I have not had the use for a tablet as my laptop was with me nearly everywhere. Now I am cycling I have room in my backpack for a 10" tablet to do surfing, write e-mails, DS forums...

But the info out there is confusing. I narrowed it down to the Nexus 10 and the Samsung 10.1 but then my mind lost direction and information overload occurred. Too many reviews, too many forums.

So what is the verdict? Is one better than the other or perhaps neither? A little guidance will help me a great deal.

Thanks.

Nexus 10 has much higher resolution and 'pure' Android.

in fact, going off this, Nexus 10 has the edge in most areas:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/47...comparison.htm

The Nexus 10 does have it's downsides such as the lack of microsd but otherwise it's quite unbeatable. Do bear in mind that the Toshiba Excite Pro is out next week with the same res screen and Tegra 4 chipset.

Thanks. I did see the Toshiba mentioned - is the Tegra 4 an important aspect (worth waiting for)?

I think quite a few people are in my situation - not sure where to spend my funds for the best.

Same here though I'm still considering sizes as well!

If the S-pen is important and multitasking (multi-window) then the Note 10.1 has the advantage.

Maybe as you will need a tablet on the go for emails and browsing etc you should buy a tablet with 3g/cellular access.
Right now I would say a good tablet would be the Nexus 7 (with 3g). There are rumours that a new version of this tablet will be out soon, possibly even this month.
If you do need a 10 inch tablet o am sure you can get a cellular Samsung tablet for around £400.

Thanks. Its only now that I realise that the Nexus 10 is not able to reach e-mails or browse the internet while away from home. Why was that feature omitted? Could it be connected to a mobile phone with a wire and use the internet via that?

Or you could tether your mobile to the tablet over wifi.

Thanks. Is that what people with Nexus tablets usually do? How far away would it work - could I leave the mobile phone indoors and use the tablet outside?

If you're going to tether your phone to a tablet, you need to make sure that your phone service provider allows tethering on your current tariff. The majority of tariffs don't include it.

Can I ask why you have discounted an iPad?

In that case how do people use tablets when on the move? If it cannot connect to anything then it will just be a useless gadget to be left at home. I have a few of those...


I was recommended against it by an IT guy. He said use Android devices.

Nook HD+ is on sale at Nook for a hundred and fifty quid. Not sure WHY you'd want to spend 400 quid on a tablet, unless it WAS for a iPad.

If your in the Amazon Eco System how about a Kindle HD £159 susposed to be a good bit of kit, plus you get Amazon to back it.

Google probably left it out to keep costs down as all the features it does have are top of the line.
I really love my Nexus 10 but would have got a cellular version if it were available. However I am near wifi 70% of the time and don't need a tablet on the go like you seem like you would. Other times I use my phone if I need the Internet. It's one of the things you need to consider.

You can tether any wifi tablet to a smartphone (contract terms permitting) but the devices need to be close by to each other.

Like I said if you are only using it for general browsing and games etc you may want to consider a 7 inch tablet such as the Nexus 7 or the iPad mini, both of which have cellular options (obviously more expensive than the wifi only editions).

Oh and the reason why I went with the Nexus 10 is because I need to read a lot of PDF reports and the screen is amazing.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

The problem listening to IT guys is they sometimes forget, we're not all IT guys.

People with wifi only tablets connect to free wifi when out and about, or if you have a wifi + 3G tablet, like my iPad, then you can use wifi when it's available, and the 3G connection when it's not.

If your main use is when you're out and about and you can't rely on wifi being available at a cafe or stop point, or if you want to be able to sit down wherever you stop and do email and browsing, then that narrows your choice of device to one which has 3G.

The company I work for is about to deploy tablets to all of our sales staff for use out of the office, and they've chosen wifi+3g iPads. I think, for the use you describe, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't consider an iPad, although the wifi+3g models may be higher priced than you're looking for - both the iPad and Samsung Note 10.1 wifi + 3g models have an RRP of £499.

You might be able to get the Note for less if you shop around though. The iPads don't usually get discounted.

Hope this helps.

I have both an ipad and an ipad mini. If you are travelling then I would recommend the ipad mini as it is much lighter. Get the one with 3g.

As for your IT guy you need to remember that they are human beings as well and have their own inbuilt prejudices and dislikes about certain items of technology. So you need to take their advice with a pinch of salt!

Try each of them out for yourself in a shop and decide on how you feel about them rather than asking other people's opinions who may not have the same priorities as you do.

Should add: I am not an apple fanboy. Both of my phones are android but I can only speak from my experience of them both. Secondly, the screen on the ipad is far superior to the ipad mini if that is a factor which is important to you.

Thanks for the help. The reason I was looking to spend a fair bit is to make sure I get something that will not be struggling in a year or two (better internals). As to WiFi I have not looked deeply into where it is available. I think you have to have passwords and pay some third party to use it in towns and the one time I did pay to use my laptop on a bench in a London park it was a very high cost for only 30 minutes then I was cut off. I am a photographer and was hoping to take my tablet out and about and use it to sometimes show my online content. That the phone can't be used in conjunction sounds like an excuse from 10 years ago.

I hope to make the right choice but choosing is not a pleasant experience - and it should be.

The bit about the phone is unfortunately still true. Whilst you CAN tether a tablet to your phone signal in theory, it's now possible for phone providers to detect tethering and block it. With mobile speeds getting faster and faster, there are now some people who use their mobile service in place of home broadband, and phone providers try to discourage that.

I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but it is the case, and I simply want to provide you with information so you can make an informed decision.

As someone said above, IT people have their own biases, and though you've been told to choose Android, I think in this instance, that's no guarantee of getting the right thing that YOU need.

From what you've described, especially for displaying photos a 10 (ish) inch screen is optimal. A tablet with a 3G connection is what will serve you best as you don't want to be reliant on wifi, and that cuts down your choices to only 1 or 2 devices.

At that point, I'd head along to your nearest John Lewis, as they seem to stock both the iPad and the Samsung Note, and have a play. That will enable you to try out both operating systems and allow you to decide which you like best.

If this is your use case, I strongly recommend an iPad (3 or 4, full 10"). This is due to the display: not only is it high resolution but it is also going to have good colour gamut and accuracy. The Nexus 10 can beat in resolution but not so sure it's great in the other areas.

Get the capacity you can afford. Get a WiFi iPad and get the One Plan on Three for your mobile phone which allows for unlimited data and tethering (only £15 a month) which you can use to supply internet to your iPad when out and about.

That was my thought too .

Thanks for the guidance - it is appreciated, I will look in John Lewis on Saturday and try the I Pad. I have never even held a tablet so it will be interesting.

I have the Note 10.1 and it's brilliant. Screen is great quality and I can display photos in decent quality..

I have tethered it to my S3 with little problem - I have unlimited internet with 3 and I've never seen anything from them suggesting that I can't use the mobile signal to tether the tablet to it!