Hi,
My son is currently looking for a tablet/ebook reader to read pdf's off as most of his school work and textbooks are on pdf.
He will be only using this tablet for pdf reading and online reading maybe occasional web surfing and youtube.
Budget is max $200, and i would prefer local stock in the sydney region
Thanks
edit: he already has a laptop just wants a tablet as it is smaller and much easier to use for reading pdf textbooks
Cheap Tablet for Reading PDFs
Marioedd on 04/11/2016 - 18:05
Last edited 04/11/2016 - 21:37 by 1 other user
Last edited 04/11/2016 - 21:37 by 1 other user
Comments
Please elaborate
A well deserved down vote - savour it.
Correct.
most of his school work and textbooks are on pdf
this is really sad
??
Well, I know a few fairly young high school teachers who all agree that textbooks in pdf form/online are a hassle due to the extra time it takes to quickly flip through pages and apparently the way technology is used in the classroom (easy of access, uncontrolled) by students is more often more of a distraction than a help with learning.
What format do you want them in then? ePub is good for text rich stuff, but with little graphs or images. When all you care about is the text, and the way it flows on different sized displays (like on a kindle or on your smartphone), ePub is great.
But the formatting data is minimal so it's terrible for textbooks. Because textbooks are not like paperback novels, they are wonderfully formatted and so you need PDF to contain all that formatting information.
PDF is the format you wanna use when you have lots of graphics, tables, charts.
yea thats the issue they are textbooks so they mostly have tables and images
Paper
1) Easier to recall information
3) Unlimited battery life
3) Power efficient
4) Last forever
5) Indestructible
6) Easy to add notes
7) Theft resistant
8) Better for health
9) Resell when finishedPaper.
1) can get lost or stolen or damaged
2) student can forget to bring it to class
3) still costs as much as the digital equivalent
4) physically large footprint, you can't bring it with you everywhere
5) no CTRL+F function, no tagging function, no built in dictionary
6) not as engaging or interactive as PDF media, which can contain clickable links to other content
7) worse for the environment
8) Excessive markings can reduce buyback price
x) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3vxEudif8welcome to the digital age, old geezer!
1) Easier to recall information
Debatable.These are plain wrong
4) Last forever
5) IndestructibleDigital files without DRM last forever.
Do you mean recycle?
9) Resell when finishedOh you mean a textbook. In fact textbooks being destroyed was the reason I moved off them.
But for most school kids they are too distracted to handle digital stuff.@scrimshaw:
7) worse for the environment
Trees are cut from plantations then regrown in the same plantations. They biodegrade.A tablet has rare earths, plastic and a toxic battery.
@fruit: Exactly why i want to get my son a tablet he already has a BYOD but i want a tablet of some sort so that the sole purpose is to use pdf so he doesn't get distracted
I love books, however there are flaws in your argument. They don't last forever (can yellow, pages can fall out from old age) are destructible (torn pages and bent covers) and can be easily stolen (like if it was left in a school bag that was stolen).
10) Doubles as:
a) doorstop
b) monitor stand
c) kindling
d) heavy object to ward off muggersPhysical textbooks are a relic of a bygone era, when education institutions though they could make students buy a new book every year by putting out the same book with a new title image and changing the year.
I have intermittent shoulder pain and a friend of mine developed scoliosis from lugging around heavy bags during high school. I swear some science textbooks were 1kg and if you have to carry a textbook and notebook for each subject, plus food, PE gear and a folder, the weight adds up quickly. Lockers were given to older grades first so 13 year olds carrying 5+kg bags were the norm. Wish I had a tablet instead of textbooks…
I am happy to carry around 5kg worth of textbooks, it makes me stronger.
Enjoy it while you're young ;)
When I was studying, I purposely looked for PDFs of my books so I could read them easily on the go. Much easier than lugging around books. You can also use other apps to annotate them and do screen dumps of anything important. It's the way of the future, and not necessarily a bad thing.
exactly what i was thinking, also saves paper!
And paper cuts!
Yo,
PDF files in the 100-meg size can cause some android tablets to lag horribly and make you want to throw the damn thing out the window, because the CPU and memory isn't fast enough to cache all the data at once and everytime you flick a few pages, it could crash as cannot render the graphics fast enough. Or you could spend 3 minutes rendering per page. Painful.
So you want to make sure:
2GB of RAM. Minimum. No exceptions.
