Tablet World’s Colpad 2 is nifty little 7” Tablet PC that is affordable and brings Tablet PC’s to the masses. The Colpad 2 is well kitted out for an entry level tablet, and has some great features.
Construction, Design, Size & Materials
The front of the Colpad 2 has a clean face with no buttons protruding from the clean design. There is a front facing camera installed on the device. The front has a glossy black face with smooth rounded edges.
The left hand side and bottom of the Colpad 2 are both button free.
The right hand side of the Colpad 2 contains a slot for a Micro-SD Card, a headphone jack, an AC Adapter port for the charger, Mini-USB to connect to a PC and a USB Host for either a 3G USB Dongle or a Flash Drive.
The top of the Colpad 2 features a Reset switch, a Menu Button and a “Back” key which doubles as a home button when held down. These buttons are complimentary to the onscreen buttons built into the OS itself.
The back of the Colpad 2 features an External Speaker for talking on Skype or for listening to Movies or Music. There are also some labels for the ports on the right hand side.
Display
The Colpad 2 features a 7” TFT LCD Screen with a resolution of 800 x 480. This is fairly a standard for entry level devices, and the screen performed to my expectations of an entry level device.
However, I loved the fact that it has a Capacitive touch screen that is capable of 5 point multi-touch. Not many entry level devices have a capacitive touch screen, let alone the ability to touch the screen at 5 different points at the same time. Not even my Motorola Defy can do this.
The colours on the screen are what is to be expected from an Entry Level tablet, so it’s not winning any awards here, but at least it meets the expectations we had for it.
User Interface & Included Software
The device we reviewed was preloaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but had a custom interface installed designed to look like Android 3.2 Honeycomb. So we got the Honeycomb Experience, even though it was only Android 2.3.
However, since receiving the review unit, I believe Tablet World has gotten stock of versions of the Colpad 2 which are preloaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This is definitely a nice upgrade from an entry level tablet’s perspective, where they aren’t usually loaded with the latest Android software.
The Colpad 2 comes preloaded with Skype which is great as you are able to walk about and chat on skype while connected to the wi-fi or 3G dongle. What’s really great is the fact that it allows video calling on skype with the front-facing camera … something which is not supported by all devices, even those with front facing cameras.
Camera – Image Quality
The Camera on the Colpad 2 isn’t winning any awards, as it is just a 1.3MP camera. However, it services its purpose well as a camera to be used in Video Calling. The camera is front facing, allowing you to have video conversations over various apps, including the preloaded Skype app.
Battery Life
I found the battery life on the Colpad 2 to be quite good, lasting over 2 days where I did not use it often, or around 1 day where I used it more often. I was expecting a rubbish battery life due to the large screen, but the Colpad 2 exceeded my expectations. However, I wasn’t a fan of the charge time, as it took hours to charge up to full battery … much longer than I expected it to.
Performance
The Colpad 2 features a Rockchips RK2918 Cortex A8 1.0 Ghz CPU. While not the best of processors, this is definitely amongst one of the better processors seen in entry level Android Tablets.
Furthermore, the Colpad 2 comes with 512MB of memory, which is more than enough to handle the tasks that you throw at it.
Tablet World’s Colpad 2 managed to score an Antutu Benchmark score of 2,343 which places it in the same league, performance wise, as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10i.
This means the device is easily capable of doing your basic tasks expected of a Tablet PC such as watching movies, listening to music and play games. Angry Birds is super smooth as an example.
Conclusion
I was quite impressed with the Colpad 2, especially at a price of only R 1,299 each. These are definitely priced into a range affordable by the masses.
Of course the Colpad 2 doesn’t compare to your Samsung Galaxy 7” Tablets, but with the Galaxy Tablets at over 3 times the price, it shouldn’t have too. For someone looking to enter the Tablet market, it makes a good start.
What I really like about the Colpad 2 is the out of the box support for local 3G USB Dongles including the MTN E153, 8TA E173, Huawei E173 and Vodafone K3765. Pictured below, you can see the Colpad 2 getting 3G Reception from the Vodafone modem … all I did was plug it in and after a minute or so, there was 3G.
Two things that I would’ve liked on the Colpad 2 is Bluetooth, which I think is a fairly important item to have left out, and built-in GPS which, although not as important, would have been a nice differentiator to other entry level Tablets.
Overall though, I do think the Colpad 2 makes for an excellent Entry Level device, and at its low price tag, allows for almost anyone to enter the world of Tablet PC’s.
A Colpad 2 can be purchased over at the Tablet World website at the following link: http://www.tabletworld.co.za/2812/colpad-2
Features: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Overall: 7/10
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Very nice review. Nice enough specs for that price. Makes it almost a must for the price conscious consumer and or house hold.