Talk to me about Android Tablets!

[poppopbangbang]

I need a new tablet. I've had an Nvidia Shield for years and recently left it outside during a heavy downpour so it's fooked beyond repair.

Went shopping today with the aim of something that was an upgrade from the Shield, less than £500 and still relatively small (so 8" is ideal) and I appear to have found there is nothing out there which is actually any better? I don't want a lot from it, do a few e-mails when on the move, watch the odd film, play the odd game (NeoGeo emulator on the Shield was a 10/10 for me and steam streaming was cool) and a HDMI output is an absolute win (can do that via USB-C now right?).

Aside from a lack of RAM the Shield still did everything pretty well, can anyone suggest anything that's of this ilk i.e. small, fairly powerful, easy to root if required etc. etc.

The 8" Galaxy tabs don't seem any sort of upgrade and everything else seems to be a cheap Chinese effort or a Fire tablet which I don't think can be rooted to proper Android can they?

[The_Jackal]

£500 gets you a top end flag ship Android Samsung tablet. What exactly does it not do that you want it to?

[Blink982]

I bought a Huawei Mediapad M5 8" to replace an ipad air and couldn't be happier. I don't use it for anything too taxing but it does me for surfing the net and Netflix etc.

[poppopbangbang]

The_Jackal said:

£500 gets you a top end flag ship Android Samsung tablet. What exactly does it not do that you want it to?

There doesn't seem to be a flagship 8" one though? Just the Tab A, which I'm sure would do everything I want it to (bar maybe having a HDMI socket), it just doesn't seem to do anything better than what I already had, which considering it was 4 years old I must be missing something somewhere?

I love buying a gadget but buying something the same as I treated myself to four years ago doesn't feel right

[anonymous-user]

Not 8 inches but ASUS ROG2 is built for gaming and phone to boot.

[poppopbangbang]

Blink982 said:

I bought a Huawei Mediapad M5 8" to replace an ipad air and couldn't be happier. I don't use it for anything too taxing but it does me for surfing the net and Netflix etc.

That looks good! Twice the Ram and twice the processor. That's much more like the kind of upgrade I was looking for

Thanks for the heads up!

[anonymous-user]

Been using one of these for a long time. Perfect in every way.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Tab-Plus-Assistant...

[C0ffin D0dger]

poppopbangbang said:

a Fire tablet which I don't think can be rooted to proper Android can they?

Yep, unless you really like Amazon then avoid. Really locked down and can't be rooted. There is stuff you can do with them like side load the play store and hi-jack the launcher to make something other than the Amazon one start from boot but it's all a bit of a hack. They are cheap though....

[s2kjock]

With these Huawei devices and them being kicked off Android OS now, does this mean in practice that future Android updates for one of these will no longer be available or will they (Huawei) try to install/convert their own OS?

[Coolbanana]

I've got the 10" Galaxy S6 and it is very good. Best screen on any tablet out there - including the Apple iPad's. AMOLED so Netflix, HBO Go etc look great.

It's plenty fast enough and has their Dex Mode which turns it into a 'Window's' type tablet too, ideal for me when doing some work on it with windows and multiple tabs.

The build quality is iPad comparable now too. Definitely prefer it over all other tablets out there for overall usability. Basically, a large version of my S10+ mobile but with the Dex Mode.

[alock]

Coolbanana said:

I've got the 10" Galaxy S6 and it is very good. Best screen on any tablet out there...

And if you aren't interested in games or the s-pen, then the 5se is a slightly lower powered version with the same screen.

[HTP99]

poppopbangbang said:

Blink982 said:

I bought a Huawei Mediapad M5 8" to replace an ipad air and couldn't be happier. I don't use it for anything too taxing but it does me for surfing the net and Netflix etc.

That looks good! Twice the Ram and twice the processor. That's much more like the kind of upgrade I was looking for

Thanks for the heads up!

I've got the 10" version and have had it 18m or so now, possibly longer, it replaced a 10" Samsung Galaxy Tab, the equivalent Samsung at the time was alot more expensive and I didn't feel was worth the extra money, I am very happy with the Huawei.