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New crop of Android tablets

Started Sep 10, 2020 | Discussions
gjd_100 Regular Member • Posts: 110
Re: New crop of Android tablets

Every Android tablet (3 of them.. Two Lenova and a Samsung) broke after a little over a year. I realize the OS has nothing to do with hardware reliability, but it left a bad taste...

My cell phones have always been Android and have all been great.

For my tablet "needs", I bought a cheap(er) HP 13" 2 in 1 (360/convertible) windows laptop. No more tablets for me.

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Vunite Contributing Member • Posts: 713
Re: New crop of Android tablets

gjd_100 wrote:

Every Android tablet (3 of them.. Two Lenova and a Samsung) broke after a little over a year. I realize the OS has nothing to do with hardware reliability, but it left a bad taste...

How do you mean broke? Physically? I had 5 tablets in my life .. ASUS and Samsung and not one of them failed on their own or broke or anything. I do have them in cases and use them around the house only, though, so no hardcore hiking or rain, but they all lasted for many years, even their battery. One sadly died because it fell right onto a stone corner with its display .. sadly one of my favorite ones.

gjd_100 Regular Member • Posts: 110
Re: New crop of Android tablets

Both the lenovas would not take a charge. One I believe was the battery, the other was the usb charging port.... very cheaply made.

The samsung developed a black bar across the screen that kept growing in size... after a while it was unusable.

(They probably were not the top of the line from each manufacturer... but still should last longer than a few years).

I'm in my late 50's and all three were gently treated. (Not saying younger folks abuse their electronics). They never left the house. I'm sure it was just a string of bad luck for me...

So when I needed a new "tablet", decided to try a new approach... (2 in1 laptop with windows)

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Vunite Contributing Member • Posts: 713
Re: New crop of Android tablets

gjd_100 wrote:

Both the lenovas would not take a charge. One I believe was the battery, the other was the usb charging port.... very cheaply made.

The samsung developed a black bar across the screen that kept growing in size... after a while it was unusable.

(They probably were not the top of the line from each manufacturer... but still should last longer than a few years).

I'm in my late 50's and all three were gently treated. (Not saying younger folks abuse their electronics). They never left the house. I'm sure it was just a string of bad luck for me...

So when I needed a new "tablet", decided to try a new approach... (2 in1 laptop with windows)

Hm, I think you really had bad luck .. not so nice :/ I did get me a new android tablet, because I do not enjoy the tablet mode of windows .. it's apps (as in designed for table like usw) may be ok ... I did not use that many. But as soon as you have to navigate normal windows by fingers, I find it clumsy. Android is such a different experience there. Also, a windows based machine tends to be heavier .. and since i read a lot on tablets, weight is very key, as that can very quickly tire at least my hands .. I'm moving towards 50

CAcreeks
OP CAcreeks Forum Pro • Posts: 18,924
Re: New crop of Android tablets

gjd_100 wrote:

Every Android tablet (3 of them.. Two Lenova and a Samsung) broke after a little over a year. I realize the OS has nothing to do with hardware reliability, but it left a bad taste...

My 10.1" Samsung Note 2012 delaminated and has been glued three times now.

Interestingly, Yahoo Mail allows watching NFL games (broadcast in the area) using my phone, but not my tablet, because the screen is too large I guess.

My cell phones have always been Android and have all been great.

Yup, love my Moto One.

For my tablet "needs", I bought a cheap(er) HP 13" 2 in 1 (360/convertible) windows laptop. No more tablets for me.

What model is it? The Spectre x360 is quite expensive, so I assume you bought a "cheap(er)" Envy 13. They should call it a 3 in 1: laptop, tent, tablet. Nice alternative.

The 15" Envy 360 costs less than a Galaxy Tab S7+ and has numeric keypad. The 13" might feel more like a tablet. Probably I could run Linux on a x360 and do everything an Android tablet can do. Netflix works in Google Chrome browser, correct?

gjd_100 Regular Member • Posts: 110
Re: New crop of Android tablets

CAcreeks wrote:

gjd_100 wrote:

Every Android tablet (3 of them.. Two Lenova and a Samsung) broke after a little over a year. I realize the OS has nothing to do with hardware reliability, but it left a bad taste...

