Top Ten Tablets For 2013

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1. Apple iPad mini: "Photographers rejoice! With its perfect size, we can finally find reasons to use iPad mini as a camera as well. Its 5 MP rear camera resolution is adequate for taking casual pictures as it has the same resolution as its more expensive sibling. Shooting 1080p videos is also supported which is great. It feels really comfortable holding the iPad mini for shooting videos given its ample screen size in an ultra lightweight package. iPad mini beats out all its closest competitors, including google nexus 7 and kindle hd as they have 0 MP. they don't come with rear facing camera at all! Unfortunately wifi-only iPad mini does not come with GPS, otherwise Garmin, watch out! It would have make a perfect portable navigation system. Its the one area where nexus 7 has an edge as it has both NFC and GPS built in. NFC (Near field Communication) is an amazing piece of technology that allows us to use our mobile device as credit card payments and even transferring of data or images to other NFC-enabled devices just by touching. I hope Apple can consider adding this to their future products as this would make iPad mini even more awesome. iPad mini however has a 64 GB storage option (which I recommend) and 4G LTE connectivity option which are not available among its rivals. Mini tablets cross shoppers may also find the iPad mini physical appearance much more appealing. While kindle hd and nexus 7 do feel good in my hands, iPad mini feels even better as the build quality is undeniably more superior. Who doesn't like the sexy uni body aluminum build? The huge library of available iPad apps is also a deciding factor since only a fraction of android apps are designed for tablet use. There is no objective way to measure it, but I just found Apple iOS more user friendly than the android so it maybe more appealing to broader audiences."

2. Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 : "So far what has really blown me away is the split screen where you can have two apps open at the same time side by side. I really love this and do it often. Normally when I split, I have the tablet in portrait mode and have youtube in the top windowpane and the Internet browser in the bottom windowpane. But on top of that in each windowpane can have multiple apps that you can switch with independently. I also love the fact you can have an windowed app (select few) that you can move around on the screen while you do others things. For example, I have my bank app up and want to figure out my finances for the next 2 weeks so I use the Spen to open a windowed version of the calculator and just start cranking away. It's awesome!"

3. Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 : "What I've always hated about the i Phone is that it is a pain to punch letter by letter on the digital keyboard. I never want to write into anything on the web or for the Calendar. I am probably one of the last people that likes to "write" things down. So this note tablet is INCREDIBLE! It does everything that I want it to do. I am even writing this review on it which is taking about 25% of the time it would take me to pound it out with my fingertips! The write to text technology is amazing. I am using it for shopping lists, to do lists and to write better responses to emails when I don't have access to a computer. Average battery life ranges from 1-2 days with good usage. The other great thing is that you can fit it easily into a purse unlike the full size iPad. I know there are all the reviews out there about it being a "phablet" but I would never want to use the note 8 as a phone. I am glad it only has wi-fi so that I am not wanting to use it all the time which is not healthy. Recommended for those that like to write, the S-Pen is fabulous!!!"

4. Apple iPad with Retina Display: "I just bought the iPad 4 to replace the iPad 2 since my kids were using the 2 so much and I was tired of hounding them for it. I'm very happy with the upgrades. Like with my old iPad I'm basically using it to surf the net, watch streaming videos/podcasts, and read books. I don't take pictures with it or store music. I'm also not a gamer - so I can't comment that much on the retina display - but I will say the colors are brighter and I find it easier to read books. The big difference that I notice is in the processor. Even with my crappy internet connection I notice a huge improvement in the speed with opening apps and streaming videos. Battery life is longer than the iPad 2. However, because the battery is bigger on this device it takes a lot longer to charge. I like to kill the batteries on all my electronic devices before I charge them and from a dead battery to 100% charge on this iPad it took over 8 hours to fully charge. I wasn't using it when it was charging. In fact, I read on a couple of review sites that this iPad will continue to charge up to 2 hours after it says it's fully charged. My advice is to allow yourself extra time and charge it overnight if you can."

5. FastTouch(TM) White 7 Inch A13 GOOGLE : "I would recommend this tablet to anyone who has a low price range. Its cheap, and you can definitely tell it isn't "top of the line" but for the price it is surprisingly good quality. WiFi works, doesn't scratch easily, and it has an SD card slot to increase storage by a lot. It does lag sometimes and will get hot with a lot of use. But so far the battery seems to last long (around 6 hours with moderate use). I would go with this one than with any other one for this price range."

