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Hi all,
Don't know if you lot are aware, Viewsonic is doing a programme where you can buy the Viewpad 7 and return it within 30 days if you don't like it, not obligations and even shipping charges are returned.
http://www.viewpadtryforfree.com
I ordered one from Insight, and received it. Currently playing around with it, not too sure if I like it yet. Compared to my iPad, it's got 3G and GPS so I can use it in the car, so that's definitely a plus. But it is rather slow - I wish it had a 1GHz Snapdragon! The performance sits between a G1/Magic/Hero and a Desire/Nexus One. The capacitive touch isn't as responsive as the phones or Apple products, and the auto-rotate sometimes is too sensitive and sometimes it's not sensitive enough. The viewing angle is pretty poor, but I don't think it matters that much with a tablet.
Can't comment on battery life yet. And because I am still trying, it is probably best not to flash custom ROM just yet in case I need to return it.
Anyone else ordered it or trying it?
Thanks.
Okay I think I am going to return it soon.
It is a bit too slow - it lags when watching DVD quality vids.
There is no Flash, and it never will have.
The speaker quality is pretty poor - for a phone it is acceptable, but for a tablet media consumption device I'd hoped that it would be at least bearable.
The outdoor visibility is again very poor, making it impossible to use as a GPS device in the car.
And most importantly, the Samsung Galaxy Tab has come down to the same price, hence the Viewpad 7 is very bad value for money now.
However, although it says I need to complete an online return claim form to proceed, there is no link - anyone knows what the URL is please?
Thanks.
So, I've got a US LTE 32GB that connects only at HSPA speeds in most places, and I'm about over the tablet.
What device is out there that:
-Is approximately 8" form factor
-Has LTE that works in the US
-Includes a microSD port and some way to do HDMI out so I can hook it up to a standard TV
-Isn't completely bootloader locked / must have root and XDA Dev support
Frankenscript said:
So, I've got a US LTE 32GB that connects only at HSPA speeds in most places, and I'm about over the tablet.
What device is out there that:
-Is approximately 8" form factor
-Has LTE that works in the US
-Includes a microSD port and some way to do HDMI out so I can hook it up to a standard TV
-Isn't completely bootloader locked / must have root and XDA Dev support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huawei MediaPad M3 8.4"
Thanks. Looks like only international version / no warranty available on Amazon. Seems like a concern to me. Any other devices more available in the US , with warranty?
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Lol, I just got into the market for a tablet myself.. I spent almost a day researching the perfect tablet.
Here's what I found.
Top Android tablets.
1) Pixel C, tegra X1 cpu. No sdcard slot. 10inch screen. $600 for 32gb. Performs slightly better than K1 tablets in most benchmarks, but 100% better in others.
2) Nvidia shield K1, tegra K1 cpu, sdcard slot, front facing speakers, hdmi out, 8inch screen. Great display. $200, discontinued and can't find anywhere other than ebay for well over $200...
3) Nexus 9, tegra K1 cpu, no sd card slot, front facing speakers. cheap build quality, screen has light bleed, scores 20%worse than shield tablet in benchmarks. 8.9 inch display. $290 for 32gb black WiFi, will be gone soon. Or $500 for 32gb lte
That's it.. all the rest of the Android tablets are subpar. The Galaxy tab S3 is the only other honorable mention. Doesn't perform as well as K1 cpus but looks like a solid tablet... But $500?? Get outta here...
I wasn't looking to spend over $300 on a tablet... I intend to use it for gaming and web browsing and watching movies. Clearly the shield tablet is the best bang for the buck by farrrr... So I kept checking eBay over the last 2 days and found a pristine one for $200 from a reputable seller ...
TL: DR - the Nvidia shield tablet is still the number one Android tablet on the market, at least for my needs. The pixel c is seemingly great, but​ too big and heavy, has no expandable storage, and far over priced.
Why don't you just drop data on the tablet and turn your phone into a hotspot?? I hotspot for my PC from my pixel XL all the time when my net goes out.. im able to competitively game in twitch games with only an extra 25ping...
