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Android tablets are back, but are they for you?
Android tablets have always been a bit of a touchy subject, but it’s abundantly clear that the form factor is making a comeback. But, as someone who’s a fan of the smaller sizes, are you actually using the gargantuan Android tablets that every company seems obsessed with? In other words – are you the customer for the Android tablets these brands are selling?
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For a while there, Android tablets had hit what felt like a dead end. Bigger smartphones and cooling of the tablet market as a whole, along with the general sentiment that Apple was doing a way better job with the iPad anyway, left the category in a place that felt stagnant – and that’s the nice way of putting it.
But, over the past few years, Android tablets have had a renaissance.
New form factors, big releases from a variety of brands, and flagship-tier devices left and right. Despite Android’s push into foldables and still-huge displays on nearly every smartphone, tablets are very much back. Prior to RAMageddon’s worst impacts, tablet sales were growing for nearly everyone, and Android brands were seeing a larger slice of the pie.
Anyway, this is on my mind right now because I’ve had a lot of Android tablets arrive in my office in the past few weeks, capping off a lot of tablet announcements in the past few months. I just finished up with Redmagic Astra 2, a tablet I think fits the description of “Android’s iPad Mini OLED,” and I’m in the process of moving into tablets from Lenovo and Amazon. Our Jordan Floyd has also been testing out the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra behind the scenes. And if there’s one trend amongst recent tablet releases, it’s that big tablets seem to be the primary focus among a lot of brands.
Take Amazon’s new Google Play-equipped Alexa Tablet lineup, for example.
The Alexa Tablet 12 is the crown jewel of the lineup, packing the most powerful specs and a premium anti-glare display. It’s the only one that gets a “Pro” moniker, while the 11-inch and 8-inch models are noticeable steps down. Unboxing the Alexa Tablet 8 this week, for example, I was immediately reminded this is not a premium device – the screen makes that clear without any hesitation whatsoever. It was a case of whiplash after setting up the Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus Gen 2 with its 4K display.
It’s a weird one for me. I’ve never been a big fan of these super-sized Android tablets (or iPads, for that matter). I can get behind a 10-inch or 11-inch model, but I find myself more at home on the smaller slates. They’re fantastic for travel as an alternative to draining my phone’s battery, while I find myself just reaching for a laptop instead if I want a bigger screen. A big tablet, regardless of specs, can rarely replace a proper laptop for me, so lugging both around just sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.
But, clearly, people are buying these bigger slates. Samsung appears to be seeing enough success with its mammoth Galaxy Tab S Ultra lineup to keep the 14.6-inch tablet around each year while the smaller sizes are now on an every-other-year cycle. Lenovo’s lineup is virtually all underpowered when the screen size goes down, aside from the Legion Tab that’s now $900.