Best tablets at the cheapest UK prices, from Android to iPad to Windows: a Wired.co.uk buyer's guide

Sony Tablet S review

Sony has to be different. It is a strategy which has seen the company both rise and fall, but it doggedly refuses to change its ways. So there's little surprise Sony's long awaited iPad rival shows all the benefits and drawbacks this approach brings.

The Sony Tablet S is different straight out of the box. It adopts the same wedge design as the company's Vaio laptops and places the home button on the right side. This approach means the S sits at a pleasing reading and typing angle when on flat surfaces. On the downside it adds visual bulk which won't appeal to fans of the tablet sector's ongoing thinnest battle and it makes the S feel lopsided when held in a portrait position. Typical Sony -- win some, lose some, be different. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review

Samsung's original Galaxy Tab from 2010 had a 178mm (7-inch) screen and was small enough to fit (just) in your pocket. The updated version may or may not owe some inspiration to a certain US-based manufacturer of tablets, but it's certainly cute, slim, cheaper than its predecessor and very, very desirable. It's slimmer and lighter than its main rival, the Apple iPad 2, at 257x175x9mm and 565g and looks like a thoroughly well put together piece of kit. 

BlackBerry Playbook review

Well it took its time, but the much-touted BlackBerry PlayBook has finally entered the tablet arena, spoiling for a fight with rivals from Apple, Samsung, HTC, Motorola and more, with a new operating system, and manufacturer RIM's justly lauded email capabilities.

The PlayBook is a sleek-looking black slab with its front covered entirely by a sheet of glass. It measures 194x130x10mm and weighs 425g, which means it's small enough to slip into a suit pocket -- slimmer and lighter than Samsung's Galaxy Tab, it's only real rival in this area is HTC's svelte, Android-powered Flyer.

When you're holding it in landscape mode, at the top there's a power/sleep button and media controls (play/pause, volume up and down) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the bottom are microUSB, micro HDMI and a smart dock connection. 

HTC Flyer tablet review

HTC's first tablet has the look of a squished iPod about it, with a 178mm (7-inch) screen surrounded by a 195x122x13mm and 420g case, it's all brushed aluminium and white rubberised plastic -- très pomme.

But perhaps a more direct comparison is with Samsung's Galaxy Tab, since both are almost pocket-friendly, the Flyer even more so since it's both thinner and lighter, and since it uses an operating system intended for mobile phones rather than specifically for tablets. Unlike the Tab however, the Flyer has no option for voice calls, though you can send text messages. 

iPad 2 review

To many, the original iPad was a revolution in computing; to others, it was a pointless experiment in a product category destined to fail in the consumer market. Apple proved the latter wrong, and now its competitors' initial entries in the tablet arena are competing with the first iPad while Apple rolls out a refined successor.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the iPad 2 was just a thinner iPad 1 with cameras, but it's what you can't see that makes this the better tablet. Ironically, it's also what you can't see that makes the iPad 2's biggest competitor the iPad 1. For the time being, at least.

Motorola Xoom tablet review

As Sly Stone said, the nicer the nice, the higher the price.

The question is, is the more expensive Xoom nicer than the comparable iPad?

The experience is markedly different, that's for sure. Anyone familiar with Apple's market-leading tablet -- and the Xoom invites the comparison -- will face a few moments of disorientation when picking up the Xoom for the first time. A few details are unsettling to iPad users, such as the location of the power button (on the rear of the device), the lack of front-facing command buttons, and the unfamiliar location of the volume rocker. 

Dell Streak 7 tablet review

Make no mistake: Dell will not be sitting out the Tablet Wars the way it did during the Struggle Against Smartphones. No, Dell is fighting, and by that I mean it is intent on pouring money into what is obviously a hole of futility.

Its latest volley in the skirmish is the Dell Streak 7, an overgrown version of the 13cm (5-inch) tablet it kinda-sorta released last year. And in most ways the Streak 7 is a typical Dell affair: foolishly overdesigned in an attempt to stand out, and coming up short all around. 

Apple iPad review

While it might seem that Wired's review of the iPad is a tad overdue, our tardiness is not without reason. Apple makes perfect honeymoon devices; glossy, glamorous, luxury items that purr with interactivity and effortless sophistication as soon as they emerge from their artful boxes. Devices that are immediately engaged with right brain lust instead of left brain pragmatism.

