Once again, a cheaper large-screen
tablet cuts costs and corners
Many little-known companies sell cheap
Android tablets and the latest is Polish firm GoClever. There are various
inexpensive, high-quality 7in and 8in tablets, but that’s not been the case
with larger 10in models. GoClever claims the Tab R974.2 is a quality 10in
tablet, and it’s available at $234.
Despite the low price, the R974.2 feels
sturdy thanks to its rigid metal construction that resembles the original iPad.
Sadly, it scuffs easily. It’s also heavy for a 10in tablet, at 660g. At least
there’s no shortage of ports and slots. Besides the HDMI port for connecting
the tablet to a TV, there’s a micro SD card slot for boosting eth built-in 16GB
of storage.
Goclever
Tab R974.2
A USB adapter is included in the box so a
USB memory key can be plugged into the otherwise-incompatible micro USB port.
This is a useful feature, but the adapter only worked erratically with
full-size SD card readers and not with any of the Android phones we tried.
We had no trouble running apps or loading
complex web pages thanks to the fast 1.6GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of
memory. However, the R974.2 felt sluggish due to the infuriatingly inaccurate
touchscreen. It often misinterpreted our attempts to scroll through a web page
or document as an attempt at zooming in. when it did work, scrolling through
long web pages sometimes stuttered with eth page falling behind our finger
movements.
A
USB adapter is included in the box so a USB memory key can be plugged into the
otherwise-incompatible micro USB port
On-screen image quality isn’t impressive
either. Colors look washed out at the best of times and look different depending
on the brightness. For example, when the screen’s brightness was turned down by
50 per cent, our grey-colored wallpaper looked black. Also, the low resolution
of 1,024x768 pixels makes text look fuzzy.
The two-megapixel rear camera took
poor-quality photos. Even in daylight, snaps looked blurry, out of focus and
washed out. In other words, the camera is unusably bad.
More impressive was battery life. It lasted
just less than nine-and-a-half hours when playing video. This isn’t as long as
the best tablets, which can last almost twice as long, but it’s still
respectable.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is preinstalled on
the R974.2. It isn’t the most recent version of the Android operating system,
but it’s still fairly new and includes access to some of Google’s latest
features, such as the Google Now personal assistant software.
The
GoClever Tab R974.2 could have been a good budget tablet, but its poor-quality
screen and heavy weight make it poor value
The GoClever Tab R974.2 could have been a
good budget tablet, but its poor-quality screen and heavy weight make it poor
value. If you want a low-budget tablet with large screen, the Amazon Kindle
Fire HD 8.9 is a much better buy.
Our verdict: 2/5
A cheap 10in Android tablet, but the low
price is a false economy
Key points: Cheap – Sturdy metal build –
Poor-quality screen Good battery life – Infuriating touchscreen – Useful ports
and slots – Heavy
Best price online: $234
Alternative: Asus Nexus 7: $239. An Android
tablet with a smaller screen and shorter battery life, but it’s superior in
almost every other way.
Specs
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Specifications
§ Processor:
Rock Chip RK3066 1.6GHz (Cortex A9 DUAL CORE, GPU Mali400MP4)
§ OS:
Android 4.1
§ RAM:
1GB DDR3
§ Flash:
16GB MLC NAND flash
§ Screen:
9.7” LCD IPS 1024x768
§ Touch
screen: Capacitive 5-point multi-touch
§ Connection
network: Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0
§ Dimensions:
244x189x10 mm
§ Weight:
660g
§ Battery:
6800mAH li-polymer 3.7V
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