Opinion needed on which new tablet to get

Brie · 28 October 2023 at 3:04PM

Looking at getting a new tablet to replace the 5+ yo Lenovo I got from Lidl for £75. Battery is nearly dead and the processor is a bit glitchy, poor performance.

Had it checked out at the local techie place and was told never to get another Lenovo as when they go, they go. They suggested a Samsung for the next one but the prices are too high for me.

But I wondered about this....any opinions??

Amazon Fire HD 10 Tablet (11th Generation) with Alexa Hands-Free, Octa-core, Fire OS, Wi-Fi, 32GB, 10.1" with Special Offers, Green (johnlewis.com)

Obviously I'll be looking at the upcoming sales as I'm not in a rush. I have a great laptop which I use daily but I would like something more portable, mostly for playing a game or two when I'm sitting watching TV.

facade · 28 October 2023 at 7:02PM

I have a Fire HD10 11th generation, and a Lenovo tab 11 pro 2.

The fire was 1/4 the price of the Lenovo (under £100 IIRC, I'd never have paid full price).

The question is, "Is the Lenovo 4x better than the Fire?"

I'd say it is. Larger screen. OLED, much, much better sound. Miles faster and more responsive, loads more memory and storage.

Only about 2 versions of Android behind, either 11 or 12 I can't remember, the fire uses Fire OS, which is about Android 9. The fire is plagued by adverts (you can pay extra to get rid of some of them). The Fire is restricted to the Amazon store, although you can force it to install the Play store, but the apps can be a bit flaky.

Imagine I didn't have the Lenovo. Is the Fire OK for £100? (£120 to make it useable)

Yes for the things I use it for. They are primarily designed to get you to consume Amazon media (and pay Amazon £££ in subscriptions) so it continually pushes Amazon content, but since everything is filled with adverts nowadays I don't notice.

It is great for reading Manga with the Tachiyomi app (free but you have to install it from a download).

It will work as an ebook reader, Calibre will load ebooks into it and the inbuilt Kindle app plays them

It will surf t'interweb, and play youtube adverts (there is no youtube app, but the browser version works fine)

It will stream media with the plex app, but you either need a plexpass or to pay £5 to activate the plex app.

The Amazon store has a lot less rubbish fewer apps than the play store, it depends on whether the games you want are on it or not

The first thing you have to do is add a micro SD card for some storage - around £20 for a decent 256GB card.

The screen is perfectly useable, side by side with the Lenovo, it is poor, but not useless.

If I break it in half like I have done 'phones in the past I will only cry for 3 weeks, rather than 3 months if I break the Lenovo (actually it has snap in half insurance for the first 12 months included in the price, so I wouldn't cry more than a few days if it is still in cover)

BTW, neither the Fire nor the Lenovo will cast to the TV like your old Lenovo does, something broke native screen casting with the later versions of Android. You can cast from within some apps, like youtube, but not just cast the screen as you would want to.

Brie · 28 October 2023 at 10:33PM

facade said:

I have a Fire HD10 11th generation, and a Lenovo tab 11 pro 2.
The fire was 1/4 the price of the Lenovo (under £100 IIRC, I'd never have paid full price).

The question is, "Is the Lenovo 4x better than the Fire?"

I'd say it is. Larger screen. OLED, much, much better sound. Miles faster and more responsive, loads more memory and storage.

Only about 2 versions of Android behind, either 11 or 12 I can't remember, the fire uses Fire OS, which is about Android 9. The fire is plagued by adverts (you can pay extra to get rid of some of them). The Fire is restricted to the Amazon store, although you can force it to install the Play store, but the apps can be a bit flaky.

Imagine I didn't have the Lenovo. Is the Fire OK for £100? (£120 to make it useable)

Yes for the things I use it for. They are primarily designed to get you to consume Amazon media (and pay Amazon £££ in subscriptions) so it continually pushes Amazon content, but since everything is filled with adverts nowadays I don't notice.

It is great for reading Manga with the Tachiyomi app (free but you have to install it from a download).
It will work as an ebook reader, Calibre will load ebooks into it and the inbuilt Kindle app plays them
It will surf t'interweb, and play youtube adverts (there is no youtube app, but the browser version works fine)
It will stream media with the plex app, but you either need a plexpass or to pay £5 to activate the plex app.

