Can't believe I'm saying this. What's the best 10" Android tablet?

[blackhand1001]

Lol wrong? The TF700 has a 1.6 quad core CPU... Speaking of the TF700, it would be my recommendation. I got one a few months ago and I like it.

Yeah. While the GPU in the exynos quad may theoretically be faster the tegra 3 has much better drivers and has better 2d acceleration performance which android prioritizes over 3d. I have used both devices and the tegra 3 provides a much smoother experience, even in aosp ROMs. I've used a galaxy s2 as well on jellybean cm10 and its way less smooth than my galaxy nexus which has to push twice as many pixels and is apparently weaker. Nvidia may get a lot of flack but they make rock solid GPU binaries. Same with texas instruments. They are much smoother in ICS and jellybean than the exynos.

 

[Doggman]

Yeah. While the GPU in the exynos quad may theoretically be faster the tegra 3 has much better drivers and has better 2d acceleration performance which android prioritizes over 3d. I have used both devices and the tegra 3 provides a much smoother experience, even in aosp ROMs. I've used a galaxy s2 as well on jellybean cm10 and its way less smooth than my galaxy nexus which has to push twice as many pixels and is apparently weaker. Nvidia may get a lot of flack but they make rock solid GPU binaries. Same with texas instruments. They are much smoother in ICS and jellybean than the exynos.

Exynos quad? Never heard of that but the TF700 has the nvidia tegra 3 (T33) and the nexus 7 has the (T30L). The T33 is clocked 0.4 MHz faster than the T30L. You might have used the TF700 on ICS but JB just came out for it a week ago unlike the nexus 7 which has had JB since release. JB is responsible for the "much smoother experience". As far as GPU's go I'm fairly certain the TF700 and the nexus 7 have the same GPU - both from nVidia.

 

[blackhand1001]

Exynos quad? Never heard of that but the TF700 has the nvidia tegra 3 (T33) and the nexus 7 has the (T30L). The T33 is clocked 0.4 MHz faster than the T30L. You might have used the TF700 on ICS but JB just came out for it a week ago unlike the nexus 7 which has had JB since release. JB is responsible for the "much smoother experience". As far as GPU's go I'm fairly certain the TF700 and the nexus 7 have the same GPU - both from nVidia.

The international s3 and the note 10.1 use the exynos quad core. The tegra 3 provided a smoother experience in ICS than pretty much any other chip. Its even better in jellybean but nvidia really did tailor their drivers for the os.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I would go with one of the Samsung Galaxy tablets.

 

[Doggman]

The international s3 and the note 10.1 use the exynos quad core. The tegra 3 provided a smoother experience in ICS than pretty much any other chip. Its even better in jellybean but nvidia really did tailor their drivers for the os.

I may have misunderstood your first post... I agree with what you are saying. nVidia ftw. Are ASUS and google going to make a nexus 10? Will that replace the tf700?

 

[entatlrg]

Wow, not many 4G Android tablets available. It looks like Android didn't do near as well in the tablet market as they did on smartphones. I wonder why?

Not sure I like the idea of tethering my phone in able to use a tablet. Does anyone tether to their phone often, how do you like it?

What 4G/cellular android tablet would you buy?

 

[Doggman]

Wow, not many 4G Android tablets available. It looks like Android didn't do near as well in the tablet market as they did on smartphones. I wonder why?

Not sure I like the idea of tethering my phone in able to use a tablet. Does anyone tether to their phone often, how do you like it?

What 4G/cellular android tablet would you buy?

I plan to use my iPhone 5 to make a 4G hotspot for my ASUS TF700. Not getting the iP5 till Christmas though... :/

 

[cynics]

Wow, not many 4G Android tablets available. It looks like Android didn't do near as well in the tablet market as they did on smartphones. I wonder why?

Not sure I like the idea of tethering my phone in able to use a tablet. Does anyone tether to their phone often, how do you like it?

What 4G/cellular android tablet would you buy?

