Android or Windows tablet
August 6, 2015 9:17 PM Subscribe
I'm being given a budget tablet of my choice, should I choose an android or windows tablet?
I'm not really looking for specific device recommendations but what I really want to know is, android or windows?
This tablet will be used for "fun" only - looking up recipes, playing the occasional game, watching some youtube videos - I will use my computer when I need to use to actually get work done.
I have never used android, and I love windows 8, with a mac and iphone being my other devices. Only interested in android vs windows.
I'm not really looking for specific device recommendations but what I really want to know is, android or windows?
This tablet will be used for "fun" only - looking up recipes, playing the occasional game, watching some youtube videos - I will use my computer when I need to use to actually get work done.
I have never used android, and I love windows 8, with a mac and iphone being my other devices. Only interested in android vs windows.
Best answer: Android-- it's more versatile than Windows, and there's just more available for general fun, because of the network effect of more tablets drawing more developers, and having been around longer. Using it with your Windows computer is a piece of cake: connect via USB, unlock the tablet, and the disk the tablet and any external storage should mount automagically. Drag, drop, etc. There are other ways of trading files, applications and such, but this way works just fine.
No matter what you get, here's some tablet-shopping advice that goes beyond the CPU specs and display resolution:
Bluetooth is a nice extra, but not always available on the budget tablets. Cameras won't be great, period-- don't make this your camera.
Get something that allows you to plug in a MicroSD card-- it'll probably have low storage space no matter what you get, but a MicroSD card add the space you need, even if you have to rotate cards.
Get something with a standard micro-USB power adapter-- custom power adapters are a recipe for tears, because it's a vulnerable spot for damage, and custom adapters are hard to replace, and easy to cheap out on--Cheap power supply sometimes means fire hazard, no foolin'. Mini-USB is an adequate replacement-- those cables are easy to come by as well. HDMI-output is what my old English teacher used to call Kissing Your Sister: it's nice, but it's not that nice. It's not a commonly-used feature, but your life may be uncommon in that respect.
A couple things to keep in mind: can you get a cover for the one you buy, and maybe a screen protector? Screen protectors can be cut down to size, so that's not a huge issue, and there are covers for a lot of standard-sized tablets. Ditto any kind of stand arrangement you might need, such as mounting it in the kitchen for some Clash of Clans while you're making dinner, that kind of thing.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:30 PM on August 6, 2015
No matter what you get, here's some tablet-shopping advice that goes beyond the CPU specs and display resolution:
Bluetooth is a nice extra, but not always available on the budget tablets. Cameras won't be great, period-- don't make this your camera.
Get something that allows you to plug in a MicroSD card-- it'll probably have low storage space no matter what you get, but a MicroSD card add the space you need, even if you have to rotate cards.
Get something with a standard micro-USB power adapter-- custom power adapters are a recipe for tears, because it's a vulnerable spot for damage, and custom adapters are hard to replace, and easy to cheap out on--Cheap power supply sometimes means fire hazard, no foolin'. Mini-USB is an adequate replacement-- those cables are easy to come by as well. HDMI-output is what my old English teacher used to call Kissing Your Sister: it's nice, but it's not that nice. It's not a commonly-used feature, but your life may be uncommon in that respect.
A couple things to keep in mind: can you get a cover for the one you buy, and maybe a screen protector? Screen protectors can be cut down to size, so that's not a huge issue, and there are covers for a lot of standard-sized tablets. Ditto any kind of stand arrangement you might need, such as mounting it in the kitchen for some Clash of Clans while you're making dinner, that kind of thing.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:30 PM on August 6, 2015
Best answer: Another vote for android.
I was a fairly early adopter of windows 8 on a tablet, since i went "what the hell why not" at one of the early promotional deals on the 8in dell when it first launched.
I had constant eye roll inducing problems with it. Text selection worked in IE, but not in chrome. Any time i had to jump back to the standard windows "desktop" it was clunky and painful. The touch keyboard, and autocorrect is awful and although i gave it the college try i only grudgingly got used to it and was never happy with it.
There's also a serious lack of apps that are actually designed for the touch screen or being used on a tablet. Windows has tons of apps, yea, but there are very few in the "store". It also bugged the crap out of me that often there was a touch-ui AND normal version of apps that would operate totally separately, and sometimes even both could be open at once!
Performance and battery life were fine, and seem to be fine on most of the ones available... it was just the lack of apps and janky inconsistent interface that doomed it for me. You're also essentially FORCED to use IE, because every other browser runs like a turd in touch-mode.
