Recommend Me a Tablet!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Recommend Me a Tablet!

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

orinth posted:

Just bought a Samsung galaxy tab S2 8. I had been waiting for the prices to drop $50 again but they dropped $100 yesterday.

The S2 8 can be had from Amazon and Best Buy for $299 and the 9.7 is $399

This is kinda tempting. I currently have an OG Kindle Fire (like, bought a couple months after they hit) that I use pretty frequently, mostly for reading books and comic books. I'd like something with a few more options, but I don't want to spend a ton on it (I throw it in my bag and carry it around with me, so I don't want something I'm going to feel like I need to handle with kid gloves).

Any other suggestions? $300-$400 is about the most I'd want to pay; I'm almost considering the Nexus 7 2013, but that's so old at this point...

And I may just end up with a new Kindle Fire, in spite of the hand-holding.

Ham Equity fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Feb 10, 2016

# ¿ Feb 10, 2016 11:19

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 14:11

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Yeah, sorry, should have specified no Apple.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2016 17:52

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Daimo posted:

If you don't want an iPad start with the Nvidia Shield K1.

That should be in the OP.

Actually, that looks pretty great. Any particular reason I wouldn't want to go with it?

# ¿ Feb 11, 2016 19:40

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Rumor has it Google is announcing a new Nexus 7 in November.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 23:20

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

MooselanderII posted:

My google nexus 7 (2013) has finally crapped out. Anyone have any suggestions for an economical replacement?

Nexus 7 2016 (probably a "Pixel" of some sort) is probably hitting in the next couple of months.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2016 06:12

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

No announcement from Google. Rumor mill is still saying before the year is out, but who knows.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2016 02:20

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

There are constant rumors about a new Nexus 7, but thus far Google has announced nothing. The implication from a lot of them is that it will be a Pixel 7, which means it'll probably be higher-end (and significantly more expensive) than the 2013 Nexus 7, but again, nothing has been announced.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2017 05:20

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

MikeJF posted:

I feel like that'd be a misstep; with the Android tablet ecosystem floundering so badly, they need to push further into a space where they can bring up the viability of Android tablets before they go for the high-end.

I agree; I wish they would copy the 2013 N7 with a bit more RAM, a bit more storage, and a better processor.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2017 05:56

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Yoga Tab Pro 3 on the Amazon Treasure Truck for $350. Good deal?

# ¿ Feb 8, 2017 23:38

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Kindle Fire HD 10 is $100 right now, $115 without special offers. I finally came to terms with the fact that there will be no new Nexus 7, and bit the bullet.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2017 19:01

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

poe meater posted:

My old rear end kindle fire 7 (4th gen) finally kicked the bucket. I'm looking to buy something similar in weight or even lighter. I dont mind the small rear end screen and just use it bed mostly for twitch and amazon video.

Is there any good alternatives out there preferably light in weight? Or should I just get a kindle again?

Kindle Fire HD8 will be slightly heavier, but a much better screen. Otherwise, yeah, the Kindle Fire 7 will be where you want to go.

They're so loving cheap now. I picked up a Kindle Fire HD 10 over the holiday season to replace my first-gen Kindle Fire. It's loving great, especially for a $100 tablet.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2018 05:51

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

C-Euro posted:

I keep downloading eBook bundles from Humble Bundle and I feel like I should read them on something larger than my Pixel XL. I haven't paid attention to "e-readers" or the tablet scene in general in the last couple of years, what are my options if I want a tablet for opening PDF/epub/mobi files at $100 or less?

Kindle Fire HD 8.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2018 04:20

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Flopstick posted:

Am I dumb if I'm considering getting a Fire HDX at this point, or are they still viable?

e: it would be principally for wrangling fairly large Word docs on the go, so with some type of Bluetooth keyboard

ee: feel free to also recommend any particularly good folding BT keyboards!

Personally, I wouldn't try to use a Fire for productivity. Yoga Tab, maybe (I haven't tried one yet); Surface Pro, definitely.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2018 00:10

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Flopstick posted:

Cheers for these. Yeah, I loved my SP3, but it got totalled last summer. Can't quite justify shelling out for a straight replacement unfortunately.

Have you considered a straight laptop? You can get some decent ones pretty cheap (or at least you could a year or two ago).

# ¿ Feb 5, 2018 03:40

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

The Ferret King posted:

Yeah. Just make sure you understand you're making a compromise with a Kindle.

People here bill it as a 1 for 1 replacement for more expensive tablets and it's just not so.

I don't think anyone here does that. People are pretty straight-up about what it can and can't do.

