Dilemmas dilemmas, which one to get?…A pretty dull e-reader with e-ink technology so you can read books, or a brand new tablet PC with full colour display and access to games, video and the internet?

So, you’re in the market for a cool gadget this Christmas, but still unsure what that will be.

You have the sweet Canon 60D for photography, you are happy with your current laptop for one more year, your smartphone needs updating, but that will be a bonus mid-way through the year at contract renewal, and your X-Box 360 is still providing you with lots of stimulation and pleasure, not in part due to the huge HD screen that it is connected to, yes Joe nearly has it all…

Obviously your missing an iPad or more Generic tablet?

Now many would argue that if you were this example of an average Joe, then your next logical gadget to buy should be a nice Android based Tablet from Samsung or a new iPad from Apple.

Joe is on a budget though:

Yes, like many in the US and the rest of the World our man Joe is skint.

And if the Samsung and Apple iPad were too costly, or he perhaps wanted something a bit smaller, then Joe should then go for the new Amazon Kindle Fire or Barnes and Noble Nook color E-Book, obviously these “near” tablet like devices are far better than those boring E-Ink E-Readers:

But does our man Joe really want a Tablet PC or colour E-reader for Xmas?

So, are these lovely looking, funky devices what this person really needs.

Let us do some common sense analysis:

Firstly, he works in an office with his own computer always there, his smartphone keeps him amused with various news apps during breaks and on the way to work, and gives him access to email, Youtube and other video sites, and at home and when he is out enjoying a coffee, his laptop is powerful enough and small enough to hold in his bag and do some emailing or surfing the net in general while out and about, and he is more than happy with his huge HD display and X-Box for gaming on a mid week night and weekend.

So what could Joe get if he still needs his gadget fix like so many guys and girls do at Christmas?

The answer could well be an E-reader, but not the color ones, and here is why:

We have covered some interesting comparisons of E-Readers in the past from the Nook V’s Kindle Fire Tablet and you know what I love about these is that you can have a huge sized book all contained in a lovely small device, that makes no noise, lasts ages on one charge, and can be read in any light (apart from dark), and what is more it is pretty cheap for a gadget. Though I predict that they will be almost giving these e-readers away in years to come, so you are then signed up to their individual marketplaces.

In this world of plenty the humble e-reader shines out as a bastion of peace and tranquillity:

So with this in mind, I am going to suggest to our friend Joe that he should take more time out to relax and stop stimulating his poor brain with vast amounts of data and unhealthy radiation and sit down with a new lightweight e-reader and enjoy one of life’s little, very inexpensive pleasures.

Albeit using a cool gadget that reinvented the book and termed it an “ebook” when it did not even know it had anything wrong with it.

Joe, if you ain’t got an e-reader in 2012, you are out of the loop my friend!

Poor old AndyPad are perhaps quite annoyed at recent moves in the tablet market. We covered the UK firms brave attempt to bring tablet computers to the masses at a bargain price. All this from a man who made his fortune from selling beds.

We wonder if AndyPad have taken to finding new markets for their products or simply gone and lied down as the big boys enter the tablet market with cut price versions of their own.

I hope they find an outlet as I thought they made a brave but dangerous choice to enter this market at that time.

The UK has no official release of the Amazon Kindle Fire yet:

As the UK has no firm release of the Amazon kindle Fire juts yet (you can buy from the US site but not from UK site).

The arrival of a WhSmith tablet (loosely the UK’s Barnes and Noble equivalent book retailer) going by the name of the Kobo Vox, is causing some noises in the tech world relating to just how much of a competitor it could really be to the Amazon Kindle fire.

Kob Vox tablet or e-redaer?

I wonder if WhSmith are trying to differentiate themselves from the likes of the Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle Fire by selling this particular model as more of an eReader even though it blatantly masquerades as a fully fledged tablet….are they lacking balls gong head to head with the US equivalents?

Similar to the Kindle they both have seven inch screens, though the Kobo Vox runs on Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread, giving you many more choices when it comes to obtaining applications for your kindle competitor, no need to go through the Amazon store with this tablet.

It also comes with an anti-glare screen, which should make reading in bright sunlight better than most tablet PC’s if it lives up to expectation, Wi-Fi connectivity, 8GB of storage and an option to expand this, and is apparently Facebook’s e-reader partner whatever this means?…maybe the fact you can have 42 different font sizes is testimony to it’s attempted e-reader pedigree.

With an 800Mhz processor and a headphone jack the tablet seems like a pretty worthy contender to the Kindle.

At £169.99 it also come at a price point that will be attractive to many.

So what do you think of the Kobo Vox? Does it seem like an attractive proposition at the price and feature list that it offers?