Study Tablet-What NOT to buy!

[DancesWithWife]

Here in the United States we will be looking at really great prices for tablets in the next 2 months or so. Do not buy an Amazon Fire Tablet if your are looking for a study tablet. They have had issue after issue with the App working properly. There are other drawbacks, but since this thread is for study and meetings I will not discuss here. I bought two Fire tablets with the hope of using them as Study tablets only to be disappointed. We ended up buying Samsung tablets which work fine.  If you choose a tablet that has expandable storage make sure to get at least a 32gb card!

[vern]

https://www.gearbest.com

 

seems to have much better stats then the American stuff... honestly it seems America is trying to sell 5 year old stock for the same new prices..

I can't say how it compares... but i tried buying some cheap American tablet and returned it in 10 minutes....  when i get some money to work with I'm gonna order one of these Chinese 2-1's.

[Qapla]

Hmmmmm .... I have a couple of daughters and my wife that all have Fire tablets and they not had any problems with the their tablets working with the JWL app

[Thesauron]

Do not buy tablets more than a couple of years old, because eventually they will no longer update the OS, and quite soon our apps will no longer support the old version of your OS. Also, do not skimp on memory.


Any day now...

[DancesWithWife]

32 minutes ago, Qapla said:

Hmmmmm .... I have a couple of daughters and my wife that all have Fire tablets and they not had any problems with the their tablets working with the JWL app

Then you are in the minority of users. I just checked on the app page and there are lots of problems.

[The Deej]

Samsung Tablet for the win!  Unless you're old then get an  Ipad...lol?  Disclaimer no old people were hurt in the making of this thread.  

[The Deej]

I paid $400 for a used Samsung Galaxy note Pro 12.2 inch tablet three years ago, and its been flawless.  I got it off Amazon with buyer protection.  Trust me I didn't want to spend that much on a tablet, but the alternative was almost $800.00 for a new one.  I've always been an android user, well except back in the day when I had 5 different Blackberry models of phones.  Anyone remember grey scale?  Talk about brutal!

[jwhess]

3 hours ago, vern said:

https://www.gearbest.com

 

seems to have much better stats then the American stuff... honestly it seems America is trying to sell 5 year old stock for the same new prices..

I can't say how it compares... but i tried buying some cheap American tablet and returned it in 10 minutes....  when i get some money to work with I'm gonna order one of these Chinese 2-1's.

I have two Teclast X98 Plus tablets.  They have excellent video (retina type).  I got them with 64 GB of drive space and 4 GB of RAM memory.  One of them I bought from GearBest and one I bought used on Ebay.  They warn you about the OS not being upgradeable.  I think my GearBest unit was dual-boot 5.1 Android and Windows 10.  The problem occurred when Windows wanted to update.  I locked up halfway through the update and now I have a blue screen with Chinese characters basically telling me that it is broken.  I can still use the Android but it only has access to 20GB of the hard-drive.  My other unit was converted to all Windows 10 (which I wanted).  But the power button is unreliable.  It works occasionally but if the unit powers off, it takes many hours of trying to get it operational again.  I usually just leave it on and plugged in when I am not using it.  I can't send these back (10 minutes or not)..

Edited October 22, 2017 by jwhess

[Qapla]

2 hours ago, DancesWithWife said:

Then you are in the minority of users. I just checked on the app page and there are lots of problems.

 

Which app page?

[DancesWithWife]

1 hour ago, Qapla said:

Which app page?

The official amazon app store page.

[Qapla]

Oh, OK. Silly me, I looked on the JWL app page 

 

There may be all kind of problems with them. All I know is that the ones we have are not having any problems.

 

I guess they may be Kindle Fire - is that the same tablet you are talking about?

 

When we already have something that is working properly we usually don't read reviews about them - you know, what's the point

[Danni]

7 hours ago, The Deej said:

Samsung Tablet for the win!  Unless you're old then get an  Ipad...lol?  Disclaimer no old people were hurt in the making of this thread.  

not that old but im hurt. 

in my opinion, ipad is a more pricey but it's worth it. just take care of it physically. they have good processing power. choose the storage size that suits your need. when it comes to updates, even older ipads gets it. for example, the ipad air and ipad mini 2 were both released 4 years ago. but still, they are able to be updated to the latest version of ios which is ios11! 

[The Deej]

not that old but im hurt. 
in my opinion, ipad is a more pricey but it's worth it. just take care of it physically. they have good processing power. choose the storage size that suits your need. when it comes to updates, even older ipads gets it. for example, the ipad air and ipad mini 2 were both released 4 years ago. but still, they are able to be updated to the latest version of ios which is ios11! 

I do know that older iPhones at a point just like android phones stop working with programs. I guess it's just like computers. All our gadgets are made to be obsolete at some point. It stinks but it's just the greedy world we live in.

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

[Dages]

Think about the battery also.

[Vinnie]

I've been somewhat of a  computer geek all my life. Tablets and computers are imperfect devices made by imperfect people.  Sometimes our expectations are higher, even when the price is higher . They all have a certain degree of failure rate, even the best ones.  Tablets are just like computers. Computers are just like calculators but with more features and buttons and a bigger screen.

 

Tablet Factors to consider:  Find a writing stick and papyrus or parchment and make your list.

 

Screen size:  how good are your eyes to see it?  Everyone's needs here are different.

Speed: can it keep up with your fingers or are you OK to wait and wait until the scripture is read?

Storage space: (Applications) Apps take up space. Internal storage space is more reliable than external storage space. Micro SD cards don't last forever.

Amount of working Memory:  how big of a load can it handle? 

