back to article Can't fit slab AND mobe in your tight pockets? 10 tablets with built-in 3G/4G

If you want a tablet that is always connected to the internet, there are several options to consider. One that involves no extra hardware expense is simply to use your smartphone as a wireless hotspot, routing connections over 3 or 4G - if your chosen mobile network lets you. Another option, which has the advantage of not …

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  1. Steve Foster

    Icon W700

    "At the time of writing Acer couldn’t confirm a price nor an expected UK shipping date."

    And yet, one of the Tesco "megamall" stores near me had them in briefly some months back. I looked at them a couple of times, and couldn't decide whether it was a good deal or not (the spec information was unclear, making it seem like a case of "too good to be true").

    1. Steve Foster
      WTF?

      Re: Icon W700

      DAMMIT - IconIA.

      Oh, for usable, workable, voice recognition.

      1. WraithCadmus

        Re: Icon W700

        I've not used voice recognition for ages, has it improved beyond "Ewe torque, tit tapes!"

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Icon W700

          Dragon 12 on my win7 PC is brilliant.

  2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Nexus - it is not just the dialer

    Nexus 3G has been crippled at more than one level. It is not just the dialer which is missing - the relevant bits of the baseband which allow you to make a circuit-switched call are missing too. On top of that tethering (both USB and WiFi hotspot) have been deliberately removed to cripple it even further. Thus spake the Chocolate Factory: "Though shalt consume only on this device and though shalt not share its connection to the cloud".

    Switching to cyanogen "fixes" the tethering - you can now get both USB tether and WiFi hotsptot. Unfortunately it cannot do anything about the fact that it has been crippled not to do cellular calls at baseband level. So your choice of "phone services" is inbetween SIP, Skype and of course Google Talk.

    This discqualifies it from being mentioned on this list. It cannot replace a phone period.

    1. Argh

      Re: Nexus - it is not just the dialer

      I didn't see anywhere in the article that this list was for phone replacements. The iPad can't place calls either, as far as I know (from a quick search).

    2. Powerpointmonkey

      Re: Nexus - it is not just the dialer

      It IS just the dialer...

      I have a nexus 7 2013 LTE on EE. Tethering works just fine on the stock build (I'm typing this on my laptop tethered to the nexus via wifi), as does SMS. just install the 'tethering shortcut' and any SMS app from the play store.

      I can however confirm that voice calls definitely do not work, even if you install a third party dialer.

  3. Fizzl

    Soon..

    I'm interested in the 8 inch Windows tablet with 4G + a small phone combination. Should fit in the suit jacket nicely.

    Miix 8 and Venue looking the most interesting so far.

    1. dave 158

      Re: Soon..

      Personally, I'd test the 8 inches in a pocket ( oo-err missus ). I've got the Asus fonepad, it just fits and you've got no hope if you want to put any kind of cover on it, which is a real shame.

      I dont really see where the other Asus offering reviewed - tag line of article is dont/cant do a phone and a tab, then you review a phone/tab combo.

      To date, the Asus fonepad is fairly good, but not a patch on the Galaxy Note 1 I came from, apart from screen real estate. software is flakey, camara facing you is fairly useless for taking pictures but on the upside only 180 quid and you can actually read what's on the screen ( old man's eyes ).

      if the Note 8incher fits, I'd go with that and wear a headset with a mic/bluetooth thingie.

  4. 1Rafayal

    Have the Xperia Tablet Z here and cannot recommend it high enough. Albeit I do not have the 3G/LTE version (but it works very well with a 3 MiFi dongle.).

    The image quality of the screen has made some iPad 4 owners mention that it is as good as their iDevice, plus the looks, weight and optional storage also made them consider getting one.

  5. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    "To my eyes, the iPad is starting a look just a little old hat. The UI certainly is, though iOS 7 will remedy this to some extent."

    I can assure you that the IOS7 update does not indeed, remedy anything of any note.

    To my mind, it looks like it has been designed by a color blind Teletubby who was at the same time keeled over regurgitating his previous nights kebab - and has taken that output as the inspiration for IOS7.

    1. LPF

      Do you actually own an IPAD?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @LPF - "Do you actually own an IPAD?"

        Since when does an El Reg commenter need to own a product (or even have used one) in order to flame the hell out of it? Don't set your standards so high.

        Besides, we've all seen our co-workers and family members sporting devices with iOS7. He's well within his rights to call it a design based on a teletubby puking up kebab.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Dell Latitude 10 can be had for half the price in the article via Dell Outlet. Currently there is a 128GB with Windows 8 Pro for just under £300 on there.

    1. mmeier

      Before buying check the version! There are some pretty stripped down L10s around (touch only, no 3G/LTE) for cheap but the full Monty costs around 700€ (whatever that is in funny money)

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pedants corner

    In the Sony Experia Z, "Add to the package a pair of excellent cameras, similarly top-draw speakers" would that be with a pencil or a pen?

  8. thomas k.

    USB OTG on Nexus 7

    Please stop repeating that canard about the Nexus 7 not supporting USB OTG.

    It supports keyboards and mice out of the box and flash drive file transfer (read and write) through a 3rd party app, Nexus Media Importer, $4 in the Play store. No rooting required, btw.

