Tablets

Explore a world of tablet gadgets that redefine portable computing. From sleek designs to powerful features, uncover innovations that provide versatility, entertainment, and productivity in the palm of your hand.

Android 5.0 Lollipop Review [year]: A Sweet Upgrade

Android 5.0 Lollipop Review 2025: A Sweet Upgrade

December 15, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

Android's sweet new “Lollipop” flavor brings security improvements and easier ways to view and respond to notifications. The new Google software for mobile devices even lets you lend out your phone without worrying about a friend circulating your naked selfies on Facebook.
I tested Lollipop on Google's new Nexus 6 phone, which comes out this week. I can only hope that as other phones get the upgrade over time, it will be as good as what you get on the Nexus.
It's a shame many phone manufacturers that use Android believe they have to tweak it extensively to make the software theirs and not Google's. Mucking around with it only confuses customers and steers app developers toward working on iPhone versions first, where there is more uniformity – and thus incentive to incorporate the latest features.
Assuming your phone maker is running Lollipop in its purest form, here's what you'll get:
Notifications
You used to have to pull down the notification tray from t..

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro [year] review

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 2025 review

November 25, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

Is 12 inches too big for a tablet screen? We're about to find out. Samsung has decided that the world needs bigger tablets, and so we have not one but two 12.2-inch models from the Korean giant. As if their lineup wasn't expansive enough, these new models are the largest of a range of new Android tablets.
Samsung's lineup of tablets now extends from 7 inches to 12.2 inches. Factoring in the Galaxy Mega and Galaxy Note phones which have screens of up to 6.3 inches, Samsung really does seem to be trying every possible size.
The two biggest models, the Galaxy Tab Pro and Galaxy Note Pro, look identical and have nearly identical features, so it's easy to mix them up. The chief difference is the S-Pen, which has led to this confusing naming scheme. The S-Pen has been reserved for the Galaxy Note series of smartphones, so it probably seemed appropriate to name this tablet Note Pro.
Look and feel
There's no doubt about it; this thing is huge! It's also rather he..

Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro: First impressions

Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro: First impressions

October 22, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Is Microsoft's Surface a tablet or a laptop?
I'm not quite sure, but it is a lot easier to type on than an iPad.
The software company unveiled updates to its Surface tablet computers Monday at an event in New York, where I had a short amount of time to try them out.
It almost seems unfair to categorize the new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 as tablets. Although they have touch-screen keyboards like regular tablets, they work best when attached to an optional cover with a keyboard on the inside.
The better one I tried was the Type Cover 2. In addition to coming in four fun colors – pink, purple, blue and black – that cover has backlighting, silent keys and a typing feel similar to that of a laptop keyboard. At $130, it is just $10 more than a Touch Cover 2, which doesn't have movable keys like real keyboards.
The slick wireless mouse designed for the tablets is helpful, too, as is the docking station created to go with the Pro version of Surface.
The result is something that..

Spice Stellar Pad (Mi-1010) [year]

Spice Stellar Pad (Mi-1010) 2025

February 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Although Spice had launched its first tablet, the MiTab as early as September 2011, it wasn't really able to get a foothold in the highly crowded Android tablets market, dominated by players like Micromax, Zync and Karbonn, amongst others. The company's sort of made a comeback with a new 10-inch tablet, which it calls, the Spice Stellar Pad (Mi-1010). The tablet with impressive specs has been priced well at Rs. 12,999 and runs Jelly Bean, the latest iteration of Android. We've been playing with the device and here's our take on the mid-economy tablet.

Hardware/ Build & design
The tablet feels solid although it's a bit on the heavier side but the weight has been distributed well. The tablet has a 10-inch screen surrounded by a black bezel on the front, and a silver back, which is made of plastic, with a matte finish. The back also sports the Spice logo, placed right at the middle, two speaker grills and the camera lens at the top. There's some branding at ..

Microsoft Surface [year]

Microsoft Surface 2025

July 30, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Microsoft seems to have gotten the design and form factor right with its new Surface tablet computer. But the user interface, not so much. That's an odd conclusion to make about a device from a software company that usually lets others do the manufacturing.
Still, that's how I felt after feeling the heft of the device, examining it from all sides and making a few swipes at the screen. The Surface has a touch keyboard cover that feels great and, to me, is a big step forward for tablets. The tablet's software interface, however, seems non-intuitive and sluggish.
Microsoft is clearly straddling the uncomfortable divide between the old world of mice and keyboards, where it dominates, and a future ruled by touch screens, where Apple and Android devices prevail.
Although the Surface won't go on sale until this fall, I had the chance to spend a few minutes with some devices in a group demonstration after Microsoft unveiled them in Los Angeles on Monday.
The removable cover..

