United slates of whatever

Today's tablets can do pretty much anything - whether they're compact and cheap or huge and eye-wateringly expensive. In this group test we're setting our sights on the mid-market: no iPad Pros here, just a broad selection of affordable Android-based machines. So which is the right tab for you?

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Amazon Fire Max 11

What's the story?

As the name suggests, the Max 11 is the most powerful tablet in Amazon's Fire range, built around an 11in 1200p screen, 4GB of RAM, an octa-core processor and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. And while it doesn't come with any as standard, the Max 11 supports a host of premium accessories including a keyboard, a stylus and even a game controller.

Like the other tablets here it runs on Android, but Amazon has slathered its own Ul over the top like a slab of restrictive butter: users must download from Amazon's own app store rather than Google Play.

On the upside, there's close integration with Amazon services like Kindle, Audible and Prime Video, not to mention Alexa.

Is it any good?

The unibody is slim, light and tough, as well as rather elegant...except perhaps for the Amazon logo on the back. We have no complaints about the touchscreen either: it's rich and bright, with vivid colours and sharp 213ppi pixel density.