Alternative to Galaxy tab A 10.1 2019?

[countryblue]

This is my first tablet. Can't express how disappointed I am in the Galaxy tab A 10.1 2019.

I just read a review at Techradar that said it might be "sluggish". That's an understatement. How about touch screen "non-responsive". It freezes up with the simplest tasks.

I just started setting it up. Because they are both Samsung, I thought it would be a comfortable companion for my Galaxy s8. But no fingerprint or face recognition, no show password, no speak password.

Apparently, my password app, keepass2, which works fine on my phone, is apparently is questionable for it's compatibility with this tablet. Randomly, it won't let me copy and paste.

I used Smart Switch to import my phone contents, but I only got 70% of the apps, and who knows what else is missing.

I want a compact home page grid layout. Is there no alternative to the wide open spaces of 6x5? Is that typical of tablets?

I've still got a lot of tweaking to do, so the way this is going, I suspect I will discover further shortcomings.

Can someone please either suggest a reliable alternative, lower to middle of the road cost, or tell me if there's a way to get this thing working efficiently?

thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

I hope you don't mind -- I moved this from the General News forum to the General Help forum, since the former is more for discussion of what's happening in the tech world.

It'll be hard to find a budget or midrange tablet that has a lot of power. I have a Lenovo Tab 4 8 that works surprisingly well for its price and specs, but it can still get sluggish with certain tasks. Lenovo's more recent tablets like the M10 might be worth looking into.

 

[me just saying]

maybe using a launcher will give you some of the formatting features you want also a good launcher could make things faster because samsungs is a bit clunky. the tab a is low end and I consider it similar to the fire tablet, mainly for media. I would suggest the samsung s5e as an reliable alternative. It is not as powerful as the s6 but it will put the tab a to shame. it is reliable and have the biometrics you are looking for. lasspass work on it without any issues so I am willing to bet keepass2 will work.

 

[countryblue]

Hi guys,

I have a Lenovo Tab 4 8 that works surprisingly well for its price and specs, but it can still get sluggish with certain tasks. Lenovo's more recent tablets like the M10 might be worth looking into.

I looked up the Lenovo, and found this option. Lenovo Smart Tab P10 10.1” Android Tablet, 4g ram, 64GB. What do you think. Sounds pretty nice to me. It's got fingerprints technology. I don't know about other biometrics.

maybe using a launcher will give you some of the formatting features you want also a good launcher could make things faster because samsungs is a bit clunky

You mean something like the Microsoft launcher? What would you suggest?

I would suggest the samsung s5e as an reliable alternative. It is not as powerful as the s6 but it will put the tab a to shame. it is reliable and have the biometrics you are looking for. lasspass work on it without any issues so I am willing to bet keepass2 will work.

How does the Lenovo compare to the Samsung s5e in your opinions?

 

[B. Diddy]

I looked up the Lenovo, and found this option. Lenovo Smart Tab P10 10.1” Android Tablet, 4g ram, 64GB. What do you think.

The specs sound pretty decent, but I don't have any direct experience. I know that @kgambino just got one, so maybe she could weigh in (see this thread: https://forums.androidcentral.com/l...0984-psa-lenovo-tab-4-adware.html#post6704939

You mean something like the Microsoft launcher? What would you suggest?

Nova Launcher is my go-to.

 

[countryblue]

The specs sound pretty decent, but I don't have any direct experience. I know that @kgambino just got one, so maybe she could weigh in (see this thread: https://forums.androidcentral.com/l...0984-psa-lenovo-tab-4-adware.html#post6704939

Nova Launcher is my go-to.

I called Lenovo. They must be very busy. Seems to be some confusion over there. According to them, Lenovo has no tech support for tablets.

I'm also looking for a case with a keyboard, but the only thing I can find is one with a wireless keyboard, not blue tooth, which I thought was unusual. I suppose my windows wireless keyboard would'nt work with that?

 

[kgambino]

This is my first tablet. Can't express how disappointed I am in the Galaxy tab A 10.1 2019.

I just read a review at Techradar that said it might be "sluggish". That's an understatement. How about touch screen "non-responsive". It freezes up with the simplest tasks.

I just started setting it up. Because they are both Samsung, I thought it would be a comfortable companion for my Galaxy s8. But no fingerprint or face recognition, no show password, no speak password.

Apparently, my password app, keepass2, which works fine on my phone, is apparently is questionable for it's compatibility with this tablet. Randomly, it won't let me copy and paste.

I used Smart Switch to import my phone contents, but I only got 70% of the apps, and who knows what else is missing.

I want a compact home page grid layout. Is there no alternative to the wide open spaces of 6x5? Is that typical of tablets?