All the other tablets lose something to gain something. THE PERFECT tablet would be the cancelled shield tablet 2 with the x1 cpu.. looks like their deal with Nintendo caused them to back out of the tablet game for a bit. I don't expect to see it for another year maybe two. If ever.
lucid888 said:
Lol, I just got into the market for a tablet myself.. I spent almost a day researching the perfect tablet.
Here's what I found.
Top Android tablets.
1) Pixel C, tegra X1 cpu. No sdcard slot. 10inch screen. $600 for 32gb. Performs slightly better than K1 tablets in most benchmarks, but 100% better in others.
2) Nvidia shield K1, tegra K1 cpu, sdcard slot, front facing speakers, hdmi out, 8inch screen. Great display. $200, discontinued and can't find anywhere other than ebay for well over $200...
3) Nexus 9, tegra K1 cpu, no sd card slot, front facing speakers. cheap build quality, screen has light bleed, scores 20%worse than shield tablet in benchmarks. 8.9 inch display. $290 for 32gb black WiFi, will be gone soon. Or $500 for 32gb lte
That's it.. all the rest of the Android tablets are subpar. The Galaxy tab S3 is the only other honorable mention. Doesn't perform as well as K1 cpus but looks like a solid tablet... But $500?? Get outta here...
I wasn't looking to spend over $300 on a tablet... I intend to use it for gaming and web browsing and watching movies. Clearly the shield tablet is the best bang for the buck by farrrr... So I kept checking eBay over the last 2 days and found a pristine one for $200 from a reputable seller ...
TL: DR - the Nvidia shield tablet is still the number one Android tablet on the market, at least for my needs. The pixel c is seemingly great, but​ too big and heavy, has no expandable storage, and far over priced.
Why don't you just drop data on the tablet and turn your phone into a hotspot?? I hotspot for my PC from my pixel XL all the time when my net goes out.. im able to competitively game in twitch games with only an extra 25ping...
All the other tablets lose something to gain something. THE PERFECT tablet would be the cancelled shield tablet 2 with the x1 cpu.. looks like their deal with Nintendo caused them to back out of the tablet game for a bit. I don't expect to see it for another year maybe two. If ever.
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Click to collapse
Thanks @lucid888 for a great post.
Using my phone as a hotspot is doable if necessary, but it becomes a frying pan quickly, and the battery dies fast. I've considered dropping the idea of an LTE tablet and instead getting a mifi/jetpack whatever dedicated hotspot too, and turning it on whenever I want to run the tablet away from normal wifi zones, but that's complicated and it's another thing to lug around. Sigh.
I just loved my tablet with built in LTE that I could take anywhere and it just worked well. Now it works slowly. Another sigh.
I've no idea why LTE-enabled Android tablets are so few and far between. I know lots of "iOS" people that have iPad minis, and they all have the cellular version. Then again, they probably couldn't figure out HOW to tether it to a phone or mobile hotspot, so they need the built in connectivity.
I'm tempted to pop for one of those MediaPads on a lark... but it could be an expensive lark due to lack of US warranty.
For now I'll just sit tight. Sooner or later the right device will show up. If you (or anybody reading this) finds anything new, please post about it here!
I'm seeing the mediapads on Amazon with a US warranty for $300, WiFi only though. I did look at the mediapad m3, but it's gpu the Mali 8800 m4 is underwhelming and performs ~40-50% worse than the K1 gpu. It has bottom firing speakers, apparently they are great though. Also has the miu os to deal with, which for me is a huge turn off.
From what I can see, the only tablet that can beat the shield is a non existent 8" X1 powered tablet, priced around $300 from either Nvidia, Google or htc. Thanks to Nintendo I don't think we'll see one too soon. Maybe a Snapdragon 835 tablet would do the trick too... But the $500 Galaxy tab S3 is only using the 820..
Also take a look at the mediapad m3 development section on XDA, there is literally nothing.
lucid888 said:
Lol, I just got into the market for a tablet myself.. I spent almost a day researching the perfect tablet.
Here's what I found.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came to a lot of the same conclusions.
- Pixel C: way too expensive.
