Author Topic: The Tablet Computing Thread  (Read 360608 times)

Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5360 on: February 24, 2018, 03:00:26 pm »
I'm in the market for a new tablet, i keep buying cheap ones for my lad and they just don't last very long.

I bought a Sony Xperia Z tablet 5 years ago now, probably the best £400 I've ever spent, it's not missed a beat down the years and the battery life seems as good now as when it was new. I'm thinking of passing my old one down to my lad so am looking for a new one.

What has happened to the tablet market?  Sony no longer make one,  Google have stopped also, looks like it's just Samsung making decent ones these days. I don't want to buy a Samsung as I've had reliability issues in the past.

Anyone got any advice?

Offline owens_2k

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5361 on: February 26, 2018, 10:17:48 am »
I'm in the market for a new tablet, i keep buying cheap ones for my lad and they just don't last very long.

I bought a Sony Xperia Z tablet 5 years ago now, probably the best £400 I've ever spent, it's not missed a beat down the years and the battery life seems as good now as when it was new. I'm thinking of passing my old one down to my lad so am looking for a new one.

What has happened to the tablet market?  Sony no longer make one,  Google have stopped also, looks like it's just Samsung making decent ones these days. I don't want to buy a Samsung as I've had reliability issues in the past.

Anyone got any advice?
I'm have a surface pro 3 and its brilliant. Can dock it for when my eldest wants to use it as a desktop and do homework, then can pick it up and move about with it when the youngest wants to play games or mess about on paint with it. Its sturdy, and has handled everything I've thrown at it so far.

Offline "21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5362 on: February 27, 2018, 05:06:57 am »
Two new tabs, the Huawei Mediapad M5 and Samsung Galaxy tab S4 were announced last week. If you are looking for android powered tablets, you might want to wait a couple of months till they hit the market. 

Unfortunately, not a lot of OEMs are making android tablets these days. With phones getting bigger and bigger, the case for dedicated tablets is  not as compelling, especially for media consumption.

If you are OK with a windows tablet, you have a lot more options. But most companies making these do not retail in the UK/Europe and you'll have to order online from the likes of gearbest or geekbuying. Teclast, Chuwi and Cube are three decent brands making good Windows 10 tablets. 

Alternatively, the Surface pro 3 & 4 are great options if you do not mind spending a bit of money. They are overkill for basic media consumption and browsing though, so it depends on your usage patterns.
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Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5363 on: February 27, 2018, 11:17:01 am »
Two new tabs, the Huawei Mediapad M5 and Samsung Galaxy tab S4 were announced last week. If you are looking for android powered tablets, you might want to wait a couple of months till they hit the market. 

Unfortunately, not a lot of OEMs are making android tablets these days. With phones getting bigger and bigger, the case for dedicated tablets is  not as compelling, especially for media consumption.

If you are OK with a windows tablet, you have a lot more options. But most companies making these do not retail in the UK/Europe and you'll have to order online from the likes of gearbest or geekbuying. Teclast, Chuwi and Cube are three decent brands making good Windows 10 tablets. 

Alternatively, the Surface pro 3 & 4 are great options if you do not mind spending a bit of money. They are overkill for basic media consumption and browsing though, so it depends on your usage patterns.

I mainly for internet browsing really, bit of streaming, bit of music, bit of gaming, don't really need a keyboard, nothing else. I can't justify paying £800 for a Surface Pro.

I'm pissed off that I missed the Pixel C, it was discontinued in November, looked like a lovely bit of kit and after owning a couple of Nexus phones in the past, I'm sure the quality is top end.

I'm even entertaining the fact of getting a second hand Pixel C on e-bay, I don't mind if it's a few months old and mint condition.


Offline owens_2k

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5364 on: February 27, 2018, 11:38:19 am »
I mainly for internet browsing really, bit of streaming, bit of music, bit of gaming, don't really need a keyboard, nothing else. I can't justify paying £800 for a Surface Pro.

