Thinking of getting a tablet. Possibly a Samsung lower price range up to £200 for my first tablet experience.

However I know very little about them. I understand they can be use as a phone if required. Does that mean they can be uses a pay as you go service. Do they have to have a sim card purchased separately or is one built in.

I use sky as my isp can my own isp and email address be used on a tablet or do I have to sign up to google email. I do also have a gmail address set up on my lap top. so I assume this address could be used on a tablet.

Internet browsing on a tablet. is it as versatile as a laptop.!

Can data from a flash drive be transferred onto a tablet with a micro usb port or does transfer have to be done by connecting directly to a lap top.

By now you will have gathered the level of my ignorance about potable devises any help would be appreciated.

Not all tablets can be used as a phone only some.
If it's called a phablet then yes it can be used as a phone as well and will take a 3G sim.
Other tablets are wifi only or wifi/3G meaning the tablet can also be used with a 3G data sim. That will let you use the tablet when you don't have wifi.
You will need a Goolge email if you want to use Google play App Store.

Darren

I understand they can be use as a phone if required.
Only cellular/3G/4G models

Does that mean they can be uses a pay as you go service.
If cellular, yes.

Do they have to have a sim card purchased separately or is one built in.
If cellular, separately.

I use sky as my isp can my own isp and email address be used on a tablet or do I have to sign up to google email.
You can use any email.

I do also have a gmail address set up on my lap top. so I assume this address could be used on a tablet.
Yes.

Internet browsing on a tablet. is it as versatile as a laptop.
I'd say better than an laptop

Can data from a flash drive be transferred onto a tablet with a micro usb port or does transfer have to be done by connecting directly to a lap top.
I don't know; I think you can connect directly.

Yes you can copy data from a flash drive to a tablet. You may need an OTG cable (<£5 on amazon) to connect usb stick to micro usb port.

Also, to make life easier to copy stuff, install ES File Explorer on tablet (free from google playstore).

TBH, I usually use google drive or dropbox ie copy stuff to cloud, and download to tablet as saves messing with cables etc.

Another option is to copy files to a micro SD card. Many pcs have an sd card slot and you can put micro sd card in an adaptor, or you can use a sd to usb adaptor as well.

Thanks guys for your detailed helpful replies. I have in mind a Samsung Galaxy tab a 9.7 tablet £169.

It seems to have a phone capability. I say seem as I had to dig deep through different specs on different sites before I found phone specs.

From a site called Phone arena.com American I think. it had phone specs and an official manual to download. However as I don't know the site I would not download anything just in case

In the specs it refers to google talk as the phone capability. Does anyone know if this is a pay as you go service !

Pay as you go seems to come in two types one simply pay when you need and the other pay as you go but with a time limit as to how long the payment lasts before losing any unused credit. I don't know what google talk is ! contract or a type of pay as you go!

I think Google Talk was a messaging and video messaging service that's now slow merged in to Google Hangouts.

Darren

If you want to make just make phone calls, and have access to wifi, you can install skype on a tablet without a sim. You can get virtually unlimited calls to landlines anywhere in europe for approx £5 per month and free to any mobile phone with skype.

If you want to make calls without wifi though, you need a sim.

Also bear in mind using a mobile sim to download data can be expensive especially for pay and go sims.

If you want just to make phone calls, and have access to wifi, you can install skype on a tablet without a sim. You can get virtually unlimited calls to landlines anywhere in europe for approx £5 per month and free to any mobile phone with skype.

If you want to make calls without wifi though, you need a sim.

Also bear in mind using a mobile sim to download data can be expensive especially for pay and go sims.

Thanks for the info on Skype. Really speaking I was only considering phone call capability in a tablet as a backup to my basic mobile phone in case of unexpected failure.

I have a bit of a mobile phone phobia that's why I only have one. Give me a computer to play with and that's fine. Mobile phones however I hate them.

So I think my best and cheapest option for phone backup is to get another cheap basic phone and concentrate on a tablet being a tablet......

P.S. what sort of security software is required for tablets! On my laptop I have Mcafee from sky free for a year and am allowed Mcafee on two more devices.

Do tablets need the same full Mcafee software suit or are virus protection for tablets requiring a different version than that used on a computer.

What OS do you have on your PC? If you have Windows why not get a Windows tablet, that way everything will be familiar. A Linx 1010 runs Windows 10 that is identical to Windows 10 on a PC and you can install any programs you have on your PC as well. If you sign in with your MS account from your PC (assuming you have a PC) it will set the tablet up the same as your PC, from wallpaper to settings and let you access all your documents that are in your OneDrive, so from your tablet you just open the folder and click on the file and it's there, subject to wifi connection of course. Means you haven't got to learn a whole new OS, new programs etc. I love Android on my phone but it's file management is really lacking.

It has two full size USB ports if you want to transfer files with a USB stick, plug in a full size keyboard or external hard drive, printer etc, again just as you would on your PC.

Screen is great, battery life is great, speakers are a bit weak. They're great at home but in a noisy environment they're not that loud. That Amazon bundle includes the keyboard. It's very good for typing but I leave mine on the shelf. I'll take it on holiday but for day to day use I never need it.

Windows 10 has two modes, desktop and tablet. Desktop is exactly the same as a PC. Tablet is easier to use with fingers. The tiles are bigger, apps and programs run full screen or can be snapped to half screen, and resized etc. Easier to use when on the sofa or the train. However I find desktop mode fine and leave it there all the time.

Antivirus I just use Windows Defender and have never had a problem. With Windows 10 it is either great or terrible that updates are automatic, so you'll always have the latest antivirus software.

