Sometimes a smartphone isn’t quite big enough to enjoy your favorite media, connect with others via video call, or get work done on the go. Tablets fill in for those occasions, offering more firepower than ever alongside increasingly streamlined software. And while today’s best 5G phones can all serve as Wi-Fi hotspots, using them that way can draw a decent amount of power and quickly drain a battery.
To make sure you always have a big screen with a direct, high-speed internet connection, you’ll have to get a tablet with 5G or LTE connectivity. Manufacturers don’t include a cellular radio in every tablet, but we found enough variety to satisfy pretty much everybody’s needs — even if you’d rather use the iOS or Windows operating systems than Android. Keep in mind, though, that some are limited to data only (no voice or texts), and some are tied to specific carriers at purchase.
Interestingly, only a couple of the latest round of Galaxy Tab S series models include optional cellular connectivity, and the other ones are considerably more expensive. For around $500, though, the S9 FE provides an excellent experience, pairing reasonably fast internals with a bright, colorful, 90Hz display. The underlying OneUI interface is as good as ever, and it’s well-tailored to take advantage of the 10.9-inch screen in terms of individual apps and multitasking.
We’re especially keen on the battery life, partly because the 5G modem will draw extra power on top of the standard hardware. Speaking of standard hardware, the S9 FE includes the high-quality S Pen, one of today’s best styluses by a wide margin. And despite its status as a midrange S FE model, it looks and feels every bit as premium as its more expensive relatives.
It does have minor drawbacks compared to more costly tablets, but the majority of users won’t really miss the more high-end features. The Exynos 1380 system-on-a-chip represents one such compromise, as it doesn’t perform as well as the Qualcomm chipsets found in industry-leading models. Nonetheless, it’s easily powerful enough for how most people use tablets, even if it won’t stand up to running multiple resource-intensive apps simultaneously.
You’re also limited to just 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in the 5G model, which does compound that problem somewhat. But, in the end, the reasonable cost makes the sacrifices worth it since cellular-connected slates can be notably more expensive than their Wi-Fi-only counterparts.
With the Tab S9 Ultra essentially serving as a laptop replacement, the S9+ remains the top premium choice for most Android tablet lovers. The display competes for the best of any tablet, Apple’s included, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering it makes quick work of some of the most demanding apps. Samsung’s vaunted Android implementation does an excellent job enabling multitasking on this relative powerhouse, even if — like with the S9 FE 5G — mobile data’s only offered on the version with smaller storage (which has the same 12GB of RAM, anyway).
We did manage to find some minor quibbles with the device, like the predictable lack of a headphone jack and unsurprising last-gen charging speeds. (What’s up with that, Samsung?) But it shows no major faults and will receive four years of Android updates followed by an additional year of security patches.
This high-end slate makes a great investment for those who want an all-around winner, capable of doing nearly anything you want a tablet to do. It’s a joy to watch movies on, thanks to HDR10+ playback, and it’s big enough to get some work done if you pair it with a good Bluetooth keyboard. The only major drawback is the price.
Most manufacturers pick one of their existing tablets and tack on 5G support, but TCL periodically releases one-off models with built-in modems of their own. The Tab 10 5G is one such model, and it’s as far from a high-end device as you can get that still delivers a reasonably smooth experience and capable feature set. It’s bright enough, fast enough, and even has good enough speakers to satisfy casual users while also offering passable 5G connectivity.
With that in mind, it’s far from perfect, and its flaws do represent big trade-offs made to reach its impressive $150 price. It shipped with Android 12, still uses Android 12, and likely won’t ever see an upgrade. There’s only 32GB of storage inside, which limits the amount of advanced apps you can use since many must be loaded into internal memory. It also only works on T-Mobile networks, but those are pretty ubiquitous at this point. And the reality is that nothing else in this price range comes with a 5G radio.
We will take a second to note here that TCL announced a new, exciting tablet at CES 2024 called the Tab 10 NxtPaper 5G, which uses the company’s novel display technology to drive a bright, colorful, paper-like screen. If the tablet’s designed well, it could easily find its way onto this list, so stay tuned.
The base model iPad is a fantastic device in its own right, but the 2022 iPad Air is a big step ahead. As thin and light as a tablet this size gets, it’s a joy to hold and use and makes media consumption, browsing, app use, and communication a breeze. The remarkable power of the Apple M1 chipset driving it ensures it’ll remain useful for many years, a general hallmark of Apple’s best devices. And it comes out on top of many of other manufacturers’ tablets in terms of real-world 5G and LTE speeds.
But this isn’t a love letter to Apple, and the latest iPad Air does have its faults. Namely, the 64GB internal storage is paltry for something that costs several hundred dollars and an unfortunate blemish on a mostly top-of-the-line device. We’re also a little miffed that Apple outfitted it with an IPS panel instead of an OLED — one that runs at a bog-standard 60Hz, no less. And to move up to the 256GB model (since there’s no 128GB model), you’ll have to spend an additional $150.
