The GSMArena tablet buyer's guide: July 2015

Full-sized tablets

And finally after crossing the 9-inch threshold we arrive at the biggest tier, literally – the full-sized tablets. This is where you’ll find the tablets that aim at trashing the laptop’s party.

The first one here is the Huawei MediaPad T1 10, which is the cheapest full-sized tablet with 3G abilities. It also offers an LTE model that isn’t as cheap.

The MediaPad T1 10 has a 9.6” display that stretches its 800 x 1280px resolution rather thin at 157ppi.

For the price you get an adequate Snapdragon 410 chipset, 5MP camera and fairly light-weight device of 433g.

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ is next up and it is the cheapest FullHD 10" tablet to be found for the second time running. It manages this by using a lowly Snapdragon 400 chipset which isn't up to par with most of the competition in this guide.

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ has a good display and an innovative design with a 3-stage kickstand that allows the slate to stand on a desk. There are also two speakers under the display that project frontal stereo sound.

Finally, the price for the Wi-Fi only version of the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ has gone down slightly. There's also a 3G unit available but that has gone up in price, so those looking to stay connected outdoors better look elsewhere.

On the other hand we have the Lenovo Yoga 2 10.1, which looks similar to the aforementioned HD+. It too has a 3-stage kickstand and front-facing stereo speakers but offers a much faster Intel Atom chipset for a bit more cash.

Samsung's excellent Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 deserves a mention too. It has a very high-resolution display and all the bells and whistles of a high-end full-sized slate - stereo speakers, great chipset, expandable storage, 8MP camera, great battery life and is attractively priced at the moment.

It's in line to receive Android Lollipop but even as it is, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 has a very capable software package geared toward great productivity with Samsung's Multi Window, which is even more useful on such a big display.

The Sony Xperia Z4 tablet has just come out and while we loved it, it’s way too pricey at the moment so we recommend you take a look at the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet, which is still great. It’s slim and light, water and dust proof and has a good 10.1” 1920 x 1200px display and a fast Snapdragon 800 chipset with 3GB of RAM.

The Xperia Z2 Tablet boasts stereo speakers on the front as well as a reduced price tag due to its successor hitting the market.

Next up is the name to beat. The Apple iPad Air is a year old but shows just how good Apple is at making tablets - the screen (which uses specs that are 3 years old) is great, the body is among the slimmest at this size and there's a quality A7 chipset running the show.

We expect Apple to release the iPad Air 3 this October/November which is a consideration as the older Air and Air 2 are likely to get a price cut or, in the case of the former, even be cut from the frontline.

The Apple iPad Air is streamlined with a great aluminum body that's just 7.5mm thick. Apple has managed to accommodate stereo speakers and a 128GB option into the tight spot. Then there's Apple's iOS 8 which runs as smooth as you'd like and also offers a superb app catalogue that's tailored specifically for the iPad Air's display.

As with everything made by Apple, the iPad Air suffers from low customizability as well as no option to increase the built-in storage, aside from paying a premium for the next bigger variant. The iPad Air has gotten cheaper since last we saw it, though.

Finally for those users that really don’t want a laptop we have the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2. It packs a huge 12.2” display of very high 2560 x 1600px resolution, two great chipsets to choose from (whether you’ve got the Wi-Fi or LTE model), an 8MP camera, stereo speakers and Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.

The latter makes the most sense for multitasking on a tablet (until iOS 9 and the Apple iPad Air 2 prove a challenge) with four apps running on the same screen (not counting Windows tablets of course). And while not cheap by any means, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 has gotten cheaper over the last five months.