I also got very, very tired of dealing with stuff like windows update snafus or antivirus glitches on a tablet. It just felt like another hassle-y computer to administer.
As it stands, i only recommend windows tablets to people who go "i want to do Foo, that needs windows, but on a tablet/the smallest or cheapest device i can find". A lot of aspects of it just feel shoehorned together and unfinished.
Android, on the other hand, has had many years to get it's shit together and was a touch OS since it's public launch. There's a metric crapton of apps, and they're(mostly) all built for touch and(mostly) have a well thought out interface in that regard. Android updates, both for apps and the OS, also work like something on a mobile device you don't want to spend time handholding should. You just click ok and go or it just does it on its own in the background withotu causing stupid SNAFUs or asking you to restart when you didn't expect it or whatever.
It's also worth noting that the apps that do exist for touch-mode windows 8 in the windows "store" are often shittier versions of the android app or just webpages with a condom around them. And android apps are, honestly, often shittier versions of iOS apps. One level of slightly-shittier is tolerable. But two? ehhhhhhhh.
Windows is essentially the 3rd place tablet OS, by a HUGE margin. Android is ubiquitous enough that you can be fairly certain that anything you'd want to do has either been ironed out and works fine, or there's a decent app available.
Windows 8 is a decent desktop OS, but it's a mediocre tablet OS at best. Ditto for windows 10. Even though they're hawking the surface hard, it still really feels like they just... don't quite care 100%, same way that windows phone feels.
posted by emptythought at 2:04 AM on August 7, 2015
I was a fairly early adopter of windows 8 on a tablet, since i went "what the hell why not" at one of the early promotional deals on the 8in dell when it first launched.
I had constant eye roll inducing problems with it. Text selection worked in IE, but not in chrome. Any time i had to jump back to the standard windows "desktop" it was clunky and painful. The touch keyboard, and autocorrect is awful and although i gave it the college try i only grudgingly got used to it and was never happy with it.
There's also a serious lack of apps that are actually designed for the touch screen or being used on a tablet. Windows has tons of apps, yea, but there are very few in the "store". It also bugged the crap out of me that often there was a touch-ui AND normal version of apps that would operate totally separately, and sometimes even both could be open at once!
Performance and battery life were fine, and seem to be fine on most of the ones available... it was just the lack of apps and janky inconsistent interface that doomed it for me. You're also essentially FORCED to use IE, because every other browser runs like a turd in touch-mode.
I also got very, very tired of dealing with stuff like windows update snafus or antivirus glitches on a tablet. It just felt like another hassle-y computer to administer.
As it stands, i only recommend windows tablets to people who go "i want to do Foo, that needs windows, but on a tablet/the smallest or cheapest device i can find". A lot of aspects of it just feel shoehorned together and unfinished.
Android, on the other hand, has had many years to get it's shit together and was a touch OS since it's public launch. There's a metric crapton of apps, and they're(mostly) all built for touch and(mostly) have a well thought out interface in that regard. Android updates, both for apps and the OS, also work like something on a mobile device you don't want to spend time handholding should. You just click ok and go or it just does it on its own in the background withotu causing stupid SNAFUs or asking you to restart when you didn't expect it or whatever.
It's also worth noting that the apps that do exist for touch-mode windows 8 in the windows "store" are often shittier versions of the android app or just webpages with a condom around them. And android apps are, honestly, often shittier versions of iOS apps. One level of slightly-shittier is tolerable. But two? ehhhhhhhh.
Windows is essentially the 3rd place tablet OS, by a HUGE margin. Android is ubiquitous enough that you can be fairly certain that anything you'd want to do has either been ironed out and works fine, or there's a decent app available.
Windows 8 is a decent desktop OS, but it's a mediocre tablet OS at best. Ditto for windows 10. Even though they're hawking the surface hard, it still really feels like they just... don't quite care 100%, same way that windows phone feels.
posted by emptythought at 2:04 AM on August 7, 2015
Best answer: One thing i forgot, don't get a shitty android tablet. There's some REALLY garbage ones out there. Basically any windows tablet is at least ok, down to the sub-$100 best buy store brand and cheapo HP ones. But you really need to buy a brand name android tablet.
The best cheap-ish ones seem to be the nexus 7(although it's discontinued, it's around everywhere), whatever the newest asus memopad is at the time, the nvidia shield, and maybe the nexus 9 if you want something bigger.
The samsung tab S models have epically awesome screens, but samsungs mods to android are gaudy and slow the system down to the point that they kind of drag butt even with great specs... they also have a godawful track record when it comes to updates to new versions of android.
