So, what Tablets are worth considering?

Hey guys, First, I believe this belongs in off-topic instead of PC cause, you know, tablets are a different thing altogether and we've got another topic about them already here so, yah. But if someone with authority thinks different, obviously please move this to the right board.

Ok so. I've got a Fire HD 7..which is a piece of junk. The newest OS is slow, locks up after about an hour worth of listening to pod-casts and etc. The Amazon store is crap (half of Google's) and while its possible to work around, is too much effort IMO.

So I wanna 'upgrade' in a manner of speaking. Only I am not sure what to look for. Like, for example, the 7 inch screen is the maximum size tablet that will fit in my pocket (fat man, big jean pockets). I don't think I want to upgrade to anything bigger screen wise, cause the portability of being able to store it in said pocket gives me a grand replacement for the fact that I don't own a smartphone (just a flip-phone, screw them trying to charge me for bandwidth in 2015 when it was unlimited in 2008).

So, portability is vital, its my phone-app replacement. So 7 inch is perfect, smaller works but eh, 7 seems right. And then..uh, I tried getting an Ipad-mini 2 and..I learned I abhor apples systems. Like no drag from desktop to device is an instant "ok screw that"+other various "how do people put up with this junk" so uh..I guess that makes me team android?

And then there is the price. I've got a budget of..'like 300ish?" I'd take a 150, I'd take a 400, I just want it to be able to put up to the heavy use and last me a few years.

And I am fairly certainly we are right about the season when new models will start getting/have been released? So, i'd like to know what from the previous generation people liked, and what brands from the upcoming fall lineup are looking good? I've no desire to get the latest model in so much as, the most graphical intensify thing I might play is like, Fallout Shelter? No heavy video editing. Just pod-cast/audio/book reading/worthwhile apps.

So the tl;dr

I need Tablet Advice

400 price ceiling (preferably lower)

No apple/I-stuff, can't stand the OS/lack of drag-drop.

I want it to have full access to the Google play store.

7 inch, no bigger. (Gotta fit it in my big-ole jean's pocket)

Last year, or this year, or about to come out. Don't care, just looking for opinions of what people have that they like or think I should be on the look at for (in the case of about to be released stuff)

I would saw the Nexus 7 is pretty alright, but unfortunately the newest model came out in 2013 so that'll limit the performance and OS update stuff. I had a 2012 model and I can say it was a solid device, especially for things like emulators and video, battery life wasn't incredible though. It was the last Android device I used before switching back to iOS for phone / tablet parity. If you're looking to keep costs down though they can be had for relatively cheap, Amazon currently has new ones for $149 last I checked.

I know some family members who've had a bad experience using Samsung tablets but I haven't tried them for myself. I've heard Dell tablets (variants of the ones they make which run Windows) can be alright but most of the good things I've heard were about the 9" or larger versions.

@jthom252: Thanks for the detail. That was the kinda insight I was looking for.

iPad Mini makes the most sense. The mini 2 and mini 3 are basically the same, except for TouchID in 3. You can get either of those refurbished through Apple for $249 and $359 respectively. Apple refurbished are super good, that's what I got for my kid. Only negative is that the color reproduction on the screen isn't as good as the Mini 4; but you may not care.

For Android, the Dell Venue 8 is worth checking out, as is the Google Nexus 9.

I don't really like Android Tablets, every one I've owned has been kind of shitty. The mini is a great little device and performs very well.

I've got a Nexus 7. It functions, but it's got problems. It's slow, for one, and occasionally the screen goes crazy and zooms in and out or clicks on things that I didn't click on because a speck of dust landed in the wrong place. It's not an unusable device - I have read books, watched TV shows, watched Youtube videos, and surfed Giantbomb on it - but I won't be buying another one.

Last year, I bought a Galaxy Note 4 phone and next to my computer, it's probably my favorite electronic device. It's just been such a smooth device to use since day 1, I have never had any problems out of it, and I spend time on it daily. I don't know if Samsung's tablets hold up as well but if I were in the market for a tablet, I'd start with Samsung's Galaxy tablets.