A fast processor with good GPU, so hopefully not some crappy AllWinner A13 SOC or Rockchip or outdated MediaTek.
10.1 inches display to minimise the amount of zooming and for optimal font size.If you run into performance issues loading large PDFs, then you need to chop up the PDF into smaller chunks so that a budget tab can handle it.
thanks for your help, would you be able to recommend me any tablets like you mentioned for around the 200 dollar mark
your budget is too low to get a tab of this spec, but the cheapest one from a brick/mortar shop is from JB Hifi
($298 - Lenovo Tab3 )
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/tablets/lenovo/l…perhaps you could find something that could be used with the Cheer20 ebay code??
If I were a student, I'd get one of these 11.3" windows laptops instead. This is a great entry level device that suits BYOD requirements of many schools too, with dual band 5ghz wifi and long battery life of 8 hours. It's been featured on the front page at least 3 times already.
The laptops are not so good to read PDFs on in my personal opinion - much easier to write on, highlight etc on a tablet. But you still need the appropriate program to do this with. If you don't want to do that, a laptop could work.
As a work around, you could split pdf files so they are easier for the tablet to handle
Yep scrimshaw has beaten me to the punch, do NOT go ultra cheapest as you want some grunt to avoid time wasting and frustrating lag and, also importantly, good resolution to clearly display any complex images.
Sorry can't recommend anything but these would be my criteria if looking…..a thought off the top of my head - tips from class buddies/teaching staff/class members a year ahead, all if feasible of course, I don't know your son's situation.
ePUB ftw
Problem is most of the books that are scanned are in pdf format.
Way more than $200 but if he needs a new computer, might want to look at the Surface line of tablets. Like someone said above, $200 is a tad too low to buy a tablet which can read large PDFs (most science textbooks because of images/diagrams, etc). Probably could get a used iPad Air for around $300 which would still do nicely and runs the latest iOS. Gonna get negged for this, but there really is still no competition for the iPad in terms of build quality, longevity, and ease of use.
Recommending one of the most expensive ultrabooks available is just stupid.
You forgot to tell everyone how great Apple's support is and how they are perfect.
I kinda think the best bet you have is to go for a Chinese tablet if you want to keep it in your budget.
Xiaomi Mi Pad 1 7.9 for $151 on 11/11 from Aliexpress doesn't look that bad. Hardware fits the bill, 2GB RAM with good SoC + high resolution screen. I think Xiaomi never updated it beyond Kitkat (I doubt it will receive any) and I don't think there is any custom ROM development around it, but it really doesn't matter since you only need it for reading PDFs. Screen might be little bit small (that said I use iPad Mini 4 for similar purpose, it being small does make it easier to read things on bus).
Wouldnt buy from Ali. better buy from ebay.
Aliexpress isn't that bad, they do provide their own Escrow service (unlike eBay) which does seem to put off a lot of people.
You do have to be careful about the sellers rating (like eBay) and there are certain things that you'd find a lot of fakes in (like flash drive).
That said, the sellers rating is high, the product has been sold for a long time. I kinda don't think that seller would cause much issue to be honest.
Leaning towards this as it has 2gb of ram and is just under 200. Any other recommendations?
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/tablets/lenovo/l…
Thanks for being awesome fellow ozbargainersI think 8inch is too small, they will be constantly zooming in to see it all.
I also think a 4:3 screen is better than a lot of tablets are 16:9 (or there abouts) 4:3 is book page size for your pdfs.8 inch with 4:3 screen isn't that bad for PDFs. I do admit that some textbooks are awful with it (a textbook I own has so much margin left over, I think they could fit two page worth of texts on one page), but most of the articles I've came across fit nicely into the screen.
I do own a 10.5 (16:10) inch tablet and a 12 (3:2) inch 2 in 1 device. I tend to use the 8 inch model more for reading articles because other two become little bit too heavy for reading after awhile + I kinda don't like moving my keyboard around to accomodate for the tablet.
Though that said, I prefer 16:10 for videos. That 10.5 inch model is being used at home as a netflix/youtube machine. I once tried to watch Apple's keynote on 8 inch model… I am not sure about the ratio that the streaming was on, but I am getting the feeling it would've been more wider than 16:9 because the letterboxes were both larger than the video.
Saw a pendo ex display tablet at officeworks yesterday for fifty dollars don't know the specs but you can check their website for details , marked down from 100 to 77 and now 50 dollars.
