Topic: The Tablet Computing Thread

[jason42]

I was looking to get Debs a new laptop for her new job as she is going to be doing her Masters but as that has been put back for a good while, we decided we would get her a tablet that she could use for web browsing and social media etc. We have a Nexus 7 but the screen is too small so we decided on a 10 inch tablet. Given the limited requirements we didn't want to spend too much money so I scoured Amazon and found what looked like a decent choice - Dragon Touch - for £79 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LM5WU96?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s02. The only negative reviews were for bad sound so we went for it. It came on Friday and looked pretty good. However woke up yesterday to see that the screen is peeling away from the tablet so I have just had a refund from Amazon.
SO - can anyone recommend a 10 inch Tablet for around the £100 mark that will stand up to daily use and has decent build quality and performance to last a few years? It has to be 10 inch or as near as damn it.

[TheKid.]

I was looking to get Debs a new laptop for her new job as she is going to be doing her Masters but as that has been put back for a good while, we decided we would get her a tablet that she could use for web browsing and social media etc. We have a Nexus 7 but the screen is too small so we decided on a 10 inch tablet. Given the limited requirements we didn't want to spend too much money so I scoured Amazon and found what looked like a decent choice - Dragon Touch - for £79 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LM5WU96?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s02. The only negative reviews were for bad sound so we went for it. It came on Friday and looked pretty good. However woke up yesterday to see that the screen is peeling away from the tablet so I have just had a refund from Amazon.
SO - can anyone recommend a 10 inch Tablet for around the £100 mark that will stand up to daily use and has decent build quality and performance to last a few years? It has to be 10 inch or as near as damn it.

We got this for my father in law for Xmas (was £100 then and could be that still elsewhere)

http://m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnlewis.com/asus-transformer-pad-tf103cx-tablet-intel-atom-android-8gb-wi-fi-10-1-/p1774384?colour=Black&un_jtt_v_pdp=yes&un_jtt_v_from_product=un_product_2#page_loaded

Seemed decent for the money when I was setting it up.
Did remind me how much I hate android though

[smicer07]

Anyone know if I can use a Three sim card in an Ipad Mini 2 and use it on their free roaming abroad service? Had a look but couldn't find anything! cheers.

[jason42]

We got this for my father in law for Xmas (was £100 then and could be that still elsewhere)

http://m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnlewis.com/asus-transformer-pad-tf103cx-tablet-intel-atom-android-8gb-wi-fi-10-1-/p1774384?colour=Black&un_jtt_v_pdp=yes&un_jtt_v_from_product=un_product_2#page_loaded

Seemed decent for the money when I was setting it up.
Did remind me how much I hate android though

Thanks for that mate. I have had a good look at them but to get the proper keyboard would push the price way up. I have started looking at the Chromebooks now and I think I am plumping for this one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K7YAT1O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

[Perkins]

Anyone got experience of wake up on LAN via their chrome book?

[francobones]

I got a steelseries stratus XL controller for my iPad air 2 for Christmas and it is great, GTA San Andreas works like a dream and Real Racing 3 is great too. It works on iPhone 5 and above and on iPad mini, Air and 4th gen ipads running ios7 and above, connects with Bluetooth and works with hundreds of games. It is similar to an Xbox pad in shape and size but with joystick layout like PS controllers. It's not cheap at £60 but it turns your iPad into a mini console, deffo worth a look.

[Trada]

New update for the Hudl 2 rolling out now just downloading it, I hope it fixes the strange charging problem.

[Snail]

New update for the Hudl 2 rolling out now just downloading it, I hope it fixes the strange charging problem.

Ah, so it wasn't just me suffering from that. Where can I get it?

[Twelfth Man]

Ah, so it wasn't just me suffering from that. Where can I get it?

Settings>Update, I would presume, stopped using after hols. What were the strange charging issues? Glorified mobile so was not expecting much anyway.

[Snail]

Settings>Update, I would presume, stopped using after hols. What were the strange charging issues? Glorified mobile so was not expecting much anyway.

If the battery runs down a bit (below 50 percent seems to be when the problem starts for me), it won't charge unless you restart the device with the charger plugged in. I also get problems with the clock sometimes, where the time will randomly be two hours and 17 minutes (or whatever) behind what the actual time is. Again, solved by restarting the device with the charger plugged in. It's quite annoying, but it's a dirt cheap tablet so...

