Best android tablet
After several hours of research on about 15 popular models, we were able to select the 5 best Android tablets of the moment, among which we recommend especially the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Enduring and versatile, it's the ideal companion for all the tasks you entrust to it, whether it's gaming, multimedia or even light office work.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e
Samsung's new mid-range reference, the S5e aims to be versatile and qualitative and takes the place of a real mid-range tablet that has been left vacant until now. It is the best compromise between versatility and price of the Samsung series. With its non-negligible assets and despite its slight lack of performance, it is in our opinion the best solution currently available.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A
When it comes to value for money, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A is the perfect proposition, especially if you're looking for a low-budget solution for the whole family. Its performance and battery life are real assets at this price level. Available in Wi-Fi or 4G versions, it is suitable for both home users and nomads.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
There's no point in changing a winning formula. Samsung understood this when they designed this tablet. The brand offers here the only truly high-end Android tablet. It achieves an almost faultless by equipping it with recognized components and offers a set of very good quality, both in terms of hardware and software.
Huawei Mediapad 5 Lite
Here Huawei succeeds in offering a product that is on a par with the competition and suitable for the whole family. Multimedia-oriented, it will be the ideal companion for your videos and surfing sessions thanks to its audio signed Harman Kardon. Current Google conditions and the multimedia bias have pushed it out of first place in this section, but it remains a very good option.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4
This alternative is just as good as his little sister. Your choice will rather be determined by your needs: the S5e is more versatile with its compact size and high autonomy. The S4 is more productivity-oriented, thanks to its power and the optimizations that have been added for this purpose.
Why trust us?
The editorial team spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and comparing products to find the best value for money. None of our articles are sponsored. We sometimes receive a commission when you purchase a product through our links, which allows us to finance our work while remaining completely impartial.
How did we make our choice?
The touchpad has always been controversial. Not really a computer but larger than a smartphone, it has become a risky segment for brands. And the development of tablet phones in recent years does not play in favor of this type of device. In the Android ecosystem, there are many manufacturers, but only two brands are emerging and continue to resist and innovate in this field: Huawei and Samsung.
To determine which products should be part of our selection, we used the following criteria:
- The screen
As the tablet relies heavily on this component, it is essential that it is of the highest possible quality. High resolution and high display quality are therefore to be favoured. Since this type of device is intended for mobile use, the display must ensure good outdoor visibility by minimizing the reflectance of light sources and having good contrast and sufficient brightness.
- Ergonomics
This type of terminal is larger than a smartphone. Special care must therefore be taken to ensure its ergonomics. For example, the different models must be usable with one or two hands, in landscape or portrait format, while being robust. This criterion is generally determined by the materials used and the weight of the device. The placement of various elements such as the physical buttons and speakers is also important in order to provide the best possible experience.
- Versatility
The Android interface has the advantage of being fully adaptable to your needs. The format of the tablets does not destine them to a specific function, so versatility is an important factor of choice. Some use them for professional purposes, others are more media-oriented. Thus, for this criterion, we focus, within our comparison, on the different options available, while noting the specificities of each model.
- Autonomy
As with smartphones, a tablet must have good battery capacity so that you don't have to leave it plugged in all the time. Of course, mobile use implies that this autonomy should be as long as possible. This endurance is often determined by the technology used by the display and software optimization (sleep mode, processor management, etc.). In other words, just because your battery is bigger doesn't automatically mean you'll have better battery life.
Based on these criteria, we were able to pre-select 15 models. Numerous user reviews and professional tests allowed us to reduce this list to the following 5 proposals. Don't be surprised to find a majority of Samsung brand references in the different categories: this brand has long been one of the major players in this market and the few competitors are not up to the task. Only Huawei can really provide equivalent solutions, but the current situation of the brand compared to Android does not allow us to recommend its products. For the moment, we don't know if new versions of Android will be available for this brand in the future.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e
Samsung's new mid-range reference, the S5e aims to be versatile and qualitative and takes the place of a real mid-range tablet that has been left vacant until now. It is the best compromise between versatility and price in the Samsung range. With its non-negligible assets and despite its slight lack of performance, it is in our opinion the best solution currently available. Taken from the Galaxy Tab S4, its Super AMOLED 10.5" QHD screen is a real eye-catcher with a very good quality panel that can be used in all circumstances. One step through the settings and you'll get a superior experience. This is still the best display available today. Ergonomics is true to Samsung's philosophy: a light (400 g) and compact body gives you a comfortable grip, while giving a feeling of solidity thanks to its aluminium back.
