Overclock.net banner

The End of small, powerful tablets?

8K views 68 replies 20 participants last post by  Robilar 
#1 ·
I currently have a Samsung Tab S3 on pre-order and was puzzled to read that there are no plans to release an 8" version of the device. I owned the S2 in both sizes and have owned every IPad Mini ever released plus a bunch of junk tablets in between.

There have been rumors about a new Nexus 7 (built by Huawei) but so far that has been it, rumors. I was never a huge fan of the Nexus 7. I owned 3 separate units and had touch accuracy issues with all 3. Still they were pretty much the most powerful 7" tablet ever released.

So what is available?

Samsung:

The Tab S2 8". Great device but being discontinued
frown.gif


The Tab A... 7" and 8". I have one of each, low end junk.

Tab 4 series, low end junk

Apple:

Apple IPad Mini 4 which came out in September of 2015... (The Mini 2 is still available in a 32GB version as well). Great 8" tablet if you don't mind a lack of storage expansion, complete reliance on ITunes, and of course the price...

LG:

Ugh, they make low end junk...

Acer:

See LG comments...

Lenovo:

See Acer comments...

Nvidia:

Shield K1 - Discontinued but still stock available with a number of etailers. Popular for gamers and great specs but issues (primarily Wi Fi connectivity and battery issues) never got fully resolved.

Google:

Nexus 7: Discontinued years ago, still stock available at boosted prices. Issues with touch screen accuracy

Asus:

The Zenpad and the Memopad are both low end junk... (and mostly discontinued but again online availability varies), the Z580 (8") has decent specs but again sub par to the Samsung S2, it is cheaper though.

Huawei:

A few different models, Mediapad T1 (7"), low end junk, M3 (8") pretty decent specs but sub par to the Samsung S2 from a screen perspective. Also there are complaints about a lack of a dedicated back button (either on screen or physical). Also the EMUI interface is ugly and there are performance hiccups in the various reviews.

So what are we left with?

Pretty much the best in each OS are the IPad Mini 4 and the Samsung Tab S2 at 8"

At 7", there are literally no high end units available other than a long discontinued Nexus 7. Maybe it's the growth in the Phablet market or that phones are gigantic or it's just that people don't use tablets much with the dominance of the high end phone market.
 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
That is more less what I figured as well. The irony is, I use tablets primarily for media consumption. Number one is reading books, second would be web browsing and third would be watching video. Phones (at least for my eyes) are far too small to do any of those effectively. My 10" Samsung tablet is great for all of the above but it's also nice to have a small 7" tablet I can stick in a coat pocket for travel with my book library.

I have gone down the E-Ink E-Reader route and repeatedly have backed away from it. Too slow, no real ability to organize books, limited storage etc. A small tablet is really the best way to read books (and it does other stuff on the fly as well).

The Irony is, there are quite a few small tablets currently available, they all just suck in terms of actual hardware.
 
#4 ·
im coming in a bit late, but like the previous poster said, the market for mini tablets and flagship phones are just overlapping right now. With a majority of the crowd leaning towards flagship phones, its hard for manufacturers to justify giving mini tablets too much attention.

When cellphones are absolute necessity in life and people updating their phones every 2 years or so, its hard to also buy new tablets every 1-2 years, hence the very slow updates in the tablet world. Overly aggressive development could prove to be a huge waste of money for the manufacturers.

Even from the latest release of ipad just a few days ago, you can see how "well" tablets are doing. No new ipad pro variants. Only 1 new ipad model that uses old technology, going backwards on size and weight, intentionally remove utility such as apple accessory connection capabilities and the very popular Rose Gold variant. Probably a move to clear out old stocks of electronic parts, or an excuse to try exploring in the lower end of the tab market.

Just gotta say that your specific needs are not shared by most. With almost every flagship phone going for 4.8 - 5.5 inches, I honestly don't see much market in 7 inch tabs. 8 inch tabs should be sticking around still, so that might be your best bet. Unfortunately I dont think it's likely to find a very powerful 8 incher, even in the future, as tablets are definitely on the losing side of things.
 
#5 ·
What I find Ironic (and I agree with your comments) is that the Nexus 7 sold like crazy. It would be interesting to see someone (Huawei for example) release a really powerful 7" tablet into the North American market and see how it does.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robilar View Post

That is more less what I figured as well. The irony is, I use tablets primarily for media consumption. Number one is reading books, second would be web browsing and third would be watching video. Phones (at least for my eyes) are far too small to do any of those effectively. My 10" Samsung tablet is great for all of the above but it's also nice to have a small 7" tablet I can stick in a coat pocket for travel with my book library.

I have gone down the E-Ink E-Reader route and repeatedly have backed away from it. Too slow, no real ability to organize books, limited storage etc. A small tablet is really the best way to read books (and it does other stuff on the fly as well).

