Which tablet is the best, ipad2, samsung galaxy tab 10.1, or windows surface rt

[crownontherocks]

Which tablet is the best, ipad2, samsung galaxy tab 10.1, or  windows surface rt

Right now i have the ipad 2 ( its the wifeys ). She wants to buy me a tablet. I do love the ipad, only thing i really hate about the ipad is no flash player. If i want to watch movies etc. but do use it a lot and browse this site and other sports news with the ipad, .i wouldn't mind if she got me an ipad 2 but parts of me says try something else . But not sure if the others will be better

[Kiorrik]

As with most answers; "it depends".

The iPad is designed to be "perfect". Straight out of the box you've got a great user experience. It's more responsive than other tablets, it's more intuitive and generally harder to "break". It's also quite expensive, but you pay for a prime piece of hardware.

My girlfriend has a Mac (Hackintosh, don't ask), a MacBook Pro and an iPad, and they work together like a charm. The whole ecosystem Apple has built is amazing. It all fits together perfectly, is extremely durable, pretty, and "easy to use", though somewhat limited.

I've got a Nexus tablet (the Nexus 7, the size of an iPad mini) and it's pretty much the opposite. Not that it's a crappy piece of hardware; it just takes a bit of time to get used to some of the user interface decisions they've made. Also, coming from an iPad (we have one at home, and one at work, that we build software for) it's just slightly less "perfect" on all fronts. The touch sensors seem slightly less responsive, the programs crash a bit more often, etc.

What you get in return, is a tablet that you can customize to bits. There are so many (free) apps, utilities, and settings in this thing.

More importantly, I don't have to use iTunes, which I loathe. I have an iPhone, but never update anything, and can't really put music on there because I don't have all the MP3's that are on that phone on my PC as well. So I'd lose half of my library. Stupid.

With my Nexus, I can hook it up to my PC and click & drag the files on there. Heck, I can even play movies over my home WiFi network. I download stuff on my PC and have access to it on the tablet whenever I want.

I also can download Super Nintendo games/emulators, hook a controller up to it and just play games wherever I want. And I believe I had to download support for flash, but at least it is available.

BUT, that's all stuff that you need to be a bit nerdy for. If you're tech-savvy not, go for an iPad. If you're a bit of a geek, I'd recommend the Nexus. I'm very enthusiastic about my Nexus, but the open-ness of the system is just not for everyone.

I won't touch on other tablets, because I don't have enough experience in day-to-day use of them, but they fall somewhere in between the two of these.

.ps: it was a fair bit of text so I highlighted what each part was about.
.pps: the Nexus also is a LOT cheaper than an iPad, if that factors into your decision!

[guava_wrench]

I always depends upon what you want to do with it.

I have a 4th gen iPad, which has a much better CPU than the iPad 2. It performs well and is pretty easy to navigate. I don't like browsing on it at all, but it is good for mediocre games and content consumption through apps. I also rely heavily on Zotero as a citation manager and Zotpad is well made for accessing references in my library. It integrates well with GoodReader for PDF markup. It is also a bit to heavy for ebook reading unless you are at a desk. I usually have my iPad docked in a keyboard, as does my wife (3rd gen). In other words, we mostly treat our iPads like very light, under powered laptops. While I do not care for iOS on a phone, I do like it on a tablet if I am just checking email, reading Bleacher Report, playing games, and annotating PDFs.

I also have a 1st gen Nexus 7. I only read it to read from my Kindle collection due to its size and for consuming RSS content offline (surprisingly, iOS apps for RSS feeds are quite inferior if you prefer to keep your progress in the cloud. If I didn't break my 3rd gen Kindle and didn't find my 1st gen Kindle annoying, I would use an e-ink Kindle for reading since it really is a better experience for long reading sessions where you want to concentrate. I suspect I would have preferred an iPad mini to the Nexus 7 since I could better annotate PDFs on it. Also, for some odd reason, you can highlight in 4 colors using the Kindle app in iOS, but only 1 color in Android. Odd, considering Amazon manufactures Android devices.

