EXPENSIVE vs CHEAP TABLETS

They may look alike from afar, but there’s often quite a big gulf between cheap tablets and expensive ones. Touchscreen quality and internal memory size are two key differences. Here’s what to look for when buying.

TOUCHSCREEN

There’s a big difference between a good touch screen and a bad one. The best feel very responsive and accurate, the worst feel very slow to react and are frustrating to use. Look out for tablets with capacitive screens as they are usually better, but check out our reviews too.

MEMORY

If you just intend to surf the web, you don’t specifically need a large memory size. If you want to download and store videos, music and games though, bigger sizes are worth going for.

As a rough guide, a two-hour HD film uses about 3.6GB, 12 albums of music about 1GB, while games can range from 20MB to 500MB (0.5GB) and beyond. On most tablets, though not on the Apple iPad, there is usually a memory card slot that you can use to transfer files as well as expand your available memory.

WI-FI AND 3G

Tablets are great for browsing the web, but to do that you will have to get online. You can do this via Wi-Fi at home, if you have a wireless router set up. Outside the home, many cafés, pubs, restaurants and other public places have Wi-Fi networks you can connect wirelessly to. Some of these places may ask you to pay, others are free.

Some tablets can connect to the 3G mobile network, so you can connect to the internet widely just like you can with a mobile phone. Often these tablets are sold on a contract basis like mobile phones.

TETHERING

If your tablet doesn’t have built-in 3G, you can sometimes tether your tablet to your mobile phone, in other words you can share the phone’s 3G connection with the tablet. To do this, you connect the two devices, usually via Wi-Fi. Check with your network provider for details.

FLASH SUPPORT

Flash is a format used to display many online videos and animations. Some tablets, most notably the Apple iPad but also some cheap tablets, don’t support Flash meaning that these videos and animations won’t play.

APPS

An app is a program that can perform specific tasks. It could be a game, a piece of office software, a news or weather program, a tool to help you find train timings or check out your friends on Facebook. Some apps are pre-installed on a tablet, though you may want to add more. You can browse through and download the ones you’re interested in from app libraries online. Many apps are free, others you have to pay for.

• Read books Book-reading apps such as iBooks on the iPad and Kindle allow you to buy, download and read electronic books, from classics to current bestsellers. These apps come with extra features, for example a built-in dictionary and note-taking function.
• Reading newspapers and magazines More and more newspapers now have their own iPad and Android apps. These provide the news in a convenient format optimised for tablet screens. You turn the page by swiping the screen from side to side, and can zoom in and out. Many magazines, such as The Economist, are available as well.
• Web browsing Whether it’s at home with a Wi-Fi internet connection, or out and about with 3G, tablets are great for browsing the web. Android gives you the flexibility of downloading and installing different web browsers, for example Mozilla Firefox.
• Games Games look better on a big tablet screen compared with a mobile phone or a handheld console. The iPad has lots of games available, from Grand Theft Auto to Chess.
• Email Tablets are ideal for regular emailing. Whether you use the virtual keyboard or an external one, tapping out quick messages is quick and easy.
• Video calls Most tablets feature front- and rear-facing cameras, making them ideal for video calls. Apple’s iPad has its FaceTime app, though Skype is supported as well.

While they’re not pocketable like smartphones, tablets are more portable than netbooks and you can perform most tasks that you’d perform on your computer on a good tablet. Most weigh well under a kilo and measure less than a centimetre thick making them easy to carry around in a bag.

Their bigger screen size makes them easier to read documents or watch videos on the move than it would with a smartphone. On some tablets, the screen is wonderful, displaying punchy colours and a sharp picture. However, speaker sound quality isn’t very good, and to enjoy music, you’ll have to depend on a good set of headphones.

Tablets are quick to start up, unlike some netbooks, although, if you have a bit of serious work to do, a laptop or netbook may be a better bet. This is because typing long documents on a virtual keyboard isn’t easy. Even so, tablet makers usually make an accompanying optional physical keyboard. This connects with the tablet wirelessly via Bluetooth, but on a small number of models, the keyboard will physically attach to the tablet.

Office software is available for tablets, but usually with less functionality than if you were working on a computer. Some office apps allow you to edit your files, others just let you view them.