Stiftung Warentest: Tablet innovations 2014 in the test
In the 2014 update, Stiftung Warentest examined 21 tablet innovations. The new Samsung and the inexpensive Lenovo tablets competed against the iPad models from the previous year's test in the May issue. Our test summary shows: The Apple competition does not sleep and instead provides good alternatives to the iPad.
Stiftung Warentest in tablet frenzy: The search for the best iPad alternatives
In the December 2013 issue of Warentest, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 won with a grade of 1.9. But just a few days later, the first test update followed, in which a few stragglers were checked: Samsung achieved first place with the Galaxy Note 10.1 (Note 1.7) and thus relegated the new iPad Air (Note 1.8) to place 2. In the 2014 update there are further changes in the tablet Olympus ...
Product test winner: Samsung extends the tablet leadership
In the current test (May 2014), Samsung outperforms itself: The Galaxy TabPro 10.1 beats any competitor product and reinforces the Samsung leadership of the Galaxy Note 10.1 (also Note 1.7) with 1.7. The details:
- The new Galaxy TabPro 10.1 is significantly lighter than the previous Samsung tip, but otherwise only differs in that it has a slightly longer battery life.
- Compared to the second-placed iPad Air, the two Android tablets could score above all with a high-resolution display and the camera is also significantly better at Samsung, according to the experts.
- The Galaxy TabPro also had a pretty good battery life - better than the iPad Air. However, since the Galaxy takes a little longer to charge, the battery was rated significantly worse.
Battery champion Amazon knocks on the tablet Olympus
- Amazon surprisingly comes in third place with its Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. With an overall grade of 1.9 ("Good" rating), it plays in a league like the iPad 4 and the 2013 winner of Warentest, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.
- The Kindle Fire is the only tablet not based on iOS or the typical Android, but was also able to convince the product test experts with Fire OS. Its top display resolution and the best battery of all product tests secured the Kindle Fire HDX 3rd place.
- In the other test categories, the Amazon tablet was only marginally worse than the test winners and proved to be a serious iPad alternative.
Entry-level tip: Lenovo tablets are "good" and inexpensive
For price-conscious tablet buyers, Stiftung Warentest is showing the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 3G for around 230 euros as an inexpensive alternative to the Apple and Samsung products. Like the Yoga 8 model without a mobile data network (price approx. 170 euros), it received a "good" rating of 2.1.
- Even if the display is not comparable to the test winners, Lenovo is at least on par with the flagships from Samsung and Apple in terms of battery life.
- The weak point of the Lenovo tablet is on the Internet: The Yoga 8 lacks the LTE connection and is also not compatible with the WLAN type 802.11n 5 GHz, which is used in the USA, for example. In Germany, however, you can easily surf via the 2.4 GHz connection and thus have a cheap tablet alternative.
- All details about the test can be found at test.de.
Tablets in the leaderboard: CHIP sees Apple in front - goods test against Samsung
- While Stiftung Warentest again ranked a Samsung tablet in first place, the CHIP leaderboard tops Apple with the iPad mini Retina.
- According to our test, the two first-place winners from Samsung only finished in 7th place (Galaxy Note 10.1) and 9th place (Galaxy TabPro 10.1), partly because of the very long charging times. Even Amazon doesn't play at the top after checking in the CHIP test laboratory - it is ranked 29th among the best tablets.
- The Lenovo successor Yoga Tablet 10 is also among the top 20 (16th place). For around 200 euros, it is one of the cheaper devices, but is beaten in fifth place by the Nexus 7 in its price range.
We present the best iPad competitors in a compact form in our video test of the top tablets.