[BlackandWhitePaul]

I seem to use my Hudl 2 only to play 8 Pool, it's pretty addictive.

[Trada]

If the battery runs down a bit (below 50 percent seems to be when the problem starts for me), it won't charge unless you restart the device with the charger plugged in. I also get problems with the clock sometimes, where the time will randomly be two hours and 17 minutes (or whatever) behind what the actual time is. Again, solved by restarting the device with the charger plugged in. It's quite annoying, but it's a dirt cheap tablet so...

I have updated it doesn't look any different but it seems to be charging ok now from 30%.

I will have to dig the usb cable out to see if that works better now.

[Trada]

I seem to use my Hudl 2 only to play 8 Pool, it's pretty addictive.

Now I will have to download it now to give it a go.

["21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!]

Loving my new nexus 9 so far apart from the build quality which is terrible by htc standards.

It is fast by any standard and games look awesome. I can also attach a full sized keyboard using the micro usb-otg port and do my reports, which means less use for my Vaio.

Happy with it so far!

[JongWK]

So the flash memory of my Nexus 7 (2013) had a wee bit of a catastrophic failure last week (my fault, admittedly). I'm looking at the Nvidia Shield tablet as replacement. Has anyone had any experience with it?

Plan B is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, but I dislike Touchwiz. Gorgeous screen, though...

Plan C is another Nexus 7, but i'd like a slightly bigger screen.

[Thush]

I switched from a Nexus 7 (2012) to a Shield a few months back, once the Shield had the Lollipop upgrade. Been very pleased with it. I mostly use it for video watching, reading and comics. The front-facing speakers really make such a difference, especially compared with the N7 and the horrible rear speaker that was muffled when you held the tablet.

It feels a tiny bit thicker than the N7, especially with the case/cover. The build quality is solid though. No complaints there. Being able to add an SD card is a boon too as is having stock Android. Not tried any of the gaming capabilities yet, but the game that comes with it (Trine 2) looks lovely.

I'd give it a solid 8 out of 10.

[JongWK]

I switched from a Nexus 7 (2012) to a Shield a few months back, once the Shield had the Lollipop upgrade. Been very pleased with it. I mostly use it for video watching, reading and comics. The front-facing speakers really make such a difference, especially compared with the N7 and the horrible rear speaker that was muffled when you held the tablet.

It feels a tiny bit thicker than the N7, especially with the case/cover. The build quality is solid though. No complaints there. Being able to add an SD card is a boon too as is having stock Android. Not tried any of the gaming capabilities yet, but the game that comes with it (Trine 2) looks lovely.

I'd give it a solid 8 out of 10.

Do you know if the glass screen has any kind of fortification? (Gorilla Glass, etc) I've been looking but couldn't find anything...

[Thush]

Do you know if the glass screen has any kind of fortification? (Gorilla Glass, etc) I've been looking but couldn't find anything...

I don't think it does. I got the smart cover to go with it and haven't really worried about scratches or cracks.

The cover is very nice indeed, both as a screen cover and a stand. Works well.

The only irritating thing are the buttons which hardly stick out at all, so you sometimes have to feel along the edge. Thankfully, you don't have to use the buttons much as opening the cover wakes the tablet.

[gjr1]

Not sure if this is the correct place but I just purchased a surface pro 3. not had it long but pretty happy with it so far as you'd expect.

i have a number of ipads and an imac (which i hate) but needed an actual computer.

looking forward to seeing what this can do.

[Phil M]

Is the Hudl 2 the best budget tablet about - my laptop is on the blink, it's a few years old so looking at replacing it soon but would like to get a tablet in the meantime.

Something with a decent sized screen with good quality resolution, can be used with a wireless keyboard for general web browsing, bit of gaming and maybe
streaming netflix and watching youtube vids, stuff like that.

Any other recommendations in the 50-100 quid kinda category?

[WhoHe]

This one is worth a look http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190957254949?clk_rvr_id=791049012145&rmvSB=true also have a search on offeroftheday.co.uk as they sometimes have some bargains but the goods ones don't last long.

[owens_2k]

Not sure if this is the correct place but I just purchased a surface pro 3. not had it long but pretty happy with it so far as you'd expect.

i have a number of ipads and an imac (which i hate) but needed an actual computer.

looking forward to seeing what this can do.