But now, after a month of heavy use and daily fondling, I've been released from the throngs of delirious gadget passion, and tasked with reviewing the device in a more practical light. As the thing's sat on my desk and in my bag for the past 28 days, the iPad is no longer a magical wonder gadget, but now simply a utilitarian digital rectangle. 

• Barnes & Noble Nook HD review

  
  The Nook from US book retail giant Barnes & Noble has evolved into the Nook HD, with one of the very best screens for its size, and the power of B&N's retail media empire behind it.

  It's on sale now at £159 for the 8GB version, and £189 for the 16GB version. Both can be augmented with microSD cards up to 64GB if needs be, which puts it ahead of many tablets and means there's more than enough room for all your media.

• Vodafone Smart Tab II review

  
  The top end of the tablet market is a hotly contested corner requiring a lot of investment and research for which only a few can compete. At the lower end though, there's still a lot of interest from people who want quick internet access with streaming video and music on a budget. Enter the Vodafone Smart Tab II with its bullet-proof build quality, 7-inch screen and 2-megapixel camera -- but can it deliver the necessary?

  It's available for £29 on a £20 per month contract from Vodafone.

• Microsoft Surface RT review (UK version)

  
  Microsoft has been threatening to unleash its all-new tablet sporting Windows 8 for some time and now that it's finally here, it pretty much lives up to the hype, although it does take a little bit of getting used to -- and not just because of the not-quite-ready Windows 8 RT operating system.

  It's on sale now for £399 for the 32GB version, £479 with a detachable keyboard cover, or £599 for the 64GB with cover. 

• Google Nexus 7 review

  
  
  
  The first of Google's new batch of devices that we've got our hands on is a seven-inch tablet that will be joined by the larger Nexus 10 and the Nexus 4 smartphone. Google's name may be on the front by the Nexus 7 is actually made by Asus, which has already established some form in the tablet market. With its seven-inch screen it's positioned against the likes of the Kindle Fire HD and the iPad Mini but has the specs and price to surpass them.

  The 32GB version is on sale now for around £199, or there's the 16GB version for around £159 -- there's no microSD card slot to expand your memory, so what you buy is what you've got. There's also a 3G version with 32GB for £239.

• iPad mini review

  
  To me, the full-size iPad is the best tablet computer on the market for the vast majority of people; it's in every regard the tablet that has consistently drawn me back after testing the competition. Except that for the last few weeks it has stayed at home, out of charge, gathering dust like a relic of a bygone technological era.

  It's a redundancy that caught me by surprise. It's also a result of cannibalisation, because the culprit for this redundancy is the iPad Mini, which I have been using daily for the last few weeks.

  It's on sale now for £269, and has -- in all seriousness -- made me question the future of the ten-inch tablet form factor entirely; it's perhaps the most enticing tablet on the market and the future of the iPad.

  I'm going to explain why. 

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 review

  
  We've had not one, but two tablets from Samsung in recent times. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet looks and behaves very similarly to the Galaxy Note 10.1 (not to be confused with the Galaxy Note 2 -- that's a 5.5-inch handset, dummy), but it drops the price and the spec to deliver a more affordable Android tablet.

  It's on sale now for around £300.

• Microsoft Surface review

  
  Nobody asked me about my Surface. I tried flashing it all over the place. But despite my best efforts, no one seemed curious.

  At Victrola Coffee Roasters in Seattle, I sat in the front window, with a hot pink Touch Cover attached, intentionally conspicuous. Nobody mentioned it. At the airport, I broke it out at the large open-air counter of a crowded bar. I sat in a seat at the gate, facing the walkway, pounding away at its keys on my lap. On a Virgin America flight, crowded with techies, I sat up front and kept it on my tray table the entire time, swiping from app to app. On San Francisco's Muni transit system, I tentatively typed in my seat, afraid it may be snatched on the crowded train. But no one said a word. 

• Toshiba AT300 Android tablet review

  
  Top of Tosh's tablet tree, the AT300 is an iPad alternative that delivers a spectacularly fast quad-core processor, quality screen and much more besides -- if you're prepared to pay the price.

  It's on sale for around £330. 

• Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review

  
  Samsung's original Galaxy Note looked like it couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be a phone or a tablet. The latest version offers big improvements to screen, processor, camera, battery and operating system, and show's that your pocket pal doesn't have to be one or the other.

  It's on sale now for free with a £47 monthly contract from Vodafone, or around £480 SIM free.

• Archos 101 XS review

  
  With the slew of Android tablets we've been seeing recently, it's becoming increasingly hard to create something that really stands out and actually make a serious attempt to stand up to the iPad. But French manufacturer Archos may just have done it with its uniquely combined keyboard and slimline tablet, due to be followed by the 97 XS and the 80 XS later this year.

  As a tablet, the 101 XS isn't too heavy at 600g but it is impressively slim at 8mm (the XS is meant to stand for eXtra Slim -- see what they've done there?), making it one of the slimmest tablets on the market and more wafer-like than the latest iPad's 9.44mm (plus it's around £100 cheaper at £300).

• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 review

  
  A year on from the Galaxy Note's debut as a 5.3 inch mobile phone, we now have the tablet version proper, with bigger screen, updated software and improved processor, but still with a focus on writing and drawing.

  It's on sale now starting at around £399 for the WiFi-only version with 16GB of onboard memory. It's also available in a 3G version (£499) and with more memory, though you can add up to 64GB via microSD card (something you can't do with an iPad or Motorola Xoom 2). 

• Kindle Fire HD (7-inch) review

  
  When the Kindle Fire first arrived in the US last September, it was in a class all its own. There were plenty of other seven-inch tablets running Android, but none of them were as successful. Sure, Amazon's tablet did most of the same things as competing offerings. Some of those things it did ably, some it did sloppily -- but it did them all for less than half the price of the cheapest iPad.

  It turns out "cheap" was quite the trump card, and despite its many quirks, the Fire was a huge smash Stateside. But things are different now, and other manufacturers have come out with devices that hit (or come close to) that magic price point. Most notably, there's Google's own Nexus 7, a consumer favorite that's set new expectations for how a £129 tablet should look and perform.

  Competitive pressure is usually a good thing, and after using the newly updated seven-inch version of the Kindle Fire HD for close to a week, I can say that the changes Amazon has made in order to stay at the head of the budget tablet pack have produced a machine that's just plain better all around. It will go on sale in the UK in October for £159.

• Disgo Tablet 9104

  
  Following on from the 8104 earlier this year, Disgo's flagship tablet has some good features, but lets itself down badly on a few key points.

  It's on sale now for around £180.

  The Disgo Tablet 9104 is meant to be an inexpensive tablet, but sometimes it feels just a little too cheap for comfort. For a start, the rim stands slightly proud of the screen, making it feel a bit awkward in the hands, and the small buttons on the sides for power/sleep and volume are a bit wobbly, and don't really feel as if they're built to last. Still, there's an HDMI output for connecting to your HD TV (not always a given at this price) and there are also slots for mini USB, microSD card and 3.5mm headphone jack.

• Google Nexus 7 review

  
  
  
  It seems like we've been waiting for ages, but Google's first own-brand tablet is finally here, and the Nexus 7 comes with Android 4.1 Jellybean, the next incarnation of the joined-up OS designed to work across both tablets and smartphones.

  It's on sale in 8GB and 16GB flavours for £159 and £199.

• Disgo Tablet 8104 review

  
  It seems incredibly cheap for a 10-inch tablet. But hold on there! You get what you pay for in this life, and modestly priced Android tablets are no exception.

  On paper, it looks like a good buy -- 10.1-inch capacitive touch screen, the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, mini HDMI and mini (not micro) USB ports. 1.2GHz Boxchip Cortex A8 processor is backed by 512MB RAM, though it's only a single core design.

Asus Transformer Pad TF300 review (UK model)

Who needs a laptop and a tablet when you can have both? The Asus Transformer Pad offers a trimmed-down version of its Transformer Prime, again with the option of a keyboard docking station and quad-core processor, but at a lower price. 

Huawei MediaPad S7 Android tablet review

Chinese manufacturer Huawei has been building up a head of mobile steam in the last year or so and the MediaPad (also known as the Tahiti if you get it with an Orange contract) is its first Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet, sporting a dual-core processor and five-megapixel camera. 

Apple iPad 3 review (Spring 2012)

When Apple unveiled the new iPad in the middle of March 2012, many of the features weren't much of a surprise. We were greeted by a high-resolution Retina Display, improved graphics performance, a better camera and faster connectivity.

What was more of a surprise, however, was that the price remained identical to the previous iPad 2, while the price of the iPad 2 was cut significantly and remained on sale. This presents consumers with a series of dilemmas: for existing iPad owners, is the new iPad worth upgrading to? For those who are looking to buy their first iPad, is the new iPad worth the extra money over the now-cheaper iPad 2? Is it worth upgrading to from the original iPad?

All are valid questions, and over the next couple of pages we intend to give you the answers based on four weeks of testing. You've read the reviews on release date, but how does the device actually perform over a month? 

ViewSonic ViewPad 10e Android tablet review

The gadgeterati are of course all focused on the new iPad and the latest high-spec Android tablets, but as ever, the midrange is where the value for money is. Enter ViewSonic with its ViewPad 10e, available exclusively from Argos and the largest in its range which also includes the 7e and soon the E70, G70 and E100.

The 10e is a slick-looking black tablet like oh so many others and feels sturdily put together, though like Toshiba's AT200 there's a bit of an issue with the rim of the casing jutting out just a little at the back. It's slim enough, at 9.1mm, though it's perhaps a little on the heavy side at 620g, more or less the same as the new iPad.

Toshiba AT200 Android tablet review

Toshiba's favourite contender in the tablet races is this thin 'n' stylish sliver of tech, running Android 3.2 Honeycomb (nope, no Ice Cream Sandwich), a dual-core processor and two cameras.

The first thing you notice about the AT200 is that it's thin. At 7.7mm it's a whisker slimmer even than the new iPad, itself no porker at 8.8mm. But while the difference in thickness is barely noticeable, weight is another matter, and at just 535g, the AT200 is much easier to carry around long-term than the 662g iPad.

BlackBerry PlayBook with OS 2 review

RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook has had the first update to its operating system almost a year after its launch. While OS 2 isn't a revolution for tablets, it at least gives the PlayBook a fighting chance against the marauding hordes from Apple and Android. We take a second look at the PlayBook and look to see whether the new OS gives the tablet a better experience overall. 

Orange Tahiti review

Orange has done fairly well with its cheap and mostly cheerful own-brand handsets such as the San Francisco 2, so it should be no surprise that the company should try its hand with a cut-price Android tablet, though it would seem to be the first UK network to do so. Question is: how good is it? 

Andy Pad Pro review

There are actually two Andy Pad tablets available, and this is the more advanced and more expensive (by £50) of the pair. It's on sale now.

Design
With its bulky shape and glossy white plastic it has more of the look of a fun device rather than a cool sliver of hi-tech capability like the iPad or Sony's Tablet S, but that's no bad thing.

On top (if you're holding it in landscape mode) is a volume rocker, while the sides have a power/sleep button and stereo speakers, plus 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot, microUSB power/sync slot and mini HDMI port (though you'll need to pay extra for a cable to connect it to your TV).

Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition review

Hot on the heels of its revamped Xoom 2 tablet, Motorola hopes to cover all bases with this chopped down version. Question is: what's the difference, and what's the point?

Design
The standard Xoom 2 features a 10.1-inch screen and while it's very good, for some that's just too big. Enter the 8.2-inch screen of the Media Edition, which, with total measurements of 216x140x9mm and 603g is still just about small enough to slip into the pocket of a suit, with no need for a carry bag. The relative lightness makes it easier to hold for long periods, whether you're reading an e-book, viewing movies or dealing with all your social networking commitments while you're on the move. 

Motorola Xoom 2 review

The end of 2011 saw a late spurt from Motorola with a couple of high-end Android devices. First was the weird but good reinvention of the RAZR, and now there's a new incarnation of the Xoom tablet.

The Xoom 2 actually appears in two editions (the Media Edition being the other) and this one is a little thinner and lighter than the original, as well as adding a few extra features.

Packard Bell Liberty Tab G100 review

These days, Acer uses subsidiary Packard Bell as its style brand, which is why the Liberty Tab G100 looks considerably more arresting than the almost identically specced Acer Iconia A500. But how do they differ inside?

Design and display
The chrome-look trim and cherry red plastic give the Liberty Tab a classy aura, and go some way to disguise the fact that this is actually quite a bulky bit of kit. But while the likes of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Sony Tablet S might look a little slicker, and certainly weigh less, Packard Bell still has some important developments where it really counts. 

