Budget 25-30k Looking for a tablet for reading and taking notes

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wakkun

Disciple
Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some help with getting recommendations for a tablet that will mostly be used for reading and taking notes (needs a stylus).

Ideally it should function well enough for day to day use without getting hung.

Please do let me know if you have suggestions.
 
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Hi.

I looked this up and according to my research, one of the following tablets should be great for your use.

The very first choice should be the Xiaomi Pad 6 with Snapdragon 870 (6 GB/128 GB) for 32,954: https://www.amazon.in/Xiaomi-Qualcomm-Snapdragon-Refresh-Speakers/dp/B0CR9XK6LG That price includes the Mi Smart Pen worth 5,999. Without it, the tablet's price would be 26,999.

If you don't like MIUI, there are endless custom ROMs for this. And it's probably never going to have an end-of-life.

If you prefer Samsung, here are the options:

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2022) - 24,999 - https://www.samsung.com/in/tablets/...ge-4gb-ram-qualcomm-wi-fi-sm-p613nziainu/buy/

It comes with the stylus in box. Note the 2022 revision. The 2020 release has an inferior non-snapdragon SOC. This one has Sandragon 732G and a 7,040 mAh battery.

Complete specsheet: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_tab_s6_lite_(2022)-11524.php

Since it is expandable upto 1 TB with SD Card, I don't think you need to pay 4K extra for 64 GB of additional internal storage space.

Instead, you can buy this 512 GB Samsung SD Card (U3, A2, V30) for 3,700 INR - https://www.amazon.in/Samsung-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter-MB-MC512KA/dp/B09MT7JWS7

Adding:

Galaxy Tab A9+ is one significantly better tablet for the exact same price. And it comes with 8GB/128GB and 5G connectivity with WiFi. All for 24,999.
www.samsung.com

Buy new Galaxy Tab A9 | A9+ Price & Offers | Samsung India

Buy the new Galaxy Tab A9 | A9+ with Instant Bank cashback, Exchange Bonus, No cost EMI, referral advantage program & more benefit at Samsung India. Shop now
www.samsung.com www.samsung.com

But it most likely doesn't support S-Pen. You may contact Samsung for clarification regarding this.
 
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S6 Lite is perfect for this, although it's sort of underpowered for 2024 and might get replaced soon, but it's a good product nevertheless, one that doesn't quite have an alternative if the stylus experience is important for you.
If you don't care about the note taking experience then you can look at some other tablet+cheap third party stylus.
 
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Depends on you budget, assuming you want to spend the least possible, there are 2 choices, else you can always go with apple if budget is around 40-45k.

if you can get a xiaomi pad 6 in a good deal go for it.
i have the same + xiaomi pen. the pen does cost a good 6k tho.
tab has gone on sale upto 21k , but right now its priced considerably more around 24k.
I have been using "notein" for notes. the only inconvenience i have faced is the pen cant be used to scroll down on this particular app.
Coming to software, the miui in tab is nothing like phones.
Its pretty basic with added features for tablet and the only bloat present is google"s bloat.
this is coming from someone who used to root and flash a custom rom day one on xiaomi devices.

I wouldnt recommend s6 lite ,unless the buyer has never experienced high refresh rate .
the soc is underpowered in 2024.
also it goes for 18k frequently and was 15k on bbd sales.
again if you only want to make notes, this may make sense for you.
But having a 144hz vs 60 hz makes a huge difference.
also samsung note app is better, if you need some specific features.
 
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Xiaomi Mi Pad 6. I would suggest buy without stylus. Use it for few days and then decide about stylus.

What kind of notes are trying to take. Some tablet covers provide with a steel pen like thing which doesnot have any buttons or battery. It works similar to how we use our finger to touch screen. If your usecase is not much only to write, it should be enough. The stylus is more targeted towards people who do digital art.

I have owned both samsung s6 lite and Mi pad 6. Samsung s6 lite has very good software for tablets but s6 lite is very slow. Compared to s6 lite, mi pad 6 is very fast, display is very good. Mi pad 6 is a little heavier, but overall experience is very good.

I haven't tried it out but mi pad 6 has option to connect usb to hdmi to connect to monitor, s6 lite doesn't has this.
 
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Mi Pad 6 is the best for performance under 30k but not sure about durability as my 2 flagship Mi phones died just after warranty.

If you are looking for good brand you can buy S9 FE 6gb for 29k with Samsung corporate and HDFC card. It was available for 27k 2 days back but they increased price yesterday.
Also you get ADLD insurance for 1 year worth 7999.
Performance wise it’s slow than Mi Pad 6 as it has exynos 1380. But it comes with S pen.
 
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I use Samsung s9fe+ (8gb ram + 5g) I feel the bigger size helps a lot with side by side nothing. I got mine for 45k from samsung. Samsung notes is the best note taking app for pens. Lemme know if you have any doubts.
anmolkumar10 said:
Mi Pad 6 is the best for performance under 30k but not sure about durability as my 2 flagship Mi phones died just after warranty.

If you are looking for good brand you can buy S9 FE 6gb for 29k with Samsung corporate and HDFC card. It was available for 27k 2 days back but they increased price yesterday.
Also you get ADLD insurance for 1 year worth 7999.
Performance wise it’s slow than Mi Pad 6 as it has exynos 1380. But it comes with S pen.
Click to expand...
Yes, Exynos is slower and at best a mid tier cpu. But that's the only issue on paper atleast. I used 5-6 instances of various apps at the same time with no problems. Mostly it's used for making notes and reading books, occasionally for watching videos, drawings and editing videos. So it's okay. Atleast with Exynos ik samsung will support ot for atleast 3-4 years without issues.
 
