Apple is expected to launch two new tablets in the next six months, including an entry-level iPad and an iPad mini 5. Do you think these tablets will become top sellers?
I never considered Chromebooks to be affordable and it makes sense for these devices to be popular with the younger users. My worry about the Chrome OS is the fact that some programs like Photoshop CC cannot be installed.
That half of the world's iPads are obsolete is a shocking statistic by all means! All the same, disabling app updates could be Apple's way of encouraging people to purchase the latest devices.
There are mixed reports, but a new fifth-generation iPad mini might be on the horizon in early 2019. Additionally, a new entry-level iPad with a better processor is rumored to be in the works. Apple's sales are in a slump and the company is supposedly hoping these devices will turn things around. What do you think?
Are you thinking of a gift to others or to yourself? A tablet is always a good choice because we literally cannot live without these gadgets in our time. Pick the one that suits you in the list of tablets in the article.
I still have a feeling that the iPad Pro is much superior when compared to most of the tablets out there. Google did some good work with this and I think that for its demerits, it is something worth owning.
I'm going to respectfully disagree here. I absolutely need my tablets. Yes, that's meant to be plural. I use at least one of my tablets daily. They're fantastic for reading and searching on the web. What about you?
Android tablets haven't received a lot of love lately from both consumers and manufacturers. The notable releases are just too few and far between. The Android tablets that come between those huge cracks are just plain mediocre. Next to the reasonably priced entry-level iPad, there's almost no contest for the best overall tablet in the business.
It's not that the manufacturers are making crappy tablets, it's just that the OS has a clear focus on smaller screened devices.
To make matters worse, Google itself seems to be giving up on the idea that Android tablets are ever going to come back from obscurity. Evidence suggests that they're moving to a more productivity-based operating system in the form of Chrome OS.
But, from time to time, there's a gem of an Android tablet that appears in the wild from OEMs that refuse to believe that Android tablets are dead. These tablets have the potential to give Apple a run for its money. They check all the right boxes such as build-quality and specs. As a media consumption device, it goes without saying that the screen and speakers on these devices are also topnotch.
Galaxy Tab S4
Samsung has always been Apple's closest rival. The Korean firm also continually outsells their American counterparts in terms of smartphones. But when it comes to content-consumption tablets, Apple has clear dominance no matter what pricing scheme Samsung implements.
This doesn't mean that they don't produce quality products though. The Galaxy Tab S4, for example, is one of the best Android tablets that's ever produced. It's the newest in Samsung's Galaxy Tab lineup. However, it has last year's Snapdragon 835 and 4GB of RAM on the inside which, quite frankly, aren't exciting. But considering the use-cases that Samsung envisions for it, these may be adequate. When they're paired with the 64GB and 256GB storage options, you're also on par with a lot of mobile productivity-based tablets and laptops.
What makes it a truly unique proposition from the rest of this list is that it's so versatile. You can dock it, through a single USB-C cable into a monitor and it transforms its interface. You can liken the resulting interface to a desktop computer. This way, the applications are endless. Samsung calls it the Dex.
You can edit images on it through the larger monitor while using the tablet as a regular digitizer and many more applications that this setup permits.
However, the Dex is still in its infancy. The interface is still not as polished as a desktop. This does not take anything away from the Tab S4's tablet interface though. It's still one of the best Android tablets out there.
The versatility costs though. So, the Galaxy Tab S4 would set you back $650USD. For that price, it's already competing with the iPad Pro.
Zenpad 10 3s
The Galaxy Tab S4, albeit superb tablet, proves that desktop computing based on a mobile OS such as Android is not yet a fully realized vision. So let's stick with tablet-only devices from here on.
Next to the Galaxy Tab S4 in terms of price in this list is the Asus Zenpad 10 3s. Its name is a bit complex to pronounce but the system is everything as simple as you can get.
It runs Zen UI which is Asus' Android skin that they put on almost all of their mobile devices. It works well similar to how well their smartphones function. The MediaTek process isn't something to be amazed by and the 64GB storage leaves a lot to be desired. But the outdated Android 6 works extremely well on it. But it never intended this to be the most advanced and cutting-edge machine.