I've still got a lot of tweaking to do, so the way this is going, I suspect I will discover further shortcomings.

Can someone please either suggest a reliable alternative, lower to middle of the road cost, or tell me if there's a way to get this thing working efficiently?

thanks

Per B. Diddy, I am responding to your post. I had a Samsung Tab 2 as well, although it is a 2016 edition. One of my biggest gripes is the charging cord. It is short & flimsy, and it is pricey for the quality. After I had the tablet for a while, after market cords didn't charge. It showed as a USB connection. I like the Lenovo so far. It has fingerprint & face recognition. I haven't set the latter up yet. The Lenovo allows for extra storage with a micro SD. Although I didn't know I was getting it, the tab included a charging dock with built in Alexa. You can also use Google Assistant, but Alexa will not respond if you do; so I use Google Assistant on my phone. I am still learning the Alexa. The Lenovo is thin. There is glass on the back, which makes it slippery. Lenovo offers a sleeve but no folio cover. It is too new to find an after market folio case specific to the Z series. The P10 M is not compatible. I am considering a PopSocket type device to help me hold it better. I am a senior with less dexterity than when I was young. This may not be an issue for you. I purchased a generic folio case but, because of the tab's thinness, the corners that secure it put too match pressure on the tab. I got a great deal, having purchased it directly from Lenovo on Black Friday. I hope this information gives you some insight.

 

[countryblue]

Nova Launcher is my go-to.

Can you talk a little about Nova launcher in relation to the Android 9 OS. It's a little confusing. There seems to be an issue with gestures.

 

[B. Diddy]

Do you mean how Nova gestures work on Pie? The only Nova gesture I've used is the swipe down anywhere on the screen to bring down the notification panel. @Javier P can tell you more about the more elaborate gestures. But as far as I know, there have been no problems with Nova gestures on Pie -- the issue is with Android 10, where Android's native gestures don't work yet on 3rd party launchers like Nova. That support is supposedly coming down the line, but I've heard that some unexpected issues have been coming up preventing it from working correctly.

 

[countryblue]

Per B. Diddy, I am responding to your post

Thanks for the feedback. I find that it has similar memory "challenges" (sluggishness, pausing/termporary freeze, etc) to the Samsung. Better than the Samsung, but still irritating.

But, for that category of CPU, even with the bump up to 4g ram, it seems this is what you must expect. Casual use. That explains the price zone for these units.

Considering the bargain price, I can't complain too much at this point. Media playback at Youtube seems ok so far, no buffering, etc I'll reevaluate when it's fully loaded with apps, etc., but I'll probably hang onto it.

Anybody have any hints on improving performance?

 

[B. Diddy]

Not sure if it did anything to help, but on my Tab 4 8, I uninstalled or disabled most if not all of the preinstalled Lenovo stuff. Since I don't use Alexa at all, I also disabled the Alexa app.

 

[Javier P]

Can you talk a little about Nova launcher in relation to the Android 9 OS. It's a little confusing. There seems to be an issue with gestures.

There are two different kind of gestures, those on your home screens that are controlled by the launcher, and the system ones that let you open the recent apps and exit an opened app or quickly switch between them.

Launcher gestures. Custom launchers, like Nova, let you set gestures to trigger different actions while on your home screen. I've tried a few of them and, in my experience, Nova beats them all specially with the swipe up action from any shortcut icon on your screen. These gestures work fine and the Android version doesn't affect them.

System gestures. Each OEM has a different way to handle navigation, which is a mess, and with Android 10 Google decided to create an standard on how full gestures should work. Nice idea but the implementation was a little disaster. They changed the way Recent apps are accessed and as a result when you swipe up to get back Home from any app you have quick redraws and occasional double animations.

This problem is affecting any custom launcher with no possible fix until Google changes it. Oh, and this only happens with the Home gesture, the Back gesture still works as expected.

Ufffff, long reply About your question. If you are running Pie on your device both different type of gestures will work just fine. Don't worry.

 

[countryblue]

Ufffff, long reply About your question. If you are running Pie on your device both different type of gestures will work just fine. Don't worry.

I appreciate the information. I'm used to my Samsung s8, so the gestures/navigation are a little foreign to me, i.e. there is no app folder/button. I'm definitely gonna try the Nova launcher and follow your advice about cleaning up unneeded, unproductive bloat.

 

[countryblue]

The Lenovo P10 tablet comes with that charging pedestal. But not a conventional charger. Can anyone advise me about using a charger for it from different device, like my Samsung? The only information I could get from Lenovo support was 12 volt, 2 amperes. No wattage or any other pertinent info.

