A few years ago, my parents bought Nexus 7 tablets to use as e-readers and for games. At the time, they were obviously the best small Android tablets and the purchase was a no-brainer. If they broke today, I'm not sure what I could recommend as a replacement.
I disliked the slippery glass back, but a homemade skin (plastic stickyback film) worked great.
The glass back is ridiculously impractical and makes the Tab4 8 Plus slip down from furniture a lot.
If anyone wants to get that tablet make sure to get some sort of case for it. Otherwise it's a decent device and Android feels very close to stock except for a few unnecessary Lenovo apps you can't remove and the software update app which seems to be customized unnecessarily and a little poorly as well.
The 2013 (with rear facing camera) is still more than usable. I'm more than happy and have bought several over the years. (Rough environments, but £50 used on ebay is doable)
I don't want any manufacturer "features" on Android, I just want a pure Android experience. And also looking for a replacement for my parents aging Nexus 7.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/12/lenovo-yoga-book-rev...
I thought a smaller tablet with active pen features & microSD slot for ~$225 USD was a bargain, definitely made the iPad Pro look ridiculously overpriced. Unfortunately it seems Samsung never sold the 8" S-Pen model in the US, and have discontinued the S-Pen on the 2017 8" models. It's still on the 10" model though.