The only drawback: the positioning of the different buttons is not very adequate and requires some finger gymnastics to activate them. The same applies to the fingerprint reader on the home button. Make facial recognition much more convenient. The heart of this model is a Snapdragon 670 with 4 to 6 GB of RAM. A little weak for this price, it still handles most of the tasks you entrust to it without flinching, but encounters a little more problems with the more greedy 3D titles. Users also noticed that the heaviness of the animations (which can be disabled) could reduce the fluidity of the device.
More enduring than its big sisters Galaxy S4 and S6, the S5e will accompany you during 2 days of intensive use thanks to its 7040 mAh battery. The software benefits from classic processing but also contains the DeX mode, which modifies the user interface for the benefit of productivity (closer to what is done on a computer). Combined with the samsung keyboard (available as an option), it becomes a good complement to your smartphone to take notes or answer your emails. The limited power of the processor, however, does not really replace a conventional laptop.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A
When it comes to value for money, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A is the perfect proposition, especially if you're looking for a low-budget solution for the whole family. Its performance and battery life are real assets at this price level. Available in Wi-Fi or 4G versions, it is suitable for both home users and nomads. This device offers a good quality IPS screen. Its resolution of 1920×1200 allows for sharp rendering and good colour reproduction. The choice of IPS is quite strange. Samsung has indeed a proprietary technology, called AMOLED, which would have reduced the defects of this display. This type of display has a very good reputation and would have been a real advantage.
Available in 10.1" and announced in 8" (no release date has been revealed yet), this tablet with its slim design is true to the brand's habits, with its well studied ergonomics. Whether in one hand, resting on a table or in any other position, it remains pleasant to use. The only noticeable defect is a slightly high weight (460 g) which can cause fatigue after prolonged one-handed use. From a performance point of view, the Tab A does very well against the competition. Its Exynos 7904 processor coupled with 2 GB of RAM will accompany you smoothly in all your usual activities. A slight lack of performance for the greedy 3D games, quite common at this price level, is still to be deplored.
Another strong point of this model is its autonomy, guaranteed by its 6150 mAh battery, which allows you 2 days of intensive use before you need to recharge it. An endurance more than honorable considering its capacity. The software part is provided by the manufacturer's overlayer which is beneficial to the Android system, not very optimized for this type of device. In particular, it includes a "Kids" mode, containing applications and games dedicated to children and a dedicated parental control system. In short, parents and children alike will benefit from it.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
There's no point in changing a winning formula. Samsung understood this when they designed this tablet. The brand offers here the only truly high-end Android tablet. It achieves an almost faultless by equipping it with recognized components and offers a set of very good quality, both in terms of hardware and software. The brand is once again using its Super AMOLED screen, THE current reference. But unlike other models equipped with it, its calibration is almost perfect on the S6. Multimedia is not neglected because, in addition to this screen, four speakers optimized by AKG allow you to enjoy your different titles. Slim and compact, this device has a flawless ergonomics thanks to its aluminium coating which guarantees solidity and lightness (420 g).
The S-Pen accompanying the Tab S6 has been redesigned: more precise and ergonomic, it also serves to control the device remotely and integrates gesture controls. The only negative point noted by users is the pen's storage location on the rear panel: its position is not very adequate because it tends to come loose when stored. On the power side, performance is ensured by the Snapdragon 855, which is currently the best processor on the market. This version has proven itself on several high-end smartphones and will follow you in all your activities, whether for gaming, multimedia or productivity. Autonomy remains correct without being good. With its 7040 mAh battery, this tablet will follow you for up to a day and a half in intensive use, which puts it below the other models of the brand already mentioned.
