Ok im looking for a tablet that’s 10.0 in size and can handle a huge library of games that won’t burn out in a year or so from heavy usage and can handle Netflix and youtube one that would write to an sd card after the onboard storage is used up would be helpful
now what confuses me is … does the version of Android matter? i mean I’ve seen some brand new that have old versions like 4.4 (kitkat) and the like
and 64gb is the memory limit?
since its mostly going to have kids stuff on it (the user is developmentally disabled so she won’t be playing a lot of the shiny new stuff)
Placeholder until more knowledgeable people show up.
I’ve been a fan of my Samsung 380 tablet. 8 inches, not 10, but plenty of horsepower. You want a more recent version of Android than 4.4, as many apps won’t work on that early of a version. SD cards can go greater than 64 GB, IIRC. Also a fan of Costco’s return policy on electronics.
I’ve been using Lenovo tablets as my standard for both myself and my eight year old son. I use the Lenovo Tab 4 10* and he has the 8" model. Lenovo also put out the slightly better M10 series.
They all take SD cards so plenty of room for storage once the native storage is used up. My son has most of his apps on SD card and it’s worked fine. The Tab 4 line is still on the Nougat version of Android but that hasn’t been an issue. The newer line runs Oreo. As you mention, games for younger children aren’t usually very intensive; I can’t speak for the games that try to emulate actual console games.
There’s tablets with better screens, more storage, etc out there but the Lenovo line hits a sweet spot between features, price and durability and without dipping into unknown brands.
*Actually, I just checked and I’m still using the older (and no longer sold) Tab 2 10, not the Tab 4. Testament to it lasting in my opinion and it’s running Android Marshmallow. My son IS using the Tab 4 and I’ll probably upgrade to the Tab 4 or M4 if mine starts giving me trouble in the next year.
You need to be careful with cheap no-name Android tablets. They may claim to have access to the Google Play Store (official Android app store), but often it’s through some loophole Google has closed already, or will soon. Any new tablet that runs Android 4.4 is almost certainly in this category.
I recently purchased a 10 inch RCA 10 Viking Pro with which I am very happy. It replaced an older RCA tablet which lasted 3 1/2 years before something went wrong with the battery. Some nice features are a standard, well-designed, detachable keyboard/touch pad, plus a USB port. Runs about US$150 for 32 GB. Most of the ones I saw online were Android 5, but I bought one that has Android 6.0. I only have a few games, but I haven’t had any trouble running anything.
she had a RCA… and she managed to burn it out in about a year in a half … I think we charge d it too much …if we let her shell run it down 2-3 times a day … although I do notice Netflix and youtube will run a tablet down faster than anything …
There are a lot of crappy Android tablets, you’d probably find an iPad is better quality but you will never get sdcard storage with an iPad, and they’re pricey.
If I were buying an Android tablet I’d get a Samsung.
Version of Android does matter, sometimes apps will quit supporting older versions of Android for various reasons. I have a friend with 4.x or 5.x and her BB&T banking app no longer works. You won’t even see the app in the store if your version of Android isn’t supported. So I would want at least version 6 or 7 right now.
I have a three-year-old cheapie Samsung Tab A. It’s had heavy use, gotten banged around, and not a thing has gone wrong with it. There are beginning to be some apps that aren’t available for it, but that’s it. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Samsung.
I’ve worked with two different RCA tablets - one running Android and one running Windows 10 - I have no idea of the models but the batteries were shit right out of the box. Pretty much had to leave them plugged in all the time.
So I’m surprised your RCA did so “well” but with three data points between us now, and a “something went wrong with the battery” from whitetho, I’d say steer clear of RCA tablets.
RCA doesn’t exist anymore. The brand is owned (in the US) by Sony Music Entertainment. Note: Not Sony’s electronics division. All it does is license the brand out to whoever pony’s up cash.
So that RCA branded tablet is made by some no-name company who slaps RCA on it. They have about as much interest in preserving the brand reputation as a carton of yogurt. They have a well deserved reputation as crap.
Get an Amazon Fire tablet. Strongly discounted for their power and a lot of support behind them. They run a slight variation of Android so just about everything will run on them.
The current 10" model is the HD 10. It’s nearing 2 years old so a new model will come out soon. Current model’s OS is based on Lollipop, the current 8" and the upcoming 10" are based on Nougat.
Sorry to be argumentative, ftg! But I got a new 10" Fire last Christmas and the charging port came loose within a month (known issue). I also don’t like that the keyboard doesn’t have predictive text. My Samsung is an 8" and while I like the big display of the Fire, overall, I like my Samsung much, much better.
Can you easily access Google Play store on Fire devices these days? Amazon app store is trash, apps are updated more slowly (if at all) and it just doesn’t work as well at all. Since the OP mentions kids apps, when the Toca Boca apps came together under “Toca World”, I had to repurchase any Amazon Toca apps from Google Play because the Amazon ones were outdated and wouldn’t update and so Toca World wouldn’t register them.
(There’s a bunch of very popular Toca Boca games called Toca School, Toca City, Toca Vacation, etc which used to be completely separate apps but Toca World allows the player to move seamlessly between them all)
My opinion is Amazon Fire tablets are a decent value, but they are designed to sell Amazon content and will constantly remind you of that. They are Android-based but keep you at arm’s length from the full set of Android features. More trouble than they’re worth IMO.
Jophiel, I haven’t found a way to access Play Store. I agree with control-z’s assessment of it being strictly an Amazon device. After the relative freedom of Android, I’m not very fond of it. Even with the replacement, I wish had saved the money for a 10" Samsung.
I missed this part of the question. I’m pretty sure there is no set limit to the size of micro-SD cards. I’ve used 128GB and larger cards in every Android device I’ve had in the past 5 years or so. I currently have a 512GB card in my Samsung Tab S4.
As for Amazon Fire tablets, they are great if you mainly use the tablet for Kindle e-books, Amazon video and a few apps that are available on Amazon’s app store. If there are specific apps you want to use that aren’t on Amazon, then get a real Android tablet.
I have a several years old kindle fire 7". it runs Netflix and Hulu fine unless the wifi signal is weak. If I use my phone’s hotspot, Hulu doesn’t work but Netflix does just fine. Ipad won’t connect to my hotspot at all.
Your experience isn’t universal. My first phone wouldn’t handle anything bigger than 4 GB. The next, 32 GB. My current one says that the limit is 400 GB (but if that is because that was the biggest capacity at the time the manual was written or if it really can’t handle 512 GB I haven’t tested.) Some current phones list a maximum capacity of even less than 400 GB. Tablets have the same sorts of limitations.