The Best Android Tablets of 2023

Android tablets don’t get much love, but nowadays, an Android tablet can be a great experience. Start with these if you’re looking for an alternative to the iPads and convertible laptops on the market today.

What to Look for in an Android Tablet in 2023

Tablet computers are as diverse as any other major class of computing device. There are a wide variety of tablets out there, and each person’s needs will be different. That being said, a few key considerations apply to everyone.

First, the screen is perhaps the most important factor. Tablets are known for their large screen sizes, ranging from around seven to thirteen inches. Considering that the largest smartphones (once known as “phablets”) almost overlap with the low end of the tablet range, you’ll have to decide whether you want a small tablet or a large phone. Most Android tablets are in the 10-inch to 13-inch range and are usually used as laptop alternatives or media consumption devices.

As for screen technology itself, virtually all Android tablets use LCDs, as OLED technology isn’t as widespread in the market. It is also worth looking for a tablet with a laminated display. Such a display eliminates the air gap between LCD and glass and positively affects brightness, crispness, and how attractive the image looks.

Storage capacity is less problematic on Android tablets than on Apple tablets. While iPads have a fixed amount of storage, most Android tablets support SD or microSD card expansion for photos, video, music, and apps. That means saving money on storage in the short term isn’t a decision you’ll regret down the line.

Finally, core specifications such as processing power (CPU) or memory (RAM) are no longer major pitfalls. Android tablets, even budget ones, have reached the threshold where everyday tasks are handled without issue. You may have to wait a second longer for an app to open or a web page to load on a cheaper Android tablet, but the gap between budget and premium performance for these types of tasks isn’t something to worry about.

If you want a tablet for creative work such as video editing or high-performance uses such as 3D video gaming, you should aim for higher-end hardware. For an Android tablet, that means a flagship Snapdragon processor or an equivalent from another system-on-a-chip maker.

Now, let’s get into our recommendations.

Best Android Tablet Overall: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9

Android tablets, just like Android phones, are made to meet the different needs of different people. Your use case could vary, ranging from browsing on the sofa or an eBook reader to a portable gaming device or a digital notepad or sketchpad. So choosing one to recommend as our “best overall” isn’t as easy as simply choosing the one with the fastest CPU or brightest display.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, while not the most impressive member of the Tab S9 family, hits the sweet spot in terms of size, specification, and to a slightly lesser degree, the cost. It’s as equally suited to reading the latest blockbuster novel as it is to playing fast-paced games or sketching a portrait.

All the tablets in the Galaxy Tab S9 series feature a blistering Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, Dolby Atmos, Wi-Fi 6E compatibility, and the same Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. So, unlike previous generations of the Tab S, there is little compromise to make when choosing a model aside from the display size and battery capacity.

At 11 inches, the display is easily big enough to watch a movie on but doesn’t make the device too large or heavy to comfortably hold while reading, browsing, or playing a game. Add a keyboard cover, and it can easily double as a mini laptop.

You also get an S-Pen to use with all the S9 tablets. It perhaps isn’t as useful a tool as it is on the larger versions, but it’s nice to have nonetheless. When you’re done with the stylus, you can easily slot it into the back of the tablet.

The one thing going against the Tab S9 is the price. There has been a considerable jump in the price that may take it out of reach of some budgets. But if you want a multi-use Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab S9 is undoubtedly the best option.

image credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9

Best Android Tablet Overall

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 is a brilliant all-rounder, as good for playing games as it is for reading an eBook or browsing the Internet. It isn’t the cheapest tablet around, but it does boast some of the best specifications you can find. 

Best Budget Android Tablet: Amazon Fire HD10

There’s budget-friendly, and then there’s truly affordable when it comes to Android tablets. Spending between $100 and $200 on a tablet usually comes with serious compromises in at least one key area. That is unless you’re Amazon, in which case it’s possible to put a tablet with decent specifications and build quality on the market for relatively little money.

Thanks to advertising subsidies, Amazon sells tablets like the Fire HD10 for just $150. You’ll see advertising on the tablet’s lock screen if you pay the lower price. Whether that’s an acceptable tradeoff is entirely up to you, but the lock screen adverts are easy to ignore and never interfere with the tablet while in use.

More importantly, you can disable ads permanently later for an additional fee, so you can purchase the lower-priced Fire HD 10 and decide for yourself with no regrets.