The Irony is, there are quite a few small tablets currently available, they all just suck in terms of actual hardware.
Why do you need powerful hardware? You read books, surf the web and watch videos. You can do all that on a potato.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by M4c4br3 View Post

Why do you need powerful hardware? You read books, surf the web and watch videos. You can do all that on a potato.
I have a library of just over 10,000 books... Plus I have about 300 more books that I have scanned to PDF (I am gradually working on OCR'ing these but it takes forever). As such you need a decent tablet to keep the reading app moving at a decent speed. Not to mention, I need a minimum of 16GB of internal storage.

Plus and equally importantly, small tablets usually have crappy screens. 1280x800 is a pretty terrible resolution on a device you are going to be looking at for hours at a time. The Nexus 7 was one of the only 1920x1200 tablets in a 7" format ever released.
 
#8 ·
Your demands are niche im afraid.

No one scans books in ocr and requires high performance tablet to read them. Tablet which will run high sized pdfs (scanned books) is let alone enters amazons and google books domain. They provide these books optimized and i am pretty sure they wouldnt prefer people to scan their own stuff and browse them on a powerful small tablet.

The presense of surface is also killed tablet demand in general. I have tabpro 12.2 version and device is literally useless except reading pdf attachments and taking notes on limited version of office note. You want to note on your pdfs ? Nope. Want to take proper notes ? Nope. Want to use office ? Nope. Photoshop work ? Nope.

I also have a large pdf archive because as a college student i would not prefer to put 1000 pages of biology book in my backpack. Yet i cant note on it because android doesnt work well on pdfs and adobe. I prefer that changes i made would be visible on other devices as well. You can't do this on android.

If you have large quantity of books surface type windows device is only way to go, which are way big for what you ask. Otherwise you have potato ebook readers...
 
#9 ·
Ya it's just a bit frustrating. I had big hopes that google would release an updated nexus 7. There were rumors floating around about Huawei making it but it looks like it was rumors only.

Eventually when I have finishing OCR'ing all the books I scanned I can do away with PDF's but each one can literally take many hours to proof correctly.
 
#10 ·
I finally grabbed the best available compromise. The Asus Z170C. Intel processor, 16GB storage 1 GB RAM. Definitely not the fastest but literally one of the few 7" tablets available with 16GB of RAM. Now I can relegate my Tab S3 for other purposes and have a dedicated reader again.

The one good thing about the Asus unit is that it was just over $100...
redface.gif


If you have sharp eyes you can see how many books I am loading
biggrin.gif


If the Kobo Aura One had a better file system and 16GB of base storage (instead of 8 with no expansion slot), I probably would have kept it.

http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/RobilarOCN/media/20170404_180500_zps0rvsguoj.jpg.html
 
#11 ·
Seems like the tablet market, in general, has pretty much faded. I used to have a few. Now just the one my kid plays with. Between my phone and my laptop, I don't see a need for another device. And it sort of seems to be the market trend. I don't really know many people that have tablets anymore either. Seems like very few new ones come out to market in general. Not even much talk about the even. Seems like the tablet is being phased out with phablets and ultraportable laptops taking over.
 
#13 ·
Moon + Reader Pro. It's hands down the best reading app either Android or IOS (and I have literally tried all of them). Marvin on IOS is not bad but Moon Reader is still tops in terms of file indexing and sorting features.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prophet4NO1 View Post

Seems like the tablet market, in general, has pretty much faded. I used to have a few. Now just the one my kid plays with. Between my phone and my laptop, I don't see a need for another device. And it sort of seems to be the market trend. I don't really know many people that have tablets anymore either. Seems like very few new ones come out to market in general. Not even much talk about the even. Seems like the tablet is being phased out with phablets and ultraportable laptops taking over.
I really only use my tablets for web browsing and video watching; phablets too small (for my eyes at least) and laptops far too big. My small tablet is strictly a reader; wifi is turned off as well. I travel quite a bit for work and pleasure and read a lot... It really helps to have my entire library with me as I never know what I will want to read next.

I have to wonder if the tablet market is dying out because people simply don't read books. My stepdaughter at 14 has literally never read an entire book in her life with the exception of those she had to read for school and she is quite bright. I despair of the new generation.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robilar View Post

Moon + Reader Pro. It's hands down the best reading app either Android or IOS (and I have literally tried all of them). Marvin on IOS is not bad but Moon Reader is still tops in terms of file indexing and sorting features.
I appreciate it, I'll check it out. Been using Aldiko, but not very impressed with it.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robilar View Post

I really only use my tablets for web browsing and video watching; phablets too small (for my eyes at least) and laptops far too big. My small tablet is strictly a reader; wifi is turned off as well. I travel quite a bit for work and pleasure and read a lot... It really helps to have my entire library with me as I never know what I will want to read next.

