Apple is still supporting iPhone models back to the iPhone 8 from 2017.įor only a few hundred bucks, a tablet doesn’t need to get everything right, but when we’re spending more serious money on a tablet, we need to know that the tablet is being taken seriously. Its own Pixel 3 phone, launched in 2018, is stuck on Android 12. Google has announced an upcoming Pixel tablet, but we don’t have solid details, and even the House of Android can’t be trusted to provide the same years of support as Apple. I wish that OnePlus would support its OnePlus Pad with software updates as long as the iPad, but OnePlus has only promised to take the Pad from Android 13 to Android 16. This 2017 iPad is still getting the latest software updates (Image credit: Future) I don't expect better support for the newest tabletsĪs more Android tablets enter the market, I have less confidence than ever that this will happen. Tablets need to be supported with all of the major OS upgrades by their manufacturers, or else they aren’t worth recommending. If Android tablet makers want to compete with an iPad, Android tablets need to be powerful enough to run the latest version of Android for the next six years.Īn iPad will last your kid from seventh grade until they leave for college. If we can hold onto a great smartphone for two to three years, a great tablet should last more than twice as long. That’s right, it didn’t even survive past the Android dessert-flavored update phase. That same year’s much more expensive Galaxy Tab S3, at $599 / £599 / AU$780, started with Android 7 (Nougat) and was updated all the way to Android 9 (Pie). Apple has been supporting its bargain tablet for six years. That’s a tablet that only cost $329 / £339 / AU$469 at launch. If you bought an iPad 9.7 in 2017, you can run the latest iPad OS 16.4. iPad gets 6 years of OS updates, Androids not so much It should be a laptop replacement since you can buy a cheap Windows laptop or one of the best Chromebooks for the same price. Its performance should exceed the expectations of a mobile device. Why does this matter? Because a tablet that costs more than $500 isn’t just an entertainment accessory, it’s a serious computer. Samsung’s tablet is fast, but it isn’t close to catching the iPad Air. Inside Apple’s iPad Air, you’ll find an Apple M1 chipset, which is the same desktop-level processor Apple used in the Macbook Air until 2022. Inside Samsung’s best tablet is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, the fastest mobile platform you can find on an Android in 2022. The Tab S8 Ultra is a humongous tablet with a matching price (Image credit: TechRadar) The upshot is that Samsung’s tablet is much more expensive than Apple’s iPad 10.9 (2022), and it even costs more than the iPad Air (2022), which starts at $599 / £569 / AU $929. You can also get a discount if you sign up for a carrier plan, but then the tablet will cost more with 5G networking. You can get a discount for a trade, and Samsung gives better discounts than other tablet makers. Only Samsung and Lenovo bother to make premium Android tablets, and Samsung has its head so far above the iPad’s ceiling, it’s sticking through the roof. Still, it isn’t just the apps that keep me from recommending a Samsung tablet over an iPad, and it’s really only Samsung that's worth discussing because most other Android tablet makers have dropped under Apple’s price ceiling. The best Android tablets are overpriced, underpowered You’ll find references to your “phone” throughout the software. An Android tablet feels like Frankenstein, with smartphone parts stitched together and some bits stuck on haphazardly.Īndroid tablets don’t even consistently refer to themselves as tablets. An iPad has always felt like its own, complete device. The experience of using an Android tablet simply feels like using a sub-par smartphone, when it should feel like its own experience. Elements designed for the taller aspect ratio of a phone look too wide on a tablet and run off the page. Apps look stretched out, or text wraps poorly.
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