My 10.1" Samsung Note 2012 delaminated and has been glued three times now.

Interestingly, Yahoo Mail allows watching NFL games (broadcast in the area) using my phone, but not my tablet, because the screen is too large I guess.

My cell phones have always been Android and have all been great.

Yup, love my Moto One.

For my tablet "needs", I bought a cheap(er) HP 13" 2 in 1 (360/convertible) windows laptop. No more tablets for me.

What model is it? The Spectre x360 is quite expensive, so I assume you bought a "cheap(er)" Envy 13. They should call it a 3 in 1: laptop, tent, tablet. Nice alternative.

The 15" Envy 360 costs less than a Galaxy Tab S7+ and has numeric keypad. The 13" might feel more like a tablet. Probably I could run Linux on a x360 and do everything an Android tablet can do. Netflix works in Google Chrome browser, correct?

I mis-wrote. I bought a 15" laptop. Yes. It is the Envy 360 15.6". I always liked HP pc's. I still have my 15 year old HP laptop. Always felt the build quality of HP's were better than most (can't speak for apples). The envy is very thin and light ... but that is compared to my old HP... which is a beast. Im a big guy, so using a 15 " as a "tablet" works for me.

I use it for photo editing (Lightroom/photoshop) so appreciate the larger screen. Its a mid to higher level Envy trim ( ordered directly from HP) and it cost a tad over $1k. Full size SD card slot which is nice...

From a size perspective, I would think a 13" 2 in 1 (360.. what ever they call them) laptop would be a very viable alternative to a tablet...

But yea... if you want a lower end Envy 13"... they are around $699.00 ish...

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eelpout Contributing Member • Posts: 535
Re: New crop of Android tablets

Vunite wrote:

I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 .. after waiting for a better Tablet I'd want for 6 years It's quite zippy with its Qualcom 865. Didn't go for the Plus, as it seemed to expensive for what I do with it and I already have a Microsoft Surface I I want the small, tablet shaped Windows/PC experience.

have you tried Lightroom mobile on it with RAW files? Curious how it might stack up against an iPad Pro.

(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,057
Re: New crop of Android tablets
1

pete helme wrote:

Vunite wrote:

I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 .. after waiting for a better Tablet I'd want for 6 years It's quite zippy with its Qualcom 865. Didn't go for the Plus, as it seemed to expensive for what I do with it and I already have a Microsoft Surface I I want the small, tablet shaped Windows/PC experience.

have you tried Lightroom mobile on it with RAW files? Curious how it might stack up against an iPad Pro.

I know you are asking someone else, but I have just been comparing them and the Android version of Lightroom is still crippled. It doesnt have the new color grading feature with color wheels and still can't export to anywhere except the device in full quality.

So I am sticking with the iPad Pro for now, even though I much prefer the Android pen to the Apple Pencil 1. May keep the Android as it's so lightweight compared to the 12.9" original iPad Pro and Android has other benefits, like being able to copy a video from my laptop to it- took 2 seconds last night, whereas I was pulling my hair out trying to figue it out on the iPad. I think you have to download software on both machines, like iTunes, which is bananas when they are trying to say iPads are now good desktop replacements- they are not. Typing is much easier on Android too- when I need to correct a word I just click on the letter to change, that isn't possible on an iPad.

Lightroom works perfectly fine on the 1st generation 12.9" iPad Pro and I think that is currently the best bang for buck Lightroom Mobile option. Its nice to also have a light Android tablet for browsing the web and playing media from my PC and a war game not on iOS. But if Adobe ever stop crippling LR on Android I will upgrade to the best tablet and get rid of the iPad.

eelpout Contributing Member • Posts: 535
Re: New crop of Android tablets

Street_Photography wrote:

pete helme wrote:

Vunite wrote:

I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 .. after waiting for a better Tablet I'd want for 6 years It's quite zippy with its Qualcom 865. Didn't go for the Plus, as it seemed to expensive for what I do with it and I already have a Microsoft Surface I I want the small, tablet shaped Windows/PC experience.

have you tried Lightroom mobile on it with RAW files? Curious how it might stack up against an iPad Pro.

I know you are asking someone else, but I have just been comparing them and the Android version of Lightroom is still crippled. It doesnt have the new color grading feature with color wheels and still can't export to anywhere except the device in full quality.

