones and cell phones, but as far as computers and tablets go they’re only interested in Mac products. Shipping your phone to Gazelle doesn’t cost anything, so you get to keep 100% of your payments (check, Amazon gift card or PayPal). My offer: $116.

Read More

Tablet Updates: Amazon Updates & Google Predictions

If there’s one thing we can conclude from all the tablet news from around the web this week, it’s that pretty soon we’ll have the widest range of screen sizes yet.

According to Demos Parneros, president of U.S. retail for Staples, Inc., Amazon will be introducing five or six tablet items, one of which will be a 10 inch model. There is no word on whether Amazon will retire any of their current e-reader iterations, but the 10″ tablet will almost certainly expand the more comprehensive Amazon Fire model that includes full color and multi-touch.google nexus 7

As Reuters notes, rumors have been swirling about whether Amazon will be entering the Smartphone market. Given that the Galaxy SIII has a 4.8inch screen (only two inches smaller than the Fire!) it seems like a foregone conclusion that Amazon has both the technical know-how and market incentive to launch smartphone as soon as possible. What size will the screen be? No one knows yet, but it’s worth noting that current iPhone 5 rumors peg that screen at a larger 4 inches.

Also competing at the 7inch size is the Google Nexus, the multi-touch tablet available for direct purchase from Google. The smaller 8GB version costs $199, the same price point as the Kindle Fire. But the larger 16GB has sold out at $249.00, with no word from Google as to when the tablet will be back in stock. With that kind of success, it would be a surprise if Google didn’t also expand into other size devices to meet the growing demand for tablet devices.

New Send To Kindle App for PC

When I bought an Amazon Kindle Fire for my wife, the setup procudure included creating an email address for her Kindle. I thought to myself “Why do I need an email address for a Kindle?” Unbeknownst to me, in order to get actual personal documents on a Kindle other than the Fire that can receive docs via mobile apps, the best way was to send the doc via email – The Kindle did the rest.

Amazon has stepped up its game and has released a Send to Kindle PC application that lets users “right-click” documents to send them directly to their Kindle. Additionally, you can highlight multiple files to send at once, and if you’re currently viewing a document, you can print to your Kindle as well – Similar to how Adobe Acrobat installs a virtual printer that lets you print to PDF.

Right now, the application is free, but only available on PC with Mac support coming soon. So, if you are viewing a document on your PC that you know you want to view while you’re on the go, sending an email to yourself is so last year (or thereabouts). Try the Send to Kindle app and let us know what you think in the comments section.

The World is Going Mobile: Amazon Kindle E-Books Outselling Print Books

At first, I didn’t see the Small Biz Go Mobile angle in the news from Amazon today that Kindle e-books are outselling print books. Sure, the Kindle is a mobile device, but compared to an iPad or an Android-based smartphone it’s a relatively dumb device. On a smartphone you tweet out advice to your followers, reply to urgent email, and locate a decent restaurant at the last minute for a business meeting. On a Kindle you can… read e-books. And take notes. And buy e-books. And… you get the picture.

The fact is, the world isn’t simply going digital, it already has. Amazon, founded back in 1995, made it’s name and it’s business by selling books better than not just the “Mom & Pop” stores, but the Barnes and Nobles of the world. That the e-book is now a better selling product for them than the physical book says a lot—the majority of Amazon customers have now gone digital.

So too must your business. Whether you’re accepting credit card payments with an iPhone, taking your meeting notes with a web app, or finding ways to become more productive while on the go, you need to take advantage of the benefits of digital technologies in order to stay competitive in today’s market.

The E-Reader Explosion: Choosing the Right E-Reader

Mario Armstrong appeared on the TODAY show this morning to help you decide which E-Reader is right for you. Mario takes a look at the Amazon Kindle, the Sony E-Reader, The Barnes and Noble Nook Color, and the Pandigital Novel Color Multimedia E-Reader. Take a look at the video below!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy