When looking to buy a tablet, there are a few factors to keep in mind, such as what you'll be using the tablet for (entertainment, drawing, work, etc.), your price point, display size, operating system, and more. At ZDNET, we considered all of these factors when choosing the best tablets you can buy, but we were able to test one important factor that can truly make or break your tablet experience: battery life.
Also: The best cheap tablets
We ran nine tablets through the gauntlet in our lab in Kentucky, where we evaluated each tablet's battery life under different settings. The tablets that stood out above the rest for battery life included the iPad Pro, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, the base-model iPad, and the Google Pixel Tablet.
Tablets were tested with maximum volume for audio and video, in addition to maximum/minimum brightness. The following tablets were tested:
How we tested tablets
In our Louisville-based lab, we tested each tablet using a dedicated PC with an NI USB-6001 DAQ, eight auxiliary inputs with adapters, and LabVIEW software coded in-house to analyze audio outputs as voltage signals. We tested each tablet's battery life a total of 12 times: three times with maximum brightness/audio, three times with minimum brightness/audio, three times with maximum brightness/audio on Airplane Mode, and three times on minimum brightness/audio on Airplane Mode.
We chose to measure screen brightness during video playback as the main parameter to test since it is one of the most impactful settings on a device when it comes to how battery life is affected. We also tested with Networking/Bluetooth on/off to measure the additional drain on battery life that regular communication via these connections can have. However, since the video used in testing was downloaded to the devices under test, this had only a small impact on results. Testing battery drain during a stream with an active, in-use internet connection would be a logical next stage in future testing.
During our tests, the only app running on each device was VLC media player. This was chosen due to its availability on all operating systems, relative name recognition with the general public, and compatibility with the level of settings control the lab team wanted to exert. Running in the background allowed the team to confirm standardized volume, brightness, and video repetition in the app and the device settings.
It's important to note that the video file all devices were tested with was downloaded to the device itself and not streamed from the internet to ensure that the test isn't subject to failure due to interruption of internet service.
The results
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