As the holiday season fast approaches everyone is looking for that perfect gift. No doubt tablets are going to be one of the hottest gifts this season. But with so many options out there it’s difficult to decide on what is the right tablet to buy. That’s why we’re going to help you cut through all the clutter and tell you what are the best android tablets to get this holiday season. Since we are an Android site this will focus on Android tablets so no iPad talk around here. So let’s stop wasting time and get to it.
Nexus 7 by Google
I have personally owned many 7 and 10 inch tablets in the last two years. My biggest conclusion is that I really love the 7 inch form factor and I think overall it’s the perfect size for a tablet. That doesn’t mean there is no use for a 10 inch tablet but taking everything into consideration I prefer the 7 inch size. The reason being that it’s big enough to make it a great device for reading and consuming content yet super portable. I will take my 7 inch tablet everywhere with me to the supermarket, park, Starbucks, and work. It’s just a great size and once you own one it becomes so obvious.
Now when it comes to 7 inch tablets the nexus 7 is the king of them all. It sports the latest hardware with a quad-core Nvidia processor, 1 GB RAM, and 1280 x 800 resolution screen. It has a 1.2 mp front-facing camera for video chatting and comes with Google’s latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software which is super fast and smooth. The tablet supports multi-user account so it can be shared amount several people in the same house with their own content. The Google Play Store offers a vast array of apps, music, movies, TV shows, book and magazine. The best part is the starting price of $199 which really seals the deal. There is option for 16GB, 32GB, and 32GB with 3G connection. If you have to choose one tablet then I highly recommend the Nexus 7. I’m a proud owner and it is my favorite tablet.
Amazon Link: Google Nexus 7 Tablet
Google Link: Nexus 7
Kindle Fire HD by Amazon
The original 7 inch Kindle Fire become a hot seller of Amazon last year and it’s no surprise that the tablet has been updated. In fact, we can attribute the popularity of the 7 inch form factor to the success of the original Kindle Fire. Although it’s and Android tablet, the Kindle Fire has been highly customized by Amazon and looks like no other Android tablet on the market. The software is optimized to work with all of Amazon’s services like books, music, videos, and apps. If you are a heavy user of Amazon then this makes the tablet perfect but it can also be drawback. But there are lots of features that makes this tablet great for the family and specially for kids. There is Kindle FreeTime which is a personalized tablet experience just for kids with daily screen limits, and access to appropriate content for each child. There is also Kindle FreeTime Unlimited just for kids with unlimited access to books, games, apps, movies and TV shows.
The Kindle Fire hardware has been vastly improved over last years model with a 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor, 1280 x 800 HD display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology, exclusive Dolby audio with dual-driver stereo speakers, front-facing HD camera, and dual-antenna Wi-Fi. You have access to a variety of apps with Amazon’s own Appstore which is large but still small compared to the Google Play Store. But since it is an Android tablet a varity of Google apps can be sideloaded without any issues. Overall, a great 7 inch tablet and also at a competitive starting price of $199 for the 16GB.
Amazon Link: Kindle Fire HD 7
Nexus 10 by Google
Since the Nexus 7 is the best 7 inch tablet then it would be obvious that it’s 10 inch brother, the Nexus 10, is the best 10 inch tablet. The Nexus 10 takes all the good things about the Nexus 7 and brings it in a bigger form with improved hardware and performance. It boast an updated processor that uses a dual-core 1.7 GHz Exynos 5 with Mali T604 GPU and 2 GB RAM. It has both a front-facing and back camera with Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and NFC. Best of all it sports the highest resolution tablet display with a dazzling 2560 x 1600 high-resolution screen which even outdoes the newest iPad 4 tablet. This is the best hardware that you can get on a 10 inch device with Google’s latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software at a great low starting price of $399 for the 16GB model. If you are looking for a 10 inch tablet then look no further then the Google Nexus 10.
Google Link: Nexus 10
Amazon Link: Google Nexus 10
Galaxy Note 10.1 by Samsung
Currently Samsung is the leading manufacture of Android phones and tablets. There is no denying the success of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy Note II
phones. Yet, the tablet market has been much harder for Samsung to crack. Currently Samsung sells a variety of tablets in both 7 and 10 inch sizes. But their newest addition, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, stands out due to it’s S Pen capability. The Note 10.1 has a digital pen that neatly slides into the bottom-right of the tablets. The tablet and apps have been optimize to allow for super accurate note taking and drawing. I own the Galaxy Note 10.1 personally and can attest that it’s the best tablet for digital note taking. All the third-party stylus for other tablets don’t come anywhere close to the Samsung S Pen.
The tablet has the latest hardware with quad-core 1.4 GHz Exynos 4412 CPU and 2GB of RAM. The screen has a 1280 x 800 pixels display which is not the highest resolution you can get but still extremely good for watching video and consuming content. There are a variety of S Pen optimized apps like S Note and Adobe Photoshop Touch along with multiscreen functionality. There are a lot of great things about this tablet and they are enhanced by the S Pen capabilities. If you are looking to replace your paper notes and go all digital then the Note 10.1 is the right tablet.
Amazon Link: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
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