I would not touch pendo
good to know for future reference, thanks
Seems most people here dont know what they are talking about. djk above is a classic self professed "know it all" that gives out the wrong advice.
As an expert in the area I can tell you that RAM and memory is less important.
For reading PDFs all you need is 1GB RAM though yes 2GB is always better but not necessary.
The built in memory may be of importance but given you can easily expand this with a memory card, probably not so important either. 8GB is sufficient but 16GB is much better.
Obviously you go for a current QUAD core model, not a susperceded Dual core one.
WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR READING PDFs IS THE QUALITY OF THE SCREEN AND RESOLUTION!
You need a good clear screen which can be easily read in most ANGLES and light conditions which nobody has mentioned here.
Here are some important guidelines:
Go with a proper HIGH DEFINITION screen of at least 1280 x 800 or better
Go with an IPS screeen, NOT a TFT screen. IPS is what Samsung uses in their phones. Arguablely the best screen type available. Pendo use the cheap and nasty TFT screen - very difficult to read. djk please take note!!!
Agree 10" screen size would be best though 9" is probably sufficient.
Its also worth checking battery life closely as they vary a lot. The better tablets in this arena are now getting 5 to 8 hours on a single charge!
The best news is that you can buy such a tablet on ebay for around $120.
Just go over the specs very carefully. Plenty of cheap nasty ones around.This is what you need (on ebay):
VERY GOOD ($140 delivered)
10.1" High Definition (1280 x 800) high quality IPS screen
2GB RAM / 32 GB ROM-Internal memory
1.5GHz QUAD (4x) core processor
Connectivity via wifi/Bluetooth/3G so basically like a phone!
Also has GPS
4400Ah battery provides 3-4 hours continuous use
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-1-Tablet-PC-Android-4-4-2-32GB…EVEN BETTER ($159 delivered)
10.1" Extra High Definition (2560 X 1600) high quality IPS screen
2GB RAM / 16 GB ROM-Internal memory
1.6GHz OCTA (8x) core processor
Connectivity via wifi/Bluetooth/ALL 3G bands so basically like a phone!
Also has GPS
60000Ah battery provides 5-8 hours continuous use
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-1-Android-5-1-Tablet-PCs-16GB-…I read comics on a samsung galaxy tab 3 and its great at full screen to a page. It works well so any 8 incher should be fine.
Well-meaning advice it may be, however all these links to Ali and eBay are just noise.
would prefer local stock in the sydney region
I do agree minimum screen should be 9", with 10-11" ideal.
My only suggestion is the Pendo 10.1" convertible. This is based on the reviews I've seen, the fact it's available locally and is "only" 50-ish dollars above budget.
Resolution and general spec is low, but at least you can see it in person to judge suitability.
This is way out of the required price range but the Samsung Note Pro 12.2 is what I use at work for reading and annotating PDFs. The Note's pen is wonderful and the tablet's screen is sharp and crisp. I actually managed to grab mine on Gumtree for around $500 about a year ago.
Alternatively you might be able to find a secondhand Note 10.1 somewhere. This tablet should be fine for your son.
I'm writing this from a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 wifi, which I got for reading science journal articles for uni,it works well with minimal lag with the google Pdf reader & Dropbox App.
I got it for around $250 @ Bing Lee!
Get a Samsung galaxy tab. When I was shopping around Officeworks were so much cheaper than the other retailers
JB Hi Fi has the lenovo Yoga 8 inch tablet in store which is excellent for the price. 198 and will do the job more than nicely. Plus plays apps/surf web/music/movies Android Tablet.
Ashton Kutcher seems to enjoy being in the ads for this tablethttps://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/tablets/lenovo/l…
Alternatively..
Consider a Amazon Fire Tablet:https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/feature.html?docId=3077740026
this is under your budget. Easy to use has a kindle E book reader built in for pdf and ebooks can surf the web and run apps. It's an android tablet and has Australian warranty as its from the Australian Amazon store.
Its a well known and trusted brand.Dick Smith also have a few online.
(Dick smith is online only now)
https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/shop/tablets-laptops/android…Hope this helps
We have Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 for the kids and they've lasted and worked well but between the Note 7 fiasco and their washing machine house fires I absolutely refuse to recommend their brand anymore. They just don't put the required emphasis on safety. The point I am however making is that these weren't cheap - the cheapest I got on sale was something around $240 when the AUD was strong, and they retailed for around $300-$350. I remember it was between the Samsung and an ASUS tablet when I looked.
