Tablets have definitely been installed in our lives. After overcoming initial skepticism from consumers, tablets are now an established device. You may already own one and it has become outdated or you may not have one yet and have decided to take the step. We want to help you with a guide to decide What is the best tablet for you among those available.
The tablet market is offering more and more alternatives. All brands are making interesting bets by launching better devices at a better price. In this sense, the consumer is benefiting from fierce competition. The reference model set by the first iPad was that a tablet should serve for everything, but its competitors decided to specialize and now we can say that we have tablets for all tastes and needs. Therefore, before buying it, you must be clear about what you want it for. Maybe you are not very clear about the answer to this question either, so follow us in this guide and we will help you solve those doubts.
Leisure or work?
This division is fundamental. If you want the tablet to have fun consuming content and to be able to surf the internet and check your mail from time to time, a simple and cheaper tablet should be enough. If you want the tablet for work, needing to edit texts, photos, share files and surf the internet long and hard, you must be willing to buy a high-end and probably hybrid tablet. Hybrid means that you can incorporate a keyboard by connection ports. In most cases it will also offer you more slots and ports and battery hours. The best tablets for work they are without a doubt the ones in the range Transform from Asus. AND the best tablet for leisure It is Nexus 7 for its incredible power as a player, its capacity for video games and its value for money.
Price
The dividing line between a low cost tablet and a high end tablet It is around 400 euros. Below 400 euros there are many interesting tablets. These tablets usually have less powerful processors, less connectivity and it is rare that they carry the most cutting-edge operating system. Those that exceed 400 usually do not have any of the deficiencies that we have indicated of the others, although as a negative it could be said that they tend to be larger and lose a bit of potability.
At an intermediate point and on the 400 euro line is the 2 GB iPad 16 with WiFi only, a very good, efficient and quite versatile tablet. We would also have the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 16 GB and only with WiFi or the Asus Transformer TF300T without the dock. This Asus tablet is probably the best tablet in value for money of the market and for 100 euros more it becomes a tablet for everything by adding its keyboard dock, which gives us much more autonomy.
In short, if your budget is less than 400 euros, forget about Apple, there are only Android tablets left. Without a doubt, go for a Nexus 7 16 GB (250 euros) or wait for the Kindle Fire 2 that will be around. Below 200 euros the quality cannot be assured too much but there are options.
If you have more than 400 euros there are many options, including the New iPad, the best tablet on the market.
Operating System
As we said, only above 400 euros we can really decide if we want Android or iOS. The option of Windows 8 or Windows RT depending on the price is still a mystery, but soon we will get rid of doubts and it seems that we will find tablets for all budgets.
In general terms, if we want to base our decision on what is the best tablet in the operating system we must know the following:
- iOS means precision and agility. It is the most developed operating system of the three in terms of user experience. Your gestures on the screen are never unattended, they are always answered. It is tremendously efficient but you will have to adapt to its modes. Once you get used to iTunes, not being able to access your files directly is great. It is not customizable but it never fails and it is really safe. It has the largest application store where news always arrives before Android, especially many games. If you want the best tablet in terms of performance, do not hesitate, your option is an iPad.
- Android means customization and multitasking. Android has always had customization as its flag. Being open source, many things can be done and you will always have at your fingertips the software that independent developers put at your disposal. With Jelly Bean the distances with iOS have been cut a lot and the multitasking function, something that the iPad does not have, is being more and more exploited. The paradigmatic case is the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 It reflects its multitasking ability in its multiscreen capability with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
- Windows 8: the tablet PC. We know little about Windows 8, it has only been recently tested at the IFA in Berlin. On user experience it does not leave the best sensations but its applications are really familiar for office work. Both Windows 8 and Windows RT have Microsoft Office 2013 and the browser Internet Explorer 10. Windows RT is more closed because it only supports applications developed by Microsoft in the Metro environment and cannot be installed in parallel with another operating system. Windows 8 does not have these problems. The bad thing is that until October 26 we will not know the price of Surface or any tablet with this operating system. What we can know is that they will be almost all hybrid and convertible tablets designed for work as they have a keyboard.
