I held back for a long time, and came close to finally buying a handheld when the Kindle Fire came out. But what convinced me to wait a few more months was the argument I've been making here, about full-featured versus hobbled Android implementations. The Kindle Fire practically screamed at me: It's possible to make the hardware inexpensively enough to sell around $200, and it's only a matter of time until somebody sells an equivalent tablet without any features removed. This Tab 2/7 was the first to hit that sweet spot, but it sure won't be the last.

What a difference a few months makes, eh? You're describing your Fire as inferior to my Tab, but that's only because of the time that's passed. The Fire was the "It Tablet" less than a year ago.

I've been thinking about the device size issue. It's delightful to think that Star Trek came up with a system of categorizing these devices that we're just now starting to see fully realized. Our desktop displays are equivalent to the "LCARS" flat panels on all the latter-day Treks. Then we saw communicators realized as cell phones. The latest thing is tablets working like handheld PADDs, and then there's that middle category like the tricorders, occupied by both high-end smart phones and the 7" class of tablet. It's uncanny how people in the real now pick up these devices and instantly start looking like extras on Star Trek.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the Bluetooth Borg shambling along city streets and corporate corridors. Creepy.

That's why I see the 10" pads (funny, I first typed that as "padds") in a different ecological niche than the 7" tablets and big smartphones.

For me it's definitely a portable device. I wear cargo pants now when I go out for my thrice-daily heart walks, with a pocket big enough for the Tab. I'm trying out pedometer apps that work with GPS to track my walks and plot them on a map. Way cool. Today I learned that you can get heart monitors that interface through bluetooth to Android/iPhone apps, and I'm interested. I'm gonna be full Borg myself before too long.

Maybe this is how a species starts down the cyborg path? One little app at a time.

There's a definite place for the 10" tablets, and that was where my attention first focused. Circumstances led me to the smaller category, but I can also imagine myself enjoying the tablet format, especially for things like video and upscale text like magazines. That'd be sweet. I'd say that if you don't need portability, hell yeah, go for a big padd. There, did it again. Leaving it this time.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" has got to be the harbinger of a 10" to come. Given how far down they've pushed the price in this generation--$249 for the 7"--I'd expect the 10" for no more than $350. Or $349 even. I had a fairly high opinion of the brand going in, and I got what I expected. Give Samsung a couple of months and maybe they'll have your big tablet.