Gigaset Tablet 8″ Review

I have been sent a new tablet through for review, this being The Gigaset Tablet 8 QV830 ( black version ). Never heard  of Gigaset ? well neither had I prior to hearing from them regarding this review. Gigaset is a German company that is one of the world’s largest home technology specialists, with over 160 years of experience in the premium home phone manufacture

Features :- 

• Sleek, high quality design, with an anodised aluminium black rear casing

• 8” 768 x 1024 screen

• 8GB flash memory, 1GB RAM memory

• Five megapixel rear camera auto focus

• 1.2 GHz quad core processor

• Android Jellybean 4.2.2

• Wi-Fi / WLAN

• Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

Design :- 

Upon opening the I was met with a sleek 8 inch black Android table with a rear casing that is made from a piece of  anodised aluminium that has a slight curve to it, this casing is wrapped around the edges before joining the screen, a design feature that is normally found on more high end devices. On the top edge of the device is the volume up/down rocker a micro usb charging port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, micro usb slot and power button, the bottom and sides are button free. On back of the device is 5 mega pixel camera and the speaker.

Software :-

When I booted up the tablet, I was surprised to find that it runs a almost stock version of Android 4.2.2. Jellybean, with no obvious skinning, i could only find a few pre-installed apps these being Blogger and a Help app, all the usual Google suit of apps, including Maps, Google Music Play Store, Hangouts are present.

In Use :- 

The first thing I noticed when I booted up the tablet was there was a update to the firmware of the touch panel, something I have never seen on any other device that I have used going all the way back to the G1. Once done set up was the same as any other Android device,

Once up and running I was surprised at which the tablet zipped along performing tasks, I’m convinced that this is due to the device running stock Android and minimum bloatware slowing it down. The screen was ok for general use, when I loaded up my Twitter client of choice this being Faclon Pro, I was met with a blocky horrendous user experience the text looked terrible, and blurred. Ah I have found this devices Achilles heel ! the screen is rubbish I thought but I then tried the official Twitter app and Google play books the text was fine, not pin sharp ultra HD but more that adequate so it appears that Falcon Pro wasn’t playing nice. I played some HD footage on the device which looked fine.

 

 

I found that I liked the 8 Inch form factor, my other Android device is my trusty Nexus 7 (2012 version) The Gigaset is a lot slimmer then the Nexus 7  and the aluminium does have a premium feel although a bit of fingerprint magnet, I took some comparison shots of the Gigaset with the Nexus 7 and Ipad Mini.

 

 

Gigaset claim the tablet will provide upto 7 hours of video playback, I set the device up with maximum screen brightness and playing a video on loop and it lasted 6 hours and 12 mins from full to empty, so quite a respectable return. Sound wise the Gigaset tablet has some in built sound presets these being Movie, Music and Voice Over IP, the device has on speaker to the rear of the device and I can say its “loud” the output is a bit tinny with little base response.

Conclusion:-

I was really impressed with the Gigaset Tablet, it feels really nice in the hand and I love the 8 inch form factor, its well built with a OK screen. The drawbacks being the sound is a little tinny, and despite the device having 8 GB of internal storage there is only 5 GB left over, for apps etc. And the back is a fingerprint magnet

Now here is the best news regarding the Gigaset Tablet 8 it is available for an amazing £69:99 from Currys/PC World which I think is worth every penny, order your from here