So I am sticking with the iPad Pro for now...

appreciate the response!

I use a 10.5" iPad Pro for travel now. It works well enough for doing on the road editing and RAW file ingestion. I do minor edits and upload to Adobe's cloud so I think even the Android version can handle that. I might try switching to the Samsung S7 when the price comes down a bit because I personally prefer using Android over iOS for file handling, even with iOS 14 it's still so unnecessarily janky. :/

Vunite Contributing Member • Posts: 713
Re: New crop of Android tablets

pete helme wrote:

Vunite wrote:

I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 .. after waiting for a better Tablet I'd want for 6 years It's quite zippy with its Qualcom 865. Didn't go for the Plus, as it seemed to expensive for what I do with it and I already have a Microsoft Surface I I want the small, tablet shaped Windows/PC experience.

have you tried Lightroom mobile on it with RAW files? Curious how it might stack up against an iPad Pro.

Hm, I never used it But if their free version lets me check a few things for you, I can try. You might want to use a RAW of yours maybe if you want to benchmark something? The RAWs I have are from my R5 and those newer CR3 RAWs seem not to be supported by all software, yet (although PC adobe doesby now). They also vary big time in size of course. My Qualcomm 865 tablet I predict to be somewhat slower. Apples A14 chip is currently probably the fastest ARM chip around, but also not very cheap

Vunite Contributing Member • Posts: 713
Re: New crop of Android tablets
1

pete helme wrote:

Street_Photography wrote:

pete helme wrote:

Vunite wrote:

I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 .. after waiting for a better Tablet I'd want for 6 years It's quite zippy with its Qualcom 865. Didn't go for the Plus, as it seemed to expensive for what I do with it and I already have a Microsoft Surface I I want the small, tablet shaped Windows/PC experience.

have you tried Lightroom mobile on it with RAW files? Curious how it might stack up against an iPad Pro.

I played around with it a bit today .. the free version, so I have access to basic controls .. blacks, whites, exposure, sharpness, lens correction and so on. I loaded in a 47+ MB RAW file from my EOS R5. Or rather: A DNG file, since I had to convert it first, as the Android version can not directly load the new CR3 files from an R5 (at least my tablet, based on Android 10 can not, yet). As for speed, I can only unscientifically say, that I was astonished how fast these things are these days .. I had no idea, never tried. Any change I did on the sliders take a second .. at most maybe 2. You can actually work quite well with this app and those large RAWs.

markyboy81 Veteran Member • Posts: 4,778
Re: New crop of Android tablets
1

CAcreeks wrote:

sludge21017 wrote:

No love for the Tab S7?

I might get that instead of a Note 20.

I don't like Samsung bloatware, but there's no doubt the Tab S7 (non Lite) has the best specs, and highest price, among Android tablets. It's not new, so I didn't list it.

My Samsung 10.1" WQXGA from early 2013 has been delaminating for a year or more. I have glued it three times now. Not happy.

The S7 is quite new isn't it? At least it's newer than the S6 lite.

I have the S6 and it's absolutely fantastic. Really fast and the pen is a nice addition. Much better specced than the S6 lite but a higher price tag.

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CAcreeks
OP CAcreeks Forum Pro • Posts: 18,924
Re: New crop of Android tablets
1

markyboy81 wrote:

CAcreeks wrote:

I don't like Samsung bloatware, but there's no doubt the Tab S7 (non Lite) has the best specs, and highest price, among Android tablets. It's not new, so I didn't list it.

My Samsung 10.1" WQXGA from early 2013 has been delaminating for a year or more. I have glued it three times now. Not happy.

The S7 is quite new isn't it? At least it's newer than the S6 lite.

Yes, I must have meant the Tab S6 was not new, or the S7 wasn't available, or something.

Tab S7 and S7+ were introduced in August 2020. Current price $629 to $930, yikes!

Vunite Contributing Member • Posts: 713
Re: New crop of Android tablets

CAcreeks wrote:

markyboy81 wrote:

CAcreeks wrote:

I don't like Samsung bloatware, but there's no doubt the Tab S7 (non Lite) has the best specs, and highest price, among Android tablets. It's not new, so I didn't list it.