Where it aims to make its money is in the audio. It has 5-magnet stereo speakers with a built-in amp which makes it sound great. Its headset sounds should also be top notch because it supports 24-bit, 192kHz audio. This means that you can get 7.1 surround sound on your earphones. So, for $290USD, you get an outstanding media consumption tablet. But anything more than media consumption, then you're out of luck with the Zenpad.
Mi Pad 4 Plus
Xiaomi has been a perennial top performer in the smartphone world now. Their refusal to go more than 5% more than the production cost of each of their devices is part of this success. When it comes to tablets, they seemingly enforce this same philosophy. The Mi Pad 4 Plus, despite having a close resemblance in both hardware and specs to the iPad, costs more than $100 less.
The Mi Pad 4 is the latest in their tablet efforts and it seems that they're also climbing up the tablet ladder as well. It's a great budget tablet that's well balanced in all of its tiny compromises.
More than anything else on this list, this is the most like an iPad clone. The great thing about it is that it works to its advantage. The 10.1-inch screen is absolutely stunning. The sound is also excellent.
Performance-wise, the mid-range Snapdragon 660 and the 4GB of RAM is more than enough for what it's intended for.
What it is is a well-balanced machine that you can watch videos on and do some light work. Answering emails, spreadsheets, and word-processing shouldn't be an exercise in patience. But, without a device-specific keyboard or any other input method other than touch, it's a limited piece of slab.
What does the future of Android tablets look like?
The tablet world will still be at the hands of Apple. Even if these devices can match or maybe even surpass the latest iPad release, Apple's prolonged dominance would make it difficult for them to get any kind of success. To be honest, the future looks bleak. Aside from ultra-cheap Amazon tablets that’s more of a marketing play than product push, Android as a consumer electronics device seems to be on the decline.
From the looks of it, Google's has probably got it right in making Chrome OS instead of fighting Apple at its own turf. But as for Android tablets, it seems that a lot more is needed to topple the current king of the hill.
The new iPad Pros use the Face ID, a feature that Apple has continued to refer to as 'very secure.' In my opinion, the Touch ID still remains to be the more secure way to log in. We will just have to wait and see whether the Face ID can be easily spoofed.
iPads are the kings of the tablet world. With the advent of new iPad Pros just a couple of weeks ago, it's widening its margin against other tablets. It's no secret that the tablet from Apple has almost single-handedly sent Android tablets packing.
They're just hands down the best content consumption device out in the market today. The new iPad Pros have everything that a good video watching experience needs. It has a Liquid Retina Display equipped with the 120hz ProMotion raises video quality. The small bezels similar to the iPhone X also adds a bit to the experience. The quad stereo speakers deliver immersive audio quality. The storage options that start with 64 GB can go all the way up to 1 TB on which a massive amount of videos can be stored. There's also the USB-C which should make video watching peripherals or video transfers a lot easier. All of these new features all point to the iPad Pro as a video watching champion.
But, Apple's video transfer and playback have always been restrictive. This year's iPad Pros are no different. Format incompatibility and terrible offline content transfers also plague them. From the first generation to the latest ones, these tablets, at least for video playback, has had to rely on a data connection to consume the latest content.
But, as much as we'd like it to, mobile data connection isn't everywhere yet. Subway stations, for example, are notorious for having terrible to non-existent signals. It is a bit of a bummer because catching up on your latest YouTube channels or Netflix shows while queuing up for a ticket might just be the best use of your time.
But, there are workarounds. Here are the top ways you can load up downloaded videos on your iPads for when you know you're going to a no-data-zone.
Third-Party Transfer and Playback Apps
Luckily, one of the strengths of the iPad and iOS, in general, is the wealth and quality of apps available. VLC player, a popular third-party video playback software on both MacOS and Windows, for example, has been great in these simple tasks. It's a free app on iPad which makes it a lot better. However, due to licensing and copyright issues, developers have had to drop support on some codecs.
