Android Tablets: What Are The Benefits Of Android OS?

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by Rachel Zhang

Android tablets are one of the coolest ways to surf the net and watch videos in existence! They are super portable, light and have a huge touch screen display which makes viewing a pleasure. Unlike laptops and even netbooks, they save a lot of weight and space by only including the components needed for media consumption (surfing, listening and watching).
They run Google's Android OS, which although a relatively new operating system has already overtaken Apple's iOS as the most popular OS for portable devices! It looks quite similar to Windows in some ways, most notably being the 'home page' of your tablet which is like a 'desktop' full of shortcuts to your favourite apps.
Some of the key benefits of Android are:
• It's open source. This means that it is free and that anyone can get the code from Google and manipulate it to make it suitable for their device. Why is this good? You're not paying for an expensive OS, but still get a top-notch OS for your tablet.
• The Google connection. Android has apps for most of the major Google services that we've come to love and rely upon, including: Gmail, Youtube, Google Maps, Google Voice (like Skype) as well as translate, shopper and finance.
• Choice of hardware. Don't fancy an iPad, but want an Apple tablet? I'm sorry you can't. However Android is free for any manufacturer to use and so tablet fans have a huge choice of different tablets, from expensive 'name brands' to great value Chinese versions.
• Huge leap forward in functionality. Consider an old-fashioned portable DVD player, or MP3 player where you can only do one thing, either watch DVDs or listen to music. An Android OS device is a powerful, portable PC. They allow you to do hundreds of things, from web-browsing to reading eBooks to playing games; and all at the same time if you want to multi-task!
If you're worried about whether you can use an Android tablet then think about this question? Can you use a mac or pc? If the answer is yes then you're sure to be delighted with Android OS as it is so similar in many ways to Apple OS and Windows.
You have your shortcuts on your home screen, but also folders full of your applications, pdfs and media files as well. So to do something just select the right folder like on your computer!
It is different in some ways too, and not in a negative sense! Android is great at multi-tasking. You can have many apps open and running at the same time which is brilliant when you're flipping from the page you're browsing to your music library to change tracks.
It also benefits from a brilliant app source, 'Android Marketplace,' which is filled with great apps for all kinds of purposes, from Facebook to horoscopes. They are especially great because most of them are free, and you don't often get much for free in life!
So in summary, when you buy an Android tablet you're getting a top quality operating system for free, hundreds of thousands of cool apps for free and a huge choice of different tablets for any budget. It's also easy for anyone to use and will sync seamlessly with your Google account.
Where are the cheapest tablets though? You need to go online and check out the reputable online stores selling them, then you're assured of the best value as opposed to the big shops.