The best tablets you can buy in 2017

The best tablets you can buy in 2017

Best tablets 2017

he best tablets are all about combination, with most offering a decent keyboard and desktop-style experience to sound the death knell for laptops.

From Apple’s larger iPad Pro (now joined by the iPad Pro 10.5) to Android’s Google Pixel and Samsung tablets, there’s a lot of choice out there.

And unlike the best smartphones – Windows makes an appearance too.

In terms of how we decide which goes where, we rank them based on multiple elements including performance, battery life, screen quality and more, with price playing an important part too.

1. New iPad (2017)

The best iPad, giving you plenty of power and bang for your buck

Weight: 469g | Dimensions: 240 x 169.5 x 7.5 mm | OS: iOS 10 | Screen size: 9.7-inch | Resolution: 1536 x 2048 pixels | CPU: A9 | RAM: 2GB | Storage: 32GB/128GB | microSD slot: No | Battery: approx 8,800mAh | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 1.2MP

2. iPad Pro 10.5

A bigger and better version of the Pro

Weight: 469g | Dimensions: 250.6 x 174.1 x 6.1 mm | OS: iOS 10 | Screen size: 10.5-inch | Resolution: 1668 x 2224 pixels | CPU: A10X | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 32GB/256GB/512GB | microSD slot: No | Battery: TBC | Rear camera: 12MP | Front camera: 7MP

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

3. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

A top-notch iPad Pro rival

Weight: 429g | Dimensions: 237.3 x 169 x 6mm | OS: Android 7 | Screen size: 9.7-inch | Resolution: 1536 x 2048 | CPU: Snapdragon 820 | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 32GB | Battery: 6,000mAh | Rear camera: 13MP | Front camera: 5MP

iPad Pro 9 7

4. iPad Pro 9.7

A brilliant tablet that brings power to portability

Weight: 437g | Dimensions: 240 x 169.5 x 6.1 mm | OS: iOS 10 | Screen size: 9.7-inch | Resolution: 1536 x 2048 pixels | CPU: A9X | RAM: 2GB | Storage: 32GB/128GB/256GB | microSD slot: No | Battery: TBC | Rear camera: 12MP | Front camera: 5MP

iPad mini 4

5. iPad mini 4

The best small-screen tablet

Weight: 299g | Dimensions: 203.2 x 134.8 x 6.1mm | OS: iOS 10 | Screen size: 7.9-inch | Resolution: 1536 x 2048 | CPU: Dual-core 1.5 GHz | RAM: 2GB | Storage: 128GB | Battery: 5124mAh | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 1.2MP

6. Asus ZenPad 3S 10

One of the best new Android tablets out

Weight: 430g | Dimensions: 240.5 x 163.7 x 7.2 mm | OS: Android Marshmallow | Screen size: 9.7-inch | Resolution: 1536 x 2048 | CPU: Mediatek MT8176 | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 32GB/64GB | Battery: up to 10 hours | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 5MP

7. Google Pixel C

The best Android tablet (if you ignore the price)

Weight: 517g | Dimensions: 242 x 179 x 7mm | OS: Android Nougat | Screen size: 10.2-inch | Resolution: 2560 x 1800 | CPU: Tegra X1 | RAM: 3GB | Storage: 32GB/64GB | Battery: up to 10 hours | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 2MP

8. iPad Pro 12.9

Apple’s biggest slate isn’t its best, but it’s not far off

Weight: 713g | Dimensions: 305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9mm | OS: iOS 10 | Screen size: 12.9-inch | Resolution: 2048 x 2732 | CPU: Dual-core 2.26 GHz | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 32GB/128GB | Battery: 10,307mAh | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 1.2MP

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

9. Microsoft Surface Pro 4

The Windows tablet that can replace your Windows laptop

Weight: 766g/786g | Dimensions: 292.10 x 201.42 x 8.45mm | OS: Windows 10 Pro | Screen size: 12.3-inch | Resolution: 2,736 x 1,824 | CPU: Various | RAM: 4GB/8GB/16GB | Storage: 128GB | Battery: up to 9 hours | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 5MP

10. iPad mini 2

A great tablet but a little old

Weight: 331g | Dimensions: 200 x 134.7 x 7.5 mm | OS: iOS 10 | Screen size: 7.9-inch | Resolution: 1536 x 2048 | CPU: Dual-core 1.3 GHz | RAM: 1GB | Storage: 16/32/64/128GB | Battery: 6470 mAh | Rear camera: 5MP | Front camera: 1.2MP

 


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The World’s Most Beautiful Public Gardens

The World’s Most Beautiful Public Gardens

 

Nature is stunning in its glory, but it never hurts to help the plants along a little. See how pretty perfectly manicured nature can be when you visit the world’s most beautiful public gardens.