The Amazon store has a lot less rubbish fewer apps than the play store, it depends on whether the games you want are on it or not

The first thing you have to do is add a micro SD card for some storage - around £20 for a decent 256GB card.

The screen is perfectly useable, side by side with the Lenovo, it is poor, but not useless.

If I break it in half like I have done 'phones in the past I will only cry for 3 weeks, rather than 3 months if I break the Lenovo (actually it has snap in half insurance for the first 12 months included in the price, so I wouldn't cry more than a few days if it is still in cover)

BTW, neither the Fire nor the Lenovo will cast to the TV like your old Lenovo does, something broke native screen casting with the later versions of Android. You can cast from within some apps, like youtube, but not just cast the screen as you would want to.

What I'm reading from this is NO to the Amazon Fire gadget.

I want google, outlook, message & FB, load a few games. I might watch youtube but not often and the only time i've used the current one for iPlayer is if I want to play catch up on a BBC radio station or when OH was in hospital and needed to be entertained. I don't do ebooks but I might like a painting app....

And what the heck is casting? Using it to project stuff on to the TV? Wouldn't even know where to start with something like that!!!

twopenny · 29 October 2023 at 10:00AM

Granted my old kindle which was fine for what you said originally.
However recently it's refused to load my email - and a lot of reputable sites as not having https......but they do.
There is some question that Amazon are restricting some sites.....don't know but read this thread as I'm going to have to get another tablet too because I can't read my emails that are Microsoft based.

facade · 29 October 2023 at 6:46PM

I had a look at the Amazon store, facebook and outlook are there, there are some message apps, mine does email, I have a gmail account on it that works.

Yes casting is when you can mirror the screen to the TV, so if you can play a video, you can play it on the TV, or you can use the TV to enlarge whatever you have on screen, or show it off to an audience. I've only wanted to do it a couple of times, and it doesn't work. But it works perfectly on a really old Lenovo tab, that is on Android 6 or so......

The Fire is ok for the money- if you can get it cheap enough on Black Friday, or during one of amazon's frequent sales, it isn't worth over £100. There is also a Firemax 11 that is well overpriced, but again, ok if Amazon discount it enough.

Lenovo frequently reduce the price of the tablets in their online store, I paid below £400 for mine, they are £430 today.

Neither the Fire nor the Lenovo have a fingerprint sensor, the lenovo has some sort of comedy "face unlocking" that is junk, you have to tip tap the PIN into it, and annoyingly, you can't make the time-out long enough on the lenovo, but you can have half an hour on the Fire.

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sleepyjones · 29 October 2023 at 7:19PM

I think it depends on what you use the tablet for.
I would never buy a fire tablet though. It doesn't run on Android, it runs it's own "Fire" OS, which means most (like 90%) of the apps on Google Play won't work on it.

Stick to Android .., get a Samsung or look at the Honor Pad's if want something a bit cheaper ... DON'T get a Fire tablet though, in my opinion.

Wait for Black Friday though and buy it then, you'll get a much better deal (24th Nov)

ian16527 · 31 October 2023 at 4:35PM

Honor pad - good for the price

cerebus · 31 October 2023 at 9:38PM

Fire tablets are great for the price, mine does what the op wants fine and I've sideloaded google play so I have access to all the apps too

I paid £80 for mine from amazon on their refreshed section (whatever its called) and it looked brand new (fire hd 10)

searchlight123 · 1 November 2023 at 2:36PM

Another vote for an Amazon Fire tablet. I have an HD10 which was ok but on last Black Friday I bought their brand new Fire 11 Max for £129.99 reduced from £239 IIRC. It is superb, and chalk and cheese to my HD10. Sideloading the Google Playstore is easy enough or just download the apps you want (that are not in the amazon store) from a site like APK Pure in apk format. Not found one yet that doesn't work properly apart from the eBay app of all things!!

facade · 1 November 2023 at 8:01PM

Yes the max 11 was well overpriced at £240, £120 is more what it is worth, and around £80 for the HD10.

My HD10 can't hold a candle to the Lenovo, but I wouldn't take the Lenovo out of the house like I can the HD10. I read 350 pages of manga on it whilst waiting for my car to be ready perfectly happily.