Admiral Joeslop posted:

Is the Fire HD 10 worth the upgrade?

I like mine quite a bit. I got it on sale over Xmas for $100. If you can hold out, they'll probably put it on sale again before too long.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2018 22:52

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

SamuraiFoochs posted:

Okay so I'm not looking to imminently replace my tablet but I still want to ask this.

I have a Kindle Fire HDX and I absolutely love it. It's perfect for my needs which is basically a portable handheld streaming machine/rudimentary web browser. I love the seamless integration with books/audiobooks, etc.

However, the app library is pretty much hot trash. I've heard about and looked a little bit into sideloading, which I might still do, but when I go to make my next tablet purchase, is there anything non-Apple that would fulfill my needs similarly with a better native app library?

No.

Side-loading is super-easy. It took me about fifteen minutes, including googling the process and reading the steps.

Your alternatives are very old and expensive if you don't want to go Apple.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2018 05:04

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

SamuraiFoochs posted:

Noted. I'll probably just go ahead and do it, it's more that the very nature of sideloading makes me feel like there's no way it could possibly be as easy or work as smoothly as it seems but maybe I'm too cynical eh?

Edit: Do you mind if I PM you some questions about the process at some point? It's not so much the process itself I'm confused on, it's more post-sideload questions I have before I dive in.

You're welcome to PM me, but honestly, I just Googled how to do it and did it in about 15 minutes about a year ago. I'm not a heavy tablet user or anything, so I only used it for a handful of apps. For a "hack," it works surprisingly well.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2018 18:55

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Cefte posted:

I'm looking for an Android tablet pretty much exclusively to read .pdf books and scientific papers on public transport. I don't care about camera or speakers, I care about battery life, screen quality and micro-SD slot. I want something I won't be too broken up about if it gets broken, it's intended as a supplement to an already owned Surface Pro (which I would, very much, be broken up about).

I'm currently stuck between a Samsung Tab A 10.5 (don't like the screen ratio) and an Asus ZenPad z500m (don't like the battery, or the outdated Android version).

Is there anything out there in roughly the same (sub �300) price range?

I would suggest a Kindle Fire HD 10. Good screen quality, fine battery life, and cheap enough that you won't get broken up about it if it is lost/stolen/broken.

Not sure what the screen ratio is, though.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2018 00:45

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

MikeJF posted:

Nobody who buys a fire uses the Kindle app store.

Sideloading is ridiculously easy. The tablets are hella good for the price.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2018 03:11

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Ophidia posted:

I'm looking for a cheap android tablet for my mother. Doesn't have to be high-end or anything, around 200� would be ideal. Do you have any recommendations?

What functionality are you looking for?

I bought both of my parents Kindle Fire HD 10s. It's perfect for video streaming, solitaire-style games, and reading books/magazines.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2019 22:18

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Ophidia posted:

It should be able to install all google playstore apps, thats why I dont trust the kinde fire tablets. I remember they have their own appstore and she uses some specific apps for smart home controls etc.
Is there anything else you can recommend ?

Sideload the Google Play store on a Kindle Fire. I'd never done it before, it took about fifteen minutes, including googling how to do it.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2019 03:53

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

notaspy posted:

This is a depressing read. Why have google abandoned the Tablet market? MAdness.

What I am after is something that is larger than a phone to watch tv and films on along with photos and sometimes documents. Also a bit of facebook as I refuse to have that installed on my phone.

I wanted google as I don't want to have yet another big data company looking at my poo poo, I don't want yet another set of accounts, I don't want to have to learn yet another interface.

I also really, REALLY hate apple and apple users.

But it looks like it is the only choice.

gently caress.

It really sounds like you'd be fine with a Fire HD 10. They'll probably hit $100 or less on Black Friday. And sideloading the Google Play store is hella easy.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2020 00:12

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Nitrousoxide posted:

How do people feel about the Tab S7 vs the Apple iPad Air? The former is on sale at Samsung's website.

I have an Android phone but also a Macbook air so I have my foot in both ecosystems. The Tab looks to have better tech specs overall, and the base model has more storage, plus with the sales is cheaper than the iPad, even at Costco, where I've found it the cheapest. Plus it includes the pen at that price whereas the iPad does not.

Any thoughts on the user experience or hardware between the two?

Edit: I should say, that the primary use for this tablet will be or consuming videos, reading manga and possibly books though I do have a Kindle which I may do most of that latter with.

It's likely that most of my work would happen either on my Windows desktop my Apple MacBook air or my phone if I'm out and about.