Battery life and charging ability: Tablets are made to be portable. We need them to be available from a few hours to all day.  

 

Your better off to save for something that will last at least 2- 3 years. In this greedy world, it was said that computer technology would be outdated every 6 MONTHS.  To a certain degree, you get what you pay for.  Don't forget the Warranty,  the longer  the better, if possible.

 

And yes, yes, yes, protect your investment. treat it like delicate glass. As humans, we are prone to dropping things. 

 

[DancesWithWife]

10 hours ago, Danni said:

in my opinion, ipad is a more pricey but it's worth it.

I just wish you could expand the memory. They are too pricey for me at this point!

[Peanuts]

Has anyone brought a kindle fire recently and still experienced problems? I knew there were issues but i thought they were resolved now. I am tempted  to get one as they are £50 right now.

 

I do have an ipad but i dont like to take it to the meeting as my kids have all their games on it...so it gives to much temptation to them and then subsequent battles with me. I ususally use  my phone but i would like something bigger for showing videos on ministry 

[Qapla]

As I mentioned, I have a wife and three of my daughters that all have Kindle Fire tablets. These have all been purchased in the past year. There have not been ay problems with the JWL on any of their units.

 

I can't speak for anyone else's tablet .... just what my family has experienced. They all really like them.

[jwhess]

A brother in my congregation had one.  It eventually failed to power on.  I looked on line and they suggested a power on press (30-60 seconds) and then recharge.  It worked for a while.  Then he had trouble getting the JW Library app to load and then be stable.  He was not an experienced  tablet user so he finally got another tablet (Samsung I think).

[Qapla]

My first tablet was an inexpensive one. It worked well and I liked it, even if it wasn't one of the fastest. After some time, it failed to boot. I was never able to get it to come back on even though I tried all the tricks I found on the Internet. My Brother had one just like mine. He bought it about a month after I had gotten mine. Until recently, his wife was still using it. It still works, she just got a better, faster one.

 

I also had a very nice Samsung (that is what I got to replace the old one) and it was great. It was fast. Really bright. Could hold way more than my first one and had an SD card slot. I really liked it. Then one day, while at the meeting, the screen started to get funny colors. It spread. Even though it could actually turn on and boot up - I could no longer use it (kind of hard to use one when you can't see what is on the screen)

 

I now have an inexpensive Lenovo (from Walmart) if does all I need it to. So far so good.

 

I guess my point is, if it works for you - it is good. You can not always go by how it works or has lasted for others. My really good Samsung broke so I could say they are a bad tablet and you should never buy one just because I had one fail. But that would be a bit one-sided.

 

At some point, YOU will have to decide if you want to try the Kindle or not.

[DancesWithWife]

42 minutes ago, Qapla said:

My first tablet was an inexpensive one. It worked well and I liked it, even if it wasn't one of the fastest. After some time, it failed to boot. I was never able to get it to come back on even though I tried all the tricks I found on the Internet. My Brother had one just like mine. He bought it about a month after I had gotten mine. Until recently, his wife was still using it. It still works, she just got a better, faster one.

 

I also had a very nice Samsung (that is what I got to replace the old one) and it was great. It was fast. Really bright. Could hold way more than my first one and had an SD card slot. I really liked it. Then one day, while at the meeting, the screen started to get funny colors. It spread. Even though it could actually turn on and boot up - I could no longer use it (kind of hard to use one when you can't see what is on the screen)

 

I now have an inexpensive Lenovo (from Walmart) if does all I need it to. So far so good.

 

I guess my point is, if it works for you - it is good. You can not always go by how it works or has lasted for others. My really good Samsung broke so I could say they are a bad tablet and you should never buy one just because I had one fail. But that would be a bit one-sided.

 

At some point, YOU will have to decide if you want to try the Kindle or not.

My Kindle still works great, the JW app like many others have had issues. I have sent numerous comments to the Brothers via the feedback of the issues. There are other concerns why I do recommend the Kindle as they lack the ability to get some of the more popular apps. 

[GrumpysWife]

I have bought several tablets from ebay. My latest one is a Samsung Tab A 9.7 with 32 gig of memory. It was new and I paid $184.00, one yr ago. It works awesome. 

 

This one has only 16 g's of memory but can take a sd memory card. I have bought from this company and never had any problems. 

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F362007761631

 

 

Edited October 27, 2017 by GrumpysWife

[DancesWithWife]

2 hours ago, DancesWithWife said:

re other concerns why I do recommend the Kindle as they lack the ability to get some of the more

I meant to say why I do not recommend!

[Peanuts]

9 hours ago, Qapla said:

As I mentioned, I have a wife and three of my daughters that all have Kindle Fire tablets. These have all been purchased in the past year. There have not been ay problems with the JWL on any of their units.

 

I can't speak for anyone else's tablet .... just what my family has experienced. They all really like them.

Thank you. I saw that you had them i wondered if yours were a recent purchase.

 

I dont really use a tablet much, i do have the iPad, but like i said thats pretty much owned by my boys now. I just use my phone for everything. Hence, why i dont want to spend much on a tablet! I dont mind spending £50 on a kindle...but not if jw app doesnt work! I think i might just take the plunge!

 

Edit: i just looked on Amazon and the 7" has been reduced to £39.99 now. 

Edited October 27, 2017 by Peanuts

[molnarj]

I recently bought a Dell 7275 for € 799 with 256 GB storage and 8 GB Ram. I used to have an Asus T100 but it began to work slowly and has only 32 GB. I must say I love my Dell. It runs W10 so I can use WTLibrary as well. Together with JWLibrary and OneNote it is my perfect study combination.