That also brings up another point though. Many brands make garbage models and decent models. For example, nothing but the highest end samsung tablets are even worth buying. This goes for asus, as well.
posted by emptythought at 2:08 AM on August 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
The best cheap-ish ones seem to be the nexus 7(although it's discontinued, it's around everywhere), whatever the newest asus memopad is at the time, the nvidia shield, and maybe the nexus 9 if you want something bigger.
The samsung tab S models have epically awesome screens, but samsungs mods to android are gaudy and slow the system down to the point that they kind of drag butt even with great specs... they also have a godawful track record when it comes to updates to new versions of android.
That also brings up another point though. Many brands make garbage models and decent models. For example, nothing but the highest end samsung tablets are even worth buying. This goes for asus, as well.
posted by emptythought at 2:08 AM on August 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: A completely subjective answer but: no one is excited about Windows tablets. No one. Businesses might find them useful, they may have some cool features but no one says: "Cool - a tablet! But it must run windows!" All the "heat" (attention / apps / integration with other services) is going towards iPads & Android devices. You want it for fun? Go that way.
posted by outlier at 7:36 AM on August 7, 2015
posted by outlier at 7:36 AM on August 7, 2015
I'll go against the grain here and say that once I got my Surface Pro (the original, which doesn't even have the best battery life) I can't stand using any other tablets because they all seem too slow and limited.
posted by rfs at 9:45 AM on August 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rfs at 9:45 AM on August 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The only Windows tablet I'd consider would be one of the Microsoft ones, one of the Surfaces. Those are, IMO, the best of breed for Windows right now. The Pro 3 is currently coming to the end of it's retail life and is heavily discounted from its new price---the speculation is that the Pro 4 is going to becoming soon and MS is getting rid of old stock. The 3 and the Pro 3 have both been modest hits for MS, but my experience with them is that they're more like a really slim laptop than a true light-weight tablet. They need a mouse (or the Surface pen) to really function well, for example. That said, the one I use for field work is really nice to have. I can do a fair bit on it with the keyboard cover.
I've had Android tablets since version 3, a few years back. They sound like they'll fit what you want to do a fair bit better. Think about weight and size when you handle the devices; this ends up mattering more than you might think for just puttering around. If you're cooking or watching videos with it, bigger is nice. For books, smaller, paperback sized is very nice. There is a pretty big difference between 7" and 10" screens---think roughly paperback vs 8.5x11 inch paper.
Hold it in one hand. Could you do that for hours, like you can with a book?
Manufacturers: the Nexus/Google devices are always the best supported, get the most updates and newest versions. The only current Nexus is the 9. They don't seem to have replaced their popular 7 models which is a real shame. Samsung makes some nice hardware (and some crap), but they infest their systems with odious custom software. Dell and Lenovo are both getting really good marks in the press for their most recent offerings. You could do a lot worse than pick one of those and try it out. They're way cheaper than even the discounted MS products are, and both have good return policies if you don't like them.
posted by bonehead at 9:53 AM on August 7, 2015
I've had Android tablets since version 3, a few years back. They sound like they'll fit what you want to do a fair bit better. Think about weight and size when you handle the devices; this ends up mattering more than you might think for just puttering around. If you're cooking or watching videos with it, bigger is nice. For books, smaller, paperback sized is very nice. There is a pretty big difference between 7" and 10" screens---think roughly paperback vs 8.5x11 inch paper.
Hold it in one hand. Could you do that for hours, like you can with a book?
Manufacturers: the Nexus/Google devices are always the best supported, get the most updates and newest versions. The only current Nexus is the 9. They don't seem to have replaced their popular 7 models which is a real shame. Samsung makes some nice hardware (and some crap), but they infest their systems with odious custom software. Dell and Lenovo are both getting really good marks in the press for their most recent offerings. You could do a lot worse than pick one of those and try it out. They're way cheaper than even the discounted MS products are, and both have good return policies if you don't like them.
posted by bonehead at 9:53 AM on August 7, 2015
You can go to the Microsoft store at your local mall and play with the Windows 10 devices and see how you like it.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:10 AM on August 7, 2015
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:10 AM on August 7, 2015
I have a Nexus 7. I don't have much of standard of comparison, but it works for me for all but a few things. I use Google Docs and Google Drive which eliminate problems with transfers to the desktop. I don't use the camera much. I don't do anything that takes a lot of memory, e.g. watching movies.
