The best low-cost tablets for under £200

If you are heading for university and want a tablet with a decent battery life, a HD-quality screen and a good camera, here are the best deals for less than £200.

Nexus 7 (£199)

Google’s own tablet comes with the benefit of knowing that all the latest updates to its Android operating system will be sent straight to your device.

The full-HD screen measures 7in and the device weighs 290g.

The quad-core central processing unit, or CPU, means there is plenty of processing power to run several apps at once and the touchscreen will respond quickly and smoothly to every input you throw its way.

The battery is reported to last up to nine hours, which puts it in the same category as the more expensive iPad. The only real shortcoming is the lack of a micro-SD card slot, which would allow you to increase its storage capacity. This means you are stuck with the 16GB on offer. There are two cameras — a 5 megapixel rear camera that is good enough to take photos to upload to Facebook and a 1.2 megapixel camera that will do nicely for video chats with friends and family.

Kindle Fire HDX 7 (£199)

Amazon jumped from making e-readers to fully-fledged tablets in 2011 and has not looked back since, releasing several iterations of affordable devices that run its own version of Google’s Android operating system.

In terms of hardware it is quite similar to the Nexus 7, weighing a shade under 300g with a full-HD 7in screen, quad-core processor and up to 12 hours of battery life.

Of course, this is an Amazon device so it is built around the services that Amazon offers. The downsides are the lack of a rear camera and card slot to expand the 16GB memory.

Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176CX (£120)

The Asus weighs in at a hefty 326g and offers 16GB of internal memory.

Crucially, though, it comes with a micro-SD card slot that allows you to expand the memory if you want some extra storage space.

The 7in screen isn’t full-HD but the processor outpowers some of its budget-minded peers, giving you a fairly quick and responsive tablet that runs Google’s Android system.

The battery, too, performs well for this price, offering about eight hours of usage.

The only disappointment will be the cameras — 2 megapixels at the rear and 0.3 megapixels at the front.

Try a phablet

“Phablets” are a combination of a phone and a tablet. Thus, you can use them like any mobile phone, making calls and sending text messages from a device small enough to fit in your pocket but with a large enough screen to make seeing images and video easy.

The Samsung Galaxy Mega comes with a 6.3 inch screen, 8GB of internal storage and a micro-SD card slot. There are two cameras — 8 megapixels at the back and 1.9 at the front — and it weighs about 200g. The screen isn’t full-HD, though, and the processor, while no slouch, hasn’t won rave reviews. It is available on amazon.co.uk for £350, or from Samsung online for £399.