My wife has a Samsung Tab 2 8" tablet which has come to the end of its life after a good number of years service. It had a new battery last year, but is playing up and getting into a boot loop regularly. She bought a new larger Tab S9 but didn't get on with it as it was took bulky for reading late at night, so returned it. It's only used for surfing the web, and watching Netflix and other streaming services, so nothing demanding. Unless we're not looking hard enough, there don't seem to be any decent small Android tablets any more. People seem to be saying this is a problem when I look around the web. My Dad's 8" Tab 2 is also playing up when the battery gets to 20%, but OK if charged before it gets there. He bought a Samsung Tab A8, but it drains the battery in a day or 2 unless fully turned off and has a horrible screen. There seems to be the Lenovo Tab M8 4th gen (not sure how old it is) for £100 or so on Amazon, but that seems cheap and may not be cheerful! I bought an iPad Mini 5th gen 4 years ago as the Tab S2 I bought, (and gave to my Dad subsequently), wouldn't connect to my DJI drone more than 20% of the time. This has been fine and the battery is also losing capacity. She may buy an iPad mini too, but is wary of the 7th gen possibly round the corner. I suggested a 6th gen refurb to save money. Suggestions please...
The father-in-law has a lenovo tab, I think 3rd gen he got it 2 Christmases ago. He just uses it for streaming and some light browsing. Never had any issues with it and the battery is still going pretty strong.
We're a split platform family! Mrs A and I are Android phone wise but I have partly joined the kids who are iPhone and iPad. That's useful to hear, a £100 Lenovo is an easier gamble than an expensive and oversized Samsung Tab S. I think she's happy to buy an iPad Mini but unsure about missing out by getting a Mini 6 now with the 7 round the corner. It's the same as waiting for the next imminent GPU!
Hard to find any meaningful information, just the usual mish-mash of rumours but, looks like Mini 7 could be launched at Apple's event on the 9th, next Monday.
Thanks Mr M. That's what my wife has found, so is definitely waiting to see if that happens. There's also some talk of or possibly not appearing until early next year, which reinforces what you said. I can't remember what the delay is between launch and stock on the shelves.
More here: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-event/ Suggests Mini 7 could be along later but, again just rumours so, take it with a bucket of salt...
My wife has an 8.7" Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 and it seems to be a good small tablet at a reasonable price.
Thanks BE, Mrs A is wary of anything bigger than 8" and I wouldn't want to get burned again by Samsung after the awful A8 my Dad got on recommendation...
I've had quite a few Samsung Tablets in the last 10 years with some really bad ones (the first Galaxy Tab S had terrible battery life that deteriorated within months, the S6 Lite despite the relatively high cost has a terrible screen) but the A9 seems a good little tablet, you wouldn't game on it but it's great for reading books, magazines and newspapers. If you buy from Amazon it's relatively easy to return if you don't like it. I've just checked the AccuBattery history and it used 28% battery in 7 days on standby which is 4% a day which doesn't seem too bad. I know it uses around 10% battery per hour when she's reading. It is quite chunky if your wife has small hands and weighs just over 400g with a cheapie TPU case. It's about 5mm longer but 10mm narrower than her Tab2.
A quick update. It seems the Tab A9 was appealing, and one is on order from the rainforest. Will update with how it has been received
