Android Tablets - What Are The Best Budget Tablets for Gaming?

CustardShot on 09/08/2017 - 14:50

Hi all,

Seeking a cheapish tablet (Aiming for something around $200-$300) that will mainly be used for gaming. I'm keep for runescape to come to android/apple late this year, and want to play on a tablet so as to not completely destroy my phone's battery.

Key factors will be battery life, gaming capabilities and at least 1080 screen. Storage won't be an issue and I won't be storing videos or files on here.

I think I prefer the smaller tablets at around 8", but the ones at 10" or there abouts are still something I'd consider.

Or, if you know of a website that sells tablets at a good price, I'd love to know of it. If this is the case - what do I look for? My knowledge of specs stops at screen resolution, ram and storage. Do I need something with a good GPU? I don't know what that would be, but maybe someone could tell me that too lol.

Sorry for the long post - But if there is a budget Android tab out there which would suit my needs, I'd love to hear it!

Thank you.

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • Diji1 on 09/08/2017 - 15:10

    I you can find an Nvidia Shield K1 (or earlier model) they're good.

    iOS gaming generally is a lot better in terms of titles compared to Android.

    Don't forget you can play Windows games on MS Surface (which cost a lot more). I suggest an i5 model however I own an SP4 m3 and it's more capable than you might think (although there are many caveats: research playing Runescape on Surface as some games do not run well on Intel HD although I'd be very surprised if it did not run well).

  • scrimshaw on 09/08/2017 - 15:18
    +1

    I was going to suggest Nvidia Shield and Mi Pad 2, but realized these are out of production and might be difficult to acquire.

    The specs you'd be looking out for is the type of SOC being used. SOC means system on a chip — normal computers use processors, graphics cards etc. but a system on a chip is basically a combination of multiple components on a single chip — hence the name.

    You'd be looking out for the following chipsets if you want reasonably high performance

    Nvidia K1 (Nvidia)
    Intel Atom X5-Z8500 and X5-Z8550
    Snapdragon 820 (Adreno GPU) and Snapdragon 821

    And these are mid-range SOCS

    Intel Atom-X5 Z8350
    Rockchip RK3288
    Rockchip RK3399
    Snapdragon 625, 626, 650 and 652

  • AlienC on 15/08/2017 - 00:03
    +1

    When it comes to android tablets you have to make a decision.. do you want the cheapest but still decent playable last gen tablets.. or do you want to pony up just a little more to future proof your device a bit.

    Having been through a few tablets including a nvidia shield, if you run anything even remotely memory intensive in the background like messenger or Twitter do not get anything with 2gb of ram.. because the moment you start playing it will die on you especially if you don't plan on just playing candy crush or clash of Clans.

    And if you try something like vainglory or bullet force or critical ops.. back ground apps don't stand a chance.

    Personally I would try to get a second hand Samsung galaxy tab s2 (from eBay, Facebook or gumtree.. not sure if deals are popping up anymore.. JB HI FI has been stingy on tablets for a while now.. more than half a year which was when I was hunting for a new tablet) or new Huawei Mediapad M3 or Asus Zenpad 3S (from Amazon, personally the Asus is better in all ways but if you want something smaller or lighter and easier to hold in your hand or pocket then get the Huawei at 8.4 inches because the Asus is 9.7 and for some that is too big)

    I bought a SanDisk Ultra 200gb Micro SD Card with mine and it works perfectly.. stores a lot of um work documents and stuff..

    But yeah one of those three tablets should hold you until nvidia decides it needs to make a new updated tablet because 2gb ram is ludicrous.. my nvidia tablet met my concrete thick wall one night after freezing and closing all apps for the probably hundredth time that same night because it couldn't run Firefox, war robots, Facebook, messenger and a volume control app all in one go.. (profanity) that tablet.. it was such a good steal too.. got the stylus, cover, controller, us charger and two mint condition boxes for like ~$300 AUD was a very good price at the time.. this was about last year.

    Still have everything but the tablet lol.. maybe I will sell the controller some day when it is vintage and make a profit haha lol.

    Was such a nice gamer gamer too but 2gb ram :(

    Personally I would be interested in exploring the Apple side if things as their hardware and apps are usually ten times better and released and supported earlier than Android counterparts.. Having a closed and smaller ecosystem to cater for does have its benefits with optimization and performance tweaking..

    But yeah budget wise get the second hand Samsung galaxy tab s2 or new Huawei Mediapad M3 8.4 or new Asus Zenpad 3S 9.7

    The Huawei has some good updates 7.0 now and minor setting tweaks like data network usage in notification bar but the Asus has game genie app which lets you use a browser in your games and has some better streaming functionalities also 64gb instead of 32gb.

    All tablets have 2k screens which the nvidia shield tab does not.. some YouTube videos have 1440p these days it's nice. The two Amazon ones have 4gb ram while the Samsung only has 3gb.

    Good luck in your Android tablet search I hope you find what you need and if you do come to www.reddit.com/r/AndroidGaming when you are done and explore a cool community with some cool recommended games.

    Peace.

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