IMO there isn't a good LTE Android on the market currently. That's why I'm still using my LTE Xoom. If they ever make another LTE Nexus tablet ill be all about it.

 

[Orange Furball]

Get an HP TouchPad for $100 on ebay, flash Jelly Bean on it, and use that to hold you over until the Nexus 10.

Oh, and welcome to Android! You won't be disappointed

 

[MRU]

Get an HP TouchPad for $100 on ebay, flash Jelly Bean on it, and use that to hold you over until the Nexus 10.

Oh, and welcome to Android! You won't be disappointed

Which is fine if your used to flashing roms, dont mind the hassle of tracking down second hand hardware without any warranty, and using hardware that whilst ok is very much last gen by this stage.

If being careful with money was a concern, id rather spend another $100 and get a Nexus 7 with a faster processor, much better gpu, better screen and reliable software support, oh and a 12 month hardware warranty.

And then in a few months time if you find that 7" is too small, or android is not where you want to be at, you wont lose too much selling it on.

Having a massive learning curve as your first experience of Android, alongside second hand hardware, is never going to be as enjoyable as just getting something that just works out of the box.

 

[Orange Furball]

Which is fine if your used to flashing roms, dont mind the hassle of tracking down second hand hardware without any warranty, and using hardware that whilst ok is very much last gen by this stage.

If being careful with money was a concern, id rather spend another $100 and get a Nexus 7 with a faster processor, much better gpu, better screen and reliable software support, oh and a 12 month hardware warranty.

And then in a few months time if you find that 7" is too small, or android is not where you want to be at, you wont lose too much selling it on.

Having a massive learning curve as your first experience of Android, alongside second hand hardware, is never going to be as enjoyable as just getting something that just works out of the box.

I guess I see where you're coming from. I've used android for a few years now so flashing and things like tat are just run of the mill activities

 

[nick_elt]

Its not out just yet but is the padfone 2 an option for you. It seems pretty cool. Other than that I would def recommend the note 10.1. I havent used it to be honest but I have the note 2 for a phone and its great. I assume its just bigger???? The split screen is great and I love the s pen.

 

[vastoholic]

I've become very interested in the Galaxy Note 10.1 lately. I bought the ipad to use for school and note taking and I've found it to be rather inadquate for that purpose. Really thinking about switching over. I've never used an android device before. Just played with a few in stores.

Edit: well after reading several reviews both positive and negative, I've decided against the note. Are there any 10" android tablets with comparable screens to the iPad? I really don't want to down grade my screen just to have more options in the OS. Everything seems to be 1280 x 800. Perhaps I'll wait til something better is announced. Surely there will be more android tablets released this year.

 

[coldmack]

Depends on what features you want. You can get a new Lenovo Thinpad Tablet for about $280 for the 16gb model, you get US support as it's the old IBM support centers, Android 4.0, full size SD if you ever wanted to view photos off you camera, USB GPS, and is splash proof, just in case if you ever have kids playing with it. I am the most Apple purest here, but something about this Thinkpad had me, and replaced my iPad 1 for it. Screen resolution is bog standard and speakers are nothing to write home about, but durability really outweigh those cons.

I wish Apple could make the iPad splash proof and offer a USB port on the device cause it's very useful when all you have is your tablet and someone is sharing their flash drive for document work.

 

[coldmack]

I've become very interested in the Galaxy Note 10.1 lately. I bought the ipad to use for school and note taking and I've found it to be rather inadquate for that purpose. Really thinking about switching over. I've never used an android device before. Just played with a few in stores.