I agree with you about the iOS thing. I had an iPhone 4 for a while. Using the phone wasn't a problem, it was trying to get the phone to interact with my computer that was the problem. I got tired of iTunes, it was such an unintuitive pain to use if you don't want to manage your information in the same way that Apple wants you to manage it. I'm not against buying another Apple product, but being forced to use iTunes is the big thing pushing me away from that platform.

I have a 2012 Nexus 7 and still enjoy it. It's a bit slow these days, but was exactly what I was looking for at the time. I was actually thinking about trying out a different rom on it - most of its slowness only started with Lolipop.

There hasn't been another Nexus 7 in a while though - I'd consider getting the Nexus 9 if I needed a new tablet, although I'm not positive if I'd like a bigger tablet.

Anyways you said no bigger than 7 inches which I don't think is really much of a tablet size these days. They've mostly gravitated towards being bigger (9 or 10 inch standard) or the pseudo tablet phone "phablet" (I shudder using that phrase).

So anyways I think your options are basically buying an older Nexus 7, which should still serve you well enough and will save some more, or get something like a Galaxy Note which I know people love, although thats smaller. Well actually there are plenty of other things from Asus, Dell, Acer, etc but most of those are slightly cheaper targets in terms of quality and specs. None of those are like "flagships" or whatever you call them so I don't know much about them, but maybe they'd fit your needs.

Google's Nexus line of tablets are pretty good. You can get the 2013 Nexus 7 for like $150 on Amazon and that's probably a pretty solid upgrade from what you have. Otherwise they haven't made a new 7 inch tablet since, and instead you'd have to opt for the Nexus 9, which is a 9 inch tablet and costs like $300 I think for the 16gb model. I don't think they're going to release another anytime soon, they just had their Nexus event thing and they announced a new 10.2 inch tablet.

I know Samsung makes some pretty decent tablets, but I don't know what they offer in the 7 inch area that's good.

The LG G pad 7.0 might be good enough. $125 on Amazon. I have the G4, but I don't know about that tablet, though.

And the Samsung Tab 4 7-inch. I don't have the 7-inch, but do have the 8-inch, and that works alright.

Nexus 7 seems a bit old at this point, but whatever. The RAM, and ' does it have Lollipop' part is what you need to worry about.

If your in the UK, I'd have a look at the Hudl 2 its a bit bigger (8.3") but its cheap and very good for the pricing.

Ok the size thing seems to be the major sticking point?

Cause yah, what someone else said is right. It seems like either I need to buy a much older model (2012 is just too close to being obsolete for me to spend money on) or..a mini. Ugh, ok.

I see the Nexus 7 and..are they not about to release a new OS, (i.e whatever is after lollipop?) And people are saying the thing is slow with that..if its as my super-old droid (original model) phone still sitting here (cause its the only thing with my WoW authenticator), that newest OS is likely to make the thing run like crap, being 3-4 years old in just a few months? So yah, thats out.

So what if I remove the size-requirement (and thus up my budget?) People seem to be suggesting the Nexus 9 but..I assume this is due to it not being that much bugger then the size requirement. For me the issue is..either it fits in my pocket or it doesn't. And if I have to get something bigger then 7 inch, then ok I can do that. I might as well wave the screen-size issue altogether though.

So say I do that (and thus up my budget to like the 600$ I ended up spending on the mini 2(mistake)). What do people suggest then?

or

tl;dr

Might as well go bigger screen if can't be 7.inch, I am willing to up my budget.

So whats tablets in the 600$ range compete with the apple Air? Whats being released soon/just released from a brand that people trust/have gotten good results from in the past? Restricted too say, anything released this season/last holiday?

I just got a nexus 9. It's alright, but not perfect. Runs a bit hot (due to the nvidia tegra). Battery life is alright, but it takes awhile to charge (don't even try to charge it while using it). I heard Android 6.0 has a bunch of fixes that really make the nexus 9 the tablet it should have been when it came out, but whether that's true or not remains to be seen. I got mine for under 300, so I can't complain.