I would like to get a Win 8 hybrid tablet once they have Haswell chips as I could access my Zotero library for free and I would prefer to have a system where apps can share content. I do not need to be protected from myself so the kid-proofing of the iPad is not a bonus for me. If I am going to use something that heavy, I would rather make it more useful. I don't consider Win RT an option because the whole point of my interest in Win 8 is the ability to run Windows apps that I already own or that are free online.

[guava_wrench]

I also want a Haswell Win 8 tablet so that I can play Civ V on the go.

[Kiorrik]

Guava; what do you use for feeds? I've only recently started using feedly. Not sure if I like it.

[Rondo2287]

I currently use an ipad 2.  Have also had an HP touchpad, and an nexus 7.  Bough the touchpad and nexus 7 were sold because they didnt compare to the ipad in my opinion.

[crownontherocks]

Anyone using samsung galaxy tab 10.1?

Thanks everyone for there input some far


I mostly just use the tablet for internet browsing and use the fantasy football app 

[Blaze4G]

Okay so I have had alot of experience with many tablets and hopefully I can help.

Windows RT - I would say...dont get this...if its not the full windows tablet which cost 699+ then dont get it. The RT is limited.

Ipad - Not a apple fan but I think they are smooth and fluid. Easy to use and has a really good quality feel. If you're not into customization so much and just want a tablet to browse the web and apps then this would be good.

Samsung 10.1 tab - Dont buy...I have a samsung s3, awesome product but the 10.1 tabs are way behind the competition to be honest.

Nexus 10 (made by samsung) - Amazing. The processor in the nexus is 10 times better than galaxy tab, much faster. Ihave been an android user for 6 months before playing with a nexus 10 and to be honest it was kinda hard to use at first.

You should choose between ipad and nexus 10....I personally would go for nexus 10 however your needs might be different. Ipads are really nice so if you dont mind paying a premium then go for it.

PS. If you do choose the nexus 10..it has been going on sale alot...32GB version for 370 + free shipping unlike bestbuy its 430 + tax or something like that. So PM me and whenever I see the sale I will message you. (been going on sale like 4 different days throughout the past 3 weeks).

[Kiorrik]

Funny to read that the three large responses are pretty much the same, but from a different angle.

You should be able to make your choice by now, crownontherocks

[manl_lui]

I have both the Ipad and the RT - I can tell you right now that the IPad is better - gaming, and web surfing is definitely superior than the RT - RT lags when using the IE app (coming from an Apple hater)

I only tested the Galaxy Note 3 10.1, and in my opinion, very smooth and definitely looking to buy that one next. Bought the Ipad for my mom a year ago as a birthday present.

The RT is better for productivity because it comes with Word, and Office preloaded and you have a chance to buy Outlook when the app comes out next month.

Ultimately if it boils down to topics, here is my judgement

Games
1. Ipad
2. Galaxy
3. RT

App choices, customization, "PC" like feel
1. Galaxy
2. IPad
3. RT (Not bad if you're just using windows explorer, office and even browsing files on your USB)

Productivity (Editing documents, presentations, office work)
1. RT (Office apps is actually decent! and when outlook comes out, the email will be pretty good too)
2. Android
3. Ipad

Ultimately, I will choose the Galaxy mainly because I'm a fan of open source and Android in general. I love the live widgets offered like weather, flixter, etc without even opening the app. Very smooth UI, browsing, and app control. I'm close to selling my RT for like 150-200 and then cover the rest for the Galaxy Note 3 10.1 or 8 (may lean towards the 8 so it's easier to carry out)

[j804]

iPad >

[Chris]

I just had to make this decision myself (well, it was Ipad mini), and I ended up going with the Ipad, simple because we have our speakers in our house wired up to an AppleTV, so having airtunes was really important.  And I haven't regretted it at all. 

I also have had several instances where apps I needed for school were only available on Ipad, and not on Android.

I think it all comes down to what you want out of the tablet.  If you don't need the Apple specific Apps, then probably the other tablets are better.  Better screens, more flexibility, etc.

[badshar]

If you are just looking for apps and nothing else, then the iPad. Else, you go with Surface Pro (not Surface RT) which has decent apps and is capable of doing far more than the other 2.