DeX mode is also available on this version. It has been revised and optimized to correct the errors of its predecessors: it can be extended to another screen and managed independently thanks to the USB-C port. As an added bonus, it turns your device into a touchscreen laptop using the keyboard. The keyboard is equipped with a touchscreen mouse, which makes it much more pleasant and intuitive to use, as well as a protective cover for the stylus. Note that the DeX mode is quite limited compared to a conventional computer because of the Android operating system, which is not very well adapted to this format.
Huawei Mediapad 5 Lite
Huawei succeeds in offering a product that is on a par with the competition and suitable for the whole family. Multimedia-oriented, it will be the ideal companion for your videos and surfing sessions thanks to its audio signed Harman Kardon. Current Google conditions and the multimedia bias are pushing it away from the top of the list of inexpensive tablets, but it's still a great option. This tablet is a very good alternative to the Tab A. It offers a high quality 10.1" IPS screen, usable in all circumstances thanks to its below average reflectance rate. The resolution is the same as on its competitor above, which ensures a sharp image. To benefit from a faithful reproduction of the colors, it will be necessary to pass by the box "parameters".
The quality of construction and finish guarantees a robust unit and a good grip. The four loudspeakers developed with Harman Kardon are ideally located and are not hindered when you hold it in your hand. Its only ergonomic flaw is the placement of the various connections, which prevents it from being held properly when connected to headphones or the mains. Its design is designed for multimedia use in the landscape position, as evidenced by the placement of the connectors and the presence of the home button (fingerprint sensor) under the lower part of the screen. It also has a fairly substantial weight (475 g). These features will have a negative impact on its versatility and nomadic experience.
The performance is ensured by an in-house processor: the Kirin 659, coupled with 3 or 4 GB of RAM. It allows the M5 lite to run smoothly for all types of use and allows you to run more demanding games with a few graphics concessions. Endurance is the key word for this model. Its 7500 mAh battery capacity and the care taken to optimise performance make it one of the benchmarks in terms of lifespan. Thus, the M5 lite will follow you for about 3 days, almost 1 day longer than the competition! Finally, Huawei has also adapted the software part of this tablet by adding features related to children's eye protection. Thus, a notification is displayed when the screen is too close to their face, a mode reducing harmful lights is available and everything is adjustable via parental management.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4
This alternative is just as good as his little sister. Your choice will rather be determined by your needs: the S5e is more versatile with its compact size and high autonomy. The S4 is more productivity-oriented, thanks to its power and the optimizations that have been added for this purpose. As mentioned above, its display is flawless and clearly worth the detour. It will meet all your expectations in terms of display quality, responsiveness and sharpness. From an ergonomic standpoint, this former top-of-the-line model is more bulky and heavier (482 g) than the S5e, while still being more ergonomic. The only negative comment from users is related to its glass and metal back, which tends to be slippery.
This model can be combined with the older Samsung keyboard to turn it into a compact productivity tool. This good quality device is not very ergonomic, however: the absence of a touchpad and the Samsung specific key layout are two negative elements that are often noted. The power developed by the chip chosen by Samsung is more than sufficient. The Snapdragon 835 is still at the level of current standards and guarantees you fluidity and versatility, whether for multimedia or more professional purposes. For endurance, Samsung has opted for a 7300 mAh battery that will last just under 2 days in regular use. An honourable score for an older generation.
The real contribution of Tab S4 is the DeX mode. It totally transforms the basic Android interface into a tool optimized for productivity close to the standards present on laptops. Thanks to the brand's keyboard and the S Pen (a connected pen to take notes on the fly, draw and launch some applications thanks to integrated shortcuts), this tablet offers the advantage of working efficiently on the go while benefiting from a device that is more compact than a computer. At the end of the day, the key is to determine your real needs in order to make your choice, because both the S5e and the S4 are worth the detour.
Honorable mentions
Huawei Mediapad M5 / M5 Pro: Just like its "lite" version, the Huawei Mediapad M5 is an excellent alternative to the Samsung mid-range models. Its assets are a high autonomy of about 2 days, a good grip and speakers optimized by Harman Kardon. However, we have discarded it from our main selection because it is less ergonomic and slightly less powerful than the selected models, and its screen is of lower quality.
