What is the best Seven-Inch tablet if all you really want it for is to watch films / movies. I think my answer may surprise you. While the evolution of tablet computers has been a speedy one when it comes to high specification, the same can not really be said for their build quality. Of course, if you want to spend more than a couple of hundred pounds on a Tablet I'm sure you will notice the difference in quality between a £400 model and one that costs £50 - £100.
But, if all you want is a basic tablet that's good enough to 720p and 1080p movies smoothly, I'm sure most people won't be spending silly money for that privilege. So that means most people will fall into the realm of cheaper tablets, a marketplace that is basically a war zone of terrible tablets, fake reviews and non-existent return policies.
Pictured: The home screen of the now vintage to some Blackberry Playbook. This is the best option in my opinion for watching films on a tablet at the cheapest possible price point.
This is why I say don't even bother. Of course, there are some decent tablets like the Amazon Fire range that are cheap. Especially the Fire 7" model. But with Amazon serving advertisements on their Fire range, unless you pay to have them removed, they create a bad user experience, so I wouldn't really recommend them.
No, my recommendation is even cheaper than the Fire 7". The best 7" tablet for watching movies, is the Blackberry Playbook. Before you dismiss the Playbook because it's so old, let me tell you. I've been in the Tablet Computer business for well over a decade, handled / reviewed hundreds of tablets, and I have never seen another tablet, within the £50 - £150 price range, that has anywhere near the build quality of the Blackberry Playbook. They are solid.
Add to that the built-in speakers. The speakers are excellent in the Playbook. Much better than almost anything out there right now within the £50 - £150 price range. Get any Samsung Tablet within the £100 - £200 price range and compare speaker quality by playing the same film on both the Samsung and the Playbook. Trust me, there is no comparison.
With the Blackberry Playbook only having 1GB RAM and a Dual Core Processor, you would think that it wouldn't be able to play movies very smooth and would lag / skip / stop a lot. Quite the opposite. I've experienced more problems with movie playback on much more expensive devices than I ever have on the Playbook.
Also, you would expect the screen to be sub-par on the Playbook due to its age. But the WSVGA resolution is excellent for watching movies. Extremely clear and detailed. So, before you go spending a pretty penny on some over-hyped, overpriced, mass-produced plastic rubbish, give the Playbook some consideration. A nice clean example, sometimes even boxed with all accessories, can be found for sale online (on eBay UK, US) for literally £15 - £25.
Another Playbook bonus is the cameras. They were way ahead of their time when the Playbook was first released in 2011. And even today, most cheap tablet have terrible dual cameras. Very grainy and just bad quality overall. Cheap tablets have nowhere near the same level of camera picture quality that the Playbook cameras are capable of. And it's now almost 11 years old. That speaks volumes on its own really.
The only downfalls are browsing the Internet and the security features. Internet browsers for the Playbook are very outdated, and the operating system also hasn't been updated in years. The security features, while good for some, are a bit over-the-top for the average user. Transferring data onto a Blackberry Playbook can be frustrating for end-users, as it usually requires IP synchronization between the two devices.
Not really a big deal though if your sole intention is using the device watching movies. To make this as hassle-free as possible, just be sure to have both devices on the same IP (Same Internet connection) when transferring data (in this case adding films to the Playbook). Don't forget to disconnect from your VPN (Virtual Private Network) if you use one.