- Nexus 9: while I have loved a lot of HTC devices, this one is nothing special.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S3: Also way too expensive. 9.7" form factor is also bigger than I want, as it seems Sammy has abandoned the 8"-ish form factor in their high end "S" series tablets. I might be able to overlook that. But I'm still sore about how Samsung handled the Tab Pro 8.4. Zero major updates (just a few patches) so it was stuck on the Kitkat it was released with (if not for the dev community which kept it kept for a bit). And many folks (myself included) suffered battery charging issues, which the company never acknowledged.
- Huawei MediaPad M3: Good price, cice hardware, but crap software. And zero developer support means you can't do anything about that.
All in all, I've decided my Shield K1 is sufficient for my needs; especially considering the lack of a worthy replacement. I'd like something a little snappier (especially since I upgraded my phone to the OnePlus 3T with Snapdragon 821). But I'm content to wait and see if anything better comes around.
I'd be perfectly happy to upgrade to the next version Shield, be it X1 or whatever it would be. But I am skeptical there will be a "next" version.
The only thing I feel lacking on the K1 shield is the memory capacity, and maybe it's battery life. The 2gb doesn't seem to be enough for Albion online which I was hoping I'd be able to play on it.. apparently it used to work but now crashes while loading or two seconds after loading. Hoping it gets fixed, but they do say in their minimum the game will eventually require 3gb min ;(...
I really love everything about the shield from it's size, it's front facing speakers, it's HDMI output, it's graphical capability, sd slot. I don't want to lose any of those features... I may be able to live without the front facing speakers but I really like how versitile the device is being able to plug it into the TV and play movies and emulators with zero input lag. There isn't another device I'm aware of that can do that. A next gen shield is my only hope for a succesor to this device. But again it's not happening any time soon thanks to Nintendo, and lmao my phone literally just auto suggested Nintendo without me even typing N.
Hopefully their non-compete with Nintendo doesn't last long, and by then they can hopefully produce at least an X1 tablet around the ~250 price range.
Lack of LTE for K1 is a deal breaker for me, and my original shield doesn't do more than HSPA+ due to modem issues not yet fixed...
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
I have a samsung galaxy tab A 10.1 with S-Pen, and I find it pretty alright. However, as an artist, the size and processor are quite the deal-breakers, size because 10.1 is too small (a complain I'm hell of a lot sure is uncommon to hear, haha), and processor because artist apps are processor-heavy, the less processing power and ram you have, the less you can do, and the laggier the brushes will be. In that regard, the A 10.1 passes pretty alright, but it's still very noticeable that it's quite a weak beast (heck, the A 10.1 can't run minecraft unless you reduce the settings a lot, why?)
Anyways, the point is, someone in my city is selling a factory refurbished Note Pro 12.2, and I was wondering if I should buy it or just stay with the Tab A 10.1, is the Note Pro 12.2 processor powerful enough to run multiple layers in, let's say, Cloverpaint without the brush lagging like crazy? How about the paralax, is it abnormally horrid like the surface pro 2? or is it pretty good like the tab A with SPen line? How long will the battery last while drawing? (The tab A lasts for about 3 to 4 hours for intensive painting sessions). Can I add a custom rom without screwing up the pen capabilities, and if it can be done, can I still work with multiwindows (multitasking)? Will my Bamboo Smart pen will work with the Note 12.2?
I'm worried because, although it will be just 200 bucks, it's still 200 bucks that will go down the toilet if this tablet doesn't meet my artistic expectations. I got my eyes on this because of the 32gb of storage and the octacore processor, as well as those delicious 12 inches of screen and stereo speakers (I listen to music while I draw), and also to send this side buttons to hell (seriously samsung why put the buttons on the side, they get on the way all the time!)
If someone here is also an artist and still uses this tablet, I'd absolutely love to hear your feedback about this device. I can safely say, from my side, that the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 is a gorgeous looking tablet with a beautiful screen, amazing battery life and some of the best pen technology I've used; but the issues that it has leave it only as a quick-doodling device, or as a artists entry-level tool, any professional should try to seek for something better (like the S3), because the Tab A 10.1 has a weak processor, a very small screen and only 16 gigs of storage that will really stop you from working comfortably. Not a bad device for the price, but as I said, not the very best for demanding sessions of complex artworks.
