Best 10 inch tablet?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
ipad.

i have a nexus 7 (7" not 10") and this thing pretty much sucks. i can't believe how it lags and stutters on such basic shit. i only got it so i could test out an android game i was making on an actual device because the android emulator is the worst piece of crap you could imagine having to test apps out on. the nexus 7 even stutters when scrolling on a freaking table layout with some basic graphics on it. i just don't understand why it's like that.

when i'm around my house and want something mobile, i use my iphone 4 (not 4s, the normal 4) over my nexus 7. i think the battery in it has been dead for like 2 months just because i have no need to use it.


Are you using the original Nexus 7 with the 4 yr old Tegra 3? If so, Common sense here....

Love how people group stuff like this with using old technology.

Its like me saying all iPad's suck because the iPad 1 is so slow.
 

luv2liv

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
3,500
94
91
galaxy tab S gets my vote too!
take her to a store. she will be amazed at the screen. perfect for looking at photos and videos and anything visual really. if shes not impressed, i give up
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,054
1,693
126
Are you using the original Nexus 7 with the 4 yr old Tegra 3? If so, Common sense here....

Love how people group stuff like this with using old technology.

Its like me saying all iPad's suck because the iPad 1 is so slow.

Well to be fair, it is a quad core CPU with 1 GB RAM. When I bought the thing I thought it would feel snappy for much longer than it did, but my iPad 2 with iOS 7 actually feels faster for OS navigation, despite having a slower CPU and half the RAM.
 

brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
9,376
454
126
+1 for the tab s. I bought it at costco using my membership rebate. Screen is very nice. Much smoother than my old galaxy tab. It can also display 2 apps split screen. Pretty cool
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
Traded my Surface RT for credit towards a Surface 2. Paired it with a Type Cover 2 and I love it. I don't miss Android on a tablet at all. The battery life and screen are amazing, and I'm one of those crazy folk who actually like Windows 8.1.

Note that I'm not recommending a Surface 2 unless your mom uses a Windows Phone. If I were you, I would just buy her a 10" tablet that matches her phone. iPhone = iPad, Android phone = Android tablet.
 

bigboxes

Lifer
Apr 6, 2002
41,977
12,358
146
I got the Tab S 10.5 and it is amazing. There are three things which it gets knocked for. Processor, USB 2.0 and the built in storage. The processor is a little bit weak for it's incredible resolution. That is one thing I wish they had spent more on. It's still serviceable for all but the most intensive of gamers. Samsung didn't put USB 3 on the tablet. I don't know why, but it is really not a deal killer. Kind of wished they had as it's something that you'd expect from a state of the art device. Last they only gave it 16gb of internal storage. It's not the end of the world as you can put a 128gb microSD card (I put a 64gb Samsung EVO card in mine). However, some people would put a lot more software than I do. I can't imagine filling it up as long as I put all my movies, tv shows and music on the microSD card.

I've rooted it and done a few mods on it. Most importantly, I got Ad Free installed on it. I even got flash to work on it. This week I set up Samsung's WatchON software to use the device as remote control/tv guide for my HDTV/Cable/Denon AVR in my living room. I disabled DVFS which Samsung uses to throttle the cpu to save battery power. It makes the tablet much more snappy. I'm sure if having the longest battery life is one of your priorities that you are not going to do this mod. I have micro USB chargers in my home, car and in my carry-on luggage (for when I'm out of town on business) so I can live with it. I'd rather have the performance. I rooted my phone and installed a WiFi tether app and I'm able to use the tablet wherever I have 4G service when I'm out of WiFi availability.

The screen is just so beautiful to look at. The device is so solidly built and quite good looking. I sure wish my Note 3 had the same build quality. Yes, it's just used as a consumer device, but if I need productivity I have my i7 desktop.
 

stlc8tr

Golden Member
Jan 5, 2011
1,106
4
76
+1 for the tab s. I bought it at costco using my membership rebate. Screen is very nice. Much smoother than my old galaxy tab. It can also display 2 apps split screen. Pretty cool

Do you still have to manually set the time on the Tab S?

I found it very odd that Samsung didn't include a way to set time via NTP on the Tab Pro.
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
Well to be fair, it is a quad core CPU with 1 GB RAM. When I bought the thing I thought it would feel snappy for much longer than it did, but my iPad 2 with iOS 7 actually feels faster for OS navigation, despite having a slower CPU and half the RAM.

2 Completely different O/S's and Memory Management systems. Well known iOS doesn't require as much ram as Android, primarily because there isn't a true multitasking feature.

The tegra 3 was never great to begin with. It had a decent GPU when it was announced, but CPU performance and IPC was behind. The first dual core Kraits with the Adreno 225 GPU were faster and snappier than the Tegra 3. (AKA HTC One X, S3, etc).

I bought a HTC One X+ on release with 64GB of Storage and it was slow from day 1. I flipped it in weeks for the S4 1.5 GHZ Dual Core 16GB version of the One X and it was so much better.
 

gmaster456

Golden Member
Sep 7, 2011
1,877
0
71
Another Vote for the Galaxy Tab S. Unless she gets a Surface there aren't many other options that I'd recommend. The Nexus 10 is 2 years old now, the Note 10.1 is aging although you can probably get it cheap. But that thing stuttered from day one.