The Garden Of Cosmic Speculation

The bizarre, twisting shapes in the Garden of Cosmic Speculation make it one of the most unique in the world. The garden is in Dumfries, Scotland.

Keukenhof Gardens

Keukenhof Gardens, and its profusion of tulips, is in the Netherlands.

Versailles

The gardens at Versailles, the former royal palace in France, are visited by tourists from all over the world.

Dumbarton Oaks

The 53-acre gardens at Dumbarton Oaks were once part of a private estate in Georgetown. Today, the Washington, D.C. garden is open to all members of the public. The best time to see it is in March, when Cherry Hill is covered with pink blossoms.

The Master Of The Nets Garden

This thousand-year-old garden was designed in 960, and is much smaller than it appears. China’s Master of the Nets garden has become world famous because of the illusion of grandeur it creates in a very small space.

Claude Monet’s Garden

Travel to Giverny, France to see the natural beauty that inspired Claude Monet. The water garden was a particular source of inspiration for the famed painter.

Jardin Majorelle

The bright blue accents enliven Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, Morocco.

Kenroku-en Garden

Visit Japan’s Kenroku-en Garden in the spring, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom to see the most vibrant colors. The gardens are celebrated for their serenity any time of year.

Desert Botanical Gardens

Desert plants abound at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, where the sun is almost always shining.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens

You’ll have to do a lot of hiking in Costa Rica’s Waterfall Gardens, but the stunning views are worth the effort. The gardens have more than 100 native animals and five waterfalls.

Butchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia have been growing on top of an old limestone quarry for a century. The Sunken Garden, pictured, is one of the most famous features.

The Topiary Park

Go to Columbus, Ohio, to see the amazing topiary park. The sculpted greenery stands as high as 12 feet tall in some places.



Amazing copy of Sistine Chapel in suburban English church

Amazing copy of Sistine Chapel in suburban English church

Attracts tens of thousands of visitors

The English church has attracted tens of thousands of visitors

This unassuming church has incredibly attracted nearly 30,000 visitors in the last two years – because inside is the world’s only hand-painted replica of the prestigious Sistine Chapel .Though the exterior of the English Martyrs Church doesn’t get any double takes and looks like any ordinary 1960s building, the interior has stunned visitors who have travelled from around the globe.

Inside on the church’s ceiling is the world’s only hand-painted replica of the famous artwork in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy.

The church in Worthing, West Sussex, is two thirds the size of the Sistine Chapel and is so impressive that in the last year 12,000 people have visited it, and in the year before 15,000.

It has up to 60 visitors on a daily basis who spend up to three hours inside in awe of the artwork which is identical to Michelangelo’s, created in the 16th century.

Visitors from Australia, Canada, and the USA have all admired the incredible ceiling, which was created by a sign-writer who had no art lessons in his life, inside the Catholic church in Worthing.

Gary Bevans, now deacon at the church, spent a painstaking five-and-a-half years painting the ceiling after becoming inspired by a pilgrimage to Rome.

Since the artwork was finished, the church has received a ‘certificate of excellence’ on travel site TripAdvisor, where it is listed as the second best tourist attraction in Worthing.

Parish secretary Anne Niven says she is ‘delighted’ to have welcomed 12,000 in the last year.

It took five years to paint the ceiling

Mrs Nivens said: “We get coaches turn up at the church with tourists on. Visitors come and they are met with a very ordinary and plain looking church.

“But as soon as they walk through the door they are stunned, they just say ‘oh my heavens’ and are so gobsmacked by it all.

“The building outside is just so ordinary and doesn’t look impressive, but that’s what makes the inside so brilliant.

“In the last year we had 12,000 and the year before 15,000, so we’re very pleased. They come from all over the world – from Australia, Canada and America.