This one looks okayish:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tablets/reviews/asus-zenpad-80-z380k…Or maybe this one mentioned at the end of that review:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tablets/reviews/xiaomi-mi-pad-review…
Op I know you said local but if i were you I would consider the mi pad. It will be $150 in a few days and it is good from specs. Best bang for your buck.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/274096Nexus 7(2013) edition is really good, if you can get that,get it
what does everyone think of the lenovo tab 2 a10-30 10.1 (1GB model) for reading pdfs and watching youtube hd vids? I am waiting for a sale, I want to pick it up for around $160-170
Someone I know bought the Aldi Android one and wasn't really impressed. Dropped it and smashed the screen anyway. Served its purpose I suppose in being a cheap tablet and cost less than iPad etc. She has been using an old iPad of mine instead and likes it. Makes me consider a secondhand iPad if it could be certain to be unlocked etc.
What about something like the Chuwi Hi10 Pro?
Windows + Android, 4GB RAM, and a full-HD display which will definitely help as far as reading textbooks. I have no troubles with content-heavy PDFs on a similarly specced atom-based Windows tablet.
for reading, you will need a reasonably HD screen preferably over 300dpi. a large pdf file also requires a good processor and rom size. at your budget i'd also suggest the mipad but if you can increase it by about 50-100 more there are a lot of other options then (eg. sony z3 compact, galaxy tab3, an older gen ipad mini etc).
i have a z3 compact and it works fine for pdf. i wouldnt recommend a 7inch i think 8 is really the minimum for comfortable reading. the aspect ratio doesn't bother me, it's nicer when you watch a movie also
Stay away from the ALDI and Kmart models- although they're only $100 they are very slow and have these weird squishy screens that don't respond well to touch and have poor viewing angles- IMO they're not even good for little kids. I use an acer iconia a500 from like 5 years ago… loads up my 500pg textbooks quickly with no problem. Recently got a Yoga Tab2 for my old man, that thing is really fast and the screen is great. Honestly anything from the last 3 years will be able to do all the things you need easily. Also I think getting the 10.1" is a must, looking at textbooks on an 8" screen would be off putting for me.
I bought a few tablets, exactly for this very purpose, some of them not very cheap. From my experience,
CPU/RAM; Don't go too far to the low end, some PDFs might be very slow to load and even unresponsive and frustrating. 2GB RAM the least.
Size/Weight; It should be of an acceptable Size/Weight to be comfortable to read and hold it in hands. 8-10" I would say the best.
Resolution/Brightness; I would say this is the most important issue; definitely the resolution should be over 1200*800, I have 2 in this range, not very clear and hard to read, especially on the go in a bright environment it should be clearly visible.
Storage, MicroSD, Battery life, WiFi/3g; Maybe just basic specs would do.and to me, Nothing else matters.
Maybe something like this, Teclast X98 Plus Windows 10 + Android 5.1 9.7 inch QXGA IPS Retina Screen Intel Cherry Trail Z8300 64bit Quad Core 1.44GHz 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Cameras Bluetooth 4Have a look at:
- nVidia Shield K1. Amazon $199US is a little out of your price range but being a "gaming" tablet, it has a decent cpu and 1080 screen.
- Asus ZenPad S 8. $159US Amazon. IPS Display (2048 x 1536).
- Xiaomi MiPad. $150 soon on aliexpress.Sydney outlets for Amazon and Aliexpress please?
i would prefer local stock in the sydney region
Seriously, can anyone read?
Since when prefer meant it has to be? Besides isn't your recommendation outside his budget?
His budget is so limiting that you have to either give up the local stock aspect or specs.
Pendo I think has TN panel. They simply mention TFT LCD so it may as well be IPS, but I think it's likely to be TN since companies usually choose to flaunt IPS as a marketing point; a lot of people automatically associate IPS with good screen quality. It uses baytrail with Windows 10, which isn't too bad, but performance wise, it's at the lower end for Windows machine. HD on 10.1 inch tablet probably isn't that great either, especially if you are looking at PDFs.
You simply made a recommendation that's based on his preference of local stock, others simply chose to base their recommendation on spec and budget.
I acknowledged it was $50 over their budget when I suggested it, so we can disregard that.
