The iPad Pro has long been my go-to tablet, so what would happen when I left it for the Google Pixel Tablet? It changed my opinion about Android tablets.
What’s wrong with Google’s apps on tablets? Those are the ones that actually seem to work.
My banks app and my government ID app pretend my tablet is a huge phone. Chrome makes use of the extra space for a tab bar (Firefox just makes the address bar a bit wider). Photos, Youtube, Gmail have dedicated tablet UIs. I guess the Find My Phone app needs an overhaul, that clearly hasn’t been touched since Android 6.
I may be conflating foldables with tablets which might not be fair. Most of my experience was that of poorly scaled first party apps and tons of wasted space. Looks like they fixed chrome though. Still, reading articles from late 2022 about Google finally getting their act together is saying a lot for a ten year old product.
Android had fine tablet support for a while, but iOS took over the tablet market and Google stopped caring. There was a five or six year gap, but Google has caught up a year or two ago (with all the apps I regularly use at least).
How about the pricing? Last I checked an equivalently priced Samsung tablet was pretty poor compared to the entry iPad. Apple may be subsidizing it with their pro models though.
I bought a Galaxy S7 FE last year and I use it every day. I considered an iPad but that was more expensive (especially with Apple’s €150 stylus) and had less features so I skipped it. Waited a month for a €50 discount because I noticed several stores discounting it every few weeks.
It lacks the RAM of the non-FE version and the SoC is slightly slower, but it works fine for a Firefox window + a Youtube video + a Gmail window so I can’t really complain. The lack of a fingerprint scanner is a tad annoying but entering a PIN every now and then isn’t all that terrible.
By now I would expect the S8 FE to be available for a similar price with better specs than my tablet. If you’re looking for a tablet and have a store with a display model nearby, I really recommend giving it a try. I’m sure some people will prefer the iPad, but I’m not missing out.
Not sure what it typically goes for but from Samsung directly it’s $429 compared to the cheapest iPad which is $329. I’m not sure they are in a comparable class.
They were the same price here at the time, I haven’t looked into tablet prices for ages. Could also be a because of price differences, American companies like to charge more in Europe than Asian companies for weird reasons (the Pixel Tab is ridiculously expensive over here compared to the iPad, for example).
What’s wrong with Google’s apps on tablets? Those are the ones that actually seem to work.
My banks app and my government ID app pretend my tablet is a huge phone. Chrome makes use of the extra space for a tab bar (Firefox just makes the address bar a bit wider). Photos, Youtube, Gmail have dedicated tablet UIs. I guess the Find My Phone app needs an overhaul, that clearly hasn’t been touched since Android 6.
I may be conflating foldables with tablets which might not be fair. Most of my experience was that of poorly scaled first party apps and tons of wasted space. Looks like they fixed chrome though. Still, reading articles from late 2022 about Google finally getting their act together is saying a lot for a ten year old product.
Android had fine tablet support for a while, but iOS took over the tablet market and Google stopped caring. There was a five or six year gap, but Google has caught up a year or two ago (with all the apps I regularly use at least).
How about the pricing? Last I checked an equivalently priced Samsung tablet was pretty poor compared to the entry iPad. Apple may be subsidizing it with their pro models though.
I bought a Galaxy S7 FE last year and I use it every day. I considered an iPad but that was more expensive (especially with Apple’s €150 stylus) and had less features so I skipped it. Waited a month for a €50 discount because I noticed several stores discounting it every few weeks.
It lacks the RAM of the non-FE version and the SoC is slightly slower, but it works fine for a Firefox window + a Youtube video + a Gmail window so I can’t really complain. The lack of a fingerprint scanner is a tad annoying but entering a PIN every now and then isn’t all that terrible.
By now I would expect the S8 FE to be available for a similar price with better specs than my tablet. If you’re looking for a tablet and have a store with a display model nearby, I really recommend giving it a try. I’m sure some people will prefer the iPad, but I’m not missing out.
Not sure what it typically goes for but from Samsung directly it’s $429 compared to the cheapest iPad which is $329. I’m not sure they are in a comparable class.
They were the same price here at the time, I haven’t looked into tablet prices for ages. Could also be a because of price differences, American companies like to charge more in Europe than Asian companies for weird reasons (the Pixel Tab is ridiculously expensive over here compared to the iPad, for example).