Greetings,
I stay at home now due to health issues and have switched back to a feature phone and an Android tablet for my apps. Is there any new tablets I can look forward to that should use the latest Android software?
-mark
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Samsung typically makes the best Android tablets. I think their newest is the Galaxy Tablet S6
I agree that Samsung makes the best Android tablets, but the Android tablets I’ve had don’t receive regular updates. Last year at this time when I was looking to buy a tablet most of the ones I saw were at least a version back if not two versions back. None of the Samsungs were on current Android. I have an older Kindle tablet that I put the Play store on, but that’s much harder to do if not impossible now.
Since I wanted a stylus, I went for the regular iPad which has worked well for me.
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Does anyone forsee Google making tablets again loved my old one.
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There was some story a month or two back about Google pulling the plug on tablets.
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Maybe unpopular idea but Kindle Fire HDs seem to be decent tablets.
My kids have them and while there maybe some games or apps that don’t come out as fast as an iOS app they seem to be quality compared to some of the Android tablets I’ve seen and held out there.
Might be worth a chance?
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Well, the resolution on those Amazon tablets are not that good. And, it’s a giant amazon commercial, IMHO
The Amazon Fire tablet I have is one without ads - the only way I’d ever buy one - but it’s super slow. Good enough for its purpose, though - just a clock radio to wake me up in the morning.
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I feel like they work best for kids. Think about th 50 bucks for a replacement (the one with ads) when it gets dropped, or broken or whatever compared to how much an iPad for a kid cost these days.
I’ve replaced several of them after my kids have broke them.
They may seem slow or something for some people but for my kids to play and do the learning games, etc. they want to do they make the best tablet there.
Now for a grown up or older person? Maybe not the best device but maybe the best Android device? They get regular updates, have most of the apps you need, and also function as an Alexa device if properly enabled.
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I would argue the lack of true google play services/store on the Amazon tablets make it terrible for general use. They are an Amazon consumption machine and do it well. They’re still based on Nougat as well.
Sadly, Samsung is probably the best bet. Huawei has some nice looking tablets, too. But that depends on how you feel about them (and probably not a real option in the US). Not really sure if any are updated frequently and quickly… even from a security patch level standpoint.
I’ll be honest, is there something very Android specific you need? Because a $330 iPad is… a really good price for something that nearly has no question on getting updated for 3yrs at a minimum.
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just used to it, i have an older ipad
The Play Store can be sideloaded onto the Fire tablet. But do you mean it’s not fully functional even then? My use of the Fire is limited, so if there are features missing, I just haven’t noticed.
I’m just not a fan of having to sideload a core service that isn’t provided by the OEM. It’s just asking for trouble when recommending things. And I don’t think I ever got it installed on my Fire 6 (though, haven’t tried recently). I recall a lot of stability issues. And they’re just underpowered (again, maybe the latest larger ones are better, but I’m not holding my breath).
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How many apps from Google Play Services would you actually need? Gmail? Google Calendar? I’m trying to think what else I would want.
But I’m not the guy who wants a tablet so I’m not the best person to answer.
I like the cost of these devices and especially for children I think they would be teh best choice
Well if you want to play games on it, and you want high scores, etc, you definitely want Google Play Services for games.
As for how many apps are worth buying from the Google Play Store, that depends on the person. I have downloaded a good three dozen misc apps from the store. I haven’t purchased too many, but one is a better text messaging app (Textra) but that may not be needed on a tablet. To be honest, most of the apps are free support apps for other services in my life or home (say the Ring doorbell app, or the Google Home app) or stuff like Signal messenger. I don’t know how many of these apps make it to Amazon’s store or how many work without the Google Play Services functionality.
Play Services implies having the store. I just want access to the apps I have. And to stay updated. Without risk of it all breaking with a FireOS update. But yeah, depends on the use case. I’m in the Google ecosystem, so I’d want all their things at the least working.
If I had kids and they wanted to watch video… that’s exactly what a Fire tablet is for. But even basic day to day just didn’t feel like a good experience to me. But it is dirt cheap.