HD on 10.1 inch tablet probably isn't that great either, especially if you are looking at PDFs.
"probably" confirms you have no clue.
I'm using a $90 Allwinner V140D (A33 quad core ~1.6GHz) with "just" 1GB RAM and 1024x800 TFT. 90% of my use is reading PDF magazines and books.
Zero problems with readability. Despite my advancing years, I don't need to zoom either.With half the memory as recommended by the expert hordes, I can flick a dozen pages ahead — no crashes. Rendering takes a few seconds at most, 90% of the time it takes a second after the transition (yes, I'm even using animated transitions).
Any pitfalls are related to the e-reader software used. Some are unstable and crash, so you uninstall until you find something fast and reliable.
For e-mags I prefer EBook Reader Pro. For books I use Anyview or Moon+.
So if OP is interested in something similar without waiting for eBay (and associated risks) check out the $100 10.1" tablet at Target which is unavailable online but the perfect excuse to head down and try one.
Also SONIQ were flogging their 10.1 for $50 recently. That had a better screen too.
@USB-V: I've said "go for a Chinese tablet if you want to keep it in your budget", at least I didn't insult you by saying you can't read. So in same regards, I think you should've disregarded that I've suggested Chinese tablets, not suggesting that I can't read or suggesting my suggestion is simply noise. The OP didn't say he would only look at local stock, he said he'd prefer.
I hate going into, I bought these therefore I am some kind of expert. Since you want to bring up what you use your tablet for, I will say this. I use my tablets for journal articles and books (such as DSM-V and textbooks). I use mine for textbooks and journal articles which seem to align with what OP wants. The difference between books and textbooks/journal article is probably going to be latter would benefit more from having better hardware (figures, graphs, hyperlinks on some journal articles, etc). Reading simple things like books (which mainly contain texts) or something that contains pictures but short compared to books (magazines) wouldn't really be same as reading textbooks (similar length to books and contains pictures), would it?
You are making it sound like I've said your device is unusable or cannot be used for PDFs. I simply said the "HD on 10.1 inch isn't great either, especially if you are looking at PDFs". Your tablet, within Windows tablet, is at the lower end of the spectrum. Isn't it kind of obvious that worse hardware would give worse experience? If I had a choice between 2K vs HD for reading textbooks, I'd go with 2K.
I don't think your recommendation is bad or anything like that. My option is making a compromise (it's not local stock). I simply thought you were downplaying others who were giving options that, in my opinion are valid.
at least I didn't insult you by saying you can't read.
I was replying to Bargainhunt9. Unless that's your shadow account?
If I had a choice between 2K vs HD for reading textbooks, I'd go with 2K.
Your preference. Some continue to be conned, and that's fine. It's their money. The $400 I saved on a tablet went into my mortgage where it will have saved me ~$4000 by the time it's done.
Do you make such distinctions with traditional books? Some paper is smooth in texture, some rough and grainy. The latter causes ink bleed within the pulp fibres, akin to lower resolution. Yet we don't pull out the magnifying glass to criticise the paper, do we?
All that's required is the printing be perfectly legible from a reasonable distance.I still have as 32" PDP that's "only" 480P. Everything is perfectly readable from one to eight metres away. That's as far away as I can get from it. It has a better picture than our much newer Samsung FHD PDP. My phone has a 240 display and I can read that just fine.
What does that say about all these pampered hothouse flowers?We agree that finding something decent under $200 locally is tricky. But the title says "cheap" and therefore the expectation is already low. Otherwise they'd have written "Cheap and good".
So sure, Chinese tabs are fine (that's all I've recommended) but I stuck with local because for school use:
1. it's probably needed immediately
2. if there's DOA, take it back for exchange/refund
3. if you need warranty biz
4. OP stated it as their preference.Those that want to play spec games have too much time on their hands. As Barry Schwartz recently reminded us on The Checkout, good enough is almost always good enough
You mentioned those to people who recommended anything that was from abroad.
Well-meaning advice it may be, however all these links to Ali and eBay are just noise.
Sydney outlets for Amazon and Aliexpress please?Your option costs more.
Xiaomi mipad costs $150 ish, your pendo pad costs $250. The boon of your pendo pad was it's local stock. You get better resolution and better CPU and GPU for less.
