It’s become quite a common site online, the cheap tablet. Thanks to the popularity, and existence for that matter, of Google’s Android OS, now anybody can make and sell a working mobile tablet. The question is, are they any good?
A couple of weeks ago I ran a story about a cheap tablet available overseas for let than R1 500. Some keen-eyed AskSteve readers spotted one on an SA website and asked me what I thought. So I asked www.tronica.co.za for a review unit and here’s the verdict.
What do you get in the box?
The Metrodroid tablet is a working tool in the way that the toe of your shoe can be used to fling dog pooh from your yard over your neighbors fence or how a shoe lace can, in dire circumstances, be used as a fanbelt replacement.
First off the tablet can mostly be described as bulky and a bit heavy, but it’s thanks to this that it doesn’t lack for features.
There’s a 7-inch full capacitive touchscreen display that is not what I would call mind-blowing but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It works quite well actually. It’s responsive and capable, even if it does take a second or two to get the command through to the 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor. You can play Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja but a game of FIFA 12 might be a bit frustrating.
The bulky height of this gadget means there is space enough for a USB port and micro SD card. There’s only one camera on the device, and it’s on the front which doesn’t bode well for lining up your pics. Bit of a head scratcher that one really.
The pics and vids the camera takes are also not the best, but the video rendering of clips you’ve put on the device is quite good. Playback of music and vids is not bad at all and the sound from the built-in speakers is comparable with the best.
Storage and capacity numbers are 2, 4 or 8GB with 128, 256 or 512MB RAM.
The final verdict on this one is a warning to be realistic. If you’re looking for something that’s going to replicate the experience of a Samsung Galaxy tablet for one seventh the price, you’re going to be disappointed. While it can do everything the Samsung beast can do, it does it a little slower, a little less attractively and not as well.
However, if you’re a non-pretentious, cash-strapped student who just wants something mobile to play your tunes on, have some games to play during math lectures and watch some series on a roadtrip to the Grahamstown festival, there’s actually nothing wrong with this device. Just manage your expectations and make your peace with it if won’t connect to specific Wi-Fi networks.
Get it: www.tronica.co.za
For: R1 400
