Thu Nov 10

6 Things to Look for When Choosing a New Tablet

Written by Chloe Taylor

Although they are as old almost as the smartphone market, it seems that tablets always took a backseat to their smaller cousins and served merely as the backup. But, the times are changing, life becomes hastier, and we are forced to perform even more tasks on the go.

That brings us to an important conclusion. The smartphones which have no room for growth are just too small for serious productivity work or multimedia consumption. On the other way, laptops and notebooks have no way of becoming slimmer.

That makes tablets, which have the benefit of a bunch of peripherals you can attach, the perfect devices to carry around. So, if you want to get one of these devices, the time is just right. Let us take a look at a couple of considerations that will help you narrow down the search.

Screen size and type

Let us start with the most obvious factors since the screen real estate you have at your disposal makes one of the main perks of owning a tablet. With that in mind, you will have your job made easier by the fact that most devices you can buy these days sit at 10 inches. Although smaller devices are still available they kind of defeat their purpose. As for the screen type, all screens these days can be divided into two groups – LCD and OLED/AMOLED. Out of the two, the second group presents a better option since they perform better under direct sunlight and drain less juice. However, they are also more expensive so there’s that.

Screen resolution and brightness

Pixel density and resolution are absolutely necessary for quality multimedia experience and some types of productivity work. Still, keeping in mind their limited 10-inch screen size, Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) will prove to be just fine. Going above that will bring slight improvements but anything over 4K (3840 × 2160 pixels) will be overkill and a waste of money. As for the screen brightness, you want to get a device that performs well under direct sunlight so it's always good to go with 400 nits or higher. If you are operating on a tight budget, though, this is the area where you can make compromises and go lower.

Native OS and ecosystem

Here, you will basically get only two options to choose from. On the one hand, you get the incredibly popular, customizable, and flexible Android OS. Let's say that the quality Samsung Galaxy tablets make the top of this range. On the other, you have incredibly tight, efficient, and streamlined iOS running on Apple’s iPad devices. So, it’s really a matter of your personal preference. Android offers more freedom and better app selection but you need stronger hardware to run it efficiently and you may experience occasional quirks. Apple’s contender is far more refined but at the expense of a lot of important options.

Processing power

This factor will depend on the OS you have chosen in the previous step. Since Apple produces hardware for its own devices, so you always get a great deal of optimization and very smooth performance. Keep in mind, though, that Apple devices are also usually more expensive. Android, on the other hand, needs more muscles to run tight. The latest iterations of the OS usually require a latest-gen 8-core Qualcomm or MediaTek processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. However, if you don't intend to perform taxing productivity tasks or heavy gaming and stick to multimedia you can dial these specs down a notch.

Battery life

Tablets are designed to allow seamless on-the-go performance, so it is in your interest to get as much battery life as possible. With that in mind, the batteries with a capacity of 6000 to 8000 mAh will be able to give you up to 10 hours of moderate performance (using the devices for gaming all the time will drain the battery sooner). Lower capacity cuts down the battery life by a couple of hours. This problem can be solved in two ways. If you are going to use the tablet only for light tasks like Netflix or YouTube, lower specs will extend these numbers. Alternatively, you can always get a backup power bank device.

Other considerations

Last but not least, let us take a look at a couple of considerations that are not as critical as the ones we have covered above, but can still drastically affect your purchase decision so they are more than worth giving some thought:

Connectivity: The devices that are going to be used for productivity tasks and connect to a lot of peripherals should feature Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0. Regular users can work even with older versions of this tech.
Audio quality: Stereo speakers are always a good thing, but since you are going to use your tablet in public you will probably use some sort of buds or headphones anyhow.
Audio ports: 3.5mm jack is good to have but not really critical.
Camera: The tables are not made for shooting so the back camera is not an issue while the conferencing can be easily performed even with the 8MP front lens.

In conclusion

We hope these few considerations gave you a general idea about the current state of the tablet market as well as some of the most important purchase options you have at your disposal. And in this day and age, there are a lot of good options to choose from. So, make a list of your personal priorities and get yourself one of these devices. Your life can only become easier.