Whoops
I just realized that I posted this on the wrong section, sorry about that!
First of all the 10.1 Tab A sucks, it has **** resolution and aspect ratio. If I were you I'd buy the note 12.2. I don't use Clover Paint because the ****ing UI sucks. I personally use ArtFlow and ArtRage and ArtRage only lags on some tools due to the simulations it does (I draw with 3-5 layers at 2400x2400, 1600x2048, 2560x1280). The Bamboo pen would work but the parallax may be worse depending on the model you bought since you would need the Galaxy Note version to make it work well. With regards to battery, I think mine lasts pretty long. I generally draw for at least 30 minutes a day and like 2-3 hours on weekends and I charge only once a week (I only draw and upload the images). Custom roms would only work on certain models based on what I've read. The multiwindow would use Google's native implementation usually. It's okay but I never use it. Parallax is okay just stay away from the edges of the screen and it's fine. With regards to professional use, I doubt you could honestly use only this to finish something for professional work.
For reference, I've drawn these images using just my phone:
http://imgur.com/a/0jGkF
Not an artist, so can't speak to the purely artistic end of things. I can, however, talk some about the comparison between my Note 12.1 and my wife's Note 10.1 (a step up, I believe, from the Tab you have). I am sorry I bought her the Note 10.1. My 12.2 Note Pro is my favorite piece of hardware (esp. w/ a logitech keyboard folder for it). Her Note 10.1 takes forever to charge and is a big pain to use while plugged in (because the plug is at the base of the tablet instead of on the side). It overall underwhelms while my Note 12.2 still seems elegant.
Again, not speaking to the art side. I have installed various art programs on my tablet, and played about. I think someone who knew what they were doing would find it quite productive.
Blessings.
I agree with the upper posts, now that I own a Note Pro 12.2 I came back to drawing without the need of large space or setup nor too much customizing brushes/UI as it is supposed to do in Photoshop on my desktop (even though I suggest you to get a good home setup with at least a Wacom Intuos Pro maybe M size to finish professional work, if you don't actually have one). I have tried a 10.1 and it's really a bit too small compared. I started tweaking with custom ROM with Note Pro 12.2 some months ago, they works great, actually I am on the wonderful Valera1978's Lineage OS 14.1 Nougat 7.2.1 for P905 Note Pro and except you'll miss the touchwiz s-pen official functions (things triggered when you slide out the pen, snote etc.) the drawing experience is great on Sketchbook, ArtRage, Painter and so on... In my limited experience custom roms can be much more snappier and efficient and can give you a debloated near stock experience which is strong thumbs up!
Mind a very important thing! You have to know which model you are purchasing, so let the seller inform you about that. Here in EU where I bought it's easy to find P905 which should be the one with a different chipset, improved for all I know. There are some p905 variant as p905v from Verizon or p907a that could be to avoid if you plan to use Custom ROM: some of them can't be rooted or there is no relevant ROM development. Be sure to dig in the forum with the search to get know which model could suit you best, many topics around.
Speaking of the pen, I can understand that the little s-pen stylus can tire your hand a lot if you work more than half an hour. There are topics where it has been sorted out which type of Wacom Bamboo Feel was properly designed to work with Note Pro 12.2 with minimal offset, the last and improved version is Wacom Bamboo Smart CS-310, though very rare to find. I own it and I can state drawing with that is great! You can find many topics covering the pen to choose and there is at least one major topic where you can learn how to hack your s-pen into a normal sized pen body to have a more comfortable experience.
Sorry for the bad english, cheers!
I am also not an artist, but I do want to say that I purchased a Note pro 12.2 on Ebay for $350 2 months ago, and I absolutely LOVE it! I bought a Logitech keyboard and Samsung S-Mouse for it as well, and I have been using it every single day.
The one drawback is that Samsung stopped issuing updates for the Note Pro after Lollipop 5.1.1. But I haven't found this to be a major issue. It has performed very well in my experience.
I would absolutely recommend making the Note Pro 12.2 your next tablet purchase. You can't buy one in stores, but you can get one on Ebay or Amazon For $300-$350. It is still one of the best tablets out there, in my opinion.
squartascale said:
[...]
