Okay folks I desperately need some help as I'm well and truly out of date with technology (do you want some Dolby with that granddad? ).

Mrs Stan has an Apple ipad2 and a HTC Wildfire S phone. She raves about the ipad but I can't afford one, simple as that!

I'm actually quite happy with the brick of a mobile phone that I've got, which is a very old Nokia, no camera, no internet gubbins, just a phone.

Mrs Stan reckons I'd find the HTC Wildfire frustrating as it would prove too small for my fingers/eyesight. She also hates the internal memory (too small) and is having real problems getting it to sync with her PC/laptop.

What I'm looking for;

• Portable device
  
• Email/internet
  
• Wifi for definite, 3G nice but not essential I think?
  
• Good battery life
  
• Decent sound through headphones
  
• Good screen and interface
  
• Maximum budget is limited, £150-£200
  
• MP3 player, very important
  
• Expandable memory, 32GB would be nice
  

I know the budget isn't great, in fact I'm pushing it as it is, and I've even been looking at and tempted by the ipod Touch 4th gen, even second hand but worried at the number that are for sale that are faulty?

I'm thinking along the lines of the Archos tablets but does anyone have any experience of them and would they really do what I want?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, advice, help, pointers on this, much appreciated,

Stan

I bought an Arnova 10g2.

Very good specs, huge screen and the standard internal memory is very cheap to expand via sd from Ebay.

The resolution is good and the external speaker is LOUD.

There is some amazing custom firmware out there for it and it totally transforms the device, making it so fast!

Best part, £130

Oh...and its got a full sized USB host

My wife has the same ipad/Wildfire combo and she gets very cross with the phone, but adores the iPad.

Good luck with your choice Stan, I'd be interested to hear how you get on...

Ah yes, the 10g2 was the one I squinted at briefly, before my brain overloaded with all this new fangled tech!

So you'd rate it then Phil?

where did you get it for £130?

Thanks Jim, I'm trying to drag myself into the 21st century, only a decade and a bit late! It's a minefield out there!

Mrs Stan has suggested waiting for the Kindle Fire but it seems to be getting put back and back whilst they flog them off in the States!

Get yourself an Android Tablet as suggested above there are lots in your price bracket
but don't rule out an Android Phone, they do exactly the same thing as an Android Tablet and most have bigger screens than the Ipod Touch 4 and of course you can use them as a phone.
I have a Galaxy S2(Android) which I do almost everything on. Telephoning is the least used function

We have Ipad2 and Ipod Touches at home but the Andoid phones, -Especially Samsung Galaxy S2 - are by far the most useful and versatile.

You see a lot of Ipods for repair because there are a hell of lot of them out there. I repair them also in my biz.

I picked up a motorolla xoom for £224 delivered (ok its a <little> out of your budget, but what is a budget for if not to exceed?. Sadly its gone up in price a little now, but I imagine if you keep an eye out you could bag one for £250.

Its brilliant, love it, and for ME (I am not gonna argue with ipad owners) it is every bit as good as an ipad at half the price.

10hr battery life
great for movies
32gb storage
1 gb ram
dual core 1ghz tegra 2 processor
SD slot for more storage
USB, HDMI, Front at rear camera for skype etc

brilliant.

on the phone front, I had a HTC Desire S on contract for £13 a month and it was brilliant, sadly it was stolen. Slightly more poke than the wildfire and a larger screen

BUT

keep an eye out on hotukdeals.

every week or so an offer comes up for a galaxy S2 or Sensation, or the Sony or LG equivalent for around £18 a month on contract, and then generally with up to £100 quidco cashback on top to boot.

I've often thought about a tablet, but my phone does everything I could need (htc DesireHD) as it has a largish screen. The things it can't do a tablet wouldn't either

I think a smartphone could be a good all rounder as they tend to come well speced.

Without wishing to hijack Stan's thread, my experience is the reverse: I will be abandoning my smartphone (Galaxy S) when my contract is up for a small, slim phone as I'm fed up of not being able to just stick the thing in my pocket. If I'm going to be somewhere where I have the time and space to use the Internet, then I'll also have the space to bring my ipad. If not, I don't want to have to walk funny so I don't break my phone in half!

that is a good point Jim, the S2 has such a big screen but is thin and plasticy, I too would worry about snapping the damn thing when sitting down.

some of the newer phones have an even bigger screen.

That is the upside of the iphone i guess (which is what i currently have after my desire S was nicked)

its just about doable screen size (its bigger than the wildfire, smaller than the desire S) for surfing but still pocket friendly.

I actually feel the desire S is a great compromise size wise @ 3.7 inches.

I agree Galaxy S2 is too uncomfortable for carrying in jeans or shirt pocket, its not flimsy though as i sit on mine constantly. But you can get it in a pocket if you need to, unlike Tablets. I only use the Galaxy S2 at Home and Work over Wifi and occasionally in the Coupe as a GPS. It's essentially not a phone for me and i rarely have any credit on it.
Ipad is great in isolation and i use mine a lot at home but, you can't connect anything to it without a hassle and its huge and very conspicuous to carry around when you are out and about, and people hate you like a BMW owner The Galaxy finds all my pc's, Data storage and media content on wifi network and is great for playing movies on TV 's in Hotel Rooms
If I'm on the hoof I have take a little xperia mini for my pocket.

As for your needs Stan:
The Xoom seems to be a good buy if you can stretch to that price.

This may help Stan. But check prices elswhere

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/tablets

you can click on archive lower down page and select 2011 models for more reviews.

Thanks for all the feedback folks, really appreciated and food for thought!

I've got an S2 with its 4.2" screen and having persevered with a 3.1" Palm Pre I really don't know how/why I put up with the Pre's tiny screen for so long. Actually I do, webOS was great (but there were no apps, and then they were bought by HP who screwed up completely, the final straw for me was when they stole Google Maps from me ) Before that I had a Palm Treo 650 (2.5" screen!) seemingly forever, and if t'interweb hadn't come along I'd still be using it for phone, calendar, email, music, video and games, I still haven't found anything as good as Datebk6. Nobody in their right mind keeps a largeish phone in their pocket where it will get scratched and scraped and dropped, I always have mine in a sideways magnetic flap belt clip case.

At first I thought the S2 screen was too big and that the iPhone 4" was best, and thought that 3.7" would be a good compromise. But honestly, the S2 is perfect for doing a lot of browsing and now with Android 4.0.3 (ICS) it even has some webOS-like swipe gestures. I bought an unlocked used one in a "off eBay" sale for £250, but almost bought the HTC Sensation, you should be able to find them around £200.

on the phone side of things, my wife had a galaxy Ace, (now she's got my old iphone) it's about the same size as an iphone, pretty cheap to buy, and not a bad option. In fact my mum age 70 has just bought one and is getting on with it just fine

using www.mobiles.co.uk there's a deal thats a free phone £26 pm but after the cashback it's about £15pm.

If I might slightly hijack Stan's thread - I'm after something similar for Anita.

- Skype
- t'internet
- card games
- cheap

and that's really about it. But ideally a ten inch screen.

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/derby/box-limited/5011460?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_111&a=183

Cheap as chips

Looks good, you'll need good eyesight to read the forum with a 7" screen though!

7 inch screen is fine, as it will have touch zoom.

mobile phone can be a bit irritating however

Agreed, but there are good apps for forum reading which make it much easier even on mobile.

Tapatalk, Forum Runner and Convo are some.