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Tablets revisted

I wrote about tablets a while ago. At the moment I have a Surface pro 3, an iPad Air, a Nexus 7 and a Zenphone 2.

The Zenphone isn't a tablet but it does have a 1080p 5.5 inch screen and, not so long ago, they were selling 5 inch tablets (anything portable without a screen was called a tablet!). I use it to check email, hangouts, normal phone activities like texts and phone calls as well as to play ingress. It does all that very well. It also has a second SIM slot so I can use it with an overseas SIM while travelling and still have my normal number. It is the best phone I have owned (so far)!

The surface pro is a very recent acquisition and so far I am using it as an ultra portable with the keyboard attachment. The 12 inch screen is very nice, the keyboard is very usable although the touchpad would be a problem if the screen wasn't touchable! The biggest annoyance so far is that the  touchpad doesn't seem to have any way to do a middle mouse button click. 

The ipad is still getting plenty of use even with the Surface Pro as it is smaller and is more comfortable to use for reading (using the kindle app). The iTunes store has a lot of choice in music, iBooks does offer a few decent books and there are many podcasts available - I haven't found it as convenient to get podcasts on android and haven't set up the Surface for media consumption whilst away from the home network.

The Nexus 7 is used as a clock (on its dock). It is a very capable tablet but its smaller screen makes it less useful when compared to the iPad (the Air is so light compared to the iPad 2 I had before it that I can use it to read for hours at a time). I find browsing to be better on the 9.7 inch screen and
even better on the 12 inch Surface screen.

At the moment I will use the iPad when travelling as it is small enough to fit into my jacket pocket however if I can find a decent bag to fit the Surface pro in then it will be a much more difficult choice. I may end up having both available. That will make those long plane trips pass more quickly!

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