I'm pissed off that I missed the Pixel C, it was discontinued in November, looked like a lovely bit of kit and after owning a couple of Nexus phones in the past, I'm sure the quality is top end.

I'm even entertaining the fact of getting a second hand Pixel C on e-bay, I don't mind if it's a few months old and mint condition.


Get a second hand pro 3 for under £400

Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5365 on: February 27, 2018, 11:40:35 am »
Get a second hand pro 3 for under £400

What can you do on them?  Is it basically a Windows 10 laptop in tablet form?

Can you play half decent games?  The android tablet games are a bit shit.

Offline owens_2k

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5366 on: February 27, 2018, 11:50:18 am »
What can you do on them?  Is it basically a Windows 10 laptop in tablet form?

Can you play half decent games?  The android tablet games are a bit shit.
It is basically a windows 10 laptop in tablet form yes.

What kind of games? My lad plays minecraft on it no problem. If your more thinking 'app' style games then it probably doesnt match what your looking for. My experience of the windows store is that most of the content is sh*te.


Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5367 on: February 27, 2018, 04:20:02 pm »
It is basically a windows 10 laptop in tablet form yes.

What kind of games? My lad plays minecraft on it no problem. If your more thinking 'app' style games then it probably doesnt match what your looking for. My experience of the windows store is that most of the content is sh*te.



I'm not a big gamer but it would be nice to have the option to be able to play a half decent PC game on a tablet whilst the wife is watching shite TV.

Taking a good look at these now, thanks for the tip

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5368 on: March 7, 2018, 01:29:27 pm »
Looking for a good quick tablet with a crisp HD screen, not too fussed about the size. Anyone recommend anything? Budget is £150. Looked at the Galaxy A6 but got told it's not a HD screen

Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5369 on: April 12, 2018, 04:23:02 pm »
I'm have a surface pro 3 and its brilliant. Can dock it for when my eldest wants to use it as a desktop and do homework, then can pick it up and move about with it when the youngest wants to play games or mess about on paint with it. Its sturdy, and has handled everything I've thrown at it so far.

Just ordered a refurbished one from the Argos shop on eBay, new model, took a while to convince myself that £750 is OK to spend on what realistically is just a fancy tablet.

Offline "21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5370 on: April 13, 2018, 06:20:10 am »
Just ordered a refurbished one from the Argos shop on eBay, new model, took a while to convince myself that £750 is OK to spend on what realistically is just a fancy tablet.

Rather, its more like a full fledged laptop doubling as a tablet! Can do everything a laptop/notebook can do. Can also function purely as a tab without the keyboard.  Fantastic piece of kit.

I would've recommended the Pro 4 though, because the chipset in the Pro 3 is a little power hungry and runs hot at times.  But the 3 is a good piece of kit as well, apart from the relatively mediocre battery life.
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Offline Teapot

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5371 on: April 13, 2018, 08:02:56 am »
+1 for the surface pro! Great piece of kit.  I was given one by work.

At work i have it connected to the surface dock which i have my dual monitors connected to, giving me 3 screens to work with.  Powerful piece of kit!

Offline Zlen

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5372 on: April 13, 2018, 08:38:09 am »
Can’t get over how great is the 12 inch iPad pro. Amazing screen and colours and the battery lasts forever.

Also it’s just about perfect for drawing and reading magazines and comics.

Offline "21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5373 on: April 13, 2018, 09:24:20 am »
Not great for spreadsheets, PPTs, heavy photo editing and things like SPSS and Stata though...  ;)

Phuk yoo

Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5374 on: April 22, 2018, 08:17:11 pm »
The screen on the Surface Pro is stunning

Offline owens_2k

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5375 on: April 23, 2018, 12:46:55 pm »
The screen on the Surface Pro is stunning
November last year I paid £500 for the Pro 3 8GB RAM i5 including touch keyboard and dock and I think I overpaid. £750 for the latest model sounds like you got a good price.

Worth investing in a dock if you want to use it as a desktop PC and a tablet/laptop though.