My Samsung 10.1" WQXGA from early 2013 has been delaminating for a year or more. I have glued it three times now. Not happy.

The S7 is quite new isn't it? At least it's newer than the S6 lite.

Yes, I must have meant the Tab S6 was not new, or the S7 wasn't available, or something.

Tab S7 and S7+ were introduced in August 2020. Current price $629 to $930, yikes!

Which is why I got the S7 ... didn't really need the features of the bigger one, all I wanted is a zippy tablet, and the S7's Qualcomm 865 is neat .. no real lag etc, feels nice to use in what I do.

doak Regular Member • Posts: 244
Re: New crop of Android tablets
1

Fyi, Samsung is heavily discounting the S6 right now and the keyboard case if purchased as a bundle is $45.

BestBuy is discounting the S6 even more than Samsung but no keyboard bundle deal.  Plus BestBuy sells open box units for even less & still with the Samsung warranty. For example a satisfactory open box S6 10.5 WiFi (includes all accessories, no box or documentation) was $303.

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(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,057
Re: New crop of Android tablets
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I am going to wait for the forthcoming Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, due this month. With an 11.5 inch screen and starting at $500, it sounds like the perefct in-between device to replace my 10.5 inch Samsung S6 Lite (a bit small) and 12.9 inch iPad Pro (a bit heavy and annoying Apple features).

https://www.androidauthority.com/lenovo-tab-p11-pro-1152757/

The case, pen and keyboard are a reasonable price too. I don't recall how much. Just crossing fingers that it is good enough. Sounds like it should be with 4 JBL speakers and an OLED screen.

It seems to be the only big screen Android alternative to the S7 Pro which is well over $1k. I have no idea about processors and whatnot. As long as it benchmarks better than the S6 Lite then it should be good enough for Lightroom, which I love using with a pen on a tablet.

CAcreeks
OP CAcreeks Forum Pro • Posts: 18,924
Re: New crop of Android tablets

Thanks, $499 seems a good price for this. Good to have it on the market in case my wife's Samsung Note 11 dies.

Street_Photography wrote:

I am going to wait for the forthcoming Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, due this month. With an 11.5 inch screen and starting at $500, it sounds like the perefct in-between device ...

https://www.androidauthority.com/lenovo-tab-p11-pro-1152757/

(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,057
Re: New crop of Android tablets

CAcreeks wrote:

Thanks, $499 seems a good price for this. Good to have it on the market in case my wife's Samsung Note 11 dies.

Street_Photography wrote:

I am going to wait for the forthcoming Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, due this month. With an 11.5 inch screen and starting at $500, it sounds like the perefct in-between device ...

https://www.androidauthority.com/lenovo-tab-p11-pro-1152757/

Actually, it might be noticeably less powerful. I just watched a Marques Brownlee review of the Pixel 4a, which has the same processor and he said the performance was noticeably worse than other devices. It's sounds like the only bad thing with the phone. So will have to wait and see what reviews say. It is under half the price of the bigger S7 Pro, so it obviously needs to compromise somewhere. Fingers crossed the RAM or something can make it fast and smooth enough to at least beat the S6 Lite.

Edit: a quick comparison says the Lenovo is mid-range but will probably run better than the Tab S6 Lite, and it's processor is optimized for gaming, which I don't do, but I assume that means it will also perform better for Lightroom. The S6 Lite seemed underpowered at first and Android Lightroom isn't as good as iOS for exporting images, but I think the Lenovo is back in contention for replacing my 2 tablets. Should make a good Xmas gift if they get around to releasing it soon. https://nanoreview.net/en/soc-compare/samsung-exynos-9611-vs-qualcomm-snapdragon-730g

Robert Zanatta Senior Member • Posts: 2,630
Re: New crop of Android tablets

The Tab S7 has a much more powerful processor than the Tab S6 Lite.

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mangurian Senior Member • Posts: 1,187
Re: New crop of Android tablets
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Traded in my 8" for the latest 10.1" Amazon without ads.  I bought it on a sale day.

Installed Playstore with no problems.

Using Canon Camera Connect for large previews before I shoot.

So, I now have two of these.  Last year's and a slightly faster 2020.

I like to use a stylus and I bought some extras for $1.99 on eBay to leave around the house.

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