Offline Video Transfers
For wider codec support, paid apps are a better way to go. WALTR 2 is currently one of the best in this category. It's a simple drag and drop software that supports a wide array of the usual codecs. It gives users an uncompromising experience in both transfer and playback of multimedia content. But, at almost $40 USD, there's some thought involved if it's really that important to you to transfer videos to play offline.
But, if you wish to get the same functionalities for free, another app might give you the best compromise. The PlayerExtreme Media Player offers the same wide codec support but drops the ease of use.
Video Downloaders
In certain countries with bad data connection, YouTube gives users the ability to download videos to watch for later. However, in most first-world states, this functionality isn't available. To circumvent this, there are video downloader apps available for the iPad. These apps give users the ability to pull video files from most websites and save it to their tablet's storage.
However, these apps tend to disappear from the iOS App Store quickly because they might infringe on some copyright laws.
Both these apps essentially replace iTunes so you technically don't even need to have that installed on the source computer. Compared to iTunes that's picky when it comes to codecs, both of these methods are a lot better. However, it's paramount that you know where the video files came from because there's a potential danger of having viruses embedded in them.
Video Streaming Subscriptions
Of course, you can also go the video streaming route. But, this always come at a premium. Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime all cost quite a bit of money before you can access and download videos onto your iPads.
All of these apps have a download function so that you can watch videos offline when data is unavailable. The best thing about these video streaming services is that they give you access to a wide range of fully licensed videos and movies. So, you can enjoy them without even a hint of guilt.
Buy or Rent
If all else fails, buying or renting videos from iTunes is still the easiest way to get videos available for offline viewing on your iPad. It basically means using the iPad the way Apple designed it to be used.
There are also other services that you can buy or rent videos from like Google Play and Amazon Prime. They should both be just as easy and intuitive as iTunes.
This way, you'll also decrease the chances of your iPad contracting viruses that are possibly embedded in some videos. Knowing that the videos came from Apple and not from some random website or torrent site is a great plus.
The only caveat with this method is that it can be extremely pricey compared to all other options available. Movies can cost from $4.99 USD to as much as $19.99 USD just for one movie. For less money, you can already download thousands of movies from streaming sites such as Netflix on your iPad. For even less money, you can transfer video files already on your computer to the iPad through PlayerExtreme Media Player.
Which One is the Best?
The thing with choice is that it can go anywhere. It's pretty subjective.
If you want the least hassle, go with iTunes. Sticking with how Apple intended their iPads to be used greatly decreases the risk of viruses. In the digital age, this has become a top priority. If you can tolerate the high price per movie or video then this might just be the option for you.
Another pretty safe way to watch videos offline on your iPad is to use video streaming services. It costs way less than the first option.
The most popular ones all have download functions that give you instant access to even when you're offline. The best part of it is that subscription gives you access to countless videos both to stream and to download.
Lastly, f you have a good, safe source, transferring video files into your iPad might be a good idea. It's mostly free, except if you choose to buy the paid app with a better interface.
I love the outlay and general design and it is clearly evident that Apple put in a lot of work here. It is rare to get a device that appeals to both the creatives and professionals. Do you agree with this review?
It looks like Apple is pinning its hopes on the iPad Pro becoming its entry-level computer. With this year's iteration, the tablet has come a few steps closer to this goal. The revamped hardware, processing power, and the full versions of popular applications all support this. With the added value of the long battery life and stylus input, it's truly a compelling replacement. The only question left is whether what they've done is enough to make people actually purchase it as a productivity machine.
Apple announced the new iPad Pros just before October ended. They're basically a last quarter push for our hard earned Christmas money. With the tablet's value proposition, it may just be able to give the company momentum coming into 2019. A huge chunk of this momentum will be hinged on the iPad Pro’s success as a computer.
Processing Power
The old 10.5-inch iPad Pro launched last year already outperformed the newest Macbook laptops form Apple. This year's new models are promising to double that processing power. It's a bit mind boggling considering the content consumption beginnings of the tablet genre. So all things, considered, the raw power on these new tablets is simply astounding.