Edit: well after reading several reviews both positive and negative, I've decided against the note. Are there any 10" android tablets with comparable screens to the iPad? I really don't want to down grade my screen just to have more options in the OS. Everything seems to be 1280 x 800. Perhaps I'll wait til something better is announced. Surely there will be more android tablets released this year.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 still is the best option if you want to note take as it uses the highly desired Wacom digitizer, they say it's the closes you can get to writing on a pen. The N-Trig, which my Thinkpad Tablet uses is of lower quality vs Wacom, but for my needs/usage I like it. Plus, it's using a quad core Exynos cpu, which is one of the fastest ARM based cpus on the market. From the reviews I read, it seems like all the Note 10.1 needs is root and stock Android rom, not one skinned up by Samsung. Plus, the Samsung has a pen silo, which means you don't really have to worry about forgetting your pen, like one would with the iPad, or tablet not pen enabled.

On the other hand the Asus Transformer Infinity comes with a high res, IPS+ display. Not as high as the iPad, but it is essentially fully HD. It's using the latest Tegra 3 cpu, but I think ram is stuck at 1gb vs some of the even newer devices, which offer 2gb of ram. It offers no pen, so you are stuck using your fingers or finding out, which capacitive stylus works the best with that device, or spend the cash on the keyboard dock.


If you are receptive/don't mind it, Wind'ohs 8 tablet with that disgusting, never be touched Atom CPU, and digitizer(wacom in most cases), will start a little more than many of the higher end Android tablet at around $600 for a 64gb SSD model and maybe with the optional pen.

 

[vastoholic]

The Galaxy Note 10.1 still is the best option if you want to note take as it uses the highly desired Wacom digitizer, they say it's the closes you can get to writing on a pen. The N-Trig, which my Thinkpad Tablet uses is of lower quality vs Wacom, but for my needs/usage I like it. Plus, it's using a quad core Exynos cpu, which is one of the fastest ARM based cpus on the market. From the reviews I read, it seems like all the Note 10.1 needs is root and stock Android rom, not one skinned up by Samsung. Plus, the Samsung has a pen silo, which means you don't really have to worry about forgetting your pen, like one would with the iPad, or tablet not pen enabled.

On the other hand the Asus Transformer Infinity comes with a high res, IPS+ display. Not as high as the iPad, but it is essentially fully HD. It's using the latest Tegra 3 cpu, but I think ram is stuck at 1gb vs some of the even newer devices, which offer 2gb of ram. It offers no pen, so you are stuck using your fingers or finding out, which capacitive stylus works the best with that device, or spend the cash on the keyboard dock.


If you are receptive/don't mind it, Wind'ohs 8 tablet with that disgusting, never be touched Atom CPU, and digitizer(wacom in most cases), will start a little more than many of the higher end Android tablet at around $600 for a 64gb SSD model and maybe with the optional pen.

Oh the note 10.1 is still the top contender for me if and when I make the switch unless they update the screen soon. That digitizer was a huge plus for me. I absolutely hate taking notes on my iPad even with apps that have a space to rest your hand while you write. You just can't be as accurate with those nubby ended styli (I guess that's the plural). I just started using a Bamboo tablet for drawing and I love it! Most reviews were complaining about the build quality, saying the plastic was very flimsy and actually creaked when you picked it up and moved it around in your hands.

I think I can get over that and the fact that the screen is lower res as long as I keep my iPad around. I will never trade it in for one though.

Thanks for the other suggestions, but the Note 10.1 seems to be what I need even with it's built in limitations. It appears it would still accomplish what I want better than anything else. Now I just need to find a store that has some on display so I can play around with one.

 

[Stuntman06]

Wow, not many 4G Android tablets available. It looks like Android didn't do near as well in the tablet market as they did on smartphones. I wonder why?

Not sure I like the idea of tethering my phone in able to use a tablet. Does anyone tether to their phone often, how do you like it?

What 4G/cellular android tablet would you buy?

I think I only ever tethered my WiFi tablet once or twice in the 16 months that I have owned it. I generally keep my tablet at home unless I am travelling. Practically everywhere I travelled to had WiFi. If I am on the go in my home time, I just carry my phone with me. I personally do not have any use for a 4G tablet. If I want to use my tablet where I don't have WiFi, I would just use the WiFi hotspot feature on my phone. No sense paying for a 4G data plan for may tablet when I don't need it.