During the fire sale, like many other people, I managed to pick up one of these tablets for a fairly small amount of money. Compared to other tablets of a similar cost of £100 it also vastly out-specs them.
Armed with a dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPU and 1GB of RAM, it feels quite snappy to use. It is also fairly simple to overclock the processor to 1.5GHz or even higher by acquiring a kernel which does it for you. Overall it has very similar specs to the iPad 2, albeit slightly larger and heavier with a shorter battery life. So at its RRP it was easily bested by the iPad 2 in almost every way, but at the low price of £99 it was a clear choice.
My first impression of the touchpad was good. It was easy to hold and felt light, and the interface is very easy to get used to and navigate around. I particularly like flicking a “card” to close the window. Applications open fairly quickly, although compared to my SSD it could have been a little faster. The screen is nice and bright and I will definitely be using it for reading books. Whilst the kindle App isn’t readily available to UK users – I was able to find a small workaround to get hold of the US Beta version which works fine. The glossy screen easily picks up fingerprints like my Desire HD, but the included cloth does a good job of removing them!
Pressing the main button will display all windows at the home bar at the bottom for launching more Apps. Flicking one of the current windows or "cards" up will close them instantly
After pressing the App button this screen will pop up, and displays apps like most other tablets and smartphones. Sliding right or left will change to show your recently downloaded, favourite applications and a list of settingsThe on screen keyboard feels very responsive and not awkward like I had imagined. Whilst I cannot get close to my usual speed on a physical keyboard it works fine for surfing the web and small amounts of typing, but I wouldn’t consider using it to type up full documents with the Quick Office app.
You can sync up many different accounts effortlessly with the touchpad, ranging from Facebook (including images which will be found in the gallery) to Dropbox and Photobucket with the possibility of more through downloading apps. The Facebook application is the best I have ever seen on any device. It doesn’t feel clunky or annoying to use. The main buttons are on the left and then you are presented with a 2-pane view; news feed on the right and then a pane located in the middle displaying messages and similar. Flip the device on its side and then the entire screen will fill up with the news feed in a creative way which reminds me of the home screen for Windows 8.
The facebook application is very easy to navigate and is the best I have usedOn the main screen you will find a “type to search” box near the top, which is useful for skipping to an app or another option by beginning to type it.
My main disappointment so far is the power adapter. The one in the box is the only one that will reliably charge the touchpad. Using any other adapter or plugging into the USB port of a computer (I believe even if it is a USB 3.0 which can supply more power) will result in a pop-up message saying to use the correct charger. However, I have noticed it charges very slowly whilst plugged in.
The other one is the screen, although it acts the same way as any other except for the kindle's. It is very reflective so not ideal for outside use even with the brightness on high and it picks up fingerpints fast.
This screen is not ideal for when the sun is overhead, and a kindle would be a much better choice for reading outside!
Fingerprints picked up after being used for a couple of hours, now it is all shiny again.Media plays very well on the pad, and it handles 720P videos on YouTube perfectly. The in-built speakers are pretty much what you would expect from a small laptop, ok for a quick video but terrible for a movie or music. This doesn’t bother me as I will be using headphones whenever it comes to that.
I was also surprised that there was no preinstalled application for the camera, but a quick search on the app store lead me to a very basic one. I have yet to use it for a skype call, but the image quality of the camera is just like any other 1.3MP webcam so it should work fine.
Overall my experience with the touchpad has been pretty good so far even though I have only had it for a couple of days. I couldn’t resist buying it for the fire sale price, but I don’t think I would have paid full price otherwise (for any tablet for that matter) as it will not completely replace the use of my laptop.
Did any of you also pick one up in the sale?
