Ah, the holidays. The smell of turkey wafting in the air, mistletoe hung with care, and the soft sounds of hardcore gamers, gaming through the night. With all the holiday sales just around the corner, now is the perfect time to upgrade your phone or tablet or treat your loved ones to some of the hottest gadgets and gear of 2014. We here at Hardcore Droid want you to game with the best money can buy, so we put together a list of the best hardware for gaming on the go.
10. LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition
The LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition features pure Android with a deeper Google Now integration. The device itself is reliable, and at times faster, than LG’s original, and it will also receive OS updates as they roll in. This is device is perfect for those gamers who love everything Google.
Starting at $247
9. Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is extremely slim, gorgeous tablet with a super-high-definition display, tons of power, and the latest version of Android KitKat. It is a superb smaller tablet and a worthy competitor to the ever-popular iPad Mini. With both 16gig and 32 gig options, this tablet works fast and plays faster.
Starting at $349
8. Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
The Infinity is a tablet that can handle anything you can throw at it. Featuring a Super IPS panel with a tremendous resolution and a slim, simple design, the Asus Transformer Pad is for lovers of power and simplicity. Its biggest flaw is its hefty price tag, coming in between $499 -$599 for the 16GB and 32GB respectively.
Starting at $218
7. Sony Xperia Tablet Z
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is a beautiful tablet, sporting a Full HD display – 1200 x 1920 pixels spread over its 10.1-inch screen, giving a pixel density of 224ppi, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a quad-core 1.5GHz Krait CPU. Add to that 2GB RAM and this tablet is everything you wanted and more. And its water proof, so you game comfortably while soaking in a nice, warm bath.
Starting at $429
6. Google Nexus 9
The Google Nexus 9 performs steadily with many apps open, and switching between them is fluid. The Nexus 9 is slim and relatively light, and is a premium machine overall. It lacks certain bells and whistles found on other premium tablets, like Fingerprint sensors item-recognition software instead, it settles but one of the most powerful mobile processors on the market — the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system.
Starting at $349
5. Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 gives you a beautiful high-resolution AMOLED display, a light and sturdy body, and is ideal for consuming all kinds of media. It’s pretty much identical to its 8-inch brother, but the huge tablet screen may sway purist to go big. If a large screen is on your priorities list, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is the one of the best choices on our list of best Android tablets.
Starting at $399
4. Google Nexus 10
The 10.1 display is one of the biggest talking points on the Google Nexus 10. At 300 pixels per inch it’s the highest resolution tablet display on the planet – yes, you read that correctly. It’s even better than the iPad. It performs great as well. It never realty felt like it was struggling to keep up. It’s fast and smooth, no matter what you throw at it. Sure it lacks expandable memory, but the Google Nexus 10 is a solid 10-inch tablet for all your needs.
Starting at $429
3. Asus Transformer Prime
The Transformer Prime packs a mighty 1.3GHz quad-core processor, and that means using the Transformer Prime is a breeze. This tablet is able to process Full HD movies and multiple apps with ease. You also get a super-crisp 10.1-inch IPS display (1280 x 800), a surprisingly good 8MP camera capable of recording 1080p video, and 32GB of internal storage, with a micro SD card slot available if you need more space. The Prime originally shipped with an older Android 3.2 under the hood, but is quickly catching up with the latest firmware. It’s a versatile piece of equipment.
Starting at $259
2. Google Nexus 7
With a quad-core processor, beefy 12-core GPU, 7-inch full HD display the new Nexus 7 is quite simply the best budget tablet out there and an essential purchase for mobile gamers on a budget. The Nexus 2014 sports a durable body, speedy performance and high battery life and at 7-inches, the Nexus feels great in your hands, whether you’re reading or gaming on the go. The Nexus 7 is still the best tablet for your buck.
Starting at $179
1. Nvidia Shield Tablet
The Nvidia Shield Tablet packs a huge graphical punch with a new Tegra K1 processor. It has expandable micro SD card storage; runs Android 4.4 KitKat, and offers full access to Google Play app store. If that wasn’t enough, its add-on wireless game controller enables connected TV support for sofa gaming and streaming-video entertainment — It even streams PC games! The only downside is that lack of support on the Play Store. You also have to buy the controller used to play most games separately, but the Nvidia Shield Tablet is hands down one of the most versatile — and affordable — high-performance 8-inch tablet you can buy.
Starting at $299
