Best $350 tablet?

[fwtong]

IOS 8 is not being kind to my iPad Mini, so I'm looking for a tablet. I'm basing my budget on supposedly getting about $140 trade in value at Best Buy and an Air 2 is $500. I'd like to try and get in on the Black Friday deal for the Air 2 a Best Buy, where it's $100 off. But since I really like the smaller form factor of the Mini, I wanted to see what my options are. My tablet is mainly used for streaming, and I don't have a lot of purchased apps. So ecosystem isn't a big deal, space isn't a big deal and mobile data isn't a big deal. Obviously, the Mini 2 and Mini 3 are options, but looking at the benchmarks, the iPad Mini 2/3 lags quite a bit behind the Air 2, which could be a big deal since i do a lot of streaming. So, what are my options?

 

[poofyhairguy]

I think the iPad Mini 2 is a clear winner here. It is not the iPad Air 2, but it doesn't need to be. It is still like 4 times as powerful as the first gen Mini (which was ancient hardware day 1). Or get the iPad Air 2, that is a device that will last five years.

If you would have said sub-$200 then its Nexus 7 all the way, but honestly given your budget there is no reason to leave iOS.

 

[Roland00Address]

I would not buy the ipad mini 3. The ipad mini 3 is the exact same thing as the ipad mini 2 but with touch id for a $100 more. It is the same cpu (thus same performance), why are you paying $100 more again?

Now the ipad air 2 is much beefier with a tweaked cpu, third core, and twice the ram.

I would look at online prices and set a slickdeals alert for Ipad 5+ thumbs up on your phone. It can send you text messages when someone has a model on sale. Then try to get Best Buy to also match the online competitor. For example Staples has most of their ipads on sale $40 to $100 off.

 

[jacktesterson]

I think the iPad Mini 2 is a clear winner here. It is not the iPad Air 2, but it doesn't need to be. It is still like 4 times as powerful as the first gen Mini (which was ancient hardware day 1). Or get the iPad Air 2, that is a device that will last five years.

If you would have said sub-$200 then its Nexus 7 all the way, but honestly given your budget there is no reason to leave iOS.

Unless you want to use it for Media. (MKV's, AVI's, Audio, etc).

Freakin hate Apple for this. I want to use my own library and don't want to spend hours converting, etc.

 

[Ravynmagi]

The iPad Mini 3 really doesn't seem worth it seem it's most significant improvement is a Touch ID button and that really isn't worth an extra $100 in most peoples books. The iPad Mini 2 for $300 is an excellent tablet. Even better if it's included in some of the BF deals (not sure).

Another nice deal is the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4. I am pretty sure this is the one Tab that has the Snapdragon 800 in it (most of the rest have POS Exynos). And at $200 on BF at BB this is very nice price.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Unless you want to use it for Media. (MKV's, AVI's, Audio, etc).

Just hit a jailbreak window and then throw XBMC on there.


I mean, I agree with your premise-I would never want an iOS tablet because of the walled garden. Android has spoiled me playing mkvs natively, or allowing me to plug in my real SNES controller to play emulators.

But OP's list, budget and expectations lines up with iOS.

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for the input, I'll see if I can get an Air 2 with Best Buy's Black Friday special. If that doesn't work, it'll either be a refurb Mini 2 or Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4. I'm pretty platform agnostic, since most of my tablet usage is streaming and browsing, and I don't do much gaming. When I download apps, I try to make sure that I get apps which are cross platform (e.g. I use Wunderlist not Reminders), because i never know what I'll be using in the future.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Unless you want to use it for Media. (MKV's, AVI's, Audio, etc).

Freakin hate Apple for this. I want to use my own library and don't want to spend hours converting, etc.

You can watch via VLC. You don't have to convert.

 

[soulcougher73]

I just bought the iPad mini 2. So far loving it more than my iPad 3. I like the size much better on the mini .

 

[Chrono]

Missed out... iPad mini 2 was at staples for $199... 16GB of course but worth it... Just got mine!

 

[sgrinavi]

32 GB Ipad Air 2 (32 GB) was $359 yesterday at Best Buy, so keep your eyes open, it'll probably be cheaper somewhere soon.

I picked up one for an xmas present, I wish I had bought 1 for myself too.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Missed out... iPad mini 2 was at staples for $199... 16GB of course but worth it... Just got mine!

Damn Chrono, you are cleaning up lately.

 

[Midwayman]

32 GB Ipad Air 2 (32 GB) was $359 yesterday at Best Buy, so keep your eyes open, it'll probably be cheaper somewhere soon.

I picked up one for an xmas present, I wish I had bought 1 for myself too.

Air 1. not 2. If you got a 2 at that price someone made a mistake. Also, the 2 doesn't come in 32.

