A few weeks back we asked you what your perfect smartphone would be like, and by answering a series of questions, you provided both us and your favorite brands with great and even surprising intel to take into consideration.
And last week we did a similar experiment, but this time around we asked what your perfect tablet would be like – and again, by answering a series of questions, such as your preferred tablet size, operating system, features and so on, you’ve given us a great idea of what most of you are looking for.
So, what is the perfect tablet like according to the majority of you – tech enthusiasts? Let’s find out together!
The perfect tablet has a wide 120Hz screen, around 11 inches – not too small, and definitely not too large
The majority prefers wider-screen tablets like the Galaxy Tab S7 (right), rather than ones with a taller aspect ratio like the iPad Pro (left)
Although a good number of people seem to like the small size of the iPad mini 6 or Galaxy Tab A7 Lite, the majority of you actually prefer 11-inch tablets (iPad Pro 11″, Galaxy Tab S7).
Second place goes to slightly larger 12-to-13-inch tablets like the iPad Pro 12.9″ and Galaxy Tab S7+.
Unsurprisingly, big brands like Apple and Samsung know this and have you covered. A fairly small number of you (10%) voted for 14-inch tablets or bigger, suggesting that the audience for Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra might be pretty niche.
The least amount of votes, by far, went to tablets at 8 inches or below, which makes sense, considering many of the phones in our pockets already sport 6.4-inch displays or even larger. The line between large phones and small tablets has been blurry for a while now.
We also asked you if your perfect tablet is widescreen or with a 4:3 aspect ratio, with the former being better for watching movies, and the latter being better for browsing the web and working. As it seems, most of you want a widescreen tablet like the Galaxy Tab series, rather than one with a 4:3 aspect ratio like the iPad, which got half as many votes, but it’s still a respectable amount.
And with that, we can reasonably assume that the majority of you wants their tablet to be designed with media consumption in mind, first and foremost, and generally be a great movie-watching machine.
Lastly on the topic of the screen, we asked you if your perfect tablet has a standard 60Hz screen, or one that refreshes at 120Hz – meaning twice as smooth, at the expense of some battery life.
Nearly 77% of the tech enthusiasts that participated gave their votes to 120Hz, suggesting that they want a smoother display than the average, no matter the potential hit in battery life. Or perhaps – you want a superior (smoother) mobile gaming experience?
The perfect tablet is a Samsung one – running Android with One UI, powered by the latest Qualcomm processor
Samsung’s premium One UI experience includes this lovely desktop mode (DeX)
This was a really fun one, and the results fluctuated until the very end. But now that the votes are final, here’s what your preferred tablet operating system is, along with the runner-ups:
- 38.92% – Android with One UI
- 26.15% – Stock Android
- 20.46% – iPadOS
- 14.46% – Windows 11
First, let’s appreciate the fact that there’s a good, dedicated Windows tablet fanbase out there. I’m one of you – a Windows 11 tablet even replaced my iPad recently, and I’m very happy with it.
But somewhat unsurprisingly, the majority of tech enthusiasts are all for Android tablets, particularly preferring the Samsung Android experience that the Korean company’s One UI software overlay delivers.
Samsung’s One UI does bring amazing things to tablets, such as the DeX desktop mode, powerful multitasking features, lots of great built-in apps and shortcuts for the S Pen stylus… It’s clearly something the majority wants over plain, stock Android. And Android itself is clearly something the majority prefers over iPadOS and Windows.
The perfect tablet unlocks with a fingerprint, Apple’s Face ID is second-best
Apple’s iPad Pro has a complex Face ID sensor array in the top bezel, but as it seems – the majority prefers a fingerprint sensor
The tech enthusiast majority made it clear on both our “perfect phone” and “perfect tablet” polls that fingerprint scanners are the way to go, as opposed to face recognition.The most votes here went to having a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power key, followed by an under-screen fingerprint sensor.
Why did the under-screen one get less votes? Perhaps because you haven’t been assured yet that those can be as accurate and quick as a good old traditional sensor. Or maybe you consider placing your index finger or thumb on the power key to be a more intuitive, natural way to unlock a tablet.
In any case, face recognition like Apple’s Face ID and Microsoft’s Windows Hello only got 21.53% of the votes. So even though some might see it as convenient, as there’s no need to touch anything at all – clearly the majority feels different.