Kindle Fire HD 10 is $80 today, and I love it for streaming and reading comics.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2020 21:16

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Nitrousoxide posted:

How obtrusive are the ads on that $80 version?

Also, can you sideload apps?

The Android manga reader that I use is not in the app store and I have to sideload it.

And I use Google apps on there like youtube? I watch a lot of videos on there it suck to not be able to use it

Having never done it before, I set mine up to sideload apps in ~10 minutes.

I don't think I've ever used it for YouTube, but I can't imagine it doesn't support it natively (I mostly do Netflix and Amazon Video).

EDIT: Oh, not in the store; I sideloaded the Play Store without a problem, haven't sideloaded anything else, but it was very easy.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2020 21:28

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Cabbages and Kings posted:

I definitely don't want one of those.

I am a remote worker who did not leave home much even pre-COVID, and if I need a smaller device when I am on the go, I have a small drawer of "woods phones" including a Pixel 1, a couple moto AndroidOne phones, etc. Mostly with some amount of cracked glass, from, being, you know, woods phones.

Are there any devices that satisfy my requirement? I feel like there must be some decent GSM/AT&T sim enabled small tablet that I can just root and install phone.app on, if no one actually sells "Giant Phone: the product".

It maddens me to no end that apple won't just put the loving dialer app on their iPad mini, what the gently caress.

Galaxy Note 20 is 6.7", though it is a phone and not a tablet.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2020 19:15

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Spacegrass posted:

I'm looking for an android tablet that will last at least a year. What's the best one for $200 or lower. Thanks.

Kindle Fire.

# ¿ May 15, 2021 17:32

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

The Grumbles posted:

Depending on your budget, I'd suggest maybe a previous generation base iPad or iPad mini

Why iPad over Kindle Fire?

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 17:18

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Hippie Hedgehog posted:

Get a chromebook?

(New thread title?)

This was my thought, too. If you want a tablet-like experience, plenty of even the cheaper Chromebooks have touch screens (my $350 one does).

# ¿ Sep 21, 2022 16:26

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Need to buy an Android tablet for the locksmith at work. It needs to have the latest version of Android, be good for at least a few years of security patches, be cheap, have good battery life, and be durable. We were looking at the Galaxy A7 Lite; is there a better option?

# ¿ Oct 19, 2022 01:09

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

Fozzy The Bear posted:

Going to be taking some long 18+ hour flights over the course of two months. What is the best tablet to read books and PDFs? I might want to watch some videos I upload to the device too.

I will be using no apps/games. I have the origonal Amazon Fire tablet, and its way too underpowered to do anything other than read amazon ebooks.

After the trip I will probably never use it again or give it away.

This screams Kindle Fire. I'm shocked you still have an original one, I'm on my third.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2022 03:29

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

History Comes Inside! posted:

Calibre will do this on desktop

Thirding this, just in case two opinions weren't enough.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2023 06:22

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

We have a Galaxy Tab A7 at my work we use for a single, very simple app, and it's clunky as gently caress, I would absolutely not recommend as a daily driver.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2024 21:40

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 14:11

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

DACK FAYDEN posted:

My wife wants a device to replace her laptop. We're thinking tablet plus a peripheral keyboard because she honestly doesn't do much:
-watch streams (both from websites and via apps)
-web surfing (reddit etc, nothing that requires exceptional processing power)
-document writing/the occasional spreadsheet (google docs is sufficient, no need for Actual Excel or whatever, think cover letters and to-do lists and such)
-built-in camera for job interviews/virtual doctor appointments (headphone jack nice but not mandatory, especially if it takes usb-c headphones already)

and verbatim from her: "I don't like change, so I want something that will be similar in layout and functionality to what I already have"

The goon recommendation is still just an iPad with as much RAM as they'll sell you, right? (plus one of these Magic Keyboard case things or a third-party equivalent?) The Galaxy Tab line is at least marginally tempting specs-wise but I haven't gotten hands-on with anything. Last few pages seemed to be fully on the iPad brigade. Didn't know if there was something more tablet than Chromebook but still sort of designed to be a primary-use computer.

edit: also it will not need to be portable at least 90% of the time, so really even the Magic Keyboard might be overkill compared to a usb-c dock with typical boring usb mouse/keyboard

Given the spreadsheet/document writing ask, and wanting something similar to what she already has, I'd look at a Chromebook with a touchscreen. That's what I use, and it's great. I paid $400 like three years ago.

Chromebook thread is here:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3838891&pagenumber=43&perpage=40

I really only look when I'm buying, otherwise I'd make a more specific recommendation.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 17:19

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