Samsung Galaxy Note review

Is it a handset? Is it a tablet? Usually there isn't too much argument, but in the case of the Galaxy Note it may very well depend on the size of your hands.

Design
Measuring 147x83x10mm (weighing 178g) and with a screen size of 5.3 inches it's very much on the borderline between a massive phone, like HTC's Sensation XL (4.7-inch screen), or a mini tablet, like Samsung's Galaxy Tab (various sizes, but the smallest has a 7-inch screen). Samsung seems pretty sure it's a handset though, since it's given it Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread for its operating system, rather than the tablet-optimised version 3.2, Honeycomb. 

Sony Tablet P review

The second of Sony's opening salvo in the tablet wars looks like an outsized Nintendo 3DS, with a pair of 5.5-inch capacitive touchscreens joined by a brace of hinges. It's PlayStation certified, so you can play old-school PS games using onscreen PlayStationcontrols, but it's much more than a gaming device.

Screen and performance
The Sony Tablet P is in fact a fully capable tablet PC running the latest Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. It does so rather nippily thanks to its 1GHz processor backed by 1GB RAM, though it certainly can't compete with the power and speed of the dual-core processors from the best in the market.

Acer Iconia Tab A100 review

Let's face it, Acer isn't really the name you'll go for if you're the type who thinks of brands as status symbols. But the company has built up a name for itself as a purveyor of decent quality, if not necessarily ground-breaking tech. So it is with the 7-inch Iconia Tab A100, which may not be quite as slick looking or highly specced as some of its rivals, but it offers some very good features for a healthy price tag.

Asus Eee Pad Slider review

The Eee Pad Slider is one of the growing mountain of Android tablets seeking (and generally failing) to challenge the iPad. But don't write it off immediately, because it has a secret weapon hidden under its gloss black display: a five-row keyboard.

One of the biggest complaints from potential tablet owners is the lack of easy data input. The answer to that complaint is generally two-fold -- firstly, tablets are designed as consumption, not creation, devices. Plus, if it's a real deal-breaker for you, then it's easy enough to pick up a small Bluetooth keyboard.

But Bluetooth is a hassle, and there are plenty of occasions when you might want to tap out a medium-length email reply without having to resort to a rubbish on-screen keyboard. So Asus has built a compromise device -- one that functions perfectly well as a pure tablet, but which conceals a keyboard for those occasions when you do want to write something more than a couple of lines.

Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite review

Chinese manufacturer Huawei is hitting the market with a wide range of mobile devices at the moment. But can the MediaPad 7 Lite, a 7in Android tablet with a weak processor and outdated operating system, really hope to compete with the Google Nexus 7, even if it has got 3G up its sleeve?

It's on sale now for around £280 or from £10 a month with a phone contract. 

Best small tablets: iPad mini vs Galaxy Note vs Nook HD vs Nexus 7 vs Kindle Fire

What's the best size for a tablet? Well that depends on who's doing the asking. The larger standard gives you more room of course, but it can be a trial to carry around. The 7-8in standard may be too big for a pocket, but it's lightweight and compact enough to fit in a bag or even the glove compartment of a car, and of course it can do pretty much everything the big boys can do, just a little smaller. If you don't have brickie's fingers and can get your digits around the smaller onscreen keyboard, you'll get just as much satisfaction out of a smaller tablet. Some have the option of network access rather than just Wi-Fi, but of course you'll have to pay extra for the privilege. Oh, and they're usually cheaper too. 

Three ways to turn your iPad into a cat toy

Your iPad isn't just for hoomans. Let your cat in on some tablet action with these apps. They'll transform your iPad into digital catnip.

Asus Fonepad review

Asus has never shied away from trying variations on popular themes. The Transformer Pad gave us one of the first tablet/laptop hybrids with a detachable screen; the Taichi was a laptop with not one, but two screens. The Fonepad (not to be confused with the Padfone, also from Asus) has more modest ambitions but as a seven-inch tablet that can be used as a standard smartphone, it's still sure to turn a few heads, especially when you have it pressed to your ear.

It's on sale now for around £180.