Connectivity: 3G or WiFi
The 400 euro line also separates whether we can have WiFi only or WiFi + 3G. Tablets are devices designed primarily for content consumption. There are devices, however, that have opened up many possibilities in terms of creative work and office automation options. To play multimedia the Internet connection is not vital. And we must think if we really want to pay a data rate for the tablet, probably the second if we already have a smartphone. To receive email notifications, and even to reply to them, a telephone is enough. We can always use the tethering for emergencies, that is, that our phone becomes a rooter and we connect the tablet by WiFi. Unless we professionally need a constant connection, the additional cost of a 3G tablet should be discounted.
Size: 7 inch or 10 inch
In my opinion, a tablet should mainly offer portability and the smaller the better. Again, the use we make of it is final. Of course, we will feel more comfortable making gestures on the touch screen the larger it is. So if we plan to use the keyboard a lot or edit photos or video, the large 10-inch screen can be more comfortable. Not so much for video games, since touch controls or gestures require less precision and hands are better suited to a 7-inch tablet.
Litigation, Arbitration
The larger the screen we will also need more resolution to give a high definition feeling, marked by the ppi index (pixels per inch). This variable is obtained by dividing the area in square inches by the resolution. A low value is offset by distance, that is, we appreciate a higher resolution the closer we are. It is important to remember that we need more distance to contemplate a 10-inch screen than a 7-inch screen.
Resolution is very important for watching videos and photos and playing video games, but not so important for information applications or social networks. The Retina display of the New iPad It is the best on the market and perhaps it has set a bar as high as it is unnecessary. Others have followed him in that race for resolution as Asus TransformerPad Infinity or own Nexus 7 with a very high ppi index.
Battery
The tablet is a portable device and needs a good battery to do that. Not all tablets perform the same. The New iPad is the best in this regard, although the hybrid tablets with its dock provide extra hours of battery while sacrificing a lot of portability. Behind the New iPad and iPad 2 comes Nexus 7. You can see at this article which is the best tablet in terms of battery.
Conclusions and recommended models
The best tablet is the one you can afford and covers your needs. There are dispensable tablet amenities like 3G or a high screen resolution that can lower the price, but then it depends on what you need it for. That is why we recommend:
To play:
Nexus 7 It is a great option for its price of 199 euros (8 GB) 249 euros (16 GB). There are many Android tablets with the Tegra 3 processor which is what really makes the difference. There are two embryonic tablets specialized in gaming that we will see soon: WikiPad, integrated with the PlayStation gaming platform and Archos GamePad.
Sony Tablet S is also a good option for being the only one with access to PlayStation games, you can even wait for Sony Xperia Tablet S, its renewed version that is about to arrive.
To play multimedia:
Again, Nexus 7 It would stand out, but you can go for a bigger screen for convenience. In this case the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 it can be a great option. It is a reliable tablet with a normal resolution of 1280 x 800. In its WiFi-only version it costs 330 euros (16 GB) or 400 euros (32 GB), while in the WiFi + 3G version it costs about 450 euros.
We will also see soon reach Kindle Fire 2 that will surely come with a scandal price.
To work with images
The new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 It is the first option, at 529 euros if we buy it only with WiFi and 16 GB, for its multiscreen and multitasking option. It also incorporates Adobe Photoshop Touch among other great Samsung design applications. The only downside is its low resolution and a certain slow response time.
The New iPad could be another great option by adding the app Adobe Photoshop Touch. If we buy it only with WiFi and 16 GB of memory it would cost 490 euros. Remember that it does not have an SD card slot unlike the Galaxy Note 10.1.
For office work
The first option is the Asus TransformerPad TF300T 16 GB with WiFi connection costs 359 euros and if we add the keyboard dock for about 450 euros. It is the best tablet in value for money. We can also wait for Windows 8 tablets to come out and especially Surface, which will be ideal for the office and can have an impressive price between 200 and 600 euros.
One tablet for everything
Without a doubt, a tablet for everything is the New iPad. The clear problem is always its price, which starts from 490 euros in the simplest version, only WiFi and 16 GB, up to 820 that the WiFi + 3G version with 64 GB is worth. To this we will have to add the data rate.
To finish, the best tablet It is the one that you can pay and that will cover your needs. It is important to reach a balance between the price and the service you will give us. Low cost tablets can be a temporary solution until we make a more long-term decision, but a good, well-considered investment will have more travel. It is good, think about it for a while or even wait for a tablet that is going to hit the market soon and that better suits our needs.