Mind a very important thing! You have to know which model you are purchasing, so let the seller inform you about that. Here in EU where I bought it's easy to find P905 which should be the one with a different chipset, improved for all I know. There are some p905 variant as p905v from Verizon or p907a that could be to avoid if you plan to use Custom ROM: some of them can't be rooted or there is no relevant ROM development. Be sure to dig in the forum with the search to get know which model could suit you best, many topics around.
[...]
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Click to collapse
I came back to do some reading in this forum and tried quite hard to get back the thread which taught me about main differences among the most common version of Note Pro 12.2. It has been quite annoying to find it back and I immediately tought of OP because it could be really useful to him, though I didn't quite catch for certain if the custom rom development scene is more healthy for sm-p900 or sm-p905, but I think the first could be. Anyway, I own a p905 and I can reassure you the custom rom scene is enough rich to give some valid alternatives to Stock ROM. This is the thread (alternatively you can search with exynos+snapdragon in search string, in the general Note Pro 12.2 forum): https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-pro-12/help/exynos-snapdragon-one-performer-t3564929
Cheers!
I've had the Nvidia Shield K1 tablet for about two years now and it's by far one of my favorite Android devices. The build is solid, premium, and durable. The speakers are great and the display still holds its own. Even now, many years after it's original release, this tablet is a powerhouse when handling most Android apps and a joy to game on. Despite its lack of selection, I've been very pleased with the GeForce Now streaming service and I like to know that GameStream is available whenever I invest in a PC upgrade. It handles supported Android games like a champ and I'm rooted for the sole purpose of PS4 remote play, which usually runs better than on my PS Vita (and with a native controller!)
I've been waiting years for it's proper successor (since before I even bought one) and have been dealt a number of blows.
First of all, I'm extremely disappointed that Nvidia's gaming services haven't branched out to any other devices. To my knowledge, even the Pixel C doesn't support the GeForce gaming app despite running on Nvidia hardware.
I remember reading that development on the second generation of Shield tablets was halted for Nvidia to work with Nintendo on the Switch. Despite not being a huge Nintendo fan in recent years, I'd happily trade in my K1 for a Switch if it had any additional tablet functionality at all. However, my understanding is that they have yet to even add video streaming services, much less the capacity to function as a student/work laptop like my Shield does.
Overall I'm upset to see the decline of Android tablets in general. From the Nexus 7 to the Nvidia Shield, $200-400 tablets were finally proving to be capable devices when the market dried up. Now Google seems to be confirming the death of Android tablets by replacing them with overpriced and under-delivering Chrome OS devices, which I have no affinity for.
Now that my Shield is starting to show it's age, where do I turn for a quality portable gaming device with web and app functionality? My options seem to be:
a) Buy a Switch, enjoy the games, hope for an update that adds more media and web functionality
b) Pixel C from eBay (does anyone own both of these devices that can offer a comparison, especially when it comes to gaming?)
c) Something way overpriced like a Surface Pro or iPad (which isn't gonna happen anytime soon but seems closest to what I'm looking for in the current market)
Are there any alternatives that I'm overlooking? Thanks!
I've been struggling with this myself - what tablet to get next. I'm not necessarily in a hurry to replace my Shield right away. But something snappier (more current gen processor) would be nice. And I have a few hairline cracks in the screen, which aren't always too noticeable, but obviously a replacement is due at some point. But what? There really isn't much out there. The gaming aspect of the Shield is cool. Although I have to admit I don't use it as much as I thought I would. Gaming is probably not deal breaker for me; but rather I use a tablet mainly for media consumption and general web browsing.
My thoughts on the options you listed, plus some of my own:
- I dislike the Apple ecosystem, as they seem more bent on telling folks what they want; instead of listening to, and actually giving them what they want.
- Pixel C is too old to invest in. Not any newer then the Shield. And I loathe to spend good money on old tech. Form what I understand, the Pixel C is retired and basically end of life (EOL) as far as Google is concerned. So again, a bad choice to put your money.
- MS Surface looks nice. But too expensive for what I use a tablet for (mostly media consumption, web browsing).