Microsoft Surface Pro review

The long-awaited (for the UK) Pro version of Microsoft's Surface tablet brings a few significant changes, such as full-fat Windows 8 (rather than the slimmed-down RT version), a more powerful processor, more memory, and a full HD touchscreen with stylus.

It's on sale now for £719 for the 64GB version, £799 for the 128GB version.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 review

Lenovo has experimented with ways to convert laptop to tablet before, notably with the ThinkPad Twist, but the IdeaPad Yoga 13 converts from laptop to tablet by flipping the screen all the way over so it sits underneath the keyboard.

It's on sale now for around £1,000.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z review

Sony has a history of distinctive looking tablets. From the folding Tablet P with its two screens to the wedge-shaped Tablet S designed to resemble a book, it's now arrived at the less weird, but still distinctive Tablet Z, and it's easily Sony's best tablet yet.

It's on sale now for around £400.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 review

The Galaxy Note 8.0 expands the Galaxy Note II's screen to eight inches, bringing it firmly into tablet territory, and competition with the iPad mini and Google Nexus 7.

It's on sale now for around £340 for the Wi-Fi only version (there's also one that adds a 3G SIM).

Archos 80 Titanium review

Budget tablets are coming thick and fast and for the most part, you get what you pay for. But could the Archos 80 Titanium, with its iPad mini-matching screen, buck that trend?

It's on sale now for £130. 

Acer Iconia W510 review

Acer's Iconia W510 works just fine as a standalone Windows 8 tablet, but comes with a slimline keyboard with secure docking system for those times when you need a bit more -- and that's where the problems start.

It's on sale now for around £500. 

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist S230u review

Hybrid tablets try to bridge the gap between the convenience of a tablet and the capability of a laptop, and they've been becoming more popular since the arrival of touchscreen-optimised Windows 8. The Lenovo ThinkPad Twist doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it makes it turn rather well…

The Lenovo ThinkPad Twist is on sale now from £850 for the basic Intel Core i5 model with 500GB hard drive, rising to our £1,060 test model, which features an i7 processor and 128GB SSD drive.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 review

It seems like quite a while ago since the Kindle was just about reading books. Last year's 7-inch Kindle Fire HD was a full-on tablet, powered by Android and putting equal emphasis on web browsing, movie viewing, gaming and yup, you guessed it, the 8.9in version is like that, but more... 

Asus VivoTab Smart review

The latest entry from Asus into the Windows tablet mêlée is a good-looking, slimline machine that offers the full version of Windows 8, making it more versatile than most of the competition, but what has it sacrificed?

It's on sale now for around £395.

Disgo 9000 Android tablet review

Tablets are like most objects of desire -- you can pay a lot for them, or you can get them relatively cheap, but ultimately you get what you pay for. But is that the case with the Disgo 9000, the latest budget tablet from the one-time flash memory manufacturer?

It's on sale now for around £150.

Lenovo IdeaTab A2107A review

The Lenovo IdeaTab A2107A is the Chinese company's entry-level seven-inch tablet, coming in with a lower spec than the nine-inch A2109A and running Android 4.0. But has it got the goods to make it worth your while?

It's on sale now for around £150.

• Best tablets at the cheapest UK prices, from Android to iPad to Windows: a Wired.co.uk buyer's guide

  
  With the recent release of Apple's new iPads, along with recent "makeovers" from Google and Samsung on some of their most popular products, this is one of the best times to buy a new tablet. Once you've decided which tablet to buy (if you haven't decided you should head on over to our review section) you'll want to know how much you should be paying for them, which with all the myriad "discounts" and contracts on the market, is no easy task.

  Fortunately, Wired.co.uk has scoured the internet for the best deals on five of our favourite premium tablets to help you through the buying process.

• Toshiba WT310 tablet review

  
  Toshiba's WT310 is a Windows 8 tablet aimed at business users that puts itself in competition with the likes of Microsoft's Surface Pro -- but can its spec make up for the dullness of its looks?

  It's on sale now for varying prices between about £800-900. 

• Nokia Lumia 2520 review

  
  Nokia's first entry into the tablet market -- the Nokia Lumia 2520 -- is a Windows device, natch, and arrives just after Microsoft's own Surface 2. It looks very different though, and includes a high-quality camera and a clutch of extra goodies for a very reasonable price.

  It's on sale now for around £399. 

• Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 review

  
  Amazon has brought out not one, but two versions of its new Fire HDX tablet. The 7-inch screen version is likely to be the volume purchase, but is there a market for something with a bigger screen, an extra camera and a few tasty extras thrown in?

  If so, it's on sale now for £339. 

• Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 review

  
  With such a plethora of Android tablets around it takes a lot to stand out. But is a revamped version of Amazon's Kindle operating system and a few extra offerings enough to beat the likes of the Google Nexus 7?

  The Kindle Fire HDX 7 is on sale now for £199.

• Asus Transformer Book T100 review

  
  Taiwanese manufacturer Asus has been adopting an increasingly aggressive pricing strategy to carve out a place for itself in the tablet and laptop market recently, and this hybrid design is no exception. It's good to see an affordable Windows 8.1 device, but are the tech compromises a bit too much to make it worthwhile?

  It's on sale now for around £350. 

• Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 review

  
  The smaller of Lenovo's two new tablets (the other is the Yoga 10) comes with a unique look and impressive battery life, but is its performance good enough to win over any fans?

  It's on sale for £200. 

• Archos 101 Platinum review

  
  French firm Archos has been working hard to provide cut-price alternatives to the big names in smartphones and this midrange tablet could be one of its best efforts yet, with a powerful processor and decent screen for very reasonable price.

• Microsoft Surface Pro 2 review

  
  Microsoft has updated both its Windows 8 tablets (see Surface 2 as well) and the Pro 2 is the big beast of the outfit, with processing power to match a desktop and improvements including a big jump in available memory an update to the operating system and improved keyboards.

  It's on sale now for £719 for the 64GB version, £799 for 128GB, same as last time, and now there are also 256GB (£1,039) and 512GB (£1,439) versions.

• Microsoft Surface 2 review

  
  The new version of Microsoft's Surface tablet is a little slimmer, with an improved screen, processor and battery life, plus some new keyboard options.

  It's on sale now for £359 for the 32GB version, £439 for 64GB.

• Apple iPad mini 2 review (Retina display model, late-2013)

  
  Despite being scored eight-out-of-ten when it was first released in 2012, Apple's iPad minihas been a firm favourite tablet in the Wired.co.uk office. It was far from perfect thanks to its relatively low-resolution display and an older, slower processor than its bigger brother and rivals adopted.

  With the iPad mini 2 (officially "iPad mini with Retina display") Apple has improved in some important areas: screen quality, performance, graphics capabilities, storage; and it has had to make some clearly difficult decisions in order to do so because the price has risen, the device has become heavier and thicker and the older model has remained on sale.

  So the question is, is this still the best small tablet on the market? It's on sale now for £319.

• Apple iPad Air review

  
  Thinner, lighter, less bulky, faster, more refined. These are all words reviewers are typically able to apply to new Apple products when comparing them to a predecessor. Few times has this felt more appropriate than with the iPad Air versus the iPad 4; Apple's 10-inch tablet has reached a new milestone with the Air.

  It's on sale now from £399 (16GB, Wi-Fi-only). 

• Tesco Hudl tablet review

  
  With tablet sales increasing rapidly, they'll soon become as ubiquitous as mobile phones. Key to making that a reality will be the success of budget tablets, and Tesco's Hudl is making a serious pitch for best of the bunch.

  The Hudl makes no pretence to be a high-end device. It looks chunky and cheap, with its 10 inch thick plastic body and hefty 370g weight. But wait, there are some pretty good things going on. There's a micro HDMI connection which allows you to view content from your Hudl directly on your TV -- not quite so common on tablets these days -- though you'll have to shell out for the necessary cable, as there's none supplied. There's also a brace of 1W stereo speakers on the back, which make for a pretty decent sound if you're sharing and don't want to plug in your headphones (again, none supplied). 

• Best budget tablets on the UK market for October 2013

  
  Tech trends move so quickly. What was so recently the very height of sophistication has quickly become the norm and there's an increasing demand for tablets as day-to-day workhorses rather than status symbols or high-performance business devices. 

• Google Nexus 7 review (Autumn 2013 edition)

  
  Google set a very high bar in 2012 with the original Nexus 7 -- a high-powered 7-inch tablet that offered some pretty high-end features at a very reasonable price. The new version confusingly has the same name, but it's a very different beast, with improved screen, processor and a new camera, plus the latest 4.3 
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