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Author Topic: I want an android tablet or an Ipad ? Help me decide.  (Read 3639 times)

pondicherry

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I want an android tablet or an Ipad ? Help me decide.
« on: June 03, 2019, 05:13:56 am »

I'm very inclined to buy a tablet, android or iOS.

The main purpose would be to read comics, watch anime and some browsing. Any recommendations?

max Price to consider: 400€ more or less 447 US$
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Iduno

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Re: I want an android tablet or an Ipad ? Help me decide.
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2019, 02:30:10 pm »

Last time I tried to use one (not mine, don't remember the type), it didn't have the ability to view videos that weren't a specific type. In general, tablets are locked to a specific set of software you can use from their store, unless you jump through the hoops to unlock them. Between that and touch screens not liking my fingers, someone else will have to answer on the pros and cons of each brand.

Depending on how portable you need (are you planning on watching anime at a restaurant?), you can find some laptops in the 200-400$ range. The normal size constraint is the keyboard (you need 15.6" minimum laptop size to get the number pad), but it doesn't sound like you will need too much there. You might want to read a bit about each brand's quirks for laptops as well. I know Acer is usually good quality, except for their brilliant design decision to have ventilation only on the bottom, which is definitely not the side you block constantly.
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gimlet

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Re: I want an android tablet or an Ipad ? Help me decide.
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2019, 12:17:53 am »

I got a Kindle Fire HD 10 on sale for $100 and I'm pretty happy with it for what it does.  I watch a lot of videos through Amazon Prime, and it does that very well (heh, it better).  I think I used to watch Netflix on it pretty well too, but it may have been on the old tablet.   Yeah out of the box it's super Amazon proprietary lockdown, but it was relatively easy to sideload the google play store and firefox.   The screen is nice (1920x1200), the speakers aren't great, I usually use headphones or external speakers.  I don't do much on it other than watch videos and light web stuff.   In the US it's on sale every few months for $99.99, ymmv.  It has an SD card slot so I got the one with 32G memory, it has not been a problem. 

If you're getting something that size I recommend getting a case with a hand strap to make it easier to hold.   It's a little heavy (a bit over 1 lb), but I think it's right in that sweet spot where the picture is large enough and good enough to watch but still way lighter than my notebook.  And it's another battery so I can save the notebook battery or at least swap them back and forth to charge.  For my use case it worked out really well.  The HD 8 has worse resolution and I did not think the picture or text were big enough to bother with vs a large smartphone.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2019, 12:26:14 am by gimlet »
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BigD145

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Re: I want an android tablet or an Ipad ? Help me decide.
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2019, 02:11:39 pm »

400 ish? That'll buy you a windows machine. Some of ASUS's Transformer line fits right around that price. They are touchscreen tablets paired with detachable keyboards. They have micro SD options in the tablet and laptop hard drive options in the keyboard. You can expand for a lot of storage. Micro SD's are cheap right now. You could even play small world Dwarf Fortress.

You can also do a bit of price and function comparison's here for Android: https://www.youtube.com/user/hendrickson/videos Hit up the tablet review playlist. Order through Gearbest, which gives free global shipping and EU plugs.

Some of the CHUWI's are dual boot Windows and Android.

A $100 8-10 inch android tablet from a variety of companies will do what you want. Don't touch Apple unless you just want to burn money.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2019, 02:28:05 pm by BigD145 »
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anewaname

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Re: I want an android tablet or an Ipad ? Help me decide.
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2019, 06:52:50 pm »

I dislike tablets. They are like a smart phone because of the limitations others have posted, but for me the deciding factor always is, "this f*ing thing does not fit in my pocket".

So, if I am leaving the apartment with anything too big to fit in my pocket, I bring my backpack. If I bring my backpack, I bring my cheap-o laptop. I do all my "out of the apartment" reading, streaming, emailing, forum posting, etc, using that. It is a bulky for just reading an e-book, but for the rest I prefer it, especially for typing emails/posts.

It is a Lenovo Ideapad 120s and it cost $175 last summer. Last autumn, the 130s (with more RAM) was a Black Friday door-buster for $100. I swore about that, but...  when it is all said and done, mine still performs well.

Whether you choose a tablet or laptop for the activities you listed, choose newer tech over older tech. Many highly discounted offers are attempts to get rid of slower stock, so they increase the amount of slower memory. You want the newer stuff. As a comparison, my laptop has 2GB of LPDDR4, and it moves data faster than my old desktop did with 8GB of DDR3.

I recommend you ponder for a few months about the "will this thing fit in my pocket?" question, and then look for Black Friday deals on whatever device you choose.
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