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rootyme said:
Hi.

I looked this up and according to my research, one of the following tablets should be great for your use.

The very first choice should be the Xiaomi Pad 6 with Snapdragon 870 (6 GB/128 GB) for 32,954: https://www.amazon.in/Xiaomi-Qualcomm-Snapdragon-Refresh-Speakers/dp/B0CR9XK6LG That price includes the Mi Smart Pen worth 5,999. Without it, the tablet's price would be 26,999.

If you don't like MIUI, there are endless custom ROMs for this. And it's probably never going to have an end-of-life.

If you prefer Samsung, here are the options:

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2022) - 24,999 - https://www.samsung.com/in/tablets/...ge-4gb-ram-qualcomm-wi-fi-sm-p613nziainu/buy/

It comes with the stylus in box. Note the 2022 revision. The 2020 release has an inferior non-snapdragon SOC. This one has Sandragon 732G and a 7,040 mAh battery.

Complete specsheet: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_tab_s6_lite_(2022)-11524.php

Since it is expandable upto 1 TB with SD Card, I don't think you need to pay 4K extra for 64 GB of additional internal storage space.

Instead, you can buy this 512 GB Samsung SD Card (U3, A2, V30) for 3,700 INR - https://www.amazon.in/Samsung-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter-MB-MC512KA/dp/B09MT7JWS7

Adding:

Galaxy Tab A9+ is one significantly better tablet for the exact same price. And it comes with 8GB/128GB and 5G connectivity with WiFi. All for 24,999.
www.samsung.com

Buy new Galaxy Tab A9 | A9+ Price & Offers | Samsung India

Buy the new Galaxy Tab A9 | A9+ with Instant Bank cashback, Exchange Bonus, No cost EMI, referral advantage program & more benefit at Samsung India. Shop now
www.samsung.com www.samsung.com

But it most likely doesn't support S-Pen. You may contact Samsung for clarification regarding this.
Click to expand...
I have been using the Mi Pad 6 with crDroid for several months now. On the whole, it meets my needs for a cheap tablet with decent specs to use for reading and watching

Few things to know, especially when using custom ROMs:

1. On custom ROMs, you can only pass basic integrity test now. Doesn't matter if you don't use any financial apps on the tablet, but I do end up having to complete more captchas now. Also, Google has been disabling app functionality with unlocked bootloader for several months now, so any other apps can follow Google's lead and stop working with unlocked bootloader quite easily.

2. Lack of any biometric makes it a pain to use in general but also for apps that you want to be locked like password managers.

3. Custom ROMs don't have adaptive resolution switching yet. The Magisk module I was using was buggy and led to blanking when inactive. It may be implemented in the future. I run it at 90 Hz because 144 Hz reduces the battery life by couple of hours quite easily and is not worth it.

4. Until a couple of months ago, the battery life was poor on custom ROMs and now it is on par with stock. However, from my past experience, the maintainers will abandon the device after a couple of years and Mi will not provide any driver support with Android 15 being the last for this device. Custom ROMs don't age well.

5. Stylus still has some issues with custom ROMs based on other's feedback.

6. Build quality is fine but then Mi devices always have a lower IP rating which indicates that there are compromises.

Beyond that, I had a S7+ before and hated the size which made single handed use impossible. Samsung also didn't provide much version upgrades and that was the reason I actually went with a tablet that supports custom ROMs.

Also, I found myself hardly using the stylus on a regular basis with the S7+ to the point it was useless for me. Get one only if you are going to take notes dedicatedly as otherwise from a feature perspective, it doesn't add a lot.
 
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More or less how I use the tab, most of the time.
Also what @t3chg33k said, single hand use is a bit uncomfortable but I have not had much problems using it while traveling in metro for an hour/ 45 mins at a stretch, especially if you're sitting. This is for the 11.4inch version, 10 inch is pretty comfy for single hand use but the small screen doesn't work for me or my sister who bought S7fe 3 years back (studying for mbbs) and who inspired my purchase for my studies.
One more thing with Samsung tabs is that you can get the stylus tips and different stylus depending on how you like them.
So, I am using a wacom one stylus at home and the s-pen when I am out for work or what not. New tips cost around 300 for 5 (which I preferred over spen which is a bit brushy and wacom which is a bit too bold). I'm using a matt screen protector so the aftermarket full plastic thin tips work the best for me.

Also forgot to mention, no need to charge the pen. Also Palm rejection is not the best with apps which don't support palm rejection.
 

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rootyme said:
If possible, could you detail this a bit more? What exactly are they limiting and why?

Interesting! Is there a correlation? Could you provide a source on this?
Click to expand...
In general, Google has been limiting functionality on system apps based on Play Integrity API which is stuck at device integrity level for unlocked bootloader. Any other developer can do the same.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMessages/comments/19594t7


The screenshot below is from my tablet for Google Pay.
Screenshot_20240309-124037_Google Play services-edit-20240309124058.jpg

Also forgot to mention that the 6a I had stopped receiving OTA with unlocked bootloader. The moment I locked it, the OTA was delivered.
 
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