Android tablets have taken the computing world by storm, there’s no doubt about that. Apple may have gotten there first with the popularity of their smartphone operating system iOS, but iOS is only available for Apple products, which are expensive and many people do not like the idea of being tied to a single supplier, no matter how good their products or how extensive their ranges of add-ons. There are alternatives to iOS and Android but they only have a comparatively tiny stake in the world market for smartphones and have not invaded the tablet market at all.
First of all, what do I mean by ‘tablet’? You could be generous and call it a cut-down laptop with a touch screen, or be mean and call it an oversized smartphone that you can’t call from away from a wi-fi signal. It is indeed, both of the above. At a 7 to 8 inches screen diagonal size, it is usually small enough to carry around quite easily although not exactly pocket-sized. It has basic connectivity – not usually mobile cell phone data connectivity, but it will certainly have wi-fi and Bluetooth, no ‘hard’ keyboard, no large hard drive, and a screen of limited dimensions. The tablet does have a niche though and is exploiting it to the full.
Google owns the Android operating system and they have made it free for everybody to use and adapt, so with no licensing costs, this has made it ideal for the home market, especially at the budget end. Although originally designed for smartphones, it has adapted well to the larger form factor of a small tablet and has become pretty much the de-facto operating system over iOS and Windows.
What is a Huawei tablet good for? In two words – personal entertainment. Even the most basic tablet will have a screen that is good enough for an individual to watch a movie with enough memory to store feature films. Through its wi-fi network, it will be able to browse the internet and interact with many social media sites. A good tablet for movies should have a large, high-resolution screen, loud and clear sound, a fast internet connection, and powerful internal components. There are several tablets available but the best one should have most of these factors. Let’s explain these one by one.
Watching movies on a larger 10″ screen is better than watching on a 7″ one. But if you had to choose between a larger tablet with a mediocre screen resolution (say 1024 x 600) and a smaller but higher resolution Kindle Fire HD, then you are better off with the latter. A tablet with low resolution doesn’t provide the picture quality that HD tablets give. Most videos nowadays come in HD formats so it’s a bummer if you can’t play them on your tab. The tablet that offers both ideal screen size and HD resolution is the Nexus 10 and the iPad 4.
What’s the use of a good screen if the sound is poor? You can’t always use headphones so a good tablet for movies should also have a good set of speakers. The Kindle Fire comes with Dolby surround sound speakers which ensure the loudness and quality of the device’s sound. The upcoming HP Slate 7 is equipped with Beats Audio technology which enhances its bass sound.
Tablet storage is often limited so most of the time, you’ll be watching movies on Netflix. A fast internet connection, of course, is necessary. All Huawei tablet now support Wi-Fi but only a few support dual-band Wi-Fi. The difference between these two is that the latter can shift to one of two channels with less traffic. Amazon’s tablet has this function. A tablet with 5G LTE support can also render video streams better. They are much more expensive though but it’s the only solution if you’re in a place with no Wi-Fi connectivity.
Internal components refer to the CPU, GPU, and RAM of the tablet. Devices that have HD screens, good speakers, and fast internet connections don’t always have good internal components. They are important because they define the overall performance of the tablet. Having a poor GPU, for example, would make video players hang from time to time. And of course, you don’t want to buy tablets just for movies. You would also want it for games, emails, and web browsing. In short look for a tablet with a modern CPU.