Good quality android tablets?

[danny_galaga]

So obviously a Samsung galaxy would be a good quality android tablet. But are there any others you have had experience with that are just as reliable? How long have you used it? Needs to be a Sim card type and gdl 90 wi fi protocol, although I imagine that just means  anything modern.

[RandyT]

I've dealt with quite a number of Android tablets over the years.  Out of all of them, I had one which ended up being a bit flakey over time and one with a weak USB connector, but I still managed to resurrect them.  So, reliability doesn't really seem to be a huge concern. 

What is a big concern is updates.  Over time, many apps, especially media service related (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, etc...), just stopped working after a couple of OS version updates.  And anything basic which didn't work well out of the box, never received any updates to fix those issues, leaving it in my hands to apply 3rd party firmwares and the like.  The only one I have owned which didn't have these issues was a Samsung.

So, the short of it is, unless you like rooting, hacking and tinkering, stick with something like Samsung or some other big name with a track record of releasing timely OS updates for their devices.  They cost more, but they are reliable, and an up-to-date device can mean the difference between having a secure and functional device over the long term and having something that sort of works and goes obsolete far before the actual hardware gives up the fight.

Just to provide an example, my daily driver cell phone is a Galaxy S10, which is fairly dated.  But it has never been anything but perfect and still receives very regular and timely updates.

[nitrogen_widget]

I like my late generation fire HD 10 tablet.
cheap and even plays Baldor's gate.
I also picked up a stylus and can run a few 3d design apps on it which surprised me.

it isn't a galaxy though.
only has 3gb of ram vs 6 or 8 of the s10?

[BadMouth]

No idea about the new models, but I bought a $170 Lenovo Yoga fall of 2017 and it still works great after 5.25 years  The only reason I bought the brand was because it had bigger speakers than most tablets.  It lives on the kitchen counter and is used to watch video and store recipe books.  The only other tablets I've had were bargain ones that became too slow to be useable after a year or two.

No idea how it would perform for games and such or how up to date/secure the OS is.  It really depends on what you plan to use it for.

EDIT: I looked at the system info on the tablet.  It's still on Android 6.  Last security patch level is Sept 1, 2018 which is 13 months after I bought it.
So...not much in the way of continued support. 

[pbj]

iPad > *

Stop being cheap.

[danny_galaga]

iPad > *

Stop being cheap.

😄

[danny_galaga]

No idea about the new models, but I bought a $170 Lenovo Yoga fall of 2017 and it still works great after 5.25 years  The only reason I bought the brand was because it had bigger speakers than most tablets.  It lives on the kitchen counter and is used to watch video and store recipe books.  The only other tablets I've had were bargain ones that became too slow to be useable after a year or two.

No idea how it would perform for games and such or how up to date/secure the OS is.  It really depends on what you plan to use it for.

EDIT: I looked at the system info on the tablet.  It's still on Android 6.  Last security patch level is Sept 1, 2018 which is 13 months after I bought it.
So...not much in the way of continued support.

Yeah I've been hearing good things about Lenovo. So that's where I'm probably headed.

Sorry pbj, I just can't help but be cheap 😃

[RandyT]

Stop being cheap.

Ok, who's using PBJ's account?