What should I consider when purchasing a new tablet?

This is an interesting question because there are a lot of things that you need to consider when purchasing a tablet. The first of course is which world you want to live in whether it is the Apple iOS environment or if you I want to be in the Android environment.

Next you need to decide whether or not you are willing to work only on Wi-Fi or whether you want the added capability of having Internet access through cell towers as well. Of course having wireless cell connectivity will cost you more but if you do need to have Internet access no matter where you're located then that might be an option that you need to consider. If you already have a cell phone understand that if you need to have cellular connection most cell phones do have the ability to act as a mobile hotspot and you can turn them into that as needed for your other Wi-Fi devices to utilize that connectivity. It is a matter of what your needs are and how comfortable you are in being able to switch back and forth between connectivity options with your cell phone.

The last thing you need to consider it's how you use the tablet. In other words what applications do you need to run to do the things that you like to do with your tablet. For example, I decided to go to an Android device from a company called Boox that produces a tablet that is mainly used for handwriting. The tablet screen is based on the same technology as the Kindle so it works well both indoors and outdoors, that's backlit so it's good in the dark, and has special hand touch recognition circuitry so that it lends itself to handwriting with a pen very well. But it's not good for primarily our videos. The screen is not responsive enough for that purpose. For most people this would not be a good choice because they all want to use the tablet has a portable video screen.

Another consideration is choosing A vendor who's device is more generic then specialized to allow you the greatest latitude of applications and functions for that device over time. I would consider a device from a company like Samsung over Amazon’s fire series for that reason unless do you like the integration with Amazon services that the fire tablets have built in.

Try to look for a tablet that has the newest version of the operating system available so that you get the longest functionality out of the device over time. Realize that the operating systems on these tablets have an end of life time that make them less usable years down the road. I have an old iPad 2 that I can currently only use with a short list of applications because it's not compatible anymore with most of the current video programs like Netflix, HULU and YouTube TV to extend you video streaming consumption. It's the issue we have with manufacturers building obsolescence into their system so you have to continue to purchase new ones over time.

I hope this helps with getting you started in making some decisions on what your best choices are in purchasing a new tablet for yourself.