As for the tablet itself, this 10-inch Fire HD series model looks great on paper. It has an eight-core CPU, 3GB of RAM, a 1080p display, and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. It’s perfectly balanced for its intended use, which boils down to consuming streaming video, ebooks, comics, music, and light gaming. You should also have no trouble running mainstream applications such as the mobile Microsoft Office Suite, Zoom, and social media.

The real elephant in the room is that Amazon uses a customized version of Android that doesn’t come with the Google Play Store. If you need access to the Play Store, we’ve got a great guide on installing Google Play on Amazon tablets that should sort that issue out in a few minutes. Apart from this small issue, there isn’t a better budget tablet for the money.

Amazon Fire HD 10

Best Budget Android Tablet

$120 $150 Save $30

Not every cheap Android tablet is bad, and the Amazon Fire HD 10 is a good, cheap tablet. It’s perfect for Zoom calls, watching videos, and basic productivity tasks.

Best Android Gaming Tablet: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus

Gaming on a tablet now means much more than just having a larger screen on which to play Angry Birds. The best gaming tablets need to be powerful, adaptable, and just as usable as a portable gaming monitor or a stand-alone handheld console. As just such a tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus is very easy to recommend.

Inside the sleek aluminum body is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and up to 512GB of storage. A great start if you’re looking for peak performance. Then you have the 12.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, a feast for the eyes with snappy response times, bright colors, and deep blacks. The refresh rate of 120Hz is another welcome feature and can really make a difference in fast-paced games.

Sound, an often overlooked gaming essential, is provided by quad speakers featuring Dolby Atmos and tuned by audio expert AKG. Just like the Tab S8, the S9 can take advantage of the connection speeds and stability provided by Wi-Fi 6E for smooth online gameplay.

Of course, all the Tab S9 models include the same processor and use the same display, audio, and Wi-Fi technology. The main differences are the dimensions of the devices, and it’s this that makes the Plus the best choice for gaming. The Tab S9 Plus hits the sweet spot between being large enough to use as a monitor with a linked controller while being small and light enough to be comfortably held in your hands for long gaming sessions.

It certainly isn’t the cheapest option out there, but if you are serious about gaming on your tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus should be at the top of the list.

image credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus

Best Android Gaming Tablet

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus hits that sweet spot between having a large and vibrant screen and not being too heavy to hold in your hands for long gaming sessions. And when you have finished playing, the device is also perfect for browsing, reading, or watching a movie in bed.

Best Android Tablet for Drawing: Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

Not long ago, owning a digital drawing tablet like a Wacom meant taking out a small loan and saying goodbye to a bag of cash. Now many excellent, affordable drawing tablets on the market also can be used as general-purpose computers.

If you buy either of the two Galaxy Tab S9 models, you’re also getting excellent drawing tablets, thanks to the included S-Pens. However, what if you weren’t interested in the other premium features those expensive tablets offer? What if you were only interested in drawing? In that case, we’d recommend the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite instead.

The S6 Lite is the budget model of Samsung’s previous flagship line of Android tablets. It offers mid-range processing power and won’t be of much use for gaming or video editing, but you get nearly the same drawing experience as tablets that cost hundreds more.

The battery is rated for 13 hours of use, the screen is laminated, and the included S-Pen attaches magnetically to the tablet. Since this is a relatively old device, prices have been dropping significantly, making it perfect for artists who don’t care for cutting-edge technology but need a quality drawing device.

Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

Best Android Tablet for Drawing

$239 $350 Save $111

If drawing is your only concern when picking up an Android tablet, the Tab S6 Lite comes with a great S-Pen and is perfect for art and doodles for an affordable price.

Best Android Tablet for Kids: Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro

Finding a tablet for kids is tough, as many manufacturers treat these devices as an afterthought. On the other hand, Amazon has been delivering quality kids’ tablets for years, and it shows no signs of slowing down with the Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro.

Its specs aren’t going to blow you away, but with 2GB RAM and a hexacore processor that Amazon says is 30 percent faster than the previous model, it’s no slouch. For the games and content kids in the target age range of 6 to 12 will be playing, these specs are more than adequate.

The battery life is up to 13 hours, so kids have plenty of juice for books, videos, and games. It also charges via USB-C, so you don’t have to worry about keeping an old microUSB cable around. With 32GB of built-in storage and support for expandable storage up to 1TB, there’s plenty of room to keep kids entertained.