If you read your book 1 to 8 meters away from your eyes… I don't know what to say about it. Usually I leave my tablet on the desk and I'd assume that'd be 30cm to 50cm at max. When I am writing, I'd probably get even closer to it. Yes, if you put the device far away from your eyes, the pixel density becomes less important. That said, this is going to be used for reading and studying with a textbook.
In short, your examples are lovely, can we have relevant ones that are related to students studying with the tablet looking at figures, writing and copying down paragraphs, etc etc?
If you are saying that low PPI is better, I have nothing else to say to you. It's personal thing isn't it? I personally couldn't stand 1024x768 on 10 inch tablet, because it made everything look a little like a blurry mess for me. I don't like zooming in because you cannot make what the footnote or things in small fonts are saying that much.
Again, I don't think your option is a bad one. You are making a compromise with your recommendations (local stock with less spec) just like others have with theirs (non-local stock with better spec). First model you've recommended was over the budget OP wanted. With all that, I don't think you can say others can't read or others' opinion are noises or say that I have no clue.
They're called analogies. They appear to be lost on you, but so much is.
I'll be specific — 10.1" tablets.
If you need more than 720-800 vertical lines to read comfortably, that says more about your eyesight than marketing or peer pressure.Higher res = stronger corrective lenses.
Well, firstly, I can read. The OP said "prefer". Secondly, the OP has also stated in a later post that they are willing to buy from a reputable online store like banggood. Thirdly, yes, I'm insulted by your comments. I was trying to help the OP. Didn't expect the hate.
@Bargainhunt9:
Yes, the day after my post the OP made that comment which includes reasons for the stated preference. Which didn't take a genius to deduce why in the first instance.But I'm glad you can read. The question of comprehension, empathy, logic and critical thinking remain. Let's begin.
Comprehension:
prefer local stock in the sydney region
If all you (or anyone else) has done is paste links to overseas vendors without offering a local option, fail.Empathy
My son is currently looking for
Try putting yourself in that situation. Do you expect your son to wait 3-8 weeks for something required for school? School hasn't ended for the year, has it?Logic and critical thinking
(internal processing)
Put it all together. We've all been stung (or know someone who has) with fake, DOA, used, empty boxes — you name it — from overseas.
I'm not endorsing a Trump-like trade embargo, but some things are safer to buy locally (including known and trusted Australian eBay sellers).
Cheap Tablet preferably local? Tough ask, but regurgitating links to Amazon and Aliexpress without a local option is poor form, therefore my frustration.
If it's only for reading monochrome texts & diagrams, then I reckon a larger reader with E-Ink screen is the way to go…far easier on the eyes than a backlit display.
if it's only PDFs, wouldn't a Kindle do the trick? Especially as they mimic the paper fairly well. A conversion is required though
a Kindle would only be 6", wayyy too small for textbook PDFs you'd need to scroll all over the place
There's Kindle, Kobo et al. models that go up to 13+" screens, so no need to worry about RSI from scrolling! ;)
I have a Kindle and will happily say that they are brilliant for books. But horrible for PDFs. The occasional one, sure, but if it's your main PDF reader, you'll curse it.
" i would prefer local stock in the sydney region"
Could i ask why why why?
The 2 top class tablets on ebay I suggested which are well within your budget will be delivered to your front door within 5-6 working days.
You don't even need to leave your home to buy one.
Saves a lot of hassle and covered by both eBay and Paypal buyer protection.
You get a much better deal on ebay these days than paying our ridiculous over inflated retail prices.
Nothing under $350 in retail comes close to these two tablets.Hi,
I prefer local stock as it is both easier and safer. I have bought 2 smartphone off ebay and they have both not been genuine. So I don't want to risk it again. I am happy to buy off reputable stores like bang good. But not some random ebay seller with a no brand tablet.Fully understand. Once bitten twice shy.
But I am not suggesting you buy a Genuine or possibly fake Samsung tablet here.
I am actually using one of the tablets I recommended and found its very good. So speaking from real life experience.
Anyway you have DOUBLE Buyer protection when you buy via eBay and pay via Paypal.
Absolutely Nothing to lose - guaranteed!
But like you say - Once bitten, twice shy.
Unfortunately you can end up with a heap of rubbish from a retailer too. PendoPads which a few recommended here are absolute CRAP!
Any Android tablet should be fine - if you have an Aldi, they may have something suitable. Alternatively, an older iPad mini or something if you want something smallish.
They'll all work fine for this purpose.