She added: “In the actual Sistine Chapel you are ushered around a fair bit so don’t get to spend too much time there, we just let people enjoy it in their time and let them appreciate it for as long as they like.”

The attraction is free to view and funds raised from visitors’ donations enable the church to help its parishioners.

Mrs Nivens added: “It enables us to run other programmes, like groups for toddlers and lonely people, and we don’t have to charge them.”



Get our favorite mid-range speakers

Get our favorite mid-range speakers

The Harman Kardon SoundSticks don’t only have a unique and beautiful looking design, they’re also some of the best external speakers around for the price. In fact, they’re our favorite mid-range speakers.

Each of the satellites has four full-range drivers, but the actual size of the speakers themselves is fairly small. Even at low volumes they manage to fill the room with clear audio, and if you crank it all the way up to high, the sound is still crisp and suffers little distortion. The subwoofer performance isn’t as good as some other speakers on the market, such as the Klipsch Promedia, but all round, the Harman Kardon SoundSticks come out on top.

As for the design, the transparent satellites and subwoofer, and their cylindrical designs will make it look as though you’re listening to music from the future. A small complaint about this kind of design though is the need to have a capacitive touch volume buttons, which don’t give you an indication of change unless you actually have music playing. The price you pay for beauty.

This offer is on the wired version of the SoundSticks. There’s a wireless Bluetooth option available, but you’ll be paying more money for it.



The Patriot Hellfire M.2 480GB

The Patriot Hellfire M.2 480GB

The Patriot Hellfire M.2 PCIe SSD is Patriot’s first NVMe SSD, and one of several similar products based on Phison’s E7 NVMe controller. As usual for Phison, the same drive is manufactured for many of their partners, who typically customize only the branding. Phison designs the controller, firmware, and PCB, but leaves the marketing up to their partners.

Phison’s PS5007-E7 controller is their first NVMe SSD controller, supporting a PCIe 3.0 x4 host interface and 8 channels for NAND access. The details we have on the E7 are a bit slim – some collection of ARM cores under the hood is a safe bet, but that’s it – however we do know that the E7 controller is manufactured on TSMC’s 28nm process and uses FCBGA packaging. Interestingly, it doesn’t use the kind of large heatspreader we’ve seen on competing controllers like Silicon Motion’s SM2260. Phison had the E7 platform hardware ready over a year ago, but retail releases were held back by the poor performance of early firmware. Patriot first began shipping the Hellfire last fall, but even after that much delay, they ended up issuing a firmware update shortly after launch.

Phison’s controllers are almost always paired with Toshiba’s NAND flash, and the Patriot Hellfire uses Toshiba’s 15nm MLC. Our review sample is the 480 GB version, the most common capacity for E7 SSD. Patriot also sells a 240 GB version, and some of their competitors offer the 120GB version as well.

Patriot Hellfire Specifications Comparison
240 GB 480 GB
Form Factor M.2 2280
Controller Phison PS5007-E7
Interface NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4
DRAM 256MB DDR3L 512MB DDR3L
NAND Toshiba 15nm MLC
Sequential Read (CDM) 2740 MB/s 2550 MB/s
Sequential Write 1090 MB/s 1260 MB/s
4KB Random Read (QD32) 170k IOPS 170k IOPS
4KB Random Write (QD32) 185k IOPS 210k IOPS
Warranty 3 years

The Phison E7 controller was originally intended to be a high-end NVMe controller for client or enterprise use. By the time it was ready for the market, Samsung had raised the bar far too high for the E7 to still be considered high-end. But Phison E7-based SSDs like the Patriot Hellfire have been able to offer very attractive pricing and are usually the cheapest MLC-based NVMe SSDs available. Without the pitfalls of TLC-based SSDs like the Intel SSD 600p and the Samsung 960 EVO, the Patriot Hellfire and its relatives have been attractive entry-level PCIe SSD options.

Aside from other Phison E7 SSDs, the closest competition for the Patriot Hellfire is the Plextor M8Pe, based on the same Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND but using the Marvell 88SS1093 controller with Plextor’s own firmware. The Patriot Hellfire also has to justify its higher price relative to the Intel SSD 600p, the most affordable NVMe SSD, and against high-performing SATA SSDs like Samsung’s 850 EVO and 850 PRO.



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