iBall Slide i701 Review: Don't Judge Books by Their Covers

iBall Slide i701 Review: Don’t Judge Books by Their Covers

February 10, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

How low can prices go? iBall's announcement of the launch of its latest tablet, the Windows-based Slide i701, made us sit up and take notice. Our first reaction was disbelief, and then we had to resist the urge to dismiss it as a joke. There have been plenty of products over the years promising advanced functionality at unbelievable prices, and most of them have been absolute junk.
Such products infuriate us not only because they are essentially e-waste before they're even out of their boxes, but also because the people who actually buy such things tend to be the ones who don't have any money to spare in the first place; ones who trust advertisements and hope that they're getting a killer bargain only to be devastated a short way down the line. Low-brow manufacturers know this and deliberately prey on those who are the weakest, which is something we cannot abide.
We couldn't help but be suspicious of the iBall Slide i701's shockingly low price tag. This th..

iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 [year]

iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 2025

November 18, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

If I've seen you taking photos with a tablet computer, I've probably made fun of you (though maybe not to your face, depending on how big you are). I'm old school: I much prefer looking through the viewfinder of my full-bodied, single-lens reflex camera, even though it has a large LCD screen.
But as I tested out Apple's new iPad Air 2, I see why people like to shoot pictures with a tablet. Images look great on the large screen, and there's less guesswork about whether or not small details, such as lettering on a sign, will be in focus.
And what you see – and get – with the iPad Air 2 is a better camera. The rear one now matches the iPhone's 8 megapixels, up from 5 megapixels, and incorporates features such as slow-motion video. Packed with a faster processor, the 9.7-inch tablet is also 18 percent thinner and 7 percent lighter than the previous model, at about a quarter of an inch and just under a pound.
Apple is also updating its 7.9-inch iPad mini, thoug..

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 [year]

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 2025

November 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Over the last few years, Lenovo has experimented with a number of designs for tablets, laptops and hybrids. No other company has launched so many different models which twist, flip, bend or detach in different ways. The approach seems to have paid off, though, because Lenovo has decided to extend its ideas to other parts of its portfolio.
The Yoga Tablet is an 8-inch Android device which honestly doesn't require any of the acrobatic design we first saw in the Yoga ultrabooks. Android tablets generally don't come with keyboards, so there isn't anything to detach or hide away. The mechanism in question here is a kickstand that swivels around a thick cylindrical base, and allows the Yoga Tablet 8 to stand up, recline, or lie slightly raised.
There's another reason for the cylinder's existence: a massive 6,000mAh battery that would never have fit into such a slim body otherwise. Lenovo has made the main body of the Yoga Tablet just a few millimetres thin, but the b..

Acer Iconia W3 - [year] review

Acer Iconia W3 – 2025 review

June 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

With Windows 8, Microsoft turned its focus to touchscreen devices as the new operating system featured swipe gestures and charms that could be best experienced on touch-enabled devices. While we've been seeing ultrabooks, hybrids and 10-inch tablets running Windows 8, it was not ported to a device with a smaller form factor, until now. This is primarily because the OS has been majorly seen as a platform focusing on 'productivity' (Microsoft is also to be partially blamed for that), and not on content consumption. The other reason being that anything less than 10-inch would make the experience of using legacy apps cumbersome and OEMs wanted to market their devices as a PC substitute.
The Acer W3 changes all that, becoming the first 8-inch (8.1-inch to be precise) tablet to run Windows 8 and not Windows RT, which Microsoft created specially keeping tablets into consideration. The 8-inch form factor is really good when it comes to using a tablet for consuming content – read..

Google Nexus 10 review [year]

Google Nexus 10 review 2025

February 22, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

When I first turned on Google's new tablet computer, I immediately thought of it as a mere conduit to Google services.
Besides giving you quick access to Gmail and YouTube, the Nexus 10 steers you to digital movies, books and other content available for sale through Google's online Play store.
Because of that, I wasn't thinking of the Nexus 10 as an alternative to Apple's general-purpose iPad – even with a price tag that's $100 cheaper, starting at $399. It took more thought and time with the Nexus to change that perception. After all, apps available for Android smartphones work on the tablet as well.
Still, the Nexus really shines when it comes to media – especially content bought through Google.
For the past year, Google has been trying to challenge Apple and Amazon by selling digital content.
The Play store is Google's version of iTunes for Apple devices. There, you can get a variety of apps, some free and some for a small fee. You can buy or rent movie..