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Ask Slashdot: Best Tablet In 2015?
An anonymous reader writes: My 2012 Nexus 7 tablet is showing its age. The battery drains quickly, the storage problem that plagued all the Nexus 7s persists even after rooting and re-imaging, and the CPU/RAM can't keep up with the later Android versions. When it came out, it was fantastic — good specs, solid build quality, Nexus line, and a good size. Is there anything on the market today that stands out as much as the Nexus 7 did? I tend to prefer the smaller tablets over the bigger ones, but I'm not entirely averse to an 8" or 9" device. There seem to be some really nice devices in the $3-400 range, but I'm not sure if there's a huge benefit to those over the ~$200 models. I don't do any serious gaming on my tablet, but I also want the apps I do use to be snappy. Those of you who have bought or used tablets made in the past year or so, what has your experience been? Any brands or models that stand out from the crowd? Any to avoid?
I got a dell tablet from work and rolled my eyes pretty hard, but I have to say it's really nice. Thin, light, well built and speedy. The screen is really bright and they seem to be pretty supportive of rooting and alternative images. The depth camera thing is a total gimmick but overall it's the nicest tablet I've used in recent years. I've seen them run about $300 new and $200 refurb from dell.
After several weeks of looking around... Just got Tab S for 400 EUR (in the Netherlands), and I expect 50 EUR back from Samsung (mail-in rebate).
Like an updated Nexus 7 with a faster Atom quad core, faster Power Rangers graphics, micro SD slot and much better price. Can be found for $119 shipped refurbished on eBay /thread
My situation exactly, I totally sympathize with you, right down to the 2012 Nexus 7 and the exact same problems (minus storage issues). Was (and is) an amazing tablet, but it's becoming rather long in the tooth, and I think I may have to replace it soon, especially with the battery life having dropped dramatically. I'm currently looking at an Asus Zenpad C 7.0 , but I've never used it before, and so I can't make any statements as to the quality. Seems to be similar in spirit to the Nexus 7 (2012). If anybody has any expirience with this tablet, I'd love to hear it! (Or, other reccommendations would be much appreciated too).
"Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
Honestly, save the $100 and get the original iPad Air. The only thing the new Air 2 adds that matters is a thumbprint scanner and a faster CPU.
The Sony tablets are very, very nice, and they have an 8" compact version. They're very lightly skinned, they're water resistant (you can wash off the screen) and they're very light. So light, in fact, that the first time I picked up the Z I thought it was an empty display model. That lightness, more than anything, is what makes it so pleasant to use for me. Can hold it up without effort for long periods when reading for instance.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
If you are into smaller tablets, why not one of the bigger cells or hybrids? I know several people who are happy with their Galaxy Notes. And right now, with my 5.5" Moto X Play, sometimes I don't feel the need to get my tablet.
morcego
I had a Nexus 7 with exactly the problems you describe and I had gotten the Nexus 7 for exactly the reasons you mention. I replaced it with a Lenovo Tab 2 A10. Relatively inexpensive, good build quality, faster than the Nexus 7. Put in a micro SD card and have had no problems with it despite daily use for 3 months.
Sure it's old but an excellent upgrade over yours. Relatively fast, high quality screen, while no longer in production, you can find fantastic deals on Amazon. I still use mine and have no plans on changing it.
Actually the biggest thing it adds is double the memory which will:
A) Greatly increase the lifetime of the device.
B) Greatly decrease frustration of when things get killed as you swap around apps.
Or wait until the iPad Air 3 comes out, and get one of those. You want as much RAM as possible in these devices. I have a first-gen iPad mini (512 MB of RAM) and you can't even have multiple browser tabs open without it dropping the inactive tabs from the cache so it has to reload when you go to one of the other tabs. It's maddening. The on screen keyboard frequently has delays, and using a Bluetooth keyboard is no better. It is much slower than my Nexus 4 phone.
I like my Android phone but also prefer iOS on a tablet. The newer iPads are better and faster than mine. Now that the full-size iPad is thinner and lighter than it was at the time I got the mini, I think I might go with that instead. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.
Sent from my iPhone
Why limit yourself to iOS though? Get an x86 based tablet. They are about half the price of an iPad, similar quality screen/battery life, probably better connectivity (USB, maybe NFC or wireless charging, SD card slot)... Maybe a tad thicker but who cares, you can run Android, Windows or Linux on the thing. If you don't like one in a couple of years just switch.
