(Photo: Zlata Ivelva)
Tablets straddle the line between mobile and home computing. For many people, they've become laptop replacements; for others, they're entertainment gadgets to keep the kids quiet in the car. Since we test dozens of tablets each year, we have different approaches to testing them.
Android and Apple Tablets
We test tablets very similarly to how we test smartphones. First, we analyze physical design including display size and quality, controls, ports, and storage.
For Android and Amazon Fire tablets, we run Basemark 3.0 on Chrome to check web browsing speed. We also run Geekbench to take a look at processor performance. PCMark Work gives a picture of overall application performance. GFXBench tests 2D and 3D graphics performance, and we launch and play the extremely high-end game Genshin Impact to check frame rate, control fluidity, and jitter.
Apple's iPads are compared extensively with previous models, more so than to other tablets. We start with roughly the same tests we use for Android tablets. For benchmarks on iPadOS, we run Basemark 3.0 to test Safari browser performance, Geekbench to check processor speed, and GFXBenchmark to look at 2D and 3D graphics performance. We also measure the time it takes to re-encode a 4K file down to 720p in iMovie.
To assess tablet video quality, we use 1080p and 4k YouTube streams. For audio we use YouTube Music, measuring peak volume with a decibel meter placed six inches away from the tablet.
If a tablet specifically promotes its Wi-Fi performance, we check speed using Ookla Speedtest at distances of zero to 100 feet, every 25 feet, using a Netgear RAX 120 router. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company.)
If a tablet has cellular connectivity, we test performance using Speedtest at multiple locations throughout New York City. For GPS, we see if the tablet can capture a GPS signal and show an accurate location both on a busy, crowded street and in an open park.
To test camera capabilities, we use an abbreviated set of our tests for digital cameras for the front and rear cameras.
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For battery life, we use a rundown test where we play a 12-hour video on a loop with the tablet's screen set to maximum brightness and Wi-Fi switched on until the battery dies.
Tablets with pressure-sensitive pens need specific tests for stylus performance. We draw grids of crosshatched lines and grids of stippled dots with the pens, looking for gaps in the lines, uneven pressure sensitivity, or missing dots.
Chrome OS and Windows Tablets
We treat Chrome OS and Windows tablets like laptops, so for more on those tests, head over to our story on How We Test Laptops.
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About Our Expert
I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.
US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities
Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.
I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.
In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.
My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.
My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.