- Huawei seems to be one of the few companies committed to making Android tablets with a decent build quality. The M3 looks like a nice tablet, from a build quality aspect. But reviews comment that the processor performance, while fine for media consumption, is lackluster with games. The upcoming refreshed version M5 (they are supposedly skipping M4 since "4" is a bad luck number in Chinese culture) looks to improve the CPU performance. But the lack of a headphone jack is both puzzling for a tablet, and probably a deal breaker for me.
- Samsung Tab S3 looks nice, but very expensive still ($450, released at $600) and probably due from a refresh soon. Although that price point, might scare me away from it's successor! As it did for the S3 when it came out.
- ASUS Zenpad 3S gets good reviews in some places as the best (or at least, one of the best) Android tablet you can get right now. Build quality, while nice looking, is apparently not quite up to par (a little "creaky") with iPad or maybe Huawei. But it has a great screen, and decent processor performance. Again, we are probably due for a refresh (released Aug 2016). So I'm hesitant to spend money on something from almost 2 years ago.
- Apple dropped prices on the iPad to $329 (32 GB) version last year (and same for this years version). It's a great value for a high quality tablet. As mentioned, I'm not going to switch to the iOS ecosystem. But Android tablet makers may (probably) be forced to match quality and price, and that may be a good thing for us. Releasing a tablet like the Zenpad for $300, with slightly questionable build quality is probably not going to cut it. On a similar note, a new Samsung (S4?) without much more functionality than an iPad, selling for $600 is not justified, either.
redpoint73 said:
I've been struggling with this myself - what tablet to get next. I'm not necessarily in a hurry to replace my Shield right away. But something snappier (more current gen processor) would be nice. And I have a few hairline cracks in the screen, which aren't always too noticeable, but obviously a replacement is due at some point. But what? There really isn't much out there. The gaming aspect of the Shield is cool. Although I have to admit I don't use it as much as I thought I would. Gaming is probably not deal breaker for me; but rather I use a tablet mainly for media consumption and general web browsing.
My thoughts on the options you listed, plus some of my own:
- I dislike the Apple ecosystem, as they seem more bent on telling folks what they want; instead of listening to, and actually giving them what they want.
- Pixel C is too old to invest in. Not any newer then the Shield. And I loathe to spend good money on old tech. Form what I understand, the Pixel C is retired and basically end of life (EOL) as far as Google is concerned. So again, a bad choice to put your money.
- MS Surface looks nice. But too expensive for what I use a tablet for (mostly media consumption, web browsing).
- Huawei seems to be one of the few companies committed to making Android tablets with a decent build quality. The M3 looks like a nice tablet, from a build quality aspect. But reviews comment that the processor performance is a bit spotty. And the lack of a headphone jack is both puzzling for a tablet, and probably a deal breaker for me.
- Samsung Tab S3 looks nice, but very expensive still ($450, released at $600) and probably due from a refresh soon. Although that price point, might scare me away from it's successor! As it did for the S3 when it came out.
- ASUS Zenpad 3S gets good reviews in some places as the best (or at least, one of the best) Android tablet you can get right now. Build quality, while nice looking, is apparently not quite up to par (a little "creaky") with iPad or maybe Huawei. But it has a great screen, and decent processor performance. Again, we are probably due for a refresh (released Aug 2016). So I'm hesitant to spend money on something from almost 2 years ago.
- Apple dropped prices on the iPad to $329 (32 GB) version last year (and same for this years version). It's a great value for a high quality tablet. As mentioned, I'm not going to switch to the iOS ecosystem. But Android tablet makers may (probably) be forced to match quality and price, and that may be a good thing for us. Releasing a tablet like the Zenpad for $300, with slightly questionable build quality is probably not going to cut it. On a similar note, a new Samsung (S4?) without much more functionality than an iPad, selling for $600 is not justified, either.
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Click to collapse
I appreciate your feedback and agree with most of it, all of the competition is too old or way overpriced. Samsung is getting there, their phones look a lot nicer and their software skins are less obnoxious but their tablets look totally stuck in the past. ASUS and Huawei have been viable alternatives but never seemed to quite hit the mark. As an Android fanboy, I love the Pixel C but ultimately couldn't pull the trigger for the exact reasons you listed. Apple has a dictative and overly minimalist approach but that being said...