The perfect tablet has a front camera positioned in the top center, for ideal video calls
First we asked you where you want the front camera to be on your perfect tablet. We’ve seen manufacturers put those anywhere – in bezels, in notches, positioned at odd locations, resulting in less-than-ideal angles for your video calls…
Well, you said it loud and clear – the perfect tablet has its front camera in a small bezel at the top center, when held in landscape, which is indeed the perfect angle for video calls – just like we have it on laptops.
People are also eager to start getting under-display front cameras in that same location, judging by how that was the second highest-voted option. But clearly the majority doesn’t have a lot of trust in the quality of “invisible” cameras just yet, so a standard in-bezel camera will do.
The perfect tablet doesn’t need a bunch of useless back cameras jacking up its price
You’ve spoken – one camera is good enough
As for the main (back) camera situation – manufacturers clearly needn’t put huge camera sensor arrays there. The majority has spoken – a single, decent camera is more than enough even for “the perfect tablet”.
No need for wide-angle, periscopes, LiDAR sensors; just one camera that’s good enough for the occasional document scanning. Less cameras also means shedding off some unneeded costs for producing the tablet, making it a bit more affordable, which is always welcome.
A good number of you (13.36%) even voted for “no back cameras needed” at all, which I’m absolutely on board with too, since I can’t remember a single time I’ve ever needed to use a tablet’s back camera. But hey, let’s not go that far, as the overwhelming majority still wants at least the one back camera.
The perfect tablet comes with an included stylus that docks on its back side
82% of the tech enthusiasts who gave their vote want their tablets to come with a stylus, as is usually the case with mid-range and flagship Samsung ones.
37.21% of those voters want the stylus to also dock and charge on the back of the tablet (like on the Galaxy Tab S-series), as opposed to on the top of the tablet (like on iPad Air / Pro).
Only 17.99% said that they don’t need a stylus at all, or are fine with it sold separately.
Clearly Samsung has spoiled us with its inclusion of the S Pen stylus. While the majority does indeed want one, they’re obviously not willing to pay for it separately anymore, like Apple expects them to do. We’re talking about a large, “perfect” tablet after all, so an included stylus should be a given, right?.
The perfect tablet has expandable storage, while a SIM card slot isn’t that necessary
No matter how much storage our perfect tablet has built-in, the majority (78.63%) isn’t willing to part with the SD card slot. You made it clear – you want to be in control of your storage and be able to expand it at will.
At the same time, the SIM card slot situation is pretty close – the majority of you (54.01%) don’t really need it, but the rest of you who do aren’t a small minority either (45.99%).
While you can always create a personal hotspot from your phone so your tablet can use its mobile internet anywhere, clearly a significant number of you still prefer the convenience of having a dedicated SIM card slot on their tablet.
So we’ll call it a near-50/50 on that one, and say that having a SIM card slot definitely wouldn’t hurt, as nearly 46% of the people want it. And that’s no small number.
The perfect tablet packs front-firing speakers, even if it means having some side bezels
Most flagship tablets have side-firing speakers
Clearly if you want your perfect tablet to be widescreen, for a superior movie-watching experience, you also want it to push out some great sound right at you.
The majority of you don’t want brands to skimp on the speaker placement by designing the speakers to be side-firing or bottom-firing. You want the speakers to face you, even if this inevitably means having some side bezels. After all, some bezel doesn’t hurt, right? You have to hold the tablet somewhere anyways.
The perfect tablet has a headphone jack, although you’re starting to accept its retirement
You’d think asking whether the perfect tablet should have a headphone jack would result in nearly 100% of the votes going towards “yes”, but in reality, it’s about 60%. A significant number of you have clearly moved on to wireless headphones, or don’t plan on using your tablet with headphones altogether.
After all, we want our tablet to have amazing speakers right? So it should, and in the rare cases where you’d want to pick up some headphones, maybe so as to not bother someone around you or enjoy your music to the max, a good number of you would grab Bluetooth headphones.
But still, the majority wants a headphone jack on their perfect tablet, and let’s face it – tablets aren’t phones, they’re big, so how much space would a headphone jack really take up? Give the people what they want!
The perfect tablet doesn’t need a built-in kickstand, doesn’t need a keyboard either
Perhaps I’m so used to Surface tablets and their built-in kickstands that it’s hard for me to imagine having to hold a tablet constantly in order to use it now, but the majority has spoken.
You don’t want your perfect tablet to have a built-in kickstand, maybe because that could ruin its uniform design, or because any such moving parts will potentially break some day and you’d rather not have to deal with that. And hey, we can always buy a separate kickstand case, right? And replace it when it breaks or gets scratched, easy peasy.
