The Best Tablets to Consider Buying

The best tablet for most people.

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                             Jumia

The new 8th Gen iPad may be a minor update, but it’s enough to keep the king on its throne. That’s because the A12 Bionic chip provides a welcome speed boost that was once kept to more expensive iPads (which moved up to the A14 chip).

The iPad still boasts a fantastic screen for its price, and Apple’s own Pencil and Smart Keyboard Folio are just easier to use than any Bluetooth accessory on the market.

That A12 chip comes in handy now, more than ever, as Apple’s advances in iPadOS have made for more multitasking.

Also, iPadOS 14, which ships on the iPad 8, gives you Scribble handwriting to text translation. Which makes the Apple Pencil a better buy than before.

We just wish Apple would update the iPad’s design (the big bezels are aging) to allow for an easier way to store the Apple Pencil.

Especially if the iPad won’t work with the excellent 2nd Gen Apple Pencil, which is limited to the iPad Air and iPad Pro.

The best tablet for those on a budget.

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For a lot of customers, price makes the big difference, so Amazon could have coasted when it comes to the $50 Fire 7 tablet.

Fortunately, the most recent iteration of the company’s cheapest slate packs a snappy quad-core 1.3 GHz processor, which helps you navigate apps and browse the web faster than you’d expect from a tablet this cheap.

And while previous Fire tablets made you tap to activate Alexa — which made no sense, it’s meant to be summoned with your voice — the Fire 7 finally added voice triggers for the digital assistant.

Just don’t expect any frills that come with more expensive tablets. The Fire 7 tablet’s sub-HD screen is not sharp enough for anyone used to an iPad. And its lock screen is filled with ads unless you pay extra. Still, it’s a great pick for kids looking for a media consumption device.

The best iPad for your dollar.

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Apple’s iPad Air (2020) borrows a lot of what we like from the iPad Pro, at a more affordable price, and it’s arguably Apple’s best iPad ever (though it’s still not going to sell as well as the 10.2-inch iPad).

It’s got the super-thin bezels you’ll recognize from the iPad Pro, as well as support for the Magic Keyboard, which makes it a true laptop competitor.

On top of that, Apple’s blazing-fast A14 Bionic chip helps future-proof this tablet with enough speed for demanding apps and multitasking. Oh, and they managed to put Touch ID in the lock button.

Everywhere else, the iPad Air 4 is great, if not the best. Its 10.5 hours of battery life will be enough to keep you going all day long. And its screen is bright and colorful enough to make your next Netflix binge-watch look brilliant.

It’s also great for the work from home era, thanks to its 7-megapixel webcam, which beat the Logitech C920 in head-to-head testing done for our review.

We only wish the Magic Keyboard wasn’t so expensive: it’s hard to feel great buying a keyboard for almost the same price as the entry-level iPad.

The best Android tablet.

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                             Jumia

Android fans finally have a true iPad competitor, at a much more affordable price. Retailing for $229 (and on sale often for much less) the Galaxy Tab A7 is a great 10.4-inch tablet for consuming content.

Whether you’re browsing the web or streaming movies, you get to focus on your content more, thanks to its super-thin bezels that are thinner than what you get with Apple’s $329 iPad.

Oh, and it’s got endurance to spare, lasting 13 hours and 13 minutes on the Tom’s Guide battery test. Oh, and it’s also got an iPad Pro feature that Apple makes you pay a lot for: facial recognition to unlock the device.

And just like Apple’s pricier tablets, the Galaxy Tab A7 charges over USB-C, so you can continue to cut non-reversible microUSB cables out of your life.

And while it’s not as fast as the iPad and its screen isn’t as bright, neither is a serious problem at this price.

Especially when Samsung gives you true Android with the Google Play app store, and not the watered-down Amazon Fire tablet experience.

How to choose the Best Tablets for you

Start by thinking about the operating system you live in, which means opening your pocket and thinking about how much you rely on your smartphone.

iPhone owners may jump straight to the 7th Gen iPad or iPad Pro. And they’d be right to do so — iMessage integration and the shared app ecosystems across iOS and iPadOS are an ideal combination.

But if the iPad Pro is too expensive and the 7th Gen iPad isn’t powerful enough. The iPad Air’s faster CPU makes it the iPad to definitely consider. Though I can’t blame budget-conscious shoppers for going with the regular iPad.

Android folks have a wider set of options, but since Android apps aren’t thriving on tablets as much as anyone would hope, this is a good time to consider all of your options.

Yes the Galaxy Tab S6 has a fantastic screen and Android apps, but isn’t Windows 10 a more capable platform? If you’re nodding your head “yes,” then the Surface Go 2 is the best tablet for you.

That all being said, if you’ve got a big enough family. And you’re all living in the Amazon Prime ecosystem. Go for the Fire 7 if you’re trying to fit to a budget. And the Fire HD 10 if you are tired of devices that don’t have USB-C.

How we Test Best Tablets

First, we run as many benchmarks as that tablet will allow, to see how fast they are in ways that can be compared directly against competitors.

We say “will allow” as some tablets, like Amazon’s Fire slates, have trouble with side-loaded Android apps.

We then use colorimeters and light meters to measure how colorful and bright these tablets’ screens can get.

After that, we put them through our in-house battery test, which times how long it takes — while surfing the web with brightness at 150 nits — to drain a tablet of a charge.

After that, we do the same things you do — browse the web, watch YouTube, play games, compose emails — and then a lot more.

We try and write some (or all) of our tablet reviews on the tablets we’re testing, if there’s a keyboard for it that is. Nobody wants to write a magnum opus on a glass screen, trust me.

Then, we keep our eyes on the next incoming tablets. Walmart just revealed two Onn Pro tablets, though they’re not iPad Pro competitors (outside of having USB-C).

We look forward to testing out the 8-inch Onn and 10.1-inch Onn, and give Walmart points for running Android 10.

They’re like Amazon Fire tablets in that they’re chock full of Walmart buttons and online store navigations, which would appeal to those who do a lot of shopping at Walmart. We look forward to testing them and giving them full reviews.