7 great tablets to take with you on Holiday
It's summer time! Leave your laptop at home and enjoy your tablet on holiday.
With the big August rush for summer holidays, million of people will take their tablets with them to read, to watch movies, to entertain their children, to play some games or for browsing the web. If you still don’t have a tablet here is my Top 7 of the best tablets (7”-8”) to take on holiday for you and your family.
7- Lenovo Yoga 8:
Lenovo surprised the world with the launch of their YOGA laptop powered by windows RT and windows 8. Since then, Lenovo has increased the number of products under the YOGA label. Launched last year by Ashton Kutcher, the Lenovo Yoga 8 is one of the Android tablets with the best design. The tablet feels premium and the clever multi mode kick stand is amazing. Unfortunately Lenovo launched a half baked product with a slow processor, not the best screen and a “childish” Android UI. However the Yoga 8 has strong selling features and if you want a practical tablet with a premium feel and are not too worried about some performance issues, the Yoga 8 is a good choice. In fact this is the perfect tablet for a bedside table!
6-Samsung Galaxy Tab Kids:
Samsung is launching a new tablet almost every day, and frankly some are not very good at all. Last year, Samsung launched a clever tablet based on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7”: The Samsung Galaxy Tab Kids. This is one of the first Android tablets dedicated to kids with full access to Google Play. When you power on the Galaxy Tab Kids it launches into Kids Mode. It is colourful, powered with plenty of clever apps for children, and surprisingly the Kids Mode Interface is fast and snappy. To enjoy the full feature of the Kids Mode, I recommend you purchase the tablet with the full Kids bundle: ultra resistant cover case with stand and stylus designed for children. Altogether it works very well. You also have the option of switching to the normal mode. In that case you will be able to enjoy (or not) the full feature of Android with Touch Wiz. One very clever thing is that you can download apps on the Google Play Store and make them available on Kids Mode. You get full control of what your kids are doing. My kids have the Galaxy Tab Kids and they love it. They watch Netflix and Hulu on Kids Mode and the performance of the tablet if perfectly fine for them. However, this tablet is a bit like Dr Jekil and Mr Hyde: On Kids Mode it is snappy and fun to use, on Normal Mode Touch wiz is extremely slow on this tablet. If you are planning on a long journey.....this tablet is perfect to entertain your kids!
The Samsung Galaxy Tab Kids with bundle is available on Amazon from £129.99. Click here
5- LG GPad 7.0:
The LG GPad 7.0 is the latest attempt from LG to try to get a bite of the huge market share of the Samsung Android tablets. I wrote a full review about it (read here). The LG GPad 7.0 is stylish, light, has a great 720p IPS screen with an excellent viewing angle. And most importantly the new LG Android UI is fast, snappy and really enjoyable. The tablet feels premium and there are no weird cracky noises like with some cheap Android tablets. The overall performance of this tablet is excellent, and it offers amazing value for money!
Fom £139.99 (in white or black).Click here
4- Kindle Fire HDX 7.0
The latest generation of Kindle Fire from Amazon has plenty of great features, and is an interesting choice if you are after something different within the Android World. The Kindle Fire HDX is made by Amazon so if you are a huge user of Amazon services such as PRIME, Kindle, Amazon store, Amazon Music store, this tablet is for you. It is powerful, it has a premium design and is high in specs. Fire OS 3.0 the User interface based on Android is fast, intuitive and it features the excellent MAYDAY service (if you need help, call mayday, it's really simple). Prices are going down on Amazon (a new Kindle Fire will be available after the holidays) so that’s the best moment to buy your Kindle.
You can get the Kindle Fire HDX 7 on Amazon for less than £200: Click here
3-DELL VENUE 8 Pro:
The Dell Venue 8 Pro is the most successfull windows 8" tablet on the market. This tablet has a great display with amazing viewing angles, excellent build quality, and it is powered with full Windows 8.1 and Office! This tablet is perfect if you are a heavy Microsoft Windows user and need to be “connected” while on holiday. This tablet is probably one of the best for productivity. It is also very affordable in 32GB and 64GB.
The Dell Venue 8 Pro is available on our store: from £249.99: Click here
2- Nexus 7 2013:
The Nexus 7 2013 is not really new any more and doesn’t feature the latest specs but it is still one of the best Android tablets around. With a gorgeous display, fast processor, premium build, nice design and low price, the Nexus 7 2013 is the tablet to get if you want to enjoy a pure Android experience by Google.
Great deals on Amazon from £150. Click here
1- iPad Mini Retina display:
A while ago I wrote a review about the iPad Mini Retina Display, and I still think that it’s the best 7”-8” tablet and probably the best tablet period. It has an amazing display, excellent build quality, it is ultra portable and fast. Also iOS has a huge advantage over Android: apps. Android has a lot of applications but only few of them are optimised for tablets, but the iPad has a huge number of apps designed for it. This is a huge difference, and that’s the reason why this tablet is still the king of the tablets. It is the most expansive of the list but you get a premium hardware with a premium software for tablet.
You can get the iPad Mini with Retina Display from £255 on Amazon: Click here.
So the choice is hard, and at the end of the day it will be based on 3 points: what you can afford? Which OS and ecosystem are you the most involved with? and finally what do you want to do with a tablet?
If your budget is limited and you want a tablet for media consumption and playing games, any Android tablet will be good. The Nexus 7 is one of the best, but the Yoga 8 has a clever design too. If you are a huge Amazon user, the Kindle Fire HDX 7 will be your obvious choice. If you have an iPhone and have spent a lot of money on iTunes, you have to buy an iPad Mini, and if Microsoft Office is important for you and need a productive tablet, the DELL Venue 8 Pro is a good choice.
Whatever your choice is, the most important is to think about user experience, and some cheap Android tablets offers a very poor experience. In my opinion, try to avoid any tablet below £100 because you won’t be happy with it, and it would be a shame, because tablets are really cool!