Plus no mucking about with iTunes or Apple networking protocols to transfer files to the thing. Tablets are great for media consumption and displaying documents, so the last thing you want is to make the process of getting them on there difficult. You can even just use network shares over wifi easily enough.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Wait a few days for the Apple announcements. You don't have to be an Apple fan necessarily, but at least then you'll know what the actual 2015 range of available tablets will be and be able to make comparisons. At the moment you'll be comparing current gen Android to just-about-last-gen Apple. You'll want to compare current to current.
With the new Nexus lineup being ready to be announced, I would wait and see if the rumor of a Nexus 8 is true. Otherwise, and what makes me feel the rumor could be true, the Nexus 9 has had quite a few deep discounts lately. While the 9 had some issues after release, the subsequent Android updates seem to have squashed many of the issues. Most review sites now call it one of the better tablets on the market if they reviewed it again after the original release. Personally I have a Dell Venue 8 7840. It is a very solid build. Unfortunately the 5.1 update has brought some big issues for me. Random system restarts, apps crashing due to memory running out, GPS doesn't work with all apps. With 5.0, it was a really strong tablet. 5.1, not so much. The Acer "gaming" tablet is one that interests me, but may not be for everyone.
I own both the 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7s and they are like night and day. The 2012 is practically useless (sloooow due to the flash problem....) while the 2013 is still going strong and is one of the best Android devices I've owned. You can still get them at a discount (<=150) if you keep your eyes open.
Not sure I'd recommend anything more expensive unless you have a specific need to fill. In fact there's no reason to buy any brand new (as in came out this year) electronic device when you can find the last few year's mid-to-high end models at steep discounts.
Because people are expecting the iPad Air 3 to be out in a few days (Sep 9th), not years. If it's a matter of waiting half a week to get a better spec machine, it's relevant to the discussion... Talk of the iPad Air 9, not so much.
The next Apple mobile devices should be announced Wednesday, not exactly a long wait.
However, some rumors claim Apple will be focusing their efforts on a new 'iPad Pro' and the Air will see little improvement this cycle.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Waiting for my 64GB Jolla to arrive. Any day now..hopefully.
In other words, Apple alone can't do it for you. You either have to limit yourself to an app or give up exclusive ownership of your files. Square peg round hole. USB is the solution for that and it works elsewhere, so there is nothing to see here.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
No one is doing any serious gaming on a tablet.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
If you're sure that you want a 7" Android tablet in the $200 range, the 2013 version of the Nexus 7 is probably your best bet.
You would think that something better would have come out by now, but there really isn't anything in that size and price range that is noticeably better.
If you wait until the end of the month, Google is expected to release some new Nexus models. Perhaps they will finally have a 7" tablet upgrade in the mix.
I cart around 25GB of music and 20GB of video with me, and there are very few tablets on the market that can handle that.
You can blame the SD Card Association for making Microsoft's patented exFAT file system a requirement for devices that support microSD cards bigger than 32 GB.
If you want something that stands out of the crowd, then you might want to take a look at the Jolla Tablet http://jolla.com/tablet/. It won the Best tablet award at this years Mobile World Congress. I've been using a Jolla smartphone and really like it. It doesn't spy on me, I can get root from the settings, it has a command line shell + SSH built in and it runs Linux.
Jolla's Sailfish OS is based on the Maemo/Meego line. They've built a really nice user interface on top of it and it's partly open source. The UI is based on swiping gestures, so it takes a few minutes to learn to use it, but after that it's really swift and nice. They also have an Android VM, so you can run Andoroid apps on it if you want. No Google Play store though, but I believe you can enable it yourself if you want. If you want apps outside the official store, you can add additional repositories to the phone.
Jolla also listens to its users. You can log in at http://together.jolla.com/ to leave bug reports, feature ideas and ask advice from the community and Jolla sailors. The OS gets regular updates which add features and squish bugs, so my phone is actually a lot better now than when I bought it. The specs are more modest than the current Android flagship models, but the OS is much lighter so doesn't need that much processing power to run well. The price tag is pretty nice too.
Have a look, try it out. They're just about to start shipping.
Only dumb birds land downwind.
I had that storage problem.
Assuming you're running one of the new builds of Android with TRIM support
* Root the device /dev/zero to a temp file
* Open a shell using adb
* Fill the remaining space in each file system ( system / cache / userdata ) by using dd to copy
* Delete the temp file
http://www.it-psycho.de/2012/1...
This trims all the remaining free space and gets rid of the block fragmentation that the storage controller caused before TRIM was available on Android.
I found this improved my laggy 2012 Nexus 7 from "intolerably slow" (taking 5-10 seconds to wake up from a screen unlock swipe) to "not bad" (screen unlock works OK, apps load quickly, still not the fastest tablet on the block but entirely adequate).
