Help me pick a tablet

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Indiana

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    The wife wants a tablet for Christmas this year. I'm not very tech savvy when looking at what the specs truly mean.

    Use for the tablet will be mostly web surfing, video(instructional type) and not so much watching movies or gaming, although watching an occasional movie will probably happen. Will also be used for facetime/zoom with the grandson. Storage would be a plus as the wife takes a lot and downloads a lot of images.

    I'd like to stay in the $200 range.

    I have 4 that I'm currently looking at.

    Amazon Fire HD with 64gb upgrade as well as ad removal

    Samsung Tab A7 64gb version

    Vankyo Matrixpad s30 (only offer 32gb internal memory)

    Vankyo matrixpad p31 64gb

    The Vankyo options win hands down as far as the camera set up goes for pic taking and facetime. Like they are Android OS as that's what we're use to

    The Fire is going to be full of bloatware which I'm not a fan of and the cameras suck. Also not full HD

    Samsung also runs Android and the camera is better than the Fire but not as good as the Vankyos

    All seem to have great reviews

    Any input/ help would be great as to which one will be best for her needs. Any other options in my price range worth looking at?

    Thanks
     

    bwframe

    Loneranger
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    93   0   0
    Feb 11, 2008
    38,170
    113
    Btown Rural
    I have a Fire HD 10" from a couple years back. It works kinda OK for $150. Fine for streaming, once you get it started. It's pretty clunky and slow compared to my Samsung phones.

    As much as I like the Samsung phones, I always thought if I decided I actually needed a tablet I'd go with a Tab. That said, Samsung seems to be slowly but surely shortening their device's half lives. Android version updates and thus the smooth fast device operation and versatility really starts to fall off in a couple years.
     

    d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    I have a Fire HD 10" from a couple years back. It works kinda OK for $150. Fine for streaming, once you get it started. It's pretty clunky and slow compared to my Samsung phones.

    As much as I like the Samsung phones, I always thought if I decided I actually needed a tablet I'd go with a Tab. That said, Samsung seems to be slowly but surely shortening their device's half lives. Android version updates and thus the smooth fast device operation and versatility really starts to fall off in a couple years.

    Yeah. The updates seem to kill them off. I swear electronics have a timer built in to them that slowly kills them off after the 1 year mark. We usually try to go about 18 months before getting a new phone. I imagine the tablets would be the same. If we can get 2 years out of it, I'll be happy.
     

    senork

    Marksman
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Jan 20, 2008
    189
    28
    NW Indiana
    Personally, I use an iPad mini, an iMac desktop, and iPhone. I like the security of using the Apple operating systems. From what you have described as her intended use, I would recommend a Fire Tablet from Amazon, keeping in mind that it’s default browser and App Store are proprietary. It is very budget friendly, and with sale day approaching, I am sure there will be several deals on Amazon. If you do indeed purchase Fire Tablet, search the internet, and by downloading and installing four files from Google, you can expand the capabilities of the Fire Tablet.
     

    eldirector

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    10   0   0
    Apr 29, 2009
    14,677
    113
    Brownsburg, IN
    My wife loves her Fire tablet(s). Has worn out several. She is about as non-techy as one can get, and likes NOT having to ask me for much of anything on it. It just putzes along fine. She plays games, gets her email, Facebook (yech), web surfs, and streams podcasts/video-casts/TV (Hulu/Netflix). Decent battery life, too. Especially for the price.

    This one is a couple of years old, I think. About time for another.
     

    d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    The biggest reason I'm leaning towards the others is the camera. The fire hd 10 cameras suck and my wife takes A LOT of pictures. I'm worried that the camera for facetime with the grandson isn't adequate enough. I believe the front camera is only 2mp on the fire where as the samsung front camera is 5 and the Vankyo is 8. The rear camera for pic taking is much better on the Vankyo at 13mp.

    Good to hear though that the Fire seems to be a good tablet for everything else. I was a little worried that all the bloatware pre installed would make it slow and take up most the internal memory
     

    d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    A bit more expensive but I have a Lenovo duet. I'm a big fan.