But even with all those faults, the Air’s still the best 5G choice for iPad lovers. It might not be great enough (or cheap enough) to sway a ton of longtime Android users, but it’s still an excellent device if you’re familiar with or are OK with learning iOS.
Few Windows tablets exist to begin with, and we’re only aware of one other recent model with 5G support — a massive, rugged thing from Dell that you probably don’t want. The Surface Pro 9’s 5G version is even more unique than just that, though. Windows typically runs on an entirely different chipset architecture than phones do, called x86/x64. You simply wouldn’t be able to install Windows on any Android tablet because the hardware and software essentially don’t speak the same language.
The SQ3 Surface Pro 9, therefore, is in a class of its own. The Qualcomm- and Microsoft-developed chipset inside sports a similar architecture to what drives smartphones but relies on some code interpretation within the architecture, as well as a redesigned version of Windows, to run the popular OS on a technically incompatible chip. ARM-based Windows machines like this one typically offer much of the versatility of Microsoft’s industry leader, but not all. Historically, Windows on ARM has underperformed, but the increasingly powerful and efficient nature of modern chip design finally puts it in a good-to-great place.
All that’s just to say that if you’re looking for a typical Windows laptop that can play games and run every Windows program you can download off the internet, this isn’t it. It doesn’t support Thunderbolt, USB speeds over 10GBps, or more than two USB ports. It’s limited to 16GB of RAM. And it doesn’t quite perform as well as modern laptops with Intel or AMD CPUs.
But, finally, Windows on ARM has reached a point where you can take advantage of most of Windows’ versatility. It offers more versatility than Android and iOS, with no locked-down bootloaders or regional ROM versions to worry about. It doesn’t play nice with some games, but it handles an impressive amount of software, considering how bleak the Windows-on-ARM scene was a few years ago. And, chiefly, this is the only recent Windows tablet with 5G connectivity — the only other worthwhile consideration is the Surface Pro 7+, and that’s getting a little long in the tooth. So, if you can find it at a reasonable price like the sub-$1,000 base model currently available from at least one retailer, it’s worth it.
The Galaxy Tab A9+ doesn’t set out to win any races but instead covers moderately capable hardware with an intuitive interface in a premium-feeling body. At this, it succeeds. If you’re looking for the latest, greatest device for streaming your favorite movies, look no further. And it’s notably more powerful than its smaller sibling, at least, which has yet to be released in the U.S. The screen won’t win any awards, either, but the 90Hz panel looks just fine in everything but direct sunlight.
Its relative shortcomings compared to more expensive options should only scare away power users, players of demanding games, and professionals who need a tablet to get a lot of work done. The battery doesn’t last forever, but it maintains reasonably well. And the cameras don’t wow, but are fine for simple video calls. But this is one of the extremely few entry-level tablets that can always stay connected to the internet, so we’re calling it a win for Samsung’s cheapest tablet family.
This is as bare-bones as a cellular-connected tablet gets, and as such, is good mostly for niche use cases. It’s fine for media, although its HD (not even FHD, mind you) doesn’t get super bright and isn’t the most colorful. It also packs only 32GB of storage, so make sure to get a microSD card to expand that.
And the middling SoC and 3GB of RAM will bog down pretty quickly if you try to do anything fancier than browse the web, scroll through TikTok, or answer emails. But if you need something bigger than a phone, smaller than a typical tablet, and designed in a much more generally useful form factor, the TCL Tab 8 LE is for you.
Only select models offer the luxury of constant internet connection, but luckily, they include some of the best. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE is one of our favorite midrange tablets because of its refined experience and capable components. It’s not as premium in terms of hardware or display as the more expensive S9+, but the way most people use tablets, they honestly won’t notice. The FE does a fine job with reasonably demanding software — it even runs high-intensity games like Genshin Impact relatively well, only dipping below 30FPS during big fights. It doesn’t cost a fortune, does everything most people need, and will last a long while.
Of course, only you know if you need the firepower of something like S9+, or better yet, the high-performing iPad Air and its Apple SoC. Speaking of performance, the Surface Pro 9, at long lasts, brings Windows to the ARM chipset (and therefore 5G) world with effective aplomb. It’s been compared to a last-gen Core i5 x86 chip’s power level, although it does exhibit some compatibility issues with certain programs.
But if you plan to use your always-connected tablet mostly for casual tablet things, like streaming video and browsing the web on the go, you don’t have to spend nearly that much money. The TCL Tab 10 5G offers impressive connectivity and good performance for the price and Samsung’s A9+ checks in with plenty of firepower for daily use. Both are less than $300, so you won’t need to invest much.
Outside of these, there aren’t a lot of viable 5G tablets available. But as the Android tablet market continues to refine its software and hardware approaches, we’ll probably see more in the coming months. We already know that TCL’s bringing its NxtPaper tech to a 10-inch 5G tablet, and we’re excited to get our hands on one and hopefully add it to the list.
Maybe if we start telling people the brain is an app they will start using it!
