List Price: $179.99
Sale Price: $137.99
Today's Bonus: 23% Off
I bought this to replace another 7-inch android tablet that broke when it was sat on. That tablet had no brand name, and I had identified a few things I would improve about it if I were to replace it. I did not anticipate having to replace it when I did, but the list of requirements did enable me to narrow down my tablet choices significantly.
I wanted a faster processor. At least a dual core, if not quad core. I wanted a better, higher-resolution screen. I wanted bluetooth connectivity. And most importantly, I wanted better battery life. And I wanted all of this for under $200. I got all those and more with this replacement tablet.
My choices were narrowed down to this tablet, the Samsung galaxy tab 2 7" wifi, and the nexus 7. The nexus 7 fell out early on when I realized it did not have a micro-sd card slot. Moreover, the tablet would end up costing me more than $200 including taxes and shipping if I bought it from Google. The Samsung tablet had everything I wanted, and was about $170 to $180. I was about to buy it when this newly introduced tablet caught my eye.
It cost $110, which is less than two-thirds the cost of the Samsung tablet. It is superior to or equal to the Samsung Galaxy tab in pretty much all respects. It has a dual-core processor like the Samsung, but the processor frequency on this tablet is 1.2 GHz rather than 1 GHz. The screen resolution is 1024x600, same as the Samsung. It has bluetooth, and a 4000mAH battery (same as the Samsung tablet). The battery life, I knew, would be slightly lower than that of the Samsung tablet because of the faster processor, but I was willing to take that compromise. Also, this tablet comes with a single front camera whereas the Samsung tablet has two cameras, but I believe in taking photos with a camera rather than looking like an idiot taking pictures with a humongous tablet which blocks everybody else's view of what you are trying to photograph. One more perceived advantage this tablet had over the Samsung was that the Samsung tablet came with a proprietary cord to connect it to the computer, whereas this one uses a standard micro-USB port. I don't want to spend a few dollars replacing a lost or misplaced cord down the road.
The tablet came well-packaged. The package consists of the tablet, a user manual in three languages, charger, USB cord, various other bits of paper like a warranty card, registration card, etc., and a pouch for the tablet made of some very thin, indeterminate material that feels on the outside like suede leather. The tablet's screen is protected with a thin plastic sheet that I peeled off as soon as I unpacked it.
The tablet feels solid and well-constructed. It has a plastic body, but I was not exactly expecting a magnesium uni-body for the price I was paying! It has a wide bezel around the screen, and the ports are arranged and marked clearly. The only buttons are for turning on the tablet and/or screen, and a rocker switch that controls the volume. The front-facing camera is placed in a corner of the bezel, but I was not anticipating using a camera at all, so I didn't care where it is or what its resolution is.
I plugged the tablet in to the charger, and it was fully charged in about an hour. The tablet was probably shipped with about a 50% charge like most electronics with li-ion batteries are shipped. There is no LED or any other outward indication of being plugged into the charger. The screen does show a charging battery in the middle if the tablet is completely off, and an icon of a charging battery in the notification area if it is on.
Set up was quite easy and trouble-free. This is my third android device (after my phone and my previous tablet), so there were no surprises here. Actually, I take that back. The surprise I had was that some of the applications that had been compatible with my previous tablet were shown by the app store as not being compatible with this new tablet. Examples include the Audubon field guides, WebMD, itriage, etc. I attribute it to the newness of this tablet, and I suspect app developers will be updating the apps to make them compatible with this tablet as time goes on. There are ways to side-load these apps on to the tablet if you absolutely need them, and the tablet itself is fully capable of running them with absolutely no problems. The tablet boots up in about 90 seconds from a cold start. The bezel is completely free of touch capability: no home, back and recent apps icons on the bezel anywhere. They appear only on the touch screen as needed.
The tablet has 2GB of internal memory, and an 8GB internal SD card. About 4GB of this internal SD card is occupied by the android OS, and the built-in apps that come with the tablet (such as GMail, Google Maps, etc.). Only the other 4GB is usable by the end user. But, combined with the 2GB of internal memory, there is more than enough space for hundreds or even thousands of apps, so it should not be a problem. I have used up 1.3GB of the internal memory and none of the 4GB SD card after loading about 150 apps on the tablet. However, the tablet is not rooted, and there is no way to remove any of the built-in apps unless you want to go through the process of rooting the tablet. Some of the preloaded apps are of questionable value: For instance the maps app is pretty useless given that the tablet does not have GPS.
The tablet is very fast and the screen is fluid and smooth. There is no lag in running any app or switching between multiple apps. After the full charge, I took the tablet off the charger and loaded all the apps I want on it over the next four or four and a half hours on battery power. The processor (both its cores) was running at full power during this entire time, and the screen was on the whole time too, and the battery was drained down to about 5%. If I were just browsing the web or watching videos, it would probably last about 6 to 8 hours. If I were just listening to music or something like that with the screen off, it would probably last a couple of days. As such, when I leave it overnight, the battery goes down by a percent of two at most. The battery also charges when you plug the tablet into a computer using the USB cord.
The user manual is surprisingly informative, and has a bit of an introduction to android itself in it. If you are completely new to the android world, you might find it useful though in general I have found the system intuitive enough I that I didn't need it when I got my previous tablet, and that tablet's user manual consisted of a single folded sheet of paper! The user manual comes in three languages, but the Coby website does not have a PDF version of the manual up on it yet.
I have had no problems running any app that I have loaded on the tablet. The tablet has not crashed, and I don't remember any app crashing either. Youtube works perfectly. I have watched movies, listened to music, live streamed radio, played games like angry birds, etc. without any issues. The built-in speaker is not the strongest out there, and it is only a single speaker, so no stereo if you use the built-in speaker. But I had no problem pairing it with a set of stereo bluetooth headphones, and the output is loud and clear. Wired headphones work fine also. Pairing with my stereo bluetooth headphones was very quick, painless and reliable.
The screen is very good looking and videos and games look crisp and sharp. I have not tried using the tablet in bright sunlight, but in most indoor situations, including next to open windows, the screen does the job for me. There is no ambient light sensor, so you have to adjust the brightness manually if you find yourself straining because it is too dim for the environment.
I have also read a couple of ebooks on the tablet and found it to be very easy on the eyes. The words appear crisp and well-defined with no blurring or rounding of the edges of letters, etc. I primarily use the tablet for reading books, playing games and watching videos, so the screen quality was important. The high resolution paid off. There are no dead or stuck pixels as far as I can tell.
Overall, I am quite happy with the tablet, and I think anybody who buys it with realistic expectations would be too.
So, why did I not give it 5 stars? The first reason is the lack of a charging indicator of any kind (a small led on the bezel or something like that). I have to physically wake the tablet's screen up to confirm that it is charging. Next, the speaker is weak. The tablet's wi-fi antenna is not as powerful as I would have liked it to be. It has some problems holding the signal reliably in far corners of my home that are farthest from my router. It has no ambient light sensor. It comes loaded with some junk apps. I would have found better use for the space occupied by these apps, but I can't remove them easily. Which brings me to my final demerit: the tablet is not rooted. Also, it comes with Android 4.0.4 and Coby has not pushed an update to 4.1 or 4.2 yet.
The only thing left for me to evaluate is the long-term reliability of the tablet. I will try to provide updates if something changes significantly down the line. In the meantime, if you have questions or concerns, please post in the comments, and I will try to address them as best as I can.
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