I really liked my Nvidia Shield Tablet until it turned out that it was a fire hazard and Nvidia told me to turn it off and not use it and they'd send me a replacement in 2 to 4 weeks exactly 8 weeks and 3 days ago. Guess what? No replacement in sight. I very recently had a lovely email exchange with the people who are in charge of said replacement program and they told me it's going to be another 2 to 4 weeks which is when I proceeded to get uncivil in my emails and have not heard back. Fire causing tendencies aside, it really is a great tablet. Presumably if you were to buy a new one of them now, it wouldn't be the model that burns down houses.

@rongalaxy: This, I think, is the answer I was looking for.

Thanks to everyone and, of course please feel free to keep giving feedback cause I can't be the only person who might get some use out of this line of question/response.

I think I am going to get myself a Nexus 9 off amazon, with a warranty (which for some reason is cheaper for the 2 year..so ok) and that plus the accessories I want is just over 400, which sounds about right..

Now lets see if the rumor I read somewhere about them sending me a discount offer if I leave it in the check-out for awhile is true.

If you didn't get it already, you might want to wait and get the new Pixel C tablet. You may also want to check out the Surface 3 which is a fantastic tablet.

@horseman6: I checked out the Pixel C, and it was too much laptop not enough tablet for me (and also way to expensive). I've got the Nexus 9 bought and shipping tomorrow. But, if I don't like it I am absolutely happy to return the thing and try something else out. If it turns out to suck, or be a lemon product or etc, I know Amazon is gonna work well to get me the thing I do want/need, and I'll keep ideas like your Surface 3 suggestion in mind.

Thanks for the advice though, like I said, any and all opinions are welcome cause man, I can't be the only one interested in what people think about the current tablet market this holiday season.

Anything with an Apple logo on it, basically. The same applies to nearly any mobile device.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and I think it's great,I mainly use it to read books, watch Netflix and play hearthstone.The screen is beautiful and the OS is fast. I've had it about 5 months and I've never had a problem with it

I have a nexus 9, no complaints.

The only other tablet I considered at the time was the Nvidia Shield, and I didn't get it based on the smaller screen size, which sounds like what you are looking for.

I enjoy the hell out my iPad but if you aren't using iOS for your phone or have a Mac it's much more of a pain in the ass. The only real good reason I'd say to go outside of your existing platform is if the game selection on iOS is enough to interest you but the trade-off is you don't get much in the way of emulators.

When his requirements go 7 inch (later taken out) and not Apple, this is possibly the least helpful answer you could have given. I really don't understand people who blindly buy Apple products.

@bladededge:

I have a Nexus 9, works great, but I have only one complaint: some apps may or may not work on it. I don't know how many, but I do know that Xcom: Enemy Within shows up as incompatible in the Play Store, so that's something to keep in mind. If there was anything specific you wanted, best make sure it works before you buy. I was bummed about that :( Unless there is a fix that i am not aware of.

@edgekasey: Some people simply believe what he said to be true. And whatever, the I-stuff is the most popular line of products for a reason. I just happen to be a PC/open source kinda guy, and have never owned an apple product in my life (except for the 5 minutes I owned the mini 2 and decided I abhorred the 3 extra steps it took to get content from my windows PC to my tablet)

@alexw00d: I think this won't be an issue for me. X-com I play..with the long-war mod on PC. I mean I assume stuff like Fallout Shelter will run on this..and that is likely the most intensive thing I will want to play? And that's going to be my first attempt. If it fails or is slow then yah, I've got a window to return this thing for a full refund (amazon is nice like that). So, I will be finding all the apps I think I will want to use and making sure they work before committing. We will see, it should be here tomorrow, I should know in a day or two.

The nice thing about the Nexus line is that as long as they are remotely viable, they will get updates. I recently got the 2013 Nexus 7 and took it from 4.2 or 4.3 to the most up to date Android through a series of updates. It was fun seeing things evolve a bit over time, but I'm a nerd like that. Assuming it fits your size needs, I see no reason why the 9 won't do the job for your needs.

My Dad bought a Nexus 9 and he is very happy with it. I have a Nexus 10, bought 3 years back when it was new.