Best Android Tablet?

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

I wanted to discuss this article:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8736/best-tablets-holiday-2014/3
and the GSM Arena version:
http://www.gsmarena.com/tablet_buyers_guide-review-1172.php

Looks like the best current options IMO are:
Nvidia Shield
Nexus 9
Samsung Galaxy Tab S

I currently have a Nexus 7 (2013) which is great but I am looking for a bigger tablet, which removes the Shield. I bought a Galaxy Tab S 10.5 during a Staples sale for $320 for the 16 GB version but am debating returning it for a deal on the Nexus 9 32 GB....

Any thoughts? Anyone use the Tab S and love/hate it?... I don't do so much gaming on my tablets, mostly Videos/Web surfing and am thrown off by all the build issues with the Nexus 9 plus the Tab S screen is beautiful!

 

[arandomguy]

My main concern regarding the Tab S (both versions) is really the longevity of the display. Tablet usage should be harsher than smart phone usage and the long term reports of AMOLED burn in on Samsung devices is still hit and miss. So the same reason of why I want a Tab S also is what gives me the strongest reservations about getting one. Although with the price you just mentioned (assuming $50 less for the 8.4) I might just get one and just baby the screen if it were available here.

For the Nexus 9 my opinion on it is that it's too expensive for what you get as the 16GB model essentially does not have enough space to be usable for me meaning the 32GB, which carries a hefty premium for the extra storage, would be "minimal" functionality. The SoC might be very high performing however I'm not sure really sure how that actually factors into real usage and I've tried asking both in this forum and the CPU forums about this and did not really get any specific examples of real world benefits of the faster SoC. While I can easily appreciate the better display on the Tab S.

The above SoC point also somewhat applies to the Shield Tablet. However the directsylus capbility (which the Nexus 9 lacks) and the better price are two advantages over the Nexus 9 for me. Albeit the display is the worse of the 3 as well as the form factor to display size ratio. So you might want to consider that depending on what ratio of portable consumption vs. gaming (or other capabilities which the Shield Tablet provides) you do.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

Where are these issues with AMOLED burn in? doesn't that only happen if you leave the screen on unused for hours?

I think in my use case 3d gaming is not really something I do... I find touch controls on 3d shooters and the like terrible and frustrating.. so the slower SoC is probably not so much of a concern.

 

[arandomguy]

The issue, from what I understand, with OLEDs is that the individual OLEDs age unevenly, you don't actually get retention of a static image per say but the you get the outline of areas that are used as dimmer spots as those individual OLEDs have aged more. What compounds this is that OLED lifetime itself is not particularly high and luminance decreases as it ages (ie. if luminance decreased by 1% over 40000 hours at full brightness versus if luminance decreased by 50% over 40000 hours at full brightness, the former would be trivial even if half the screen wasn't even used and the other just displayed blue for an entire year).

Like most consumer product reliability questions there isn't any actual proper controlled studies done and the real world evidence is basically anecdotal.

In this case you'll get differing reports that either go either way. Which also isn't surprising since usage will vary greatly (ie. someone who only watches full screen videos in the dark with low brightness vs. someone who plays games, or other applications, with static UI in a bright environment and correspondingly bright display settings) as well as sensitivity to the issue (ie. one person might test by looking closely over a full white image while at the other end another user might not feel it's an issue as long as they can't clearly see it casually over typical usage and just primarily view "darker" material).

So at the end it just depends on what you believe and feel comfortable with.

 

[thilanliyan]

I like the Tab S that I have, although there's a bit of lag from Touchwiz every once in a while. For $320, the 10.5 is a great deal IMO. I would keep it.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

I would think I will get a maximum for 2-3 years out of any tablet/smartphone these days as tech progresses... I usually upgrade every 2 years or so. That sort of issue is probably not relevant for power users like most folks on this forum.

The CPU/GPU deal is more of if you do gaming. Like I said, I don't really so I am not so concerned bout that. Maybe multitasking would be worse in the Tab S but it has a extra GB of ram compared to the N9... its a tough choice.

 

[arandomguy]

Well like I said if it were available here for the price you paid I'd just get it and baby the screen. However even the 8.4 at its lowest is more expensive than that here at $370 (regular $420? $430?) while the lowest for the 10.5 was $430 I believe.

I actually kind of only described the negative points of each of the tablets.