6. Apple iPad 2 2nd Generation: "You will see people complain about resolution and such and honestly, I think the resolution is perfect, the iPad is not meant to replace your laptop or your desktop or your TV, if it was why they would have bothered with airplay? If you are expecting to dump your laptop because you got an iPad think again, if you just use your laptop for browsing pages and playing games then you might get away with it however if you expect to do Office on these, think again, until MS gets their act together and decides that IOS is another venue of revenue for them I will still need to carry my laptop around to do word/excel/ppt files. Lack of flash support has not bothered me, yes I wish I could see some pages however, Im not in to the too flashy stuff (no pun intended) I rather get the straight text and keep going my only gripe would be that when I'm connected via WiFi I would like to get full pages and not the mobile version however that is not an iPad problem it is a server problem."

7. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7-Inch, Wi-Fi): "I chose a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7", Wi-Fi) over a Kindle Fire HD, because the Tab 2 was only $10 more. That $10 got me the Android OS and all its support and upgrades. I use a PC for my main computer, so when I chose a smart phone, I went with an Android OS there as well. It is a Samsung Galaxy S3. I quickly downloaded my favorite Android apps that I use on my phone all the time, I signed into my Google accounts, and I immediately started using it. There was no learning curve. I bought my Tab 2 to replace my old standard Kindle. I love the Kindle. I love reading books on it, but I honestly can't tell you how many times I wanted to touch the screen to get a word definition or highlight a section or make a note. With the Kindle for Android app on the Tab 2, I can do all that and much more. It really is just as good as a paper book. While I bought it mainly to read books on, I found myself writing a report using Polaris Office in the first week. It proved very handy. I use apps that are for mundane, practical purposes and don't play games on my Tab 2. I also don't watch movies on it, but I will say that I like the quality of the screen resolution. It works for me just fine. I did listen to music for background ambiance, and though the sound had a lot of treble since it was turned down very low, it was adequate. I took a lot of time to study which tablet to buy and asked a lot of very knowledgeable friends. They all suggested I go with the Android OS. I am very happy with the Tab 2 and highly recommend it.

8. Kindle Fire HD Tablet: "It was the best $200 investment. Right out of the box it was easy to use...no confusing set-up instructions. Bought it just before surgery and it lived on it day & nite. It has wonderful battery life. Use it for the web, email, reading, playing games, listening to music, watching videos & movies. It is my go to electronic item. Very seldom turn on my computer anymore - the Kindle Fire does everything I need it to and in some cases even more. It's quick to turn on use whether its to look up an address or find the book I'm currently reading. I also use it as my calendar to keep my appointments & an alarm clock. I love that it is so portable...always take it with my on Dr appointments...it makes the wait much easier! Was trying to decide between the Kindle Fire or the ipad....I'm not a fan of Apple products so I was extremely happy that the Kindle lived up to my expectations!"

9. ASUS MeMOPad HD 7-Inch : "I've only had the Asus Memo Pad HD 7 for a few hours but so far I'm very pleased. The tablet seems very well made. I haven't noticed any creaks or cheap-looking parts. It looks elegant (I have the blue back) and feels well balanced in the hand. I like its light weight and appreciate the size of the bezel - not too large to look awkward or too small so you have nothing to hold onto. Some of the reviews I read mentioned problems with the build quality but I don't find that to be the case at all. I really like the HD display. The colors are rich (not overly saturated but definitely not "washed out" as some reviews have stated) and the text is very sharp. Setup was a breeze. The WiFi works very well - web browsing is at least as fast as my PC. Sound quality is good for such a small device. And I am very impressed with the cameras, especially the 5 MP rear camera. Even indoor shots look good. The camera also produces sharp, colorful 720p videos. It will take awhile until I'm familiar with all the HD 7 has to offer but so far I haven't encountered any negatives. You won't find a better tablet for $149.

10. Google Nexus 7 Tablet: "Despite being heavily immersed in Google Apps-I've had an Android phone since 2.1 and I use a Chromebook for 80% of my computing-I have held off on getting an Android tablet as they've seemed compromised until now. After reading the first reviews of this Gen 2 Nexus 7 I took the leap and picked a 32gb model up from my local Staples. I purchased another the next day for my wife as she insisted on one as soon as she saw it. Yes there was an immediate over the air update that I guess resolved a lot of the issues I've been reading about, but I'm honestly surprised by all of the complaints especially given we have 2 in the house without problems. I honestly could not be happier with the Nexus 7. I use it for media consumption YouTube, Netflix, Kindle, Flipboard, Currents, Google Play Movies and Music. Google Play Music All Access is a real game changer. And I also use it at work to keep track of my notes on Google Keep and check out YouTube videos using Chromecast on the big screen. If you are using Google Apps / Cloud products and unless you are heavily invested in Apple's App store there's absolutely no reason to not consider a Nexus 7 over iPad mini. And combined with Chromecast its a pretty unbeatable and compelling media device.