Advice on tablets?

I am looking for a tablet & I don’t want to spend an inordinately large amount of money. I would prefer one which would be pretty easy to use with one hand. I often hear favourable reports on Android devices. As I don’t know much about tablet computers, I was wondering if my fellow Wilderians would consider making any suggestions. Thanks.

 

I would go for an Android tablet rather than an iPad.

The Samsung tablets are very good, but you can get some decent tablets for a less directly from China e.g. from Aliexpress.

Also it's work having a look at Top Notch Tablets as they only sell high quality Chinese tablets - although it seem they no longer have a UK website.

The following are important things to look for:
Make sure it has at least 1GB RAM to ensure good performance
If you want to use it for 3D gaming, then it's best to get a tablet with a quad core processor.

 

OK thanks for the reply & advice. I'll definitely have a butcher's at the Samsung tablets. I don't game online, but in my experience, you can never have enough processing power or RAM.

 

An iPad Air is what I would get.

 

If you're okay with 7" I'd suggest Google Nexus 7 2013 version. Best tab imo.

 

Hmmm .... sounds pricey.

 

Thanks, I'll check that out as well. I would prefer something a tad bigger, but I haven't decided what I want yet.

 

Okay I strongly suggest you to read this.

 

I got two cheap 7" Android tablets recently and I've had two Android smart phones. One thing I've found is that Android implementations vary widely. I'm keeping one tablet, a really cheap Maylong because it has an Android implementation I like and can live with in spite of the poor build quality. The other one, an Ematic, is better made but the Android implementation was very pushy in regards to google services and it raised privacy red flags and I put it back on eBay after playing with it for a day.

I would never recommend anything from Apple. As far as I'm concerned, their products have more to do with fashion than substance and they've taken planned obsolescence and the waste it creates to new levels. There is no need to pay a high price just to make a fashion statement.

 

+1
I'm also using it and am very happy with it.

hqsec

 

Thanks, recently I have seriously considered a Kindle.

 

OK, thanks for the reply. I tend to agree with you about Apple products. They look so good but are quite expensive in my country. It makes no sense to me either to pay that much money for something with a deliberate built-in obsolescence.

 

They certainly seem popular.

 

I never liked Android operating systems. Either way I would only consider two tablets:

@ $300 iPad mini just for gaming
@ $800 Thinkpad 2 with Keyboard that has trackpoint for serious work

I would never spend more than $300 on a device that I can't do any serious work on. I would never buy any device that I have to do a work on without a trackpoint. So these are my 2 limitations.

That's why I gave my ipad away to my girlfriend. It was sitting on a desk and collecting dust. If you want a tablet that is functional then go with Windows 8 PC tablet such as lenovo. Maybe surface if you don't need the trackpoint. Either way you got yourself a full computer and tablet experience at the same time. IMO Android is not that much better than iOS when it comes to replacing Windows.

 

Ok, go down a level to the iPad Mini But it also depends on if you want to use Android or iOS. Wich you haven't said much about yet.

 

Maybe you should tell us what you want to do with this thing. I mean, the recommendations would be different if you just want something for light web browsing/video watching on the go, as opposed to doing actual work on it. Is this intended to replace a desktop or laptop, or compliment it?

I'm not sure how any tablet would be easy to use with one hand, unless you prop it up with a stand. If you're carrying it, of course one hand is needed to hold it.

 

That's because I don't really know yet.

 

OK, thanks. I was actually wondering about the Lenovo.

 

At the beginning of December last year I suffered from a stroke. Until I was recently discharged from hospital I have been learning to walk & talk again. I have limited use of my right arm & hand which is slowly improving. I find sitting in front of my desktop for long periods fatiguing so I wondered about using a tablet for general surfing.

That’s handy, as I have one good hand left.

 

I should mention that I have less than $60 invested in my two cheap Android tablets. I did mean cheap. Not much money just to see if I had any use for them. The Maylong has an HDMI out and I've ended up using it as a Media streamer to get YouTube and IPTV onto a regular TV.

Lenovo makes both Android and Windows Tablets. I've thought about getting both but all my extra money right now is going into car parts to rebuild a Toyota 4WD.

 

My take on it is that you might buy an iPad mini and regret it 1 year down the road. The iOS is very limited.
Think hard what you wanna do with a tablet before you buy one IMO.

 

I always liked the ThinkPads we used at work. Good luck with the Toyota.

 

Yeah, I won't make any rash decisions. Thanks for the advice.

 

Sorry to hear that Dave, now I don't find the post but I said in another thread that I saw that you had not been online since Dec 4 last year, so I said welcome back. And now I know why you were "missing" too. I am glad to hear that you are getting better

Edit: here is that post: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2343698&postcount=75

 

Myself, or someone in my family have owned multiple tablets; from an iPad, to a Nook, to a Kindle, to an Acer Iconia, and now Galaxy Note 10.1.

The people who have mentioned knowing what you want to use it for are right on! For business purposes, an iPad or a Nook or even a Kindle are pretty worthless. In fact, tablets are pretty worthless as a business application tool in my opinion.

Secondly, my recommendation is that if you use an Android smartphone, then you should probably have an Android tablet (if you are going to get one). If you have an iPhone then you'll probably want an Apple device.

If you want to read books on your tablet (i.e. Kindle) or watch movies (i.e. Netflix) while in bed, or browse the internet or check email, any tablet can probably do that fairly well. Size, then, becomes one of the bigger considerations.

My personal tablet now is a Galaxy Note 10.1. I think it is the best "jack of all trades" so to speak. It has a stylus which I use in a business environment to take notes. I can sit in bed at night and watch videos on it and the screen is big enough and nice enough to look really cool. I can also read my Kindle books on it and check my email and browse the internet. For me, it's a good balance.

However, it really isn't the ideal tablet for book reading. It's actually too big in my opinion. It gets heavy and bulky for reading in bed laying down.

So, again, ultimately you need to think through what you hope to use it for before deciding what to buy. CNET does offer some good advice on tablet buying.