This makes it difficult to consider the iPad Pro as merely a tablet in its original sense. It's morphed into a full-pledged productivity device that you can accomplish real work with. With the kind of power that its A12X Bionic processor can give, you can easily edit photos and do some light video editing on this incredible machine. Crunching numbers, even on a massive scale on an spreadsheet, should be a cinch. Don't even ask about word processing because the iPad Pro can most definitely crush that task as well.
The 8-cores should help you do these tasks all at once. It's also helped by an an ample serving of memory. Although it wasn't announced, the device should ship with 4 GBs of RAM. There are even rumors circulating that the top-end model would include 6 GBs. By laptop standards, these numbers are pretty run-of-the-mill. But, we all know what iOS can do with very little of it. With whatever configuration, the iPad Pros should be a multitasking champ.
Speaking of storage, the iPad Pros are also starting to look more like a laptop. It starts with a 64 GB option and maxes out with a whopping 1 TB. This means you can bring all your portfolio with you on-the-go everywhere you go.
The neural engine should also make it faster over time when machine learning fully kicks in. While the complete capabilities of this A.I. function is still mostly unknown, Apple is banking on the tech to make the device future-proof.
Software
But all the processing power goes to waste without proper apps to take advantage of it. This is where Adobe Photoshop currently shines.
Adobe, realizing that the iPad Pros have laptop-grade processors, developed a full version of the photo editing app on the tablet. From a productivity standpoint, this is a huge plus. The portability of the tablet and the fully functioning editing apps make this iPad a photographer's best friend.
It's not merely the availability of the full version of Photoshop that's such an exciting news for tablet owners. It's the possibility of other full versions of productivity apps getting on board the idea that's really exciting.
It shouldn't also be constrained to Adobe products. Full versions of popular editing software from Apple being available on the iPad are also an exciting prospect. Now that Photoshop has done it, other developers might actually consider making full versions of their apps available to the iPad Pro.
These new tablets also have a graphical capacity that's unrivaled in the tablet space. Apple says that it should be able to outperform the XBOX One S. Looking at NBA 2K19 demoed at the launch through the 12.9-inch Retina display is absolutely stunning.
Furthermore, iOS 12 has made all of Apple’s mobile devices look more like their desktops. Navigation-wise, it also feels a lot like desktop now more than ever.
Hardware
The hardware department is perhaps the biggest clue as to the laptop aspirations of the iPad Pro. The new design language being used on this year's iteration turns away from Apple's other mobile devices. They chose to go with a boxy, angular design that's more reminiscent of the Macbook Pro more than anything else in Apple's line-up. The now home button-less front also makes it look like a Macbook Pro.
The materials and design make these new iPad Pros sturdy as ever. Which helps immensely if you're out and about doing work in the field.
Perhaps what makes these new iPad Pros standout as a productivity device the most is the surprising adoption of USB C port. It replaces Apple's proprietary lightning port. This move makes a wide range of professional equipment such as microphones, USB hubs, and external monitors available.
The keyboard attachment is also still stellar as ever Typing on it should feel like a regular laptop. The key travel is great and the spacing is perfect. These should make it a writer's gadget too.
Professionals are going to have a great time looking at the beautiful Retina Display the whole work day. The Pro-motion feature also helps a lot with raising a user's endurance when using the product. Professionals, therefore, can work for longer hours without straining their eyes.
Conclusion
The new iPad Pros are really inching their way closer to laptop territory. And they're doing it extremely well.
With the pricing of the new Macbook Air that also launched with it, the new iPad Pros look like the best option for a productivity-based Apple device. It'll set you back $950 for the tablet, keyboard, and pencil. At this price category, the iPad Pros currently occupy a position that the beloved Macbook Air once held. The now $1,199 Macbook Air has leveled up into something entirely different from what it originally was in Apple's product line-up.
Slowly but surely, the iPad Pro has become the entry-level productivity computer on Apple's product line-up. With this year's hardware, software, and processor improvements, it's definitely making a great case in this regard.