Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I'm getting an allowance in my 2nd job for a Tablet of around £140. I can go over that amount which I'd have to pay the remainder of which I'd rather not do so if I can keep it around that price or less I'll be happy.

It would need to be a decent device, obviously I'm not going to get a very large screen or massive spec etc and I've been looking at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 but some reviews seem to say it's a bit underwhelming. If that's about what I can expect for the budget available then all well and good, I'll get one of those but was wondering if anyone can recommend an alternative if better. I already have my Kindle Fire HD but that's a little heavy and I'd prefer to keep that just for personal use.

Money is pretty tight so again, I don't want to go over the allowance....

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Nexus 7 2013 would probably be your best bet.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I was thinking that - do you mean the 32GB version? That seems to be on eBay for £107.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I was thinking more the 16GB version as you'd be hard pushed to find the 32GB near your budget unless second hand/refurbished. Bear in mind there are 2012 and 2013 versions with the 2013 being significantly better.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

The budget is really only for brand new models but I might be able to wing a refurbished one if it has a guarantee and Argos have refurb 32GB models on ebay for £107 p&p included.

---------- Post added at 08:08 ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 ----------

edit: it's £107 for another hour then back up to £119. Still looks like a good deal to me either way.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I got my son a refurb one for Christmas and he's had no problems with it.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

small tablet go for nexus 7, large, go for nexus 10. I have both, and they are excellent, there's a lot of el crappo tablets out there, and it's hard to sort through all the dross. those two are sound though.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Another vote for the Nexus 7 from me.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

The Argos ones appear to be 1st gen you want 2nd gen

1st gen has 1 gig ram 2nd gen has 2 gig this makes a huge difference

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Pretty much all tablets in that price range (hell, even phones) are pretty underwhelming. The Nexus is pretty much the best value device there and one of the few that break the trend of putting bottom end components in anything below £400

---------- Post added at 11:19 ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 ----------

I disagree. I'd say the difference between 1GB and 2GB RAM on the same Android device makes little difference if any at all.

That said the second gen Nexus 7 is far superior to the 1st gen irrelevant of the RAM. It has double the screen resolution, better wifi, better CPU, better bluetooth, better camera, etc. etc.

The difference between a 720p vs 1080p screen, and 1.2mp camera vs 5mp camera + 1.2mp secondary is going to be far greater than an extra GB of RAM.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

any tab running a few apps and Android above will slow down a lot if it only has 1 gig of ram. Even with all the clean ups and whatever 1 gig is just not enough. The Nexus is the only good cheap one with 2 gig the 8 inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 has 1.5 gig apparently

---------- Post added at 11:24 ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 ----------

I totally disagree with your disagreement.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Another Nexus 7 here and you can still read your kindle books if you get the app.Also Google have a ebook app.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Absolutely not. Amount of RAM has absolutely nothing to do with execution speed.

Running "a few apps" does not consume more RAM. The majority of Android apps use no memory when in the background and only one is ever in the foreground (unless you're using multi-window or PIP).

The Android OS itself barely takes 300-400MB even with bloated Touchwiz on top so a clean, vanilla edition like on the Nexus would use even less. And I can't think of a single app that uses more than 100MB of RAM, even Chrome with 15 tabs open is using less than 50MB.

Android KitKat is specifically designed to run happily on 512MB of RAM.

And perhaps you're forgetting the Galaxy S3. Best selling Android device of its time with broadly similar specs to the Nexus 7 (1.4Ghz quad, 720p display, etc.) and 1GB of RAM. If 1GB made things so terribly slow how come there was no huge outcry from Galaxy S3 owners especially given it has Samsung's memory hungry Touchwiz bloatware on top? How was it easily one of the fastest Android devices of its day?

The only time Android will be affected by too little RAM is if a single application needs more than all the free RAM in the system. Which means a single app using over 700MB on a 1GB device. At which point it will still make no difference to speed, it'll just crash that app and get on with everything else.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I was leaning towards the Nexus 7 until I just read that about it being like the S3, perhaps the worst phone I've ever owned with so much lag and sluggishness and it wasn't much better when I put Cyanogenmod on it. Still if it's only for work I might just go along with it and I'll be under my budget.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

What are you on about Russ, N7 is nothing like the S3, for starters it's pure Android - no bloat ware like Touchwhiz, which is arguably the biggest flaw in the S3.

Still it's your time & money.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I was referring to the post two above the one you're responding to.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Sounds like there was an issue with your actual phone as the S3 is far from sluggish even with Samsungs Touchwiz and bloat. I know a ton of people with an S3 (myself included) and they are impressed by it's speed, even though it's getting on a bit.

Ritalin 5mg is a smaller tablet.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Well again depends if you get the first gen or second gen. The first gen is like the S3 (spec wise), the 2nd gen is closer to the S4.

That said, as above, there's big differences in the OS and some people say Android without custom-skinning (e.g. Touchwiz) is a lot faster.

But as I mentioned above, most other tablets in this price range are far worse. Most other tablets perform more like the Galaxy S1 than the S3. And probably have an even worse screen. The Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 you mentioned for example, has a CPU equivalent to an S2, and less than 1/3rd the screen resolution as the 2nd gen N7.

---------- Post added at 19:12 ---------- Previous post was at 19:08 ----------

Say what?

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

And about as equally useful to me as an S3-spec Tablet

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

You need to ignore the comparisons to phones and focus on the fact that the 2013 Nexus 7 is the best specced tablet you are going to get with the budget you stated.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Asda have the Galaxy Tab 3 (8" screen) for £139 on offer.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I'm a bit confused with this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Asus-Googl...ba16a#shpCntId

It says it's a 1st gen Nexus 7 but I'm sure that didn't come with a rear camera but that listing says it has one, anyone know for sure?

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

It's 1st gen, look at the rest of the specs.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I thought as much but the features say:

It's no big problem, was just wondering. If my allowance will cover a refurb then this will be the one I think.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

I saw that but it's just a mistake, the rest of the specs like 1280x800 screen instead of 1080p, 1GB RAM instead of 2GB etc show that it's just the old one.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

The 2nd gen has the rear camera and a black outer bezel, the 1st gen has no rear camera and a silver bezel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNrjOgNp7ZM

---------- Post added at 09:15 ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 ----------

I was looking at that in my local Asda yesterday... It's been on sale there before at £129.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

these look ok and have 3G too - http://www.tesco.com/direct/hp-slate...FUn4wgod3QEAYQ

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

Tablets are a real minefield, whist the price is ok... the tablet doesn't do so well in the reviews.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...1242425/review

I'd pass. Buy cheap, get cheap (to a point)

Actually owning both the 2013 N7 & Samsung N10 I can't say I've got buyers remorse from either of them. Granted I got an amazing deal on the N10 (which I'm fairly certain was a cock up by Dabs) I still think it would be worth the full asking price to be honest.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

N7 2013 by far the best 7" on the market bar none. Tab 3 is ok but suffers from sluggish moments. N10 if you can find a refurb at your price point would be very good but as you probably won't then gen 2 N7 would be the best buy.
The 1gb/2gb argument is very relevant, it does make a difference.
Screen res, cores and system ram are all as important as each other.
Have had, still run both N7's, N10 and tab 3, 7 & 8" along with an S4 and a note 3.
Fav by far is N10.

Re: Smaller Tablet suggestions?
 

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptop...xmxaa&istBid=t
Not sure what the other have, but seems cheap for something powered by a Tegra 4