Speaking of which, you won’t have to spend much to fill the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro with content, at least not for the first year. The tablet has a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, offering thousands of ad-free books, videos, games, and apps. After the first year, this service will cost you $4.99 per month.

There are plenty of features aimed at keeping your kids safe, too. The built-in web browser automatically blocks inappropriate sites, and you can choose specific sites to block.

There’s a final major feature: the two-year warranty. If the tablet breaks for any reason during those two years, Amazon will replace it free of charge. That’s one less thing to worry about.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro is available in Rainbow Universe, Cyber Blue, and Hello Teal color varieties.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro

Best Android Tablet for Kids

The Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro offers a combination of rugged build, decent specs, and valuable extras to make it the clear best option for a tablet for kids.

Best 8-inch Android Tablet: Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite LTE

With massive tablet-style phones being common and available in every budget segment, is there still a place for small tablets? The Galaxy Tab A7 Lite confidently argues for these smaller tablet products. At 8.7 inches, it’s still significantly more spacious than even the largest phones but far more pocketable than devices 10 inches and up.

This particular model offers GSM cellular connectivity, a major selling point at this price. Its support for 4G LTE and the right data plan can make the Tab A7 a potent mobile content consumption and web browsing device.

Low-end specifications will limit multi-tasking and applications such as 3D games, but for everything else, the CPU will go the distance—if perhaps a little slowly. Apart from that slight downside, the Tab A7 Lite LTE offers the same Samsung UI and general build quality we’ve come to expect, putting it above most of the tablets in this price range.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite

Best 8-inch Android Tablet

If you need a smaller tablet that’s easier to carry around, the Tab A7 Lite is a good choice. This model also allows the use of cellular data, so you can use it wherever you need to.

Best Laptop Replacement: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

The idea that a tablet could realistically replace your laptop would have been laughable not so long ago. Now, with tablet performance and displays hugely improved and a wide choice of mobile apps that easily match their desktop counterparts, it’s a real possibility. And if you are invested in the Android ecosystem, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is pretty hard to beat.

The S9 Ultra features the same powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, quad speakers with Dolby Atmos, and Wi-Fi 6E as the rest of the Tab S9 range. What sets it apart is the Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. Or rather, the size of that display. At 14.6 inches, you get as much or more screen space as many laptops, but with the bonus of touch and the brilliant Samsung S-Pen.

The S-Pen, which is included with the tablet, works brilliantly when using the device in any mode. When it’s combined with Samsung apps like Notes or Goodnotes, the stylus makes writing on the screen simple, with the tablet converting handwriting to text fluidly and accurately.

When you need a more traditional laptop experience, you can easily connect the tablet to a keyboard cover, available from Samsung or many third-party manufacturers, or seamlessly link it with any Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Of course, it’s also fully compatible with Samsung DeX and all the improved desktop usability features that the tool offers.

The Tab S9 Ultra certainly isn’t for those on a budget, even without considering the $350 cost of the Samsung keyboard cover. But for your money, you get one of the best tablets you can buy and a device that can easily replace a laptop at a fraction of the size and weight.

Image credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

Best Laptop Replacement

The clarity and size of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra display make it a brilliant choice for a laptop replacement. When you add in the desktop functionality tools of Samsung DEX, you end up with a device that can do almost everything your computer can do.

FAQ

How do I reset an Android tablet?

If you want to restart your tablet because it isn’t working correctly, press and hold the power button for two seconds. If you want to fully reset your tablet, we have a full guide to factory resetting your phone or tablet.

How do I take a screenshot on an Android tablet?

On most Android tablets, including Google and Amazon Kindle Fire models, press the power and volume down buttons at the same time. On Samsung tablets, the process is similar, but you need to briefly hold both buttons. If this doesn’t work on your tablet, check the manufacturer website.

How do I delete apps on my Android tablet?

To delete an app, long-press the app’s icon until its shortcut popup appears. Here you’ll either see an “i” icon or the text App Info. Tap either one of those, then select Uninstall.

Can I make phone calls from my Android tablet?

You can’t make traditional phone calls from most tablets. That said, you can use voice-over-IP (VoIP) or voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) using apps like Google Voice or Signal.

Can I install Windows on my Android tablet?

While it’s technically possible to install Windows on some Android tablets, it’s not supported by either Microsoft or the tablet manufacturers, and it could cause issues with your tablet.