Event Coverage

HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2013: Editor's Choice - Part 1

By Team HardwareZone - 11 Mar 2013

Best 10-Inch Tablet

Best 10-Inch Tablet

In addition to the 7-inch tablet test segment on the earlier page, of course we can't ignore the 10-inch tablet space which made a grand splash a couple of years back and kickstarted the tablet adoption in a big way. The typical 10-inch tablet typically comes with better screen technology, and of course, higher resolution than its 7-inch peers. They are also usually outfitted with better hardware specs, generally because of what they are primed for - entertainment, multimedia viewing, gaming, and increasingly, for work and content creation.

However, the same question still applies - what makes a particular tablet the ONE to buy? By now, you should be aware that it's not all about the specs. In fact, a purchase decision is based on a variety of factors such as apps, branding, build quality, design and price, which can be summed up in two words - user experience. With that, we rounded up five candidates that fit our timeline of consideration for our awards, have cellular connectivity and are primarily targeted for content consumption. As such, our candidates are all from the iOS and Android OS categories:-

 

Nominees: 

 

  • Apple iPad (2012, 4th Gen)
  • ASUS Transformer Pad TF300TG
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  • Sony Xperia Tablet S (3G)
  • Toshiba Regza Tablet AT300

 

And the Winner Is...

Apple iPad (2012)

Apple, well-known for making tablet devices mainstream since 2010, led a breakthrough in the industry when it unveiled the third generation iPad with a Retina displayThe active community of developers has redesigned their apps for use on the Retina display, resulting in extremely detailed and lifelike animations on the iPad. This culminates a user experience that is rarely found elsewhere beyond the iPad.

Google and Samsung may have one-upped Apple on this front with the Nexus 10, but they're unable to maximize the potential of their slightly better display to the extent that Apple has. Add to the limited availability and that's the main reason Nexus 10 wasn't part of this comparison.

The other competing tablets put up a good show and are ideal for certain users, but from an overall experience and content consumption perspective, the fourth generation iPad with its Retina display is still in a class of its own and a cut above the rest for most mainstream users.

Scoring Breakdown
Criteria/Model Apple iPad (2012, 4th Gen) ASUS Transformer Pad TF300TG Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Sony Xperia Tablet S (3G) Toshiba Regza Tablet AT300
Design 8.5 8.5 7.5 8.5 8.5
Features 9.0 8.0 9.0 8.5 8.0
User-Friendliness 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.5 8.5
Performance 9.0 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.0
Value 8.5 8.5 7.0 8.5 8.0
Overall 8.5 8.5 7.5 8.5 8.0
Price S$828 (16GB Wi-Fi + 4G) S$889
(32GB Wi-Fi + 3G)
S$998 S$749 S$799

*Note: Prices listed in this article are accurate at the time of product evaluation.

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.

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