Apad iRobot 7” Android Tablet Review

Having recently visited a local computer markets, I fell about a vendor who was selling iRobot 7" Android tablets as well as variety of larger ones, both in terms of size and specifications. For $100 I couldn't help myself and ended up purchasing one.

For $100 I didn't have high expectations and didn't really expect it to perform las well as the more expensive brand name tablets such as Toshiba, Motorola and Samsung.

In The Box

• 7" Apad iRobot Android 2.2 tablet
• AC Adapter
• USB / Ethernet Adapter
• MID User Guide (English Version)

Getting Started

After completely charging the tablet for the first time, I hit the power button, the tablet booted up with the usual Android icon splash screens. Once tablet had booted up, I was presented with the usual Android homepage displaying Google Android 2.2 installed nicknamed Froyo. The tablet came with a number of pre-installed applications. These applications are outlined below.

Pre-Installed Applications

3G settings, ADSL settings, App Market (not the official Google App Market), Browser, Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Documents To Go, Email, Ethernet, Facebook, File Browser, My Music, My Photo, My Video, My Recorder, Picture Capture, Setting, Wi-Fi settings, Youtube.

Usability

At the end day, the applications that came installed and the OS are important but what really matter is if the tablet will achieve what you need it to do? For me I brought the tablet to learn a little more about the Android OS and to use it as a eBook reader as well as to read my Google RSS feeds. For these purposes, the tablet worked great and met my needs.

If you are intending on using the tablet for multimedia and other processor intensive tasks than I suspect you might run into a bit of trouble, the iRobot has a VIA 8650 800Mhz processor, 256 RAM and 800*480 resolution. Not really anything to get excited about when trying to watch movies or for multi-tasking.

Features

The tablet comes with an adapter with a ethernet port and two USB ports to provide further connectivity options, just in case no wireless facilities are available. Having the USB ports allows the use of input devices. I find this particularly useful because I use a USB keyboard to type on when writing using the Documents To Go office suite.

The tablet also has a microSD slot and can support up to a 32GB card, a nice feature that some of the more expensive tablets don't have. When purchasing the tablet I was a little concerned that it only had 2GB of storage, but having the added removable storage put my mind at easy, especially since applications can be installed on the card as well.

Located on the front of the tablet is a 3 megapixel camera that is useful to take quick low resolution snaps or to use with any Android webcam application. I haven't used the camera on the tablet so it might be something you can try yourself if you decide to purchase one.

Specifications

• CPU: VIA 8650 800 Mhz
• OS: Google Android 2.2
• RAM: 256 MB
• Storage: 2GB
• Support TF card extend
• Display: 7" 800*480
• Touch screen: two point sense resistive
• Webcam: 3 mega pixel camera
• GPS: No
• Bluetooth: No
• Wi-Fi Network: IEEE 802.11b/g
• Ethernet: Yes
• Battery: 7.4v / 1800mAh
• Work Time: 3 hours
• Speakers: Yes
• Mic: Yes

Points of Note

* The tablet does not have GPS or Bluetooth support.

* The Google Play application market is not fully supported. To be able to install a new applications an alternative application market will need to be installed such as SlideMe or Appbrain. For those of you who might be a bit more tech savvy you can install applications by copying .apk files to the microSD card and then install them from the card.

* Battery life is quite average and I found that I could only get up to 3 hours battery life from normal use.     

This iRobot probably won't appeal to everyone, and certainly doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the brand name tablets have, but for $100 would you really expect it too?