Probably destined to disappear
without a trace.
Battery Life No claim, 6hrs standard
usage
I have to use some harsh words here. Put
simply, this device does not match up to its peers especially when those peers
are vastly superior technically and also cost as little as $15 more. The
Vodafone Smart Tab is a difficult product to justify spending any money on.
Probably
destined to disappear without a trace.
Relatively good looking
Standing at 192mm tall, 122mm wide and a
11.5 millimeters thick, the ‘Smart Tab 2 is Vodafone’s second attempt at an
own-branded tablet albeit we never saw the first in the UK. The Lenovo
manufactured gadget weighs in at a reasonably hefty 400 grams and if it has one
true draw card, it’s that it is a very attractive affair physically, with a
plain black front that shows of off the 7” screen and a stylishly textured off-
black rear that will make it resistant to accidental drops.
Standing
at 192mm tall, 122mm wide and a 11.5 millimeters thick, the ‘Smart Tab 2 is
Vodafone’s second attempt at an own-branded tablet
Gutless
So a good start. However, the big, big
concern here however can be summed up in a single word gutless. As a result of
packing what is in gadget terms the equivalent of a lawnmower engine, the Tab 2
is underpowered compared even to even the average Android phone. Never ‘snappy’
in operation it can handle basic tasks like browsing, eBook reading and
whichever Angry Birds version people currently use to forget they’re on public
transport. However content heavy webpages do slow the Tab 2 down and a lot of
newer 3D games and apps Wi-Fi just proceed bring it to its knees. Tellingly and
somewhat amusingly the device isn’t even capable of playing the HI) video that
Vodafone unwisely loads onto each unit without it becoming a jerky mess of
dropped frames.
As
a result of packing what is in gadget terms the equivalent of a lawnmower
engine, the Tab 2 is underpowered compared even to even the average Android
phone.
Hardly future proofed
The lackluster performance is not quite a
complete deal breaker in the now; do expect functionality if you buy it today.
However the hardware anemia means buyers will end up with a Tablet that, a year
down the road, will not be capable of doing running modern applications. The
Smart Tab 2 offers zero performance reserve to any buyer for future proofing,
and that is a deal breaker for any hardware.
Great implementation of ice cream
sandwich
Software wise Vodafone have conversely done
an extremely good job with their rendition of the year old Android 4.0.4 ‘Ice
Cream Sandwich’. It has recognized that users generally know what apps they
want better than it does. By adding just a few useful everyday apps, such as
the Amazon ‘Kindle’ Reader and Youtube it has added to ‘out of the box’
functionality. By wisely leaving out the morass of bloat ware and badly
conceived user-interface changes that can plague customized Android Tablets, it
gives buyers a friendly and customizable space to expand upon. Seriously, most
companies could learn from this.
Bogus battery life
The software usability is somewhat hampered
by a six hour battery life (hard to explain given its large weight and low-tech
hardware), distinctly subpar (2mp and front and 0.3 mp rear) cameras and the
awful viewing angles the screen can pull off. Nonetheless, overall this tablet
still isn’t a pain to use at present. It’s just that one can already do so much
better for the price.
The Smart Tab 2 is not particularly cheap
compared to its faster Android siblings. For a mere $15 over the Tab 2’s $223.5
asking price, one can pick up the even more attractive, lighter and
considerably faster Google Nexus 7 16 GB, which comes with a similarly clean,
but even newer build of Android. For $15 less than the Vodafone offering,
Amazon offers its spritely but somewhat locked-down Kindle Fire
The
Smart Tab 2 is not particularly cheap compared to its faster Android siblings.
RD 16GB
On top of being faster, both of these
Tablets have prettier, higher resolution screens and pleasingly precise touch
controls. Neither model has Vodafone’s 3G cellular connectivity (being limited
to Wi-Fi). However as most cell phones nowadays allow you to tether other
devices to them with the right cell plan, so this is less of a sparkling
feature than it used to be.
The Smart Tab 2 does offer expandable
storage (4-32GB MicroSD cards) but in terms of internal storage, the 4GB on
offer is Spartan. Not to mention that there are a many 7-inch, 32GB tablets out
there for a few tens of pounds more than the Tab 2. So no positives here
either.
Vodafone’s plan tie-in
Finally the offered plan just doesn’t
change the fundamental value proposition. Like a lot of other carriers Vodafone
is simply taking the exact amount it discounts the Tablet for ($180) and
splitting it up over the lifetime of the 24 month contract. This leaves
Vodafone’s 2GB of mobile Internet and 1GB of Wi-Fi at a fairly pocket friendly
$30, with $43.5 up front for the tablet, but at the end of the day leaves the
buyer no richer. These kinds of plans can be attractive with high end phones
and tablets, when they take the bite out of stumping up $750 or so upfront. But
we are willing to bet the vast majority of people can manage to find $180
without resorting to selling their children. This is no game changer for a tab
that just isn’t competitive in a market filled with excellent 7” tablets.
Finally
the offered plan just doesn’t change the fundamental value proposition
For those that must have the convenience of
a 3G connection on their tablet, or simply want, we would suggest the new 3G
version of the Nexus 7 32GB. It is $358.5, but also ends up just being markedly
better value than this, which is last year’s tech.
To conclude, the Tab 2 is a device that Vodafone
obviously expects the odd person will buy, simply because they wander into
their one of its stores and take an easy colorfully branded option. It has no
feature or set of features that would make anyone knowledgeable about tablet
tech choose it deliberately, were they to simply pick up its similarly priced
Android siblings and play with them for a few minutes.
Perhaps one of the many benchmarks we
dragged the poor thing through captured reality best, by tersely stating: ‘92%
of Android Tablets are faster than this device.’
Even a non-geek should run the other way on
hearing that.
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Specifications
§ Price:
$223.5 or 43.5 upfront on a $30p/m (24 month) contract
§ Dimensions
192x122x 11.Smm400g
§ Screen
7-inch, 16x9, capacitive IFT multi-touch
§ Resolution
1024x 600p at 170 PPI
§ CPU
ARM CortexA9, 1GHz
§ GP(J
MTK6575 Chipset. PowerVR S6X531
§ Battery
Li-Ion 3550 mAh
§ Storage
Internal 4GB (user sees 1.7GB) expandable via MicroSD to 4 + 32GB
§ Cameras
Front0.3MP, Rear 2.0 MP no flash
§ Wireless
802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth v3.0
§ Network
3G, GPRS, EDGE
§ Ports
Micro USB (2.0)
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