How to Pick the Best Tablet: Key Criteria

A tablet is a kind of compromise between a laptop and a phone, which allows you to comfortably perform common tasks. The lightweight and flat gadget allows you to connect to the Internet anywhere, watch movies, read books, enjoy time playing at a Bet20 login website, work with simple office apps, and email.

But choosing a tablet is getting harder and harder. There are many models that cost from $100 to $1,500 and more. And in terms of functionality, the budget and expensive PCs can be similar. How can we make sure that the tablet is suitable for the task at hand, without overpaying for unnecessary options or a loud name of the manufacturer?

How to Choose the Right Screen Size

A large display is the first advantage of the tablet over a smartphone. Diagonals are specially designed for comfortable work with images and texts. Looking through the same pages in social networks on 7-8 inches is much more comfortable than on the standard smartphone 5,5-6 inches. But phones are growing in size every year. Therefore, if there is already a large gadget, it is better to choose a tablet at least 2-3 inches larger.

Tablets by size are divided into several groups:

• 7 inches. This is the smallest and often the cheapest tablet. They are suitable for use with one hand because of the compactness and small weight. Models become a versatile alternative to Kindle ebooks if the goal is to get a device that can entertain reading and watching YouTube videos.
• 8 inches. Still compact and ergonomic tablets for on-the-go use, especially on public transportation. Models are slightly heavier than 7-inch, but the comfort of use is noticeably higher.
• 9-11 inch. The most popular sizes, coupled with excellent performance and affordable cost. Popularity is added by the fact that 10-inch devices are unique in their own way – more smartphones, but less than laptops.
• Over 11 inches. These are large tablets for work. Often equipped with a keyboard and stylus. Performance models are not inferior to standard laptops. But users have to put up with a fairly large weight.

The Screen Matrix

AMOLED or Super AMOLED

High contrast, rich colors, good visibility of the picture, even in the sun – the pluses of tablets with amoled screen. All this is provided by organic light-emitting diodes. They allowed not only to improve image quality, but also to significantly reduce energy consumption, as well as to reduce the thickness of the body due to the miniature size.

However, this option has disadvantages. The cost of AMOLED tablets is higher than analogue with LCD-crystals. Economy class models use cheap LEDs, which over time simply burn out. On the screen appears the characteristic backlit.

IPS or PLS

The standard technology, which is used in tablets of the average price segment. The screen is based on liquid crystals. The advantages of displays: realistic colors, no flicker, good viewing angle.

But remember about the cons: low contrast (in comparison with AMOLED), black color looks dark gray, high power consumption due to the need for constant backlighting.

TN or TFT

Obsolete liquid crystal technology is used only for the assembly of the cheapest models. It has more cons than pros, especially on the background of the new IPS and AMOLED.

The disadvantages are high power consumption, grainy pictures, and distorted colors. Therefore, it’s better not to consider TFT tablets for purchase, if the requirements for the picture and battery life are high.

How to Choose a Processor

Users take the technical specifications of a tablet’s motherboard for granted. Because unlike a traditional computer motherboard, a single-chip SoC system is installed here. This is a single chip, which combines the graphics processor, memory, communication modules and other critical units. What to consider here:

• Process size. Specified in nanometers. The smaller, the better. Mid-priced tablets use chips with a process technology of 16-12 nm. In budget models – 20-28 nm. Flagship devices are produced with chips of 7-10 nm.
• Cores. The greater their number, the more flexible and faster the tablet processes information. But here everything depends on the clock frequency of the processor. So, optimized 6-core chips are more efficient than 8-core.
• Clock frequency. It determines the performance of cores. But a high figure will inevitably affect the power consumption. That is, there should be a powerful battery.
• The manufacturer. The industry leaders are Qualcomm for Android tablets, Intel (Core, Atom) for Windows. As well as branded chips from Samsung (Exynos), Huawei (Kirin), Apple (A10, A12, A13 Bionic).

RAM and Internal Memory

One of the key indicators of the tablet’s performance is the amount of RAM. It’s responsible for the rapid response of the device and the number of simultaneously running programs. For surfing the net, playing in optimized apps, reading books and other typical entertainment is enough 4-8 GB. There are cheap devices with OC of only 1 GB. The performance of the gadget will be appropriate.

Built-in memory is used to store applications, documents, photos and work files. It’s also needed to install the OS. Despite the important functions, the indicator isn’t as significant as the amount of RAM. It’s possible to expand resources through external storage, including cloud storage. That is, 16-32 GB of memory can easily be turned into 128 or 512 GB. There are models with more built-in memory (64, 128, 256 GB). This solves all problems with the lack of free space.