I think it helps the battery consumption as well - it's not constantly wiping blocks just to write logs etc.
Stay your pitchforks a moment: My desktop is a Lin/Win box, my laptop is a MacBook Pro that dual boots Mac/Lin, my phones are a Galaxy S5 and a iPhone 5c, I have a kindle, a verizon droid tablet (which I forgot I had), an ipad, heck my TV is a Samsung smart with a hacked evolve that can boot mint (because, seriously, if you're going to use cssh you really need to do it on a 4K UHD display ;)
I picked up the surface because - well, because of a 30 day return option. I wanted to rip the heck out of it. So I upgraded it straight to 10 (10 wasn't officially supported on it when I did, I wasn't about to give the thing a chance at success)
About 20 days in I realized I had pretty much migrated everything off of drop box onto One/Sky drive, and my Drive usage had become more organized and well deliniated against that usage.
A little later on I realized that I haven't had a single one of my esoteric usb/bluetooth devices /not/ work with the Surface. Somewhere about 10-14 days in, I stopped even trying to use them on my/my wifes other devices, I'd just automatically reach for the surface.
Truth be told, it was "Fresh Paint" that distracted me enough to get suckered in. It helped me discover the remarkable versatility of the devices form factor and the combination of the kick stand and the foldable keyboard and the magnetic attachment points for the power/keyboard.
I've used the surface now everywhere that any of my other devices used to go and places none of them would: Balanced on the dash of the car, on the tiny ledge by my shower.
I can't begin to do it justice trying to describe the versatility, I will just say that it was a huge part of enamoring me to the device.
It has the best wifi/bluetooth of any of my devices and it is fast at connecting; it talks to all of my devices, and windows 10 comes with an app for setting up a small handful of windows features against iphone/ipad/droid phones.
Battery life is pretty good, and unless you're trying to play an mmo at ultra-high-graphics it's very easy to switch to a battery saving mode to squeeze a few more hours of facebooking/solitaire out of it. The only problem is it's so good that when the battery does get low, you get a bit 10ish ("I don't want to go") #1stworldproblems.
Time for the cons:
The weight is just a few grams heavy, and although it's not, with the keyboard attached it feels heavier than the (17in) MacBook Pro. It does sometimes feel a little large and unwieldy, but yesterday I realized that's because I'm using it now where I would previously have used my phone. I wouldn't give up an inch of the form factor, tbh.
It has it's own, unique, special power connector, and doesn't seem to be capable of USB charging.
The little Windows insignia/button on the device is poorly placed. Instead of putting it near the camera, for example, it's on the right hand side roughly exactly where you would put your hand to hold the device a large part of the time. Good news: you can disable it.
Start-up time from off and sleep feel a little sluggish. They didn't at first, and I don't think they've gotten slower, I think I am just really eager to interact with the device now when I am turning it on.
If anything, the biggest drawback is the storage capacity. I have the Pro i5/256 and I have 167Gb left, mostly because I'm being very selective about what I install.
Some of the default Windows 10 apps for things I'm not very keen on. But hey, if you want default apps, go get an apple. Specifically, Groove Music. W.T.L.F, and I'm still very undecided on the photos app. I must confess that I had a Windows 7 Phone phone for a while, so I've experienced the original, pure, "Metro" experience, and I can imagine how the photos app would have been as a pure metro app and I like that idea - but using the photos app you can almost smell the blood that must have been spilled in the clashes between the mobile and desktop teams...
Lastly - and this is really Windows 10 r
-- A change is as good as a reboot.
* 5 years ago, this category of product didn't even exist.
* 3 years ago, you bought something that was "fantastic".
* Now, it's crap and you absolutely need a newer version.
* 3 years from now, you'll come back to Slashdot to whine that you have a crappy 2015 tablet.
* 10 years from now, you'll ask yourself where all the lithium and rare earth went.
Tablets win in a couple of places. First as pure media consumption devices, casual web surfing in the lounge or bed is much better on a tablet. Watching movies and tv on a tablet is also better, less heat and lighter.
Another one is you are also more likely to throw your tablet in the car then you are to take your laptop. I don't tend to move my laptop unless I am explicitly planning on needing it at the destination. So when I end up at the in laws and they are having network issues I have my tablet with useful tools installed.
The last one is I use my tablet as a notebook substitute. When I meet with clients I take my notes with a stylus on my tablet, this then syncs with my work machine via onenote. While a paper book works well I found the ability to save my written notes against my client files was brilliant. Saved me typing them up and ended up being more complete.