This year may be a milestone in terms of design for tablets, if the predictions regarding the Inspiration from iPad Pro 2018 on iPhone X and the tablets that could come with dual displays, but this is already an important section when choosing a tablet and for issues that go far beyond aesthetics and with a great impact on our user experience.
The materials
Although there was a time when it was relatively difficult to find tablets with premium materials outside of the high-end range, fortunately there has been a huge evolution in this section and we have more and more options to choose from also between mid-range and even high-end tablets. basic range (waiting to see if a new generation of materials becomes consolidated or not). It is important to remember that a metal (or, less frequently, glass) case is not only an extra that makes a tablet more attractive, but it has a very important impact on the ability of a device to dissipate heat and avoid overheating it is essential to achieve good performance and keep internal components in good condition.
dimensions
There was a time when we witnessed a race to launch the finest devices, which in the field of tablets ended up winning the Galaxy Tab S2 and that seems to have come to an end, perhaps only to be replaced in the near future by competition for lowering the front bezels. The characteristic that we should probably give the most importance in this section, however, is the weight, since we must bear in mind that sometimes we are going to spend even hours with our tablets in our hands. In any case, it must be taken into account that many times minimum thicknesses and weights are achieved at the expense of batteries of lower capacity, so before choosing it is convenient to put these two data in relation and assess what is worth more to us.
The speakers
One of the trends that can be observed in the latest generation of tablets and that we like the most is undoubtedly that more and more attention is being paid to the section on audio, and we already have a few that even leave us systems with four stereo speakers, which presume to arrive with Dolby Atmos or with the Harman Kardon label. There is a detail that is sometimes easy to overlook, however, and that is very important too, which is your location: the normal thing is that we use them in a landscape position for the activities that benefit the most from a good sound and we have to think about where they will be when we hold them like this and, even more, where our hands will go and how much risk there is of that we block them.
The connections
It is not frequent yet to find Android tablets (The iPad in this sense is a world apart, as you know) with USB ports except in the high-end, but obviously this is the future and we should always count them as a point in favor of those who have them, even more than in smartphones , thinking of accessories. And in this sense we must insist that this is an aspect that must be considered with special interest when it comes to Windows tablets, although in this case, the other way around, we will surely be interested in having a conventional USB port as well. Keep in mind that, although it may be strange, there are few that offer us ports of both types.
The accessories
Our tablets are more and more capable instruments but often to get the most out of them we require some kind of accessoryAll the more so if we intend to replace our laptop or other gadgets with it, as more and more people do, although they go far beyond keyboards. That is why it is interesting to consider that there are many that are universal, so that we are never going to be completely short of options, but the best are often bespoke solutions. It is not just a matter of taking a look beforehand at the official accessories with which the tablet in question has been launched, but there are also models that receive more attention than others from others.
Interesting extras
The five factors we've highlighted seem to us of more general interest, but there are a few more details that may occasionally be worth considering. One of them is the fingerprint reader, less necessary in tablets normally because (despite Apple's efforts) they are used more with the family and leave the house less, but those who have one for individual use and want to make sure they have it well protected, needless to say, it will be very useful. . The other is the water resistance, but here unfortunately, the problem is rather that, although how interesting it would be thinking about how good travel companions our tablets are on vacation, it is a very rare feature, normally exclusive to rugged devices, such as the Galaxy Tab Active 2 and therefore more expensive.