We’ve seen a long lineup of new tablets this year at sizes big, regular, and small. But the everyday things we use tablets for — watching movies, playing games, browsing the web, checking email, and getting some light work done — still haven’t changed much in 2015. And the key things we look for when buying are also the same; a tablet should have a screen you can get lost in for hours; it should be fast and powerful, have a huge selection of apps, and the battery should last all day and beyond. And though we often leave them at home, it’s important that tablets are portable when we need them to be, a requirement that’s disqualified some particularly massive contenders this year.
More and more, we’re seeing devices that try to bridge the gap between a laptop and tablet. But despite everyone’s best efforts, those hybrid devices don’t quite replace PCs and don’t feel great when you want to do “tablet stuff.” Tablets still work best when they focus on leisure and entertainment. They’re still that middle thing between your smartphone and computer, and the best ones embrace that position. They put amazing technology into something that’s simple and genuinely fun to use — and they do it without costing too much money. That’s where our top choice excels.