 

[Bru3184]

Action Launcher is worth a look too. I have an Asus Zenpad 3s 10 that I use action on. Much cleaner and some nice options compared to ZenUI. Of course, that tablet is stuck with Android 7.1 unless I find a way to get Lineage OS or Sailfish OS onto it.

Amazon seems to have an off-brand keyboard case with Bluetooth for everything under the sun, I'm sure you can find something that works. I just bout a cheap small Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to use with mine.

As far as getting it working reliably, have you done all the normal stuff like reducing or turning off animations? Making sure unnecessary background apps are put to sleep when they aren't being used? I'd be interested to see what else you come up with, my tablet that felt fast and nice in late 2017(?) Feels terribly slow compared to my S10.

 

[countryblue]

As far as getting it working reliably, have you done all the normal stuff like reducing or turning off animations? Making sure unnecessary background apps are put to sleep when they aren't being used? I'd be interested to see what else you come up with, my tablet that felt fast and nice in late 2017(?) Feels terribly slow compared to my S10.

This machine is so uncomfortable to use. I'm returning this Lenovo p10. It's pretty much as bad as the the Samsung Tab A when it comes to freezing, sluggishness, or however you choose to characterize it.

In my mind, the following experience should never happen on a new and relatively unchanged machine. I just tried to start up and login. It wouldn't let me input my lock screen pattern. First, it did not recognize/acknowkledege any touch screen activity whatsoever. Usually, if you wait long enough, the CPU or GPU (or whatever woefully under-powered part of this unit) would catch up to what you were doing. But not this time. I decided to reboot. Same thing. Shut it down. Restarted. This time, after another delay, it recognized the pattern input, but only partially. It quit following the pattern half way through. After several more attempts with the same results, it again refused to accept any touch screen activity.

After 5 restarts, I was able to login, upon which I did a factory reset and put it back in the box.

These is my first experiences with owning a tablet. Do they all act like this, unless you willing to pay a fortune? In this case, I've learned my lesson about "you get what you pay for", but is ere no middle ground.

How can they possibly have success selling these things?

BTW, did you know that their tech support is for hardware only? No software support. They tell you to call Google. Good luck on that.

As far as getting it working reliably, have you done all the normal stuff like reducing or turning off animations? Making sure unnecessary background apps are put to sleep when they aren't being used? I'd be interested to see what else you come up with, my tablet that felt fast and nice in late 2017(?) Feels terribly slow compared to my S10.

Is that Asus Zenpad 3s 10 the 2017 you were referring to?

I don't need anything fancy. This will not be used for games. I'd just like it to be efficient and pleasant to use. I'd prefer something that has things in common with my Galaxy s8.

Any guidance appreciated.

thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

Ugh. You didn't happen to have a screen protector on the P10's screen, did you?

You might want to look for a used or refurbished Galaxy Tab S3 or S4, which might not be too pricey these days.

 

[Bru3184]

Yes, that is the ZenPad I was referring to. I use it mostly for web browsing, some streaming, and work when I want to travel really light. We use Office 365, so there is an app or webapp that I can do everything I need with it. With the nulaxy Bluetooth keyboard, dash 3 stylus, and Logitech Bluetooth mouse, it's the perfect carry device for light work and last minute meetings.

Ugh. You didn't happen to have a screen protector on the P10's screen, did you?

You might want to look for a used or refurbished Galaxy Tab S3 or S4, which might not be too pricey these days.

I agree a refurbished Tab S4 or possibly a Tab S5 is the way to go. My ZenPad was a kind of Top of the mid tier tablet when I got it a few years ago. It's still very usable, but has a lot of hiccups and is kinda sluggish compared to my phone with a Snapdragon 855. It's really hard to get a good Android tablet for less than $400 new that has what I would consider acceptable performance. If I were to buy anything new it would be a Tab S6.

Side note, if you're not tied to Android, and you're fairly tech savvy, look at Sailfish OS or Ubuntu Touch for a lowered powered device.

 

[countryblue]

Ugh. You didn't happen to have a screen protector on the P10's screen, did you?

No. I hoped the 4g ram as opposed to the 2g of the Samsung would make a difference. I guess it's the cpu. I didn't really have a chance to add much stuff, apps, etc. that might explain this extremely crippled behavior, IMO.

It's one thing when you're actually using the device and glitches like this sluggishness due to an app might occur, but how do you explain the login stuff?

You might want to look for a used or refurbished Galaxy Tab S3 or S4, which might not be too pricey these days.

I've considered that, but after these experiences, I'm a little leery. Really disappointed at this point.

 

[countryblue]

Yes, that is the ZenPad I was referring to

Sounds like a decent machine, but the only thing available is refurbished at $500

I hear that tablets are being phased out. What's the alternative?