Tablets are lightweight, extremely portable, and very easy to use. They fill the gap between a smartphone and a laptop. But the question is which one is the best for you? it’s all about you. The main functions of Tablet are: to surf internet through WIFI or 3G (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Skype, email, etc.), to watch video and to listen to music, for reading ebooks, documents and play games. Almost all the Tablet has these functions.

Operating system

Most tablets run a slightly improved version of a smartphone operating system. This operating system takes advantage of the tablet’s wider screen and faster processor to give us a much better experience. Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are the two most prominent operating systems on tablets and there are a lot of similarities between these two operating systems. Both have apps and app stores, though Apple’s App Store is larger than Google’s Android Market for now but Android is fast growing and is open source. Both are excellent for surfing the web, listening to music and so on. Deciding on an operating system really comes down to personal preference. But with the trend in the market, Android might eventually take the lead in the nearest future.

Portability
Portability is an important issue when shopping for tablet since size and weight are one of the reasons for having a tablet instead of a laptop. Depending on how you will be using your tablet, weight can quickly become a major concern. Somehow, weight of a tablet is related to the screen size so one of the options is by choosing a smaller screen size.7 inch, 8 inch, 9.7 inch, 10 inch. The tradeoff is that small size is lighter but image is small when you watch video or webpage. Bigger sizes are heavier but big images. It’s all about you

Touch screen
Resistive touch panel is more accurate when you touch a point. However, more and more manufacturer use capacitive touch panel because it is faster (it responds faster when you type on your screen) and support multi-touch. Therefore, capacitive touch panel is the better choice. Multi-touch is another interesting function. With this function, you can enlarge a picture or webpage or documents by your two fingers.

Central processing unit (CPU)
For most people, CPU is the most important. It decides the reflection and the price of a Tablet PC. The CPU with cortex A8 or A9 is the best is one of the best, such as Freescale and Telechips. CPU VIA is the cheapest one. The CPU can be around 10,000 naira difference in price.

Speed and memory
Almost all the tablet on the market has roughly the same speed of processor. A dual-core, running around 1 gigahertz (1GHz) per core is good and is fast and should be able to perform any task you throw at it without skipping a beat but the most important is chose according to your need considering your pocket. There are lesser processor speeds that will still be able to meet your need.

Memory, commonly called RAM, is like a temporary folder that the tablet’s operating system uses for short-term storage. Typically, the more RAM a device has, the faster it can load and display graphics-intensive web pages or applications. How quick the device feels when you use it is usually also attributed to RAM, but the processor speed also plays a major role here. A tablet with 1GB of RAM is good but is also dependent on your need. 512MB is the most popular size on the market now.

ROM
ROM is the memory; it’s like the hard disk. The bigger the better (so that you can have enough space to install apps, music, movies, books, and more on your tablet). But this is not very important as at the time you are about to buy, if you can extend the memory capacity with a TF card (memory card) when you desire. Note that ability to expand beyond the built-in storage capacity most be considered.

Generally, CPU, RAM and Touch screen decides the reflection of a Tablet PC. They are the most important specification when you are looking for a Tablet. But the in the case of Nigeria, battery is the most important because of power issue in Nigeria.