    Just looked that one up. Good reviews and memory but once again the cameras suck. I couldn't tell in the description of the keyboard is removable or not. I know she wants more of a true tablet than one more like a laptop
     

    fullmetaljesus

    Probably smoking a cigar.
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Jan 12, 2012
    5,849
    149
    Indy
    Just looked that one up. Good reviews and memory but once again the cameras suck. I couldn't tell in the description of the keyboard is removable or not. I know she wants more of a true tablet than one more like a laptop

    Keyboard is removable and my camera looks fine when doing zoom calls or just snapping pics
     

    Snapdragon

    know-it-all tart
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    36   0   0
    Nov 5, 2013
    38,771
    77
    NW Indiana
    Be aware that the Fire tablet is not compatible with all outside apps. It's basically a device to utilize Amazon goods and services. I had a specific app that I bought a Fire tablet for, and the app it did not work on it. I had to send it back.
     

    marvin02

    Don't Panic
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    56   0   0
    Jun 20, 2019
    5,214
    77
    Calumet Twp.
    The Samsung's also come with a bunch of bloatware, which you can mostly ignore. There really aren't any great Android tablets out there. Samsung makes a good product, my wife has a Samsung 10e phone and a Galaxy Tab S5e tablet. She loves both.

    Best Buy in Merrillville has both the Tab A7 and the slightly more expensive Tab S6 Lite in stock if you want to look at them hands on. From what I read, no personal experience, the S6 lite has a better processor and better camera for the increased cost.
     

    d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    Be aware that the Fire tablet is not compatible with all outside apps. It's basically a device to utilize Amazon goods and services. I had a specific app that I bought a Fire tablet for, and the app it did not work on it. I had to send it back.

    Yeah. I've read that and one of my concerns with the Fire
     

    d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    The Samsung's also come with a bunch of bloatware, which you can mostly ignore. There really aren't any great Android tablets out there. Samsung makes a good product, my wife has a Samsung 10e phone and a Galaxy Tab S5e tablet. She loves both.

    Best Buy in Merrillville has both the Tab A7 and the slightly more expensive Tab S6 Lite in stock if you want to look at them hands on. From what I read, no personal experience, the S6 lite has a better processor and better camera for the increased cost.

    The A7 is on my list. Only thing that worries me on it is the rating goes from 4.5 stars on the 32gb version down to 3.5 stars on the 64gb version. At least on Best Buys site, and I'd prefer the extra memory

    I hate shopping for electronics
     

    dsol

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    15   0   0
    May 28, 2009
    1,553
    48
    Jeffersonville
    I just bought myself a Samsung 10" Galaxy Tab A with 64 Gb memory. Very solid and well constructed (aluminum back), runs so much faster than my old Elipsis that was just getting old, cranky and slow. The Galaxy twice the resolution of my old tablet although I have no idea about the camera, never use it. Bought a case that has a detachable blue tooth keyboard that may slowly make it replace my trusty old Panasonic Toughbook as my computer...

    Figured I might as well buy one of the best ones, I hate replacing things too often and the Galaxy has one of the best reputations. Buy once, cry once...
     

    Jaybird1980

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    5   0   0
    Jan 22, 2016
    11,929
    113
    North Central
    We have had 3 fires for the kids throughout the years, they aren't compatible with all apps as was stated. The camera on the 10 is the best of the bunch, but it is nowhere near as good as our phones. It does ok for FaceTime as long as they're are not moving around a lot. If you want good camera quality keep looking, but they seem to be pretty tuff
     

    d.kaufman

    Still Here
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    128   0   0
    Mar 9, 2013
    14,715
    149
    Hobart
    Thanks for the info on the Samsung. I'm kind of leaning towards it at the moment, although now a lenovo m10 plus has now caught my eye now
     

    maxwelhse

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 21, 2018
    5,415
    149
    Michiana
    The A7 is on my list. Only thing that worries me on it is the rating goes from 4.5 stars on the 32gb version down to 3.5 stars on the 64gb version. At least on Best Buys site, and I'd prefer the extra memory

    I hate shopping for electronics

    I'm not a tablet guy so I'm just reading along and Googling a little here and there, but it appears the Tab A7 has an SD card slot. I have 256GB cards in all of my devices and I have never concerned myself over space. It looks like Samsung is a little picky about what apps can be moved to SD, but is she really going to run more than 32gb of JUST apps? 256GB is a bunch of pics, videos, music, etc. Then there are 512GB cards too.
     
    Top Bottom