As for the keyboard situation, your perfect tablet clearly doesn’t need a keyboard, and the majority of you (64.3%) are okay with just having it as an optional accessory, sold separately.
Still, nearly 36% of you are on board with getting a pack-in keyboard with your tablet, even if that’ll inflate the overall price. Perhaps you’re planning on being productive with your tablet, which might include writing essays, emails, and so on, and all that obviously requires a keyboard.
But ultimately, the majority clearly prefers just using a laptop for such tasks, and their tablet should be best suited for entertainment, not so much for work.
The perfect tablet has a beefy battery, it doesn’t matter if that makes it a bit thicker and heavier
Although the majority of you chose around 11 inches for your perfect tablet size, you want it to have a huge battery, around 11,000 mAh.
That’s the kind of battery size you’d normally see on bigger tablets, like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro 12.9 or the similarly large Galaxy Tab S7+.
Clearly having the thinnest or lightest tablet doesn’t matter to the majority of tech enthusiasts. What’s really important is for the tablet to be able to last a long time between charges.
A whole lot of you want HDMI out, but the majority is fine without any extra ports
We asked you what extra features you’d want your perfect tablet to have, and here are the results:
- 32.88% – None / I’d rather not add unnecessary costs
- 25.88% – HDMI out
- 15.76% – Wireless charging
- 11.48% – Additional unlock method (fingerprint, Face ID, etc.)
- 11.09% – Rugged design (increased durability at the cost of a thicker, heavier tablet)
- 2.92% – LiDAR sensor
While the majority of you don’t want any of these features, and would rather not add extra costs to your perfect tablet, clearly a good number of people would like it to have an HDMI port.
Although smart wireless screencasting solutions exist out there, not everyone has the right type of smart TV that supports the technology. So having an HDMI port assures that you can always easily connect your tablet to any TV, should you need to do so. And clearly, nearly 26% of you do, and want that HDMI out.
So that’s worth considering – if you’re a tablet manufacturer and find some space while designing it, throw in an HDMI port just in case – a lot of people would appreciate it.
“My perfect tablet costs between $500-599, and I’ll use it for everything!”
In conclusion, we asked what you believe would be a fair price for your perfect tablet, based on your chosen screen size, features, extras and so on. And the majority gave it a price lower than what flagship tablets of the 11-inch variety cost.
Apple’s 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $800, while Samsung’s 11-inch Galaxy Tab S8 starts at $700, which are indeed some higher prices than the $500-599 most of you are willing to pay.
Of course, we’re talking about our perfect tablet, which would obviously not include any mark-up, “Apple tax” or “Samsung tax” – but be as reasonably-priced as possible.
In any case, we also asked you perhaps the most important question of the entire experiment – what exactly do you plan on using your tablet for? And here are the results:
- 4.79% – Watching videos / movies
- 5.75% – Internet browsing, social media
- 28.93% – Both of the above
- 11.69% – Work – writing, video and photo editing, drawing, video calls, etc.
- 2.68% – Gaming
- 46.17% – All of the above
Clearly the tech enthusiast majority will be using their perfect tablet for everything – starting with internet browsing and social media, watching YouTube and movies, through work like video and photo editing, drawing, to last and definitely least – gaming.
So is there such a tablet already on the market – priced at $500-599, with a screen around 11 inches, included stylus? Yes, sort of…
While the brand new Galaxy Tab S8 series is more expensive, and still at a pre-order state, the earlier Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 has an 11-inch variant, its display is a 120Hz LTPS TFT one, and there’s an included stylus. The tablet is priced at $650, but can often be found for less.
And if you’re willing to pay a bit extra and wait a few days, obviously the newest Galaxy Tab S8 is worth your consideration instead! It has an 11-inch LTPS LCD display, again at 120Hz, again with an included S Pen stylus, and running Android with One UI.
With more compromises, such as accepting a bigger screen and paying a bigger price, the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus comes with a 12.4″ Super AMOLED screen at 120Hz. We know how much you love AMOLED displays, but unsurprisingly, those cost more. The price for this AMOLED-screen tablet starts at $900, unless you trade-in or find a good Galaxy Tab S8 pre-order deal.
So there we have it – the type of tablet the tech enthusiast majority wants, and the closest existing tablets on the market right now, that somewhat fit the bill.
Hopefully in time our favorite tablet manufacturers, especially Samsung, which is evidently the most beloved one, will pay even closer attention to what we want, and what we expect from our tablets.
In the meantime, which existing tablet would you recommend? Do you already own a tablet that you consider perfect? And do you agree with the majority’s choices?
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