Which tablet ?

[Sanke]

Hi all
Been to several meetings just lately & people have had tablets with Bluetooth keyboards as opposed to a laptop etc. As I spend the majority of the day away from home & have a need to be online for email, browsing, accounts etc I thought that a tablet would be a good idea
I would like some advice as to which to go for (I have Samsung Note phone) Do they connect to wifi only or can you get 4g or do you need to connect to phone for internet ?
Thanks

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Yes, some connect to 4G directly, which I would suggest is most desirable.

I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 which is as powerful as a laptop. Cheaper tablets aren't really laptop replacements. The SP3 is a good machine, but it can't take a 4G SIM directly, which is a shame. However, you can buy mobile WiFi hotspots which would allow a mobile internet connection easily.

If you don't need a full laptop replacement, then the Samsung range of tablets are pretty good.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Just to say you can turn your phone into a hotspot and use that for the tablet internet connection. However, it's a slight faff and also runs down your phone battery quite quickly.

 

[Small Biz Geek]

As mentioned above, if you have a phone tariff with an internet allowance, you can set up a hotspot and connect your tablet to that. I have an iPhone and iPad so setting up this "tethering" is fairly easy.

 

[Paulsou]

Expensive but a good tablet is the Ipad, very rarely use my laptop!
Great for emails and internet, you would need to tether to your phone or i use a mobile broadband dongle! Or you can pay aprox extra £100 to get ipad with sim slot!

 

[garyk]

I think tablets are great for consuming content but dire for creating it. I have an android tab but if I want to do anything and have portability then I use my 11" macbook air. Can't beat a real keyboard on notebook IMHO.

 

[Laebrye]

I think a lot of this depends on the sort of work you do. In my spare time, I write novels so a decent keyboard is a must and I prioritised that over everything else. I used to use a netbook, which was pretty good buy game my fingers cramp after long sessions. Went up to a 13inch ultrabook and never looked back.

But if you're not typing loads you might want to think about what else you'll be doing. If browsing the web, punching out quick replies to emails and reading docs is all you'll be doing then any tablet will fit the bill (though the iPad has the best ecosystem for apps). Just make sure it's a decent size for you.

One thing I've been looking for is a decent stylus enabled tablet for editing my novels. I tried out the 2013 Samsung galaxy note 10.1 and felt a little underwhelmed by it. Also tried out the surface pro 2 and thought that was very good, though both of these have newer models.

 

[Twoscoops]

Complete tech idiot here - can one of the above tell me how you tether your iPad to iPhone please? Can you do it with wifi only or do you need 4G enabled? I have an iPhone and am considering buying an iPad. I also need to start another thread re using iPad for sat nav.