Offline LanceLink!!!!!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5376 on: April 23, 2018, 05:25:17 pm »
November last year I paid £500 for the Pro 3 8GB RAM i5 including touch keyboard and dock and I think I overpaid. £750 for the latest model sounds like you got a good price.

Worth investing in a dock if you want to use it as a desktop PC and a tablet/laptop though.

Got the 2017 model (i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB hard drive) for £725, Argos shop on E-Bay, it's B-Grade refurbished which is advertised as 'might have more obvious marks or scratches', there's not a bloody mark on it. I'm well chuffed.

Great piece of kit, it's taking a bit of getting used to going from an Andriod to this and I very much doubt that I will ever push it to it's limits.

Edit - I'm sending the Surface Pro back, Argos on e-bay didn't send me a keyboard or pen, fucking gypsies, bit of a dispute going on, I'm not spending more on this and £725 is a stupid amount to spend on just a tablet, ordered an immaculate second hand Google Pixel C for £280.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2018, 05:04:11 pm by LanceLink!!!!! »

Offline "21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5377 on: November 13, 2018, 09:52:31 am »
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13587/microsoft-releases-surface-go-lte

Good little tablet and far more useful than any gimped ipad for people who do more than browse or watch videos. I am buying one despite the eye watering price. Has LTE too which is awesome to have, especially if you travel a lot to areas with shitty wifi...

Obviously the ipad is a better media consumption device with its high quality display and audio, but this is great for people who like to do light work on their tablets. A cheaper and more mobile alternative to the surface series.
Phuk yoo

Offline Hedley Lamarr

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5378 on: April 4, 2023, 04:09:09 pm »
Bought the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus yesterday, I've got to say I'm really impressed.  I've used a few Android tablets over the years and my experience wasnt great.  Its actually a proper ipad Pro rival and  has it beat in a few areas.  The screen is fantastic and I get on much better with the S pen.  The 12.4 inch screen is  a bit difficult to come to grips with, but the 16: 10 ratio is better for streaming. Battery life isnt close to my ipad though.  Still dont see the point of DEX though, still seems  a bit of  a gimmick.

Offline ToneLa

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5379 on: April 5, 2023, 07:52:34 pm »
What do yous do with your tablets

Got a Xiaomi one and I love it but seem to only use it for reading and recipes

Which is a fine use for it

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5380 on: August 5, 2023, 08:46:18 pm »
Kids love using the iPads in the house. However they don’t treat them with love and affection and the screen cracks and casing damaged.

Anyone got a good recommendation for a heavy duty case? Cheers

Offline MBL?

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5381 on: August 8, 2023, 11:02:53 pm »
What do yous do with your tablets

Got a Xiaomi one and I love it but seem to only use it for reading and recipes

Which is a fine use for it
RAWK and media consumption so not much really. Well that’s all I do really. A laptop these days would just remind me of work.

I’ve been iPad for years but have lost my mind and ordered a tab s9 ultra. From what I can tell android has come a long way on tablets in recent years but I’m still worried I’ve made a bad decision. Especially since the thing is absolutely massive compared to my 11 inch iPad Pro.

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5382 on: August 21, 2023, 10:22:45 pm »
Does anyone have any experience with e-ink tablets like the Kindle Scribe, Remarkable 2 or others? I'm thinking about getting one for work. I'm a journo for a small paper so would basically need it to write down loads of stuff when I'm going to press conferences or am talking to people to then write an article. So basically a bit like writing down stuff in a lecture. How easy are they to use when writing loads of stuff and needing multiple pages to get it all written down. There's tons of reviews about those tablets, but none of them really talk about what they are like in everyday use. They seem to focus more on taking the odd note while reading stuff or when you're sitting at your desk thinking about stuff.