Pretty much everything I would have thought.

How much was it?

[Red_Irishman]

I think I'm finally going to invest in an iPad Air 2 shortly. Looking at the 64GB Gold one.

What is the best type of external storage/hard drive for an iPad? Preferably one that works via connection or maybe Bluetooth (If that's possible). I endure a regular bus commute so it would be handy to be able to watch content from an external device, not having to clog up the iPad.

[capt k]

Need some pointers ..
Wife got my grandson a samsung galaxy Tab3 lite,{as a comming home from hospital present}. only problem is i have no idea how to install games on it for him, was looking at getting a few games, Chess being one, then any other games a 6yr old boy would use.

Any advice would be apppreciated as ive no idea where to start.

[Persephone]

Need some pointers ..
Wife got my grandson a samsung galaxy Tab3 lite,{as a comming home from hospital present}. only problem is i have no idea how to install games on it for him, was looking at getting a few games, Chess being one, then any other games a 6yr old boy would use.

Any advice would be apppreciated as ive no idea where to start.

Look in the app store mate, youll find thousands of games.

[Packalacky]

Need some pointers ..
Wife got my grandson a samsung galaxy Tab3 lite,{as a comming home from hospital present}. only problem is i have no idea how to install games on it for him, was looking at getting a few games, Chess being one, then any other games a 6yr old boy would use.

Any advice would be apppreciated as ive no idea where to start.

Click on the Google Play icon

once you are in the app, search for Chess and from the list that comes up you can install any game that comes up.

[danwms]

Loving my Nexus 9 at the moment. Best tablet I have owned.

[XabiAlonsosBeard]

I've been meaning to buy a tablet for a while and finally got round to it last week. I will only use it for basic stuff like browsing the net, Facebook and iPlayer, YouTube etc.

Took the plunge with a Hudl2 for just over £60 with clubcard voucher discount applied. Boosted the storage too with a 32gb micro SD card.

For the price, I'm impressed. Suits my needs and does everything I need it to do to a good level of performance. Seems a fairly decent build quality too, maybe apart from the tight power lead which you have to apply a fairly sturdy pull to to get out.

I was previously an Apple fan. However, much prefer the range of apps on the Google Play store and really can't justify the Apple prices when you can get something that can do the same things for a fraction of the price. Granted, Apple products generally do look nicer, but I tend to put a cover on whatever I buy, so the aesthetics don't really matter that much.

[pazcom]

daughters nexus 7 (1st version) is not charging at all. Tried 4 differant chargers for at least an hour and nothing

any ideas people?

cheers

[Swissgaz]

daughters nexus 7 (1st version) is not charging at all. Tried 4 differant chargers for at least an hour and nothing

any ideas people?

cheers

Not sure if this helps.

[pazcom]

Not sure if this helps.

Yep that did the trick!

[iSmiff]

i think Steve just did a few rolls

[CraigDS]

to be honest, when he said that the device he was on about was an iPhone, as the ipad didn't come out until 2010.

This is for the iPad Pro, which is a near 13" device.

[TepidT2O]

Stylus is crap.. I'd just lose it...

[Swissgaz]

Made me laugh...

[CraigDS]

Stylus is crap.. I'd just lose it...

It depends what you're using your iPad for (they're not needed on a phone). If it's just general web surfing and normal app use then no, they're useless.

If you're doing any sort of more detailed work (written note taking, drawing, etc) then they are soooooo much better than using your finger.

I've been wanting a larger iPad for a while now, sure I've said it on here a few times. I use my current one (iPad 2) a lot for planning and organisation for a few projects I'm working on, as well as jotting down ideas which will often involve a quickly drawn image. I use a cheap stylus for this but can only guess it'll be 1000x better using a specifically designed Apple one.

Will definitely be getting a Pro and stylus.

[Swissgaz]

Will definitely be getting a Pro and stylus.

Are FSG paying for it? 

[Brian Blessed]

The Pencil seems very nice, but the way you charge it is fucking daft.

[CraigDS]

Are FSG paying for it? 

We've calculated it will increase my productivity on fan forums by 17.7%.

However we will be increasing ticket prices by £0.50 each to pay for it.

[TepidT2O]

It's more a work device this isn't it?