The tablet market has stagnated in recent years, partly because laptops have fallen in price, but mainly because smartphones have grown in size and, for the most part, they can do the same things that tablets do and be used effectively. also to work. However, a tablet remains a device that can have many practical applications, useful at home to navigate from the sofa, useful as an on-board computer in the car, convenient to carry around in the bag and excellent for watching movies or playing while traveling. With the crisis in the sector, we can say that few companies remain to produce and sell good level tablets: Apple iPads are still the best sellers despite being the most expensive ones because they are fast, quick and practical to use. If instead we want to focus on an Android tablet, today, it means choosing between the big manufacturers: Samsung, Amazon, Huawei or Lenovo .
In this guide we will show you the best Android tablet available from these manufacturers, so you can actually choose the new tablet to use at home or at work.
READ ALSO: Best free apps for Android tablets
Requirements for a tablet
Since there are only a few tablets, we advise you to choose carefully based on the characteristics shown below and avoid the Chinese clones or tablets, which often do not offer the same quality that we can find on Chinese smartphones.Technical features
Features to consider for an Android tablet I'm:- Processor and RAM memory : The tablet processor and memory are important for determining the speed of processing and execution of applications; in this regard, I recommend not to buy a tablet with less than 3 GB of RAM. As for the processor, however, there are many names: Qualcomm, Cortex, Exinos, Intel, Mediatek MTK (which is the cheapest), the important thing is that it has at least 4 cores (better still if 8). If you do not want to be behind the hardware details, in general it is worth checking that the tablet is not already old and, therefore, has not been on sale for more than a year. This can be checked on Amazon, noting the indication "on sale from .." present for each product.
- Android and software version : The Android system may look similar for all tablets, although each manufacturer has its own customizations to make it different from the others. The important thing is that Android is updated to the latest version, so as not to go and buy something already old. Many tablets come out with older versions of Android anyway, just make sure they have at least Android 7 (the bare minimum to keep up with the times). In this regard, the company that takes care of the most updates of its tablets and smartphones is definitely Huawei, closely followed by Amazon with its Kindle tablet line. Samsung keeps updates especially on the top models ignoring the cheaper ones, while Lenovo is certainly the least efficient in this sense.
- Dimensions and proportions : The most important part of a tablet is however the screen and it is necessary to choose according to personal preferences. The Android tablets available can be 7 inches, 8 inches, 10 inches, 11 inches and 13 inches. It could also be found in 4: 3 aspect ratio, more square or 16: 9, more widescreen, similar to the laptop monitor. There is no "ideal" and preferable size in an objective sense, but we certainly must prefer a more resolution, especially if you want to work and write on the tablet using it as if it were a computer or to watch movies. In order to really savor the difference with modern smartphones we recommend focusing only on the 10-inch screen models up, so as to have a real device with a defined identity instead of a hybrid smartphone / tablet as a tablet can be alone 7 or 8 inches.
- Connectivity : nowadays we can safely choose a tablet with only the Wi-Fi module, since it is possible to take advantage of the hotspot of our Android or iPhone smartphones to connect to the Internet even when we are away from home. If, on the other hand, we wanted to insert a data SIM directly into the tablet, just be aware that prices go up and can make the choice of an Android tablet uneconomical.
- Internal memory : memory is certainly an important feature for tablets, because it determines how many files and how many apps you can save inside. The bare minimum for a modern tablet is 32 GB, the important thing is that it is expandable via microSD card so that you can save even more files. All new tablets should also support the OTG connection for USB sticks .
- Keyboards : the keyboard, intended as a physical keyboard that can possibly be added to the tablet, can be a very interesting device and it is thought to use the Android tablet as a mini laptop (heir of the dead netbooks), to work and write documents on the fly. Office apps for Android are not lacking, so you can replace the laptop with the tablet by buying a normal USB keyboard or a Bluetooth.
- Price : the price is always decisive when you buy something electronically and in the case of Android tablets you can really choose in a very wide range. Our advice is to always leave out the too cheap models and focus on those from € 150 and up so as to always get a good balance between performance and autonomy. If we can spend over € 400, it is better to focus on the iPad and buy one of the models available from Apple: the difference in performance and optimizations in these cases is too great. The only fairly cheap but well-made tablets are the Amazon Fire, to be evaluated if we are looking for an inexpensive tablet to be used immediately without second thoughts.
Best Android tablets
After this quick introduction to the features that a good modern Android tablet must have, let's see what is the best Android tablet that you can buy at the moment with the most interesting prices.Amazon Tablet Fire HD 8
If we want to save as much as possible and do not want to follow the indications shown "to the letter", we can buy an inexpensive but complete tablet like the Tablet Fire HD 8, produced by Amazon. With this tablet we will have a fast Android device, with its personal store from which to download all the apps we need, including some very famous ones such as Netflix, Spotify, Facebook, Instagram and Skype. This tablet, without too many demands on the hardware level, represents the best way to enter the world of tables without spending a fortune.
We can view the tablet from here -> Amazon Tablet Fire HD 8 (69 €, with active special offers).
Huawei Mediapad T5
If we want to focus on a mid-range tablet we can consider the Huawei Mediapad T5, a truly complete tablet equipped with a 10.1 "HD display, 64 GB of expandable internal memory, 4 GB of RAM, octa-core processor, front camera, Wi-Fi module and Android 8.0 operating system with EMUI.
We can view the tablet from here -> Huawei Mediapad T5 (179 €).
Lenovo TAB M10
A good mid-range tablet that we can view is the Lenovo TAB M10, equipped with a 10.1 "Full HD display with IPS technology, Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 32GB internal memory expandable up to 256GB, 3GB RAM, WIFI + module LTE, dual speakers and Android Oreo operating system.
We can view the tablet from here -> Lenovo TAB M10 (188 €).
Samsung Galaxy TAB A 2019
The first medium-high-end tablet that we recommend you see is the Samsung Galaxy TAB A model 2019, a truly complete tablet with 10.1 FullHD + display, Exynos octa-core processor, 3 GB RAM, 64 internal memory GB expandable with microSD slot, 8 MP rear camera, 5 MP front camera, four AKG and Dolby Atmos speakers and 6, 150 mAh battery.
We can view the tablet from here -> Samsung Galaxy TAB A 2019 (€ 229).
Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e 2019
If, on the other hand, we are looking for a high-end smartphone without having to focus on iPads, we recommend viewing the 2019 Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e, which has a 10.1 SuperAMOLED FullHD + display, Exynos octa-core processor, 4 GB RAM memory, 64 GB internal memory expandable with microSD slot, new One UI graphic interface, Android Pie operating system and 7040 mAh battery with fast charge.
We can view the tablet from here -> Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e 2019 (336 €).
Conclusions
The tablet market is quite static, but this does not mean that we cannot buy tablets with an Android operating system: there are devices for all tastes, from the Amazon Fire HD for sale for less than € 70 up to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e which has nothing to envy to the iPad.If we want to use tablets with a built-in keyboard, we recommend that you continue reading our article on the Best Tablet-PC 2 in 1 with removable keyboard .
If instead we want to focus on a more powerful and practical notebook, we can read our guide on How to choose the new Notebook .