I basically just want to get rid of pen and paper and have all my notes in one place. Don't really need any fancy stuff like cloud integration or graphics stuff...
« Last Edit: August 21, 2023, 10:25:14 pm by stoa »

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5383 on: August 21, 2023, 10:26:28 pm »
Does anyone have any experience with e-ink tablets like the Kindle Scribe, Remarkable 2 or others? I'm thinking about getting one for work. I'm a journo for a small paper so would basically need it to write down loads of stuff when I'm going to press conferences or am talking to people to then write an article. So basically a bit like writing down stuff in a lecture. How easy are they to use when writing loads of stuff and needing multiple pages to get it all written down. There's tons of reviews about those tablets, but none of them really talk about what they are like in everyday use. They seem to focus more on taking the odd note while reading stuff or when you're sitting at your desk thinking about stuff.

Good thing about getting the kindle or anything off amazon tbf, is that you can send it back if it doesn't do what you need it to.
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Offline ScottScott

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5384 on: August 22, 2023, 11:30:39 am »
Does anyone have any experience with e-ink tablets like the Kindle Scribe, Remarkable 2 or others? I'm thinking about getting one for work. I'm a journo for a small paper so would basically need it to write down loads of stuff when I'm going to press conferences or am talking to people to then write an article. So basically a bit like writing down stuff in a lecture. How easy are they to use when writing loads of stuff and needing multiple pages to get it all written down. There's tons of reviews about those tablets, but none of them really talk about what they are like in everyday use. They seem to focus more on taking the odd note while reading stuff or when you're sitting at your desk thinking about stuff.

I basically just want to get rid of pen and paper and have all my notes in one place. Don't really need any fancy stuff like cloud integration or graphics stuff...

The higher ups in our work all have those Remarkable notepads and they love them. Seem easy to use as well and can easily flick between notes from what I've seen of them

Offline MBL?

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5385 on: August 22, 2023, 10:50:52 pm »
RAWK and media consumption so not much really. Well that’s all I do really. A laptop these days would just remind me of work.

I’ve been iPad for years but have lost my mind and ordered a tab s9 ultra. From what I can tell android has come a long way on tablets in recent years but I’m still worried I’ve made a bad decision. Especially since the thing is absolutely massive compared to my 11 inch iPad Pro.
So far so good. The screen is incredible and I don't find it too big or heavy like a lot of reviews say. It's basically like if you ripped a 15inch laptop screen off and added weight for the battery etc. Think the ipad pro edges it battery wise for my use case but it's very close.

Will be selling the ipad Pro to soften the blow of the stupid price I paid for this so if anyone wants it I will do it cheaper than any that can be bought online.

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Re: The Tablet Computing Thread
« Reply #5386 on: September 5, 2023, 11:53:27 pm »
Have given the Kinde Scribe a try and it's as most reviewers say a great device, if you read a lot and also use some of the note taking or put notes in your e-books. For using it as a pure notebook and also a calendar it's not as suitable. Just like the Remarkable 2 the Scribe also gets good grades by most reviewers for the writing feel, but to be honest, I wasn't a fan of that either. Did a bit more research and came across the Supernote A5X, which gets loads of praise for his software (and how the manufacturer updates it) and also for his writing feel. It's more expensive than both the Scribe and the Remarkable 2, but to me it's really worth it. Feature wise it gives you everything you'd want from a notebook and the writing feels pretty smooth, because it uses a different approach compared to the Scribe and Remarkable 2 (and most other devices). While "normal" devices use a hard writing surface and soft nibs for your pen, the Supernote uses a surface that has some coating on it, that makes it softer. In the reviews I've seen the "regular" devices are described as using a pencil on paper, while the Supernote feels more like using an actual pen on a real notebook (i.e. not just a piece of paper on a desk, but a page on top of loads of other pages like when you start writing on the first page of a notebook). At least for me, the comparision is spot on and I really love writing in the Supernote. So, was definitely worth the price. There are quite a few channels on Youtube who do reviews of those e-ink tablets and if anyone wants to get one I would recommend taking a very good look at those reviews and think hard about what you want to use your tablet for, because that will have a huge influence on your final choice.