What's the best tablet?

I never used tablets before but decided a couple years ago to give it a try. I didn't wanna drop a ton of money on something I wouldn't end up using so I bought an Amazon Fire tablet for like $150. I find it pretty handy. I use it when I'm on the elliptical/treadmill to watch anime and movies and stuff.

The app store for it is pretty bad - a lot of apps on the apple store or google play aren't available on this, so its pretty annoying. It's about time to move on to a better tablet

From what I've looked at, it doesn't seem that there's a definitively good Android tablet. I've always been in the pro Android / anti Apple crowd. I literally have a Pixel 7 phone, Pixel Watch 2, and Pixel earbuds. But the Pixel tablet doesn't really seem to be a great all in one tablet - it seems to be more focused on being a panel for smart home stuff, so that in particular doesn't seem like the way to go. But what Android tablet would be better? Or is it possible the dreaded iPad is really the best?

What do y'all think

One thing I want is good note taking and browse things quickly and easily. I hate the on screen keyboard and want some real intuitive stylus browsing. I've been playing a lot of Dragon Quest Monster Dark Prince and looking up my breeding notes in One Note I typed up on my PC synced to my fire tablet is clunky as hell - I feel like there must be a better experience out there other than running back to my PC.

complaint tablet to ea-nasir

You should be able to get any Android app on a Fire, I think? I could be wrong though.

The iPad is 100% the best tablet... if it has the apps you require. Make sure of this beforehand. I can't give advice on Android tablets, since I only have a Fire myself. I'd assume any modern Android tablet that isn't super cheap is fine, though.

Kindle is Android, but you can only use the Amazon app store and not Google's, so I'm sure that some apps do not overlap.

MacArrowny posted...

You should be able to get any Android app on a Fire, I think? I could be wrong though.

Absolutely not true... I can't download my favourite game ~ Raid: Shadow Legends ~ onto it. Had to download an APK from a sketchy site to level my referral accounts on it. Every time a patch happened, had to redo the process! Lame!

As much as I love Android and dislike Apple (despite having a MacBook and iPhone my job provided me), I do think iPad is the best. I don't own one though.

What I do have is a Chromebook tablet (Lenovo Duet 2020). It's okay. It runs most Android apps but maybe not as good as an Android tablet, which is what I had before (rooted Nook HD+). In my experience, Android tablet apps just aren't great. They're more optimized for phones. I absolutely love Android on phones but it's mediocre at best in tablet form in my experience.

Android... Probably the oneplus tablet post price drop, in a bang for buck standard.

I'd avoid Amazon fire, pixel tablet, and most Samsung. If price isn't a concern, iPad easily.

CoolCly posted...

Absolutely not true... I can't download my favourite game ~ Raid: Shadow Legends ~ onto it. Had to download an APK from a sketchy site to level my referral accounts on it. Every time a patch happened, had to redo the process! Lame!

Just do this same thing once for the google play store and you won't have this problem again.

Alright I didn't wanna tilt the scales too much but I was already enormously leaning iPad. Everything I've seen seems to indicate iPad really just is the best. In personal conversations, I've had two people push back strongly for Android but they didn't really have any good reasons, I think they just have the same pro android anti apple attitude I've always had. I've yet to hear a strong counter argument not to get the iPad

In terms of price, I already have the price sensitive option of the Fire tablet. At this point I think good Android tablets are in the same price range as iPads. if it is just a difference of $600 for an android or $700 for an iPad, i'll just get the iPad if it is clearly better.

I'm probably looking at getting the new iPad Air 11" 256g with the new Apple Pencil. My aim is to use this for like, 5 years at least. 128g is the lowest storage so I figure it I should at least go up one level. I don't know how high storage needs on this could go to justify 512 or 1tb. I don't anticipate having tons of photos or anything on this. What would even take up space? Copying videos onto it? Do apps get very big for games?

I'll see how they feel in the store on if the 13" size feels better or not but I think 11" will be fine

I might think about the magic keyboard. I don't plan to use it often at all but maybe it might be nice to have?

I don't think I need to go with the Pro. the extra specs seem gratuitous, I'd just be racking up the price for little reason.

Anybody know anything about Apple warranties? Should I be looking at getting something with it?

android is superior for phones but they're not really competitive in the tablet space. like every couple years a new company springs up with a great one and then you don't hear from them again, this go around it's OnePlus post the price drop. few years ago LG had a couple, as did Huawei, before they got blacklisted in the US anyway. i don't know how Lenovo's are but i expect them to mostly be competing with Samsung so probably not very good.

if you explicitly do not want a walled garden then sure you can find it but it takes a lot of looking for it. reasons for that will include legit reasons like customization, maybe better hardware, specific (and I mean very specific) connectivity, price for value, and of course, piracy. but if you want a good, functional product out the box, consistent updates, and a far better app market (which will include games and compatibility requirements of games), it'll be iPad.