Tablet Reviews
THE BEST TABLET YOU CAN BUY
THE ONE TO BUY
Apple iPad Air (Wi-Fi)
Score 9.3
Since the introduction of the first iPad in 2010, tablets have taken off faster than any other piece of technology in recent history. Dozens of manufacturers make dozens of sizes of tablets, but they all share the same common ground: they are touchscreen slates that don’t need a keyboard and mouse. Some people like to use tablets as their only computers, while for many they are secondary devices that complement a smartphone and laptop. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do with tablets, but we know that they are great for at least a few things: watching video, playing games, cruising through an overloaded inbox, and reading for hours.
A good tablet should be lightweight, fast, well built, have lots of apps available, and be easy to use. It should also easily last through a day of heavy use, or multiple days of lighter usage. I bring a tablet with me on almost every flight I take — if it can’t last from the time I board to the time I step off at my destination on the other side of the country, it’s failed (thankfully this isn’t much of a problem with tablets anymore).
A good tablet also has a strong ecosystem of accessories available to it — everything from keyboard cases to styluses to stands that let me get more use out of the device. You should also have the option to get the tablet with either just Wi-Fi connectivity or integrated LTE. I prefer LTE myself, since it makes the tablet far more useful when traveling, but those looking to save a few bucks can go with a Wi-Fi tablet and still have a great experience.
There are countless tablets available for purchase today, and we’ve surveyed all of the models you might come across in your local electronics store or on Amazon’s virtual shelves. It’s almost a tie for first place, but not quite.
THE WINNER
APPLE IPAD AIR
When everything is added up, the best tablet is Apple’s iPad Air. The fifth version of the tablet since Apple introduced the iPad in 2010, the iPad Air is extremely well built, exceptionally thin and lightweight (one pound exactly), and performs very well. Its battery easily lasts multiple days, its processor is very fast, and its high-resolution display is excellent. The screen is the No. 1 most important part of a tablet, and the Air’s is great for reading, while vibrant and colorful enough for video. There’s really nothing to complain about when it comes to the Air’s hardware.
One of the biggest advantages that the iPad Air has is the wealth of apps available for it in Apple’s iTunes App Store. A tablet is only as good as what you can do with it, and thanks to the hundreds of thousands of apps for the Air, you can do more with it than any other tablet.
There are also countless games available for the iPad Air — far more than any competing mobile platform. There are puzzle games, adventure games, strategy games, intense 3D action and racing games. And since the Air runs iOS, one of the easiest-to-understand computing platforms available, virtually anyone can pick up an Air and grasp how to use it quickly.
In addition to great hardware and lots of apps, the Air also has the strongest ecosystem of accessories available to it. There are keyboard cases to make it easier to type long emails or documents with the Air, styluses to draw or write on the Air’s display, rugged cases to protect the Air from abuse in extreme situations or the slippery hands of young children, stands to prop the Air up on your desk or next to a monitor, and much more. But you shouldn’t feel compelled to run out and spend a lot of money on accessories for your Air right after you buy it — the core iPad Air experience is really good and comes right out of the box.
The Air has pretty much everything you could want from a tablet: it’s fast, well built, lightweight, and has a ton of apps. It’s just not that portable, which leads us to our runner-up pick.
THE RUNNER UP
APPLE IPAD MINI WITH RETINA DISPLAY
If you find the iPad Air just too large for your needs, or you’re looking to get most of the same experience while saving a few bucks, the iPad mini with Retina display is the tablet you should get. It has the same design, same software, same performance, same screen resolution, and access to the same apps as the larger Air. It’s just smaller — 7.9 inches as opposed to 9.7 — and slightly lighter, making it therefore easier to hold in one hand or slip into your bag as you walk out the door.
The mini excels as a reading device, and is great for consuming all sorts of digital content. I find myself on trains and planes all the time and my iPad mini is a constant companion, letting me catch up on my endless Pocket queue in between bursts of email and tweets. It’s not as engrossing as the Air for watching video or playing games, but that’s to be expected given its smaller display.
There are a lot of accessories available for the mini, but not quite as many as there are for the Air. And not all of them work as well: while a keyboard case for the Air can provide a pretty acceptable typing experience, the smaller counterparts for the mini range from difficult-to-type-on to downright maddening. For those reasons, the Air is the best tablet computer, but the mini is definitely the best option if you want a tablet for reading that easily can be tossed in your bag.
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Score 9.0
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Google’s Nexus 7 is a solid option for a smaller tablet, offering a good, high-resolution display, fast performance, and good build quality. It can also be found for quite cheap (about half the price of the iPad mini) if you shop around. But it’s been on the market for over a year and has more software issues than the iPad mini, while having fewer actual tablet apps available for it.
Score 8.0
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Microsoft has been pushing tablets for longer than any other company, and the Surface Pro 3 is its best effort yet. But ironically, the Pro 3 is a better desktop computer than a tablet (or a laptop, for that matter). It’s too large and heavy to use as a tablet for long periods of time, and doesn’t have a whole of true tablet apps available to it. It’s priced considerably higher than most tablets, immediately putting it out of the running for many shoppers.
Score 7.8
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The Tab S 8.4 is remarkably thin and light and has a fantastically bright, high-resolution display. It’s the closest thing to an iPad mini with Android. But once again, it’s too plastic and cheap-feeling for its own good, and Samsung’s poor software rears its ugly head to mar what could otherwise be a decent experience.
AMAZON KINDLE FIRE HDX (8.9-INCH)
Score 7.6
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The Kindle Fire HDX is the latest in Amazon’s stable of home-grown tablets. It’s remarkably light, with a distinctive design and very nice display, and it’s very cheap. But it has a clumsy software interface and a limited app selection. The HDX is custom-built to provide you with a great experience for Amazon’s own content and services, but you can access all of those services and do much more with an iPad Air.
Score 7.2
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Dell’s Venue 8 Pro is one of the best small Windows 8.1 tablets available, and it has a good (albeit lower-resolution) display and quick enough processor. It’s also well built and comfortable to hold in your hand. But despite the improvements Microsoft has made to Windows for smaller tablets, they don’t yet compete with the iPad for app selection or ease of use.
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 10.1 (2014)
Score 6.4
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A mid-size tablet in Samsung’s lineup, the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 has a mouthful of a name and is Samsung’s best competitor to the iPad Air. It offers a very bright display and thin, light design, plus Samsung’s S Pen technology for drawing and writing on the tablet’s screen. But it’s very plasticky and cheap-feeling, and Samsung’s clumsy software doesn’t do it any favors.
Score 5.9
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Samsung sells tablets in every size imaginable, but the 12.2-inch Galaxy Note Pro is by far its largest option. But the size of the Note Pro is its greatest handicap: it’s clumsy to use and not nearly as comfortable to hold as a more manageable tablet. The Note Pro has a great display and a nice pen for drawing, but it’s hampered by a high price and confusing, clumsy software. If you must have a tablet that you can draw on easily, you’re better served by one of Samsung’s smaller options.
Score 5.6
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The 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4 is Samsung’s current budget tablet and can be found for sale virtually everywhere, from Best Buy to carriers’ store shelves. It’s a bit small for a tablet, especially considering that Samsung itself makes phones that have nearly the same size screen, and it has a low-budget processor and display. It also has Samsung’s unfriendly software. The Tab 4’s best asset is its low price, but you’re better off saving up for something better.