Best tablet under $400

[DeepestParanoia]

Got a Galaxy Gear smartwatch. It's incompatible with my phone (Galaxy Note i717 - upgrading to Note 3 in May) so I'll be taking it back and getting a tablet.

I do have tablet experience, primarily iPad and Tab 3.

Laptop is dying so full laptop replacement would be great, but at the price point I'll be happy with just a quality tablet.

Was considering the Fire HDX 8.9", but getting a lot of suggestions pushing the Venue Pro or the Nexus 7.

Would prefer a larger screen and high quality graphics. PPI a plus, hence looking at the HDX.

Good camera desired: my daughter lives across the country so there will be a lot of Skyping with her. Front-facing camera required. The better the quality the more I'll like it.

Finally, I want something that won't be a brick next year. I want a couple years of support and upgrades.

Thank you so much for your advice and opinions!

 

[popatim]

Then nexus 7 is probably the way to go.

 

[jaguarskx]

There are no real upgrades for tablets other than adding more storage capacity via the micro-SD slot. That's assuming there is one. The Nexus 7 does not have a micro-SD slot therefore you will be stuck with however much storage there is in the version that you will be buying. As for support, you will only get 1 year of support unless there is an option to extended that standard 1 year warranty.

The Dell Venue 8 Pro (and other Win 8 tablets) look promising for a 1st generation device. However, RAM is limited too only 2GB and there is no way to expand it. That can limit it somewhat depending on what you are doing with it. It would have been nice though it there was a working version of Win 8 64-bit for the Win 8 tablets. They will come out, but people will likely have to wait a few months.

The big plus (at least for me) is the free copy of MS Office Student edition with every Win 8 tablet. The activity digitizer stylus for the Dell Venue 8 pro means it should be good for writing notes; also good for people who likes to draw / doodle and paint.

I would personally wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation Windows tablet. Hopefully my 2012 Nexus 7 will be good enough for my needs until then.