The downsides I've found are 1) it doesn't work as an alarm clock because it reboots spontaneously now and then while updating and 2) it doesn't work to record my music practice because some notes cause terrible resonance-type distortion.
I like the small size better than the size of my wife's iPad Air, but for somethings bigger is better. I'd happily go up to the new 9 inch size.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:04 AM on August 7, 2015
The downsides I've found are 1) it doesn't work as an alarm clock because it reboots spontaneously now and then while updating and 2) it doesn't work to record my music practice because some notes cause terrible resonance-type distortion.
I like the small size better than the size of my wife's iPad Air, but for somethings bigger is better. I'd happily go up to the new 9 inch size.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:04 AM on August 7, 2015
I've had a Nexus 7, iPad Air, and am now using a Surface 3, so I feel pretty ecumenical about tablet choices. For the tasks you describe, I'd suggest an HP Stream 7, $79 USD new from the Microsoft store. Runs Windows 8.1, and is reasonably zippy for light browsing and YouTube. The app selection is dismal, but Chrome in so-called Windows 8 mode improves the situation somewhat through its own app store selection.
At $79, the Stream isn't too much of an investment, and will be a far more pleasant experience than any new (or likely used) Android tablet at that price point. Ultimately, though, it will continue to feel somewhat like a desktop experience shoehorned into a mobile device. Whether sheer versatility, and the novelty of having access to gazillions of Windows apps in your pocket, outweighs having an OS built from the ground-up to be touch-friendly and stable is something you'll have to decide for yourself.
posted by Transmissions From Vrillon at 7:50 PM on August 7, 2015
At $79, the Stream isn't too much of an investment, and will be a far more pleasant experience than any new (or likely used) Android tablet at that price point. Ultimately, though, it will continue to feel somewhat like a desktop experience shoehorned into a mobile device. Whether sheer versatility, and the novelty of having access to gazillions of Windows apps in your pocket, outweighs having an OS built from the ground-up to be touch-friendly and stable is something you'll have to decide for yourself.
posted by Transmissions From Vrillon at 7:50 PM on August 7, 2015
Best answer: I have a 10" Best Buy Windows tablet (just upgraded from 8.1 to 10 last night) and an Asus 7" Android MeMoPad. My previous tablet was a 9" Lenovo Android. For sheer number of apps and touch screen usability, Android is hands down the winner for me. I also love the various Android widgets, they're far more useful than the Windows live tiles.
The only reason I "need" a Windows tablet is to run TeamViewer Touch to control my desktop when I'm not at home (all my Android devices run out of memory trying to run the TeamViewer remote). Trying to use Windows solely via a touch interface has been a bit frustrating (though Windows 10 has improved some of the problems that 8.1 had). I've had fun testing it (OTG cable with attached Xbox controller for Steam games, for instance), but it's more of a novelty device in my opinion.
I'll be honest and say that I don't like iOS. I much prefer an OS that allows you to keep app icons off the screen but still makes it easy to access those apps when you need them. I like being able to arrange things in folders and I like having access to the file system. In my opinion, Android has all those capabilities while still having a better touch interface than Windows 10 (either in Tablet mode or non-Tablet mode).
posted by i feel possessed at 10:45 PM on August 7, 2015
The only reason I "need" a Windows tablet is to run TeamViewer Touch to control my desktop when I'm not at home (all my Android devices run out of memory trying to run the TeamViewer remote). Trying to use Windows solely via a touch interface has been a bit frustrating (though Windows 10 has improved some of the problems that 8.1 had). I've had fun testing it (OTG cable with attached Xbox controller for Steam games, for instance), but it's more of a novelty device in my opinion.
I'll be honest and say that I don't like iOS. I much prefer an OS that allows you to keep app icons off the screen but still makes it easy to access those apps when you need them. I like being able to arrange things in folders and I like having access to the file system. In my opinion, Android has all those capabilities while still having a better touch interface than Windows 10 (either in Tablet mode or non-Tablet mode).
posted by i feel possessed at 10:45 PM on August 7, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
Android is closer to good, not quite as slick as the iDevices in most ways, but better in some others. It has a vastly better selection of apps.
If you get a budget Android tablet, make sure it's compatible with Android 5 (preferably designed for it) and from a vendor that will release updates for it. There's been a series of important security bugs in Android found recently, and if you get something from a noname company you may never get security updates. I recommend at least 2GB of RAM for Android at this point; my roommate has a 1GB Dell Android tablet and is reasonably happy with it, but if you can stretch a little further you'll be happier, even with moderate usage.
posted by Candleman at 10:07 PM on August 6, 2015