The Best Budget Android Tablet: IdolPad Plus

Being the least expensive 7 inch Android 4.0 tablet, IdolPad Plus is jam packed with an unexpectedly large number of features. Among budget tablets, most of the devices do not support Google Play App store and only a handful of them feature HDMI or USB ports.

IdolPad Plus combines all these elements and is still the cheapest of all Android tablets in the market and that’s quite surprising. But is their some compensation in quality? Let’s find out.

The merits of this tablet are: it is available for less than $90 and comes with an efficient operating system. Google Play App store can be accessed through the device for hundreds of apps and games. Physical effect is quite solid, sturdy and convenient to hold. Mini HDMI and USB ports are a huge plus along with a full sized USB adaptor.

The biggest disadvantage is the short-lived battery life which sucks up all its energy within 3-4 hours, even in sleep mode. Google Play Store is hidden by default so it is a rather straining task to figure out at first. Power button is a bit problematic and has to be pressed twice to snap it back from sleep mode. For powering the device on and off, the button has to be pressed for longer time.

The short-lived battery life is a major disappointment in this tablet, otherwise it has a lovely overall design and can be labeled as the best 7 inch Android 4.0 tablet in the market. Battery life is a huge killer as most high-end tablets can resist 8 to 10 hours, middle range from 6 to 8 hours and budget tablets usually provide 5 to 6 hours of battery life. But IdolPad Plus adversely gives only 3 to 4 hours which is unappealing for a portable tablet. If battery is not your problem, than this tablet has undoubtedly some of the best key features for its price.

The significant hardware features include 1.2 GHz Cortex A8 processor, a micro SD card slot for memory expansion, front-facing camera, mini HDMI port, Wi-Fi and USB port. The tablet has 4GB of memory with 512 MB of RAM. The tablet doesn’t have Bluetooth, but other key features are present: the headphone jack, speaker and microphone.

The 7 inch screen has 800 x 480resolution, qualifying as a better screen than available in other budget tablets. The colors look bright and movies look great but text gets a bit pixilated. The 5 point capacitive screen responds quickly and works pretty well.

The IdolPad Plus offers the latest Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 Android version. It supports Google Apps and Google Play Store which sets it apart from its competitors. But in the beginning it is a little hard to comprehend the hidden apps which require enabling a separate option for the Google app to show up.

For videos, Netflix works pretty well on this tablet. Embedded with Adobe Flash, the videos run efficiently be it YouTube videos or HD movies. The mini HDMI port also works very well with a good picture and excellent connection unlike other budget tablets.

 

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