No phone function though, though it does come with Skype installed.

Thanks. I have windows 8.1 laptop. No intention of upgrading to windows 10 (until I have to) because I hate the idea of auto updates that cannot be rejected.

I have had bad experiences from Microsoft so called security updates. Computer wreckers is my opinion of them. When I had the good old XP OS for 9 years I turned off the updates after the first year for repeated killing of my printer to print. Reinstalling printer drivers would not correct the issues. Had use restore function to undo the damage windows updates do.

8 years without updates and not a single problem encountered. Its only because xp is no longer supported that I eventually got a laptop with windows 8.1. Didn't like it at first but its grown on me now.

I had XP for years until MS offered 8 for £25 and i upgraded, and then installed Classic Shell to bring back the Start button and menu. I upgraded to 10 and am very happy with it. it works with my six year old HP laser printer perfectly and cant think of any problems I've had. It just works great.

But W8.1 was very good on a tablet, the things i hated on my PC and installed Classic Shell to fix worked great on a tablet. All the swipe gestures etc are ver fase and easy to use on a tablet.
Have a look at the Linx 10 which shipped with 8.1, there are plenty available still, new and refurbished. it's very similar to the 1010 but it only has a micro USB port. All my points about having the exact same OS you are used to are just as relevant. I only bought the 1010 because someone stepped on the old one.

The Viber app is also good for messaging and making calls over Wi-Fi but I think you need to know others that also have the app.

Darren

I expect at gsmarena, if the tablet shows as having GSM then it is a phone too.

There is now at least one Sim enabled Samsung tablet tha thas no GSM. A change of only recent?

I have query about ipads. I read somewhere that ipads don't have flash player capability. If so doe that mean you can't watch yutube or does youtube not use flash player?

YouTube doesn't use Flash anymore, nor do many websites these days.

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...tube-nostalgia

The Android OS has not supported flash player since 5.1.1 and as far as I know IPad/IPhone have not supported flash for a good few years now.

Darren

You can sideload flash on android devices but there really is little point as most sites have moved to HTML5.

Even side loading does not always work on later versions anymore.

However there are browsers like FlashFox which have flash builtin to the browser which work.

I don't think iOS has ever supported flash. Steve Jobs was very against it and refuses to bring flash support to the iPhone.

The information about Android devices versus ipad and flash player came from the know how site of curry's.

In which they say ipad no flash player and Android software has flash player. As another poster indicates it looks like Android devises used to have flash but perhaps now no longer do in the latest upgrades.

You mean the Know Nowt site of Currys You would get a better explanation of the finer points of Quantum mechanics from your pet cat than technical knowledge from the muppets at Currys.

My cat is far more intelligent than that. He understands human females (completely wraps then round his metaphoric finger).

Mind you it is hard sometimes to tell if he is alive or not when he is in that damned box!

Re. Currys, totally agree. Very few selling websites are even remotely accurate.

OP - don't worry about flash on android, hardly used these days and as I said earlier you can use flashfox or similar.

On the subject of flash and movie playback on Apple iPads. I was worried the same before I bought one as everyone told me something different. As it turns out, there's a free YouTube app on the Apple Store which works just fine. BBC I player also seems to work (using the safari built in Apple browser to view it).

On the more modern Apple iPads, Apple uses a very slim, compact connection, called Lightning. This is not directly compatible with other connections such as USB or HDMI. The iPads come with a lightning to USB cord and a detachable mains charger that fits the USB end. You can also get lightning-HDMI adaptors, but the cheapest seems to be around £32 via Amazon (new price). Such devices are always at risk of being made obsolete due to changes introduced in Apple iOS updates. For me, I wish Apple used USB&hdmi.

The thing with smart phones or indeed, tablets is to think of them as small computers. A smart phone is actually a PC that happens to let you make phone calls via some software. To that regard, be it iOS, android, or Microsoft, all will be subject to frequent software updates. Extra apps that you add will also be likely be subject to frequent updates (eg, things like google maps, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter).
Ahh, should mention Google have a good software pack of apps for iOS, so no need to be isolated from Google or feel forced into usin the inferior Apple maps app!

On a broader note, most important above all else (even cost) is how good the touch screen is. If it's rubbish, typing a post this long will become very unreliable and very anoying. I have had one like that before, and it was almost unfit for purpose....it was difficult to even unlock the phone to pick up an incoming call. I went back to the shop about this, and they said it was "normal". The Apple seems a vast improvement, but not as good as a proper keyboard. Doesn't work well if your fingers are cold. Microsoft have surface which has clip on keyboards which sounds very appealing to me, esp now with Windows 10 powering it. While my iPad is good, on some web sites the PC I have works faster, and in some cases by quite a bit (and it's a 4 year old PC). In terms of doing the big stuff, such as a film playback from the Internet, I would take my PC hooked up to my tv with wireless keyboard/trackpad for the best full on experience.

1 technical barrier I faced on getting my first smart phone was that it wouldn't work with my existing broadband wifi router, even tho it worked with my PC of that era. The router I have now is much newer and works just fine with everything. I never found out the technical reason why the old router didn't work, the smart phone I bought was supposed to be compatible with the same standards. Even turning off security and passwords on the router didn't solve it (couldn't even log on as a guest).

Just my humble opinion, but if you want a phone, buy a phone. If you want a pocket PC, buy a smart phone. My basic push button phone goes a week on a full charge (no need to charge every night) and IMO is "faster" and more reliable at being just a phone (proper keys always work first time). It also doesn't matter too much if it gets scratched or dented, or even lost.