Reviews
24
£319fromApplewww.snipca.com/404 79AppleiPad
RATING
★★★★★Whilewegenerally think
Appleproductsare overpriced,
its basiciPadis theexception
to this rule.Inourtests, it
outperformedeveryAndroid
tabletwetested, including
most modelsthatare almost
twicetheprice.
It hasastunningscreen,an
appstore that caters foralmost
everyneed,andabattery that
lasted16hours 44minutesin
ourvideo-playbacktest.
Itsdownsidesare fewand£619fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/40483SamsungGalaxyTab S7
RATING
★★★★★Wetestfivetabletsforeverybudget–from£8 0 to£ 650
Best tabletsfor 2022
P
eoplewhodon’talreadyuseatablet
oftenconsider themsurplusto
requirements,sittingsomewhere
betweenasmartphoneandalaptop,
whilelackingtheconvenienceof the
former andthepowerofthelatter.
However, whileatabletmaynot
completely replaceyourphoneor laptop,
it canfillagapinyourtechlifethatyou
neverknewyouhad.
Tabletshavethe‘always on’and‘always
ready’ convenienceof asmartphone.Pick
it up,press abutton, andyou’restraight
into yourfavouriteappswithnowaiting
forittobootorload.Addinalarger
screenandeverythingfromwatching
videos to replyingto emails becomesanabsolutepleasure.
If youneedto doabit of work,they’re
usuallymorethanuptothetask,with
most modelscapable ofrunningsimilar
appsto thesoftwareyourunonyour
laptop.Theonscreenkeyboardsare much
easier to usethanyoumightthink,
thoughsometabletscanalso workwith
physicalkeyboards–someevencome
with themin thebox.
Most tabletscreenshavestunning
quality, oftenmuchbetterfor theprice
thanyou’ll getfromalaptop. Thismakes
watchingfilmsorbrowsingphotos
immersiveandenjoyable, evenonthe
cheapestmodels. Here,wetestfiveof the
best current tabletsonthemarket.farbetween–thedesignis
startingto lookalittledated
(withthicker-than-average
bezels that still containsthe
oldHomebutton),whileit
still uses Apple’sLightning
port to charge.These are
minorquibbles, however, in a
tabletthat’s affordable, yet
easily thebestinclass.If you’re afanof Android,the
GalaxyTabS7isoneof the
best iPadalternatives.It’s
nearly twicethepriceofthe
basiciPad(left),butithas a
greatselection offeatures that
makeit worth themoney.
It comeswithSamsung’s
latestSPenstylus,soifyoulike
to drawor makehandwritten
notes,thisisareal plus. It also
hasastunningOLEDscreen,
with perfectcontrastand
superb colourreproduction.It isn’taspowerfulas
Apple’scheaper iPadin terms
of day-to-daytasks,lagging
behind itin ourgeneral
benchmarktests.
However, it is better at
runninggames, with a
superiorgraphics performance
that makesevendemanding
titles runsmoothly.19 Januar y–1February