I have to wonder if the tablet market is dying out because people simply don't read books. My stepdaughter at 14 has literally never read an entire book in her life with the exception of those she had to read for school and she is quite bright. I despair of the new generation.
I think most readers use e-readers. I know that's what my wife prefers. She has a paper white Kindel. They last for weeks on a single charge. It's slightly more portable and has an easier to read screen. More like reading a real book as far as the eyes are concerned. One of the reasons we don't use the tabs anymore. May be worth looking into for your reading needs as well. They can go online, but that experience is not great.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dimensive View Post

I appreciate it, I'll check it out. Been using Aldiko, but not very impressed with it.
I used Aldiko for years before switching to Moonreader (migrated my dad over as well). We both vastly prefer it.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prophet4NO1 View Post

I think most readers use e-readers. I know that's what my wife prefers. She has a paper white Kindel. They last for weeks on a single charge. It's slightly more portable and has an easier to read screen. More like reading a real book as far as the eyes are concerned. One of the reasons we don't use the tabs anymore. May be worth looking into for your reading needs as well. They can go online, but that experience is not great.
I have a Kobo Aura One, which is the best E-Ink device currently available.

http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/RobilarOCN/media/DSC01653_zpswvezembd.jpg.html

Two issues:

Only 8 GB of storage and no expansion slot (odd because older Kobo's had micro SD slots....)

Bog slow with a ton of books. I have a library of 10k EPUB's. The Kobo Aura One is the fastest E-Ink device out and even with only half my collection it was very sluggish. Plus, Kobo and Kindle do not capture metadata from EPUB's. You need a program like Moon + Reader for Android or Marvin for IOS to catch the data. It's essential when you have multiple series' by the same author and need to know the reading order.

In the screenshot below, you can see the data that is captured in a complex E-Reader program. Kobo, Kindle and Nook have nothing like it.

http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/RobilarOCN/media/Screenshot_20170404-220255_zpsxumcmlcx.png.html
 
#20 ·
Why not go the Windows way?, Dell have some pretty devent stuff in their Venue line (also available with Android OS), i have a Dell Venue 8 Pro (32Gb + SD slot, 2Gb ram) and it runs great with almost anything i throw at it, even do some gaming on it.
redface.gif
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by luisxd View Post

Why not go the Windows way?, Dell have some pretty devent stuff in their Venue line (also available with Android OS), i have a Dell Venue 8 Pro (32Gb + SD slot, 2Gb ram) and it runs great with almost anything i throw at it, even do some gaming on it.
redface.gif
The issue there is a decent reading app... There simply aren't any on Windows tablets. The few that exist (and I tried every one I could get my hands on with my Surface) have terrible indexing and sorting options, most do not capture metadata and simply have very few reading customization options.

Android reading apps are the most advanced for a reason, they have been around the longest. It took IOS users years of suffering through IBooks until Marvin came out and it has been an ongoing work in progress.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by luisxd View Post

Why not go the Windows way?, Dell have some pretty devent stuff in their Venue line (also available with Android OS), i have a Dell Venue 8 Pro (32Gb + SD slot, 2Gb ram) and it runs great with almost anything i throw at it, even do some gaming on it.
redface.gif
I son't know if they did a revision, but I recall earlier models had a self-destructing USB port. Mine broke right after the 1-year mark
rolleyes.gif
.
But if they fixed that, they're one hell of a good tablet.
 
#23 ·
I just realized how many tablet like devices I have. In order from small to large, iPhone 7+, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Tab A7, Surface Pro.

The iPhone of course functions as my phone, the Switch gaming in handheld and dock mode, Samsung is a dedicated carputer mounted in the dash, and the Surface Pro just kinda sits...

Anecdotal of course and the tablets aren't exactly comperable, but for me as size goes up usage goes down. The last time I used the Surface was while traveling, it seems like that's the only use I get out of it now. Only reason I got it because it was 150 bucks.

My favorite tablet device that I had owned was my Shield Portable, thing was awesome and I ended up selling it for nearly as much as I paid for it. It would be great to see a refined version come out, but with Nvidia providing the tech for the Switch I doubt they'ed release a device that more or less competes with it.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by th3l4st0ne View Post

I son't know if they did a revision, but I recall earlier models had a self-destructing USB port. Mine broke right after the 1-year mark
rolleyes.gif
.
But if they fixed that, they're one hell of a good tablet.
I don't know about that, i have the first gen DV8P, i guess it should a be a newer version issue
redface.gif
 
#25 ·
#26 ·
Well, I just managed to mess up my new Nexus 7...

I was trying to figure out a way to show a battery percentage (instead of just the white battery symbol). Found an app on the play store which is simple and highly rated.

Loaded it, the app required a reboot, and then the device got stuck in an endless loop of app optimizing.

Finally, had to go with a hard factory reset and now get to spend hours updating and reloading my 10k+ book collection.

I've owned dozens of tablets and this is literally the first time anything like this has happened. How exactly does an app with 34k+ positive reviews brick a tablet?

In case anyone is wondering, this is the app....

http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/RobilarOCN/media/app_zpsscyvaz24.jpg.html
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top