I actually jumped the shark a couple days ago and bought a 10.5" iPad Pro w/ the Apple Pencil! The price is fair and the device is definitely high quality. It's taking more getting used to than I thought but the note-taking is fantastic and the fact that is has Civ 6 is a big deal for me haha. Apparently it even has PS4 Remote Play apps which I have yet to try.
I think Android is more friendly and intuitive but I have a new appreciation for Apple's design and hardware. However, the app stores are a lot more similar than I thought. For some reason I expected more selection on iOS especially in exclusive games. In general, the "Top Charts" are very similar between iOS & Android and most iOS exclusive apps are paid for. The platform really seems built for someone that also has an iPhone, Homepod, Apple TV and Mac which I have none of (this is my first and only Apple device). Despite small complaints and frustrations, it's just a really pretty device that handles my needs very well once I identify a workflow.
Overall, it was a really foreign choice for me to make. I've had Windows PCs my whole life and have been on the Android train since the OG Droid. I still might return this model for the newer & cheaper 2018 iPad. If a new Pixel tablet were to drop tomorrow, I'm sure I'd trade for it in a heartbeat. But given the current tablet market, I'm happy with this investment.
Pretty much in the same boat. The shield is still very usable for what I want and need it to do (chess, chrome, youtube and pdf reading) but sooner or later it eventually will have to be replaced. Also, the major reason I started using it as a media consumption device are all the ram problems so little by little I got rid of most of the stuff (including google apps lol!) and ended up using it for its nice screen and speakers and not its strong chip, but I would be so happy if we were to ever see a follow up to the shield tablet (sadly that's not happening). Heck, I would pay double the price of the K1. It seems that android tablets are slowly losing to apple (of course I'm not talking about premium ultra expensive samsung tabs). One last hope for android tablets could be the Mi pad 4 from xiaomi when it releases and that's it. Though, there is this new tablet os google is working on, so maybe that will be enough to spark more interest in tablets once again so we can survive one more tablet generation
The issue is nvidia decided that tablet market was not strong enough and that they would not put out a replacement for our tablets. Unfortunately that is much the consensus for cheaper/under 9 in.
I would really like to see a x1 or x2 based tablet with oled 4k screen...
Nah... it's called the Nintendo Switch... nVidia is selling plenty of mobile chips without the headaches of their own tablet.
I'm wanting to upgrade to another good android tablet but need to know some suggestions on what I should get to replace my aging Shield K1 tablet. I'm pretty much looking for three things in a new tablet. Better display, faster charging, and front facing speakers. Does anything on the market hit those three? If so let me know so I can play on gathering the money to buy the newer tablet. Thank you in advance for any bodies help with this.
Xiaomi mi pad 3 should have a good display, it has a type C connector so charging should be faster and the speakers are stereo, though not front facing but still stereo.
Edit : you may also want to wait for the release of the mi pad 4, but also samsung has some great but expensive android tabs, and huawei recently released some tablets so you should check those out, too
I think a lot of folks here are in the same boat. The Shield hardware is aging, and there aren't many options out there.
Some detailed discussion here (a post of which is mine): https://forum.xda-developers.com/sh...ld-k1-rant-question-wheres-successor-t3770645
But my view in summary:
- Samsung: The high end S3 was massively overpriced at release ($600) and still pretty expensive. A new version may or may not be coming this year. Unless they change their pricing model, it's simply too much for a tablet.
- Huawei: Mediapad M3 has a nice physical design, but the performance was bit spotty (not good for gaming). New version M5 is coming soon, but has no headphone jack which is basically a deal breaker for me.
- Asus Zenpad 3S: Good value and performance, good/decent quality. Probably due for a new version (almost 2 years old).
- Apple is selling iPads for $330. I've seen last years model (Gen5) on sale at Walmart for $250 and it is still a very nice device. iOS it not for me, otherwise I would get an iPad. Android tablet manufacturers are going to need to adapt and step up their game, and match Apple quality at the price point (around $300) otherwise what is the point?