I never knew I wanted a small Android tablet until I tried this iPad Mini alternative

Android phones are wonderful gadgets that can do pretty much anything, but their screens are too small for some tasks. That’s why tablets make for great secondary devices, but choosing the right one can be a challenge. For years, I’ve been on the “bigger is better” train, using Android tablets with 11-inch or larger screens. But after recently trying a smaller, iPad Mini-sized Android tablet, I’ve started to question why I ever liked the larger models in the first place.

The appeal of larger Android tablets is obvious: their large, vibrant screens make watching videos and playing games incredibly immersive. Media consumption is their forte, and no other product category does it better. However, few people want to spend hundreds of dollars on a device just for media, which is why so many companies try to position their tablets as laptop replacements.

The problem, though, is that Android tablets all suck at doing laptop-like things.

The problem, though, is that Android tablets all suck at doing laptop-like things. While they’ve gotten much better at multitasking in recent years, they still don’t hold a candle to my Windows laptop. Whenever I tried to be productive on one of my larger Android tablets, the experience felt forced and inefficient. Sure, my laptop is bulkier, but not by that much, and its own large, vibrant OLED display means it’s no slouch for media and gaming either. When it came to choosing a device to bring with me for a trip, my laptop always won. That was until I got the new Xiaomi Pad Mini.