Tablets in 2017

[Adam C]

My wife has an iPad that only gets used by our son on long car journeys for watching cartoons.  That is all.

I've long held an idea that we should have one fixed to the kitchen wall for looking up recipes / controlling the Sonos / watching TV - but seem to get by with our phones for the first two and ignore the last.

[Travoli]

iPad here, originally purchased for drone flights. Now it serves as a lightweight, mobile browser and Netflix screen. Nothing serious happens on it.

[Brad]

Thanks for all the input and ideas.

I did decide to try something new and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3.  I can add the keyboard for about half what it costs for an iPad pro keyboard.  S pen was included.

Other contenders:

Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 inch,  a year older than the S3 above, and the same price on Ama.
Asus 3S 9.7 inch, I would have gone for this but the build quality seemed very hit and miss. Much better price.

All these tablets have a 4:3 aspect ratio like iPad.  I prefer it for web work and reading.

The first thing the Galaxy S3 did was update to Android 7 Nougat. AMOLED screen is stunning. Fast, no lag. Samsung's UI is sometimes handy and annoying. Came with full MS Office apps.

I'm not sure about the whole stylus thing.  I used to always grab a random legal pad to take to meetings, then have to scud hunt for it to get my notes weeks later.  I'm hoping I can just take this and keep my notes all in one place.  Might do.

The stylus writes very well. Surprisingly so. Samsung has something here.

WiFi only, but I can use my phone as a hotspot.

[Chunkford]

This one pop up in my news feed at the weekend - http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/142352-lenovo-tab-4-10-plus-review-the-android-based-answer-to-the-ipad
Might be worth a look

[ergophobe]

bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3.  I can add the keyboard

That's what Theresa did. I tried it with the keyboard and it's pretty good for typing. This came up because I was traveling with just my phone and I had to handle a long email chain and deal with a bunch of things and a keyboard and larger screen would have made it so much easier.

So for me, I felt the Chromebook would be the solution, but the tablet plus keyboard is totally viable and definitely better if you'll read books or watch movies on it.

The Kindle Fire purchase I mentioned above was driven by the fact that, at the time, Amazon video allowed you to stream on other tablets, but you could only download and watch later on the Fire. They have since changed their policy, which might have resulted in me changing my decision (though they have also lowered the price on Fires so much, I might still go that route)

[Brad]

Ergo,

Thanks for the feed back on the keyboard.  It's good to have the opinion of somebody I know and trust should I add the keyboard.

This stylus might work out, but I need to combine it with the OneNote app from Microsoft where it will sync my handwritten notes across devices like my tablet and my phone. I've been playing with it and I can write far faster than I can type.

[ergophobe]

Theresa, and I in the few times I've borrowed the tablet, have found the stylus mostly useful for when touch targets are too small to reliable use the fingers. You can touch a lot more precisely with the stylus.

[Brad]

I see the biggest use of the stylus in marking up pdf documents.

My business partners often email pdf drafts of proposed agreements, memos of understanding and real estate development plats and I always wanted to just be able to mark them up with my comments and suggestions with a pen and send them back. Now I can.