Best Android tablets to buy in 2020
The Android tablet market is flooded with offerings from mostly unknown brands and manufacturers. Some of them can actually be a solid buy in their own right, but finding just the right one could be a hassle, seeing as how most of them come from China. Some of the big names are still releasing Android-powered tablets, albeit not as frequently as before, when the world was crazy about them.
There's a handful of companies that still make an effort to develop good Android tablets and there are some cheap, expensive, or somewhere in-between devices that all offer good bang for your buck. But which tablet is the best? Well, they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but one stands out above the rest.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
The Galaxy Tab S6 is everything that a good tablet needs to be. It’s sleek, it’s functional, and most importantly, it’s Android’s best bet at coming up with any serious competition to the iPad. But should you really get it instead of any of Apple’s tablets? Yes, it's a noteworthy alternative to its non-Pro slates.
Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855, the Tab S6 is versatile in its uses. In combination with the gorgeous 10.5-inch AMOLED display, the tablet is great for gaming and movie watching alike. Your experience will be further enhanced by the quad speakers. Once again tuned by AKG, the speakers on the Tab S6 are a big improvement over previous generations and deliver surprisingly good sound for a tablet.
On the down side, the headphone jack has been banished from this Samsung product as well, without even a dongle included to help you connect your old-fashioned headphones (Samsung will be happy to sell you one, though). That's an odd decision on Samsung's behalf considering there's a much more expensive accessory inside the box: the S Pen. A handy tool that will not only help you take notes and control the tablet but can even spark the artistic side of you.
With the Galaxy Tab S6, you get great performance, excellent design, top-notch hardware, beautiful display, a useful S Pen, standalone DeX Mode, and a great multimedia experience. It’s a great tablet overall that doubles as both an excellent multimedia consumption device and a productivity powerhouse that could even be used as a lightweight replacement for your laptop in certain scenarios. Of course, provided that you get the Book Cover Keyboard, which costs $179.99.
Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855, the Tab S6 is versatile in its uses. In combination with the gorgeous 10.5-inch AMOLED display, the tablet is great for gaming and movie watching alike. Your experience will be further enhanced by the quad speakers. Once again tuned by AKG, the speakers on the Tab S6 are a big improvement over previous generations and deliver surprisingly good sound for a tablet.
On the down side, the headphone jack has been banished from this Samsung product as well, without even a dongle included to help you connect your old-fashioned headphones (Samsung will be happy to sell you one, though). That's an odd decision on Samsung's behalf considering there's a much more expensive accessory inside the box: the S Pen. A handy tool that will not only help you take notes and control the tablet but can even spark the artistic side of you.
With the Galaxy Tab S6, you get great performance, excellent design, top-notch hardware, beautiful display, a useful S Pen, standalone DeX Mode, and a great multimedia experience. It’s a great tablet overall that doubles as both an excellent multimedia consumption device and a productivity powerhouse that could even be used as a lightweight replacement for your laptop in certain scenarios. Of course, provided that you get the Book Cover Keyboard, which costs $179.99.
Google Pixel Slate
The Pixel Slate is Google’s attempt at creating a premium 2-in-1 hybrid device that aims to bridge the gap between tablets and laptops. It is a premium offering that runs Chrome OS and is a direct competitor to the iPads, Surfaces, and Galaxy Tabs in the high-end tablet sector.
The Google Pixel Slate has a gorgeous 12.3-inch 3000 x 2000 display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. It is quite a nice thing to look at, both when working and consuming media. The display produces ample 400 nits of brightness, which makes it suitable to work on even in brightly-lit environments. Under the hood, the Pixel Slate is powered by one of four Intel CPUs, ranging from Celeron to Core i7, depending on the option you choose. It also comes in versions with 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB of RAM.
The Slate Keyboard is also a highlight for the Pixel Slate. It has a touchpad and a solid magnetic fold that snaps right onto the back of the Pixel Slate and allows you to tilt the display at many different angles, emulating the feeling of laptop hinges. Unfortunately, however, the Slate Keyboard doesn't come with the Pixel Slate, but is a separate $199 purchase. If you're patient enough, however, the Slate tablet sees big discounts occasionally and sometimes even a free keyboard thrown in the mix.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4
After the release of the Tab S6, the S4 got a price reduction and became the go-to model for those that want premium features but want to save a couple Benjamins. Of course, Samsung also offers the Tab S5e, but it feels a bit too sluggish for our liking and didn't make the cut.
With the Galaxy Tab S4, you still get to use Samsung's DeX desktop solution without any additional accessories needed. For example, you can open multiple PC-style applications— including Android and Microsoft Office apps— directly on the Galaxy Tab S4. You can even resize windows, drag and drop content between apps, and use keyboard shortcuts and commands. The experience is further supplemented by the excellent S Pen stylus, which comes in the box.
The tablet is powered by the Snapdragon 835 (2.35GHz + 1.9GHz) and comes with 4GB of RAM. Sure, the chip is a few generations older, but hey, those savings have to come from somewhere! Inside, there's also respectable 7,300 mAh battery with Fast Charging. The Tab S4 is also available in two storage options – 64GB or 256GB, both expandable to up to 400GB via the microSD card slot.
Amazon Fire HD 10
Now, it might be unfair to put this tablet alongside the others on this list since it costs between 3 and 4 times less than them, but there has to be something for everyone. People get the Fire HD 10 with one purpose: to watch stuff on it. This device has no ambitions to replace your laptop or your drawing tablet. It's a screen for you to enjoy your streaming services of choice from the comfort of your bed/sofa/armchair etc.
The 10.1” display, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200, isn't as high as that of the more elite tablets found above, but you don't really need much more to enjoy your 1080p content.
Other than that, it comes with an octa-core MediaTek chip, paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB (64GB will cost you an extra $50) of expandable storage. The battery is rated for 6,300mAh and should provide you with at least 8 hours of video playback and even longer use if you're doing something less demanding occasionally.
One caveat that the Fire HD 10 has is that it relies on Amazon's own apps and app store out of the box. There are ways to install Google's Play Store and gain access to the full set of Android apps, but for what most people will use this tablet, Amazon's ecosystem will be more than enough. The easy-to-use media consumption apps make the Fire HD 10 the best tablet to get for your kids, parents or even grandparents.
Walmart onn. 8-inch tablet
The Walmart onn is a pretty good alternative to Amazon's lineup of affordable tablets, and the 8-inch one strikes a good pair between hardware and price. It comes with an 8-inch LCD display with the lowly resolution of 800 by 1280 pixels, a quad-core 1.3GHz chipset, 2GB RAM and 16GB of native storage.
What sets the onn tablet from its direct competitor, the Amazon Fire one, is that the onn offers a much more lenient software experience with nearly stock Android, whereas Amazon's offering is naturally a bit more reliant on Amazon's software suite.
What sets the onn tablet from its direct competitor, the Amazon Fire one, is that the onn offers a much more lenient software experience with nearly stock Android, whereas Amazon's offering is naturally a bit more reliant on Amazon's software suite.
