Tablet Experts Part 2, The "phablet".

[Paul]

Thank you everyone who contributed to my plea for help re Jamie's new tablet. He is now the proud owner of a new Lynx Gaming tablet. I have to admit to having given in to peer pressure somewhat. Many of his friends have the same tablet, and if you haven't seen it it slots into an xbox style controller frame meaning it is much easier to play games on. The down side is it runs Windows 10 but I have run the copious amount of updates that hit it "out of the box", so hopefully that will be it for a week or two. 

Now I need help for my new device. I need to replace my Samsung S6 which is slowly failing, bit by bit. I need a large screen device to run business apps (I work as a courier) but need it to be able to make and receive calls as well as text messages (real calls and texts, not via some third party app). Having visited our local shop it appears that what I need is not offered in the UK market, a tablet with phone capabilities, in stead you have to buy an "ultra" screen mobile phone which retail at about £600-800. He admits that the UK market is manipulated by handset manufacturers and that what I am looking for is readily available from the US or Asian markets at a fraction of the price. 

So the question is, does anyone have any experience of these devices (7inch plus screen, 4g data / calls / texts)? 

The option seems to be take a chance on something I have never heard of, or a refurbished Sony Xperia Z Ultra which sell for around £200.

[deebee29]

That looks a good choice of tablet for game players (not that I'm one)

I would think it will have plenty of choice when it comes to games being associated to XBox.

I'm afraid I can't help you with the other matter although I do know what you're after .... good luck

[Gallipoli]

Hey, there really isn't a tablet phone thing anymore, and to geta phone with a 7 inch + screen you will be pushing the, upper limits of prices.

Personally I would go for the oneplus 5 only problem is that it is a small screen 5.5", however there are rumours of a larger screen coming soon, it is also the cheapest high end long lasting phone on the market at about £500.

If this isn't an option id look into the, Google Pixel whichay well be coming down in price, as there is a new one coming out soon.

Both should last a good while, and are much easier to use than a Samsung device, (stock android in both cases), I normally look a generation back as they are much cheaper than, the flagship models and still do what you want, hope this was of some help.

 

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

 

 

 

 

[Siddy]

why don't use a large tablet and connect via wifi from your phone and still have the phone to do the rest.

O2 lets me connect my ipad to my phone with no extra charges if I don't have my mifi at hand plus the ipad can still be used as a phone using 'TU go' which lets you use your tablet of laptop to make calls and texts via wifi.

plus if your tablet fails your still available via phone etc.

[Hylander]

As I have asked before on here,   I have a tablet and the sound is awful, (so low you cannot hear it)   I have tried the settings which made no difference,  i dont rate these tablets at all but cannot really say anything as it was a gift from hubby.

[Paul]

5.5 inches is not really big enough. I currently use a Galaxy S6 which is only slightly smaller at 5.1 and that really struggles. Two separate devices is a real pain as I can only connect the phone either to the tablet to update the delivery apps or the van to make / receive calls, hence the desire to find one device to do both. It doesn't need to be cutting edge, no need for ultra hd 4k screens, octa core 2ghz processors etc. A number of companies like Lenovo, Acer, Huawei, HTC etc make them but very few are offered in the UK. If you ask in the mobile phone shops the acneid assistant looks at you as if you've just landed from Mars. If you search on the www most of the results are US based and refer to models never to have seen the UK Market. I might just have to trust the Acer.

 

[Regulo]

I'm not really up to speed on all this so I'm probably wrong (usually the norm), but doesn't your van connection use Bluetooth, while tethering your tablet use wifi? Or are the two not able to be used at once? Where's Robin when you need him?!!!! 

[Gallipoli]

Depends what you are using it for, I was using the blutooth and wifi tethering whilst on the boat this year, only thing you need to be aware of is the battery usage, as you are pushing both blutooth and wifi signals out of your phone

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[Siddy]

" doesn't your van connection use Bluetooth, while tethering your tablet use wifi"

Data can be sent over both depending on your connection.

Data over bluetooth is slow, I've 2 tomtoms one in Kazza's car runs via data over bluetooth via her phone for live traffic etc where mine has built in sim for data but connects my phone for handsfree via bluetooth.

On my phone I can listen to music from my server at home using wifi at work and listen via bluetooth headphones. But as said above it uses more power. Since having bluetooth on most of the day to connect to my smartwatch I use around 45% battery & listening to music can use upto 70% depending on much I can get away with. wifi + bluetooth.

Using the option I listed further up the page would mean Paul's phone would have to stay in his pocket if the tablet was used away from the van to keep a connection for signing of items etc.

 

[Paul]

What I need to look at is how the tracking software takes data, I have always assumed via blue tooth, but as I run everything on my Galaxy S6 it has never been an issue before. It runs the tracking app which updates the depot intermittently on deliveries, runs my sat nav (tom tom go mobile) makes and receives calls via the vans hands free on the radio and receives texts from the office with reroutes / new jobs. I did say I hammer mobile phones. As long as the S6 is "fast charging" then it is not a problem, but just lately it has become unreliable and now will not fast charge at all, either from the charger in the van or at home. It will also no longer connect for data transfer via it's USB port. It is a known and very common problem apparently, though one Samsung will not admit to, that a processor on the mobo which controls the various functions of the USB port fails, after which all it can do is slow charge. That doesn't put power in as fast as I'm using it. The screen is also starting to fail, with the brightness control not always working properly. It has various modes, standard, basic, super amoled, ultra hd 4k super motion blah blah. All I use is the standard but increasingly I have to switch it to one of the higher functions to get it to stay bright enough. Again, more power consumption. 

The ideal device would be the Galaxy Note series, but I refuse to go down the Samsung route again, and of course the latest Note 8 was withdrawn as it kept bursting into flames, an issue Samsung seem totally unable to rectify. The Acer Iconia Talk has the benefit of being a UK supplied model, so if it does need TLC has the benefit of Acer service centres in the UK, though I tend to find these things are increasingly deemed disposable. The Lenovo and Huawei offer better specs but would have to come from the US or Japan, hence little is any after sales support. The downside to the Acer, as far as I can see is the Battery, listed as 3500mah, not much compared to the 6000mah in most similar devices.