    1. Tom 38

      Re: USB OTG on Nexus 7

      So what you're saying is that it doesn't support USB OTG?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    in future

    can you please not use the phrase "keyboard-cum-cover"

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FFS

    Read the first 2 potted reviews, observed that no mention was made of aspect ratio (then skimmed the rest to make sure). I am uninterested in a fucking letterbox screen, and I don't believe that I am alone in this. And I am uninterested in any review that ignores what is, to me, the first and most important question to be asked of any tablet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: FFS

      So, don't read it and certainly don't bother to comment on it then.

      Why do cowards still get posting rights here, by the way? Can't recall the last time there was anything useful from one of them. Bunch of drive-by whiners.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: FFS

        Well, some of us post anonymously occasionally so's we can impart interesting and sometimes confidential information without getting in trouble with employers (and I'm posting this anonymously so's no-one can see me admit that. Not that I ever have anyway. This whole comment is purely hypothetical). But yeah, I take your point. Maybe a new rule for the moderators? Anonymity only allowed on posts where it might actually be required, rather than for tedious slaggings?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: FFS

      What is a "Fucking letterbox screen" ?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    a mini all-in-one desktop PC.

    So nothing like a laptop then?

  12. Hubert Thrunge Jr.
    Linux

    How about

    I bought a Hyundai T10 slablet a while back. I went for it for a number of reasons, it was quite fast - 1.6GHz A9 quad core Samsung Exynos 4412 processor, "gb ram, 16Gb storage with a micro SD slot for expansion, all the usual WiFi, GPS etc, but the main reason - GSM/3G connectivity. As a phone, it works just as well as any other droid device. Comes with an earphone/mic jobby, but obviously supports Bluetooth borg implants just the same, and has a HDMI output if for some reason you want to connect it to something bigger.

    The battery is 6500mAh, which gives good life.

    5Mp camera on the back, 0.3 on the front for webcam use.

    Unlike many other slabs, it's metal (aluminium) cased.

    Most are shipped with Android ICS installed, though JellyBean was released for them a while ago.

    Antutu reports 15580 as it's score, which is a fair bit quicker than the Nexus 7 and 10.

    The down side - it comes pre-loaded with lots of Chinese market apps which take a little getting rid of, and by default, it's set to Mandarin out of the box!

    The plus side - they sell for around £220 on eBay.

    They make a 7-incher, the T7 too.

  13. Intractable Potsherd

    Physical buttons

    What is the problem with hardware buttons on the Note? I am a great fan of proper switches, and don't understand the case for not having them.

    1. dajames
      Trollface

      Re: Physical buttons

      What is the problem with hardware buttons on the Note?

      For one thing, they don't move round to the narrow edge when you use the device in "portrait" mode!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Asus FonePad

    it's a bit unfair to rate this slab, given that a replacement, with somewhat better spec, but around the same price, is expected in the next month or so.

    It would be also fair to point out that the current model appears to suffer some battery issues, as can be seen on amazon.co.uk (reviews)

  15. All names Taken
    Paris Hilton

    Tee Hee Tesco?

    I was going to crib at lack of Tesco-esque under impression that Tesco too has entered the tablet race to iniquity.

    Trouble was, tee hee!, I went to tesco .com to put a link here and it looks like tesco .com has also forgotten about tesco's ubiquitous tablet too.

  16. David Beck

    Missing the bargain Lenovo A3000

    Your researcher missed the Lenovo A3000 (replacement for the A2107A). The A3000 fixes all of the problems with the A2107A except screen res, still 1024x600), but the CPU is now quad and all of the internal memory available for apps (about 13GB after system loads). Front and back cameras, OTG support, BT keyboard support and under the back cover, a microSD slot supporting SDXC as well as SDHC, and two SIM slots. Why two? In the Asian market one slot can be used for voice as well as SMS and the other for data. In the UK voice is missing but the slot still works for SMS. Data is HSPA+, my local tower gets me 17Mbps. While this is a descent spec 7in tablet the most interesting thing is you can buy it from Very for £150, I did. Beats the crap out of £320, unless you're like CNET and fixated on resolution. It's on Android 4.2.2 and Lenovo have issued 3 OTA updates, one big one "fused" two internal partitions into one big one to fix the app storage limits. Now if they would just issue one with the voice support in the kernel all would be well (there are still bits of voice support hiding in the UI).

    1. dave 158

      Re: Missing the bargain Lenovo A3000

      So, no voice for uk model ?

      How does that replace a tablet and a phone ?

  17. dajames
    WTF?

    SIM cards

    Just a word of warning:

    A problem I encountered when sourcing a SIM card and provider for a ten-inch Galaxy Note is that the various aircos don't seem to understand that a device can be both a phone and a tablet; they either don't provide suitable tariffs (e.g. their data tariffs don't support voice) or they bar the device when you try to use data ("you seem to be using your SIM in a computer, put it back into your phone").

    To make matters worse, their staff often don't know what works/is allowed and what doesn't/isn't. I've been given blatantly untrue information both in high-street shops and on the telephone by (I think) all the major providers. I really don't understand why it is apparently so difficult to provide a simple range of contracts/tariffs that meet the requirements of the user, and to ensure that one's own staff know and understand what is on offer so that they can sell the right thing quickly and efficiently.

    1. dave 158

      Re: SIM cards8

      Name names fella, i'm thinking of jumping to virgin or giffgaff in the coming months, sim only - don't wanna be gimped straight out of the box

      Cheers

      D

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: SIM cards

      http://ovivomobile.com/offer/ovivo-for-data/

      Ive got one

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