 

[sgrinavi]

Air 1. not 2. If you got a 2 at that price someone made a mistake. Also, the 2 doesn't come in 32.

It was 32, so it was probably a mistake in the ad. Hmmmm..

 

[lopri]

What kind of deals are out there for data-enabled tablets? I am in a distasteful position where the choices are 1) iPad Air, or 2) Tab S (more expensive). I cannot go with Tab S because I need a way better battery life with white backgrounds on screen. And I do not want iOS stuff.

Ugh.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Like a LTE tablet? I don't know if I would trust a non-iPad. Even among the Nexus line the LTE ones are black sheep, the Nexus 7 doesn't have Lollipop images yet.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I enjoyed my experience with the TouchPad and and Nexus 10, but honestly it was a struggle.

I find it tough to justify buying a N9 and suffering from Android's neglect of tablet apps. I'm really trying to avoid the Air 2, but honestly it just screams like the best tablet still. 64gb will be a lot to swallow though.

 

[dawheat]

I enjoyed my experience with the TouchPad and and Nexus 10, but honestly it was a struggle.

I find it tough to justify buying a N9 and suffering from Android's neglect of tablet apps. I'm really trying to avoid the Air 2, but honestly it just screams like the best tablet still. 64gb will be a lot to swallow though.

I'd laugh at anyone who says the iPad Air 2 64GB isn't the hands down best tablet you can buy today. But I can't justify paying $600 for a super powerful content consumption device. I'm still one of the luddites who can't be really productive on anything but an ergonomic keyboard and large monitors.

Knowing I can always do productivity work on dual 27"s at home or work, I tend not to do it on anything smaller unless it's time sensitive. And in those cases, my Note 4 is enough for those situations.

 

[xaeniac]

as much as I hate to say it Ipad is still the premier device compared to Android. I hate to say it but the hardware is leap and bounds above the competition.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Just think- if Apple put that Air 2 SoC in the 6+ then Apple would have the best phone hands down this year too.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Just think- if Apple put that Air 2 SoC in the 6+ then Apple would have the best phone hands down this year too.

The A8 in the 6 Plus is fine. The only difference I believe is the A8X has twice the GPU power, and since the 6 Plus runs at only 1080p, the A8 GPU is plenty. Though only getting 1GB of RAM kinda sucks. Still, I think the sales figures will be very favorable for the 6/6 Plus.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The A8 in the 6 Plus is fine.

I disagree. I think with way more pixels the 6+ needed a better GPU to match the 6.

Though only getting 1GB of RAM kinda sucks.

That is most of my complaint. It is such a deficiency that I think the 6+S can be the best iPhone upgrade yet just by fixing that issue.

Still, I think the sales figures will be very favorable for the 6/6 Plus.

I agree, just being big iPhones will make them the best selling phones ever. Whoever has their stock will make bank.

But as a consumer I am doing everything I can to keep that 6+ out of my house. I outright recommend the 6 to people instead. Think about it- that 6+ might hit the iOS performance wall before the 5s!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'd laugh at anyone who says the iPad Air 2 64GB isn't the hands down best tablet you can buy today. But I can't justify paying $600 for a super powerful content consumption device. I'm still one of the luddites who can't be really productive on anything but an ergonomic keyboard and large monitors.

Knowing I can always do productivity work on dual 27"s at home or work, I tend not to do it on anything smaller unless it's time sensitive. And in those cases, my Note 4 is enough for those situations.

I'm not using the device for productivity. I mainly use my Nexus 10 for video watching. Everything else just feels clunky on it though. There's just so much lag on that device even for web browsing. Additionally, there's no good tablet keyboard out, and split keyboards aren't that great on Android. Come on Google, if you were serious about tablets, you would've offered a split keyboard at least.

I guess having a reasonably fast device would probably let me do more Flipboard/Reddit reading. I just can't get away from the idea that my tablet will be so locked down, but maybe its something that I won't miss. I mean rooting and ROMing my N10 on every nightly sounds fun, but when I can't even Google Hangouts because the microphone is in the back and has terrible feedback, and the wifi antenna sucks so bad on that thing, it's hard to say the N9 will be any better.

I'm leaning more and more towards buying one on Black Friday now...

 

[lopri]

Like a LTE tablet? I don't know if I would trust a non-iPad. Even among the Nexus line the LTE ones are black sheep, the Nexus 7 doesn't have Lollipop images yet.

I may have to at least try one out. When the signal is weak or switching during transit, battery drain on my 1.5 year old Note 8.0 is insane. I am not sure but it seems like Kitkat update had something to do with it.

 

[Raduque]

I'd say a Surface 2 32 + keyboard but it would be over your budget. Worth it though, IMO.