Back in June, we wrote a quick post about some new Android tablets destined for our shores, these being the RCA Saturn 10 Pro and the Mercury 7L. They’re said to be some of the best Android tablets around so I’ve been sent both devices through for a review.
Firstly let me explain what my daily set up is, so you have some idea or what I’m comparing these devices to, for everyday media consumption I use the 7 inch Amazon Fire table, which I purchased last year in the US for a whopping £35 + £10 to remove the ads, so it compares nicely to the Mercury 7L, I normally have my fire tablet thrown in my bag, and it goes everywhere with me. For the more serious stuff writing for the site etc, I use my Asus Chromebook Flip, so this is what I will compare the Saturn 10 Pro too.
Saturn Pro 10 .
Good Points:
- Price.
- Good form factor.
- Keyboard nice to use.
- Very responsive track-pad.
- HDMI out port.
- Full-size USB port.
- 32 GB Inbuilt storage.
- Micro USB Charging.
- Microsoft Office compatible.
Bad Points:
- Screen angle just not far enough.
- Doesn’t unlock from keyboard presses.
- The screen could be brighter.
- Battery life rated at 6 hrs ( but real world test … ).
- Propitiatory charger.
- No long press option on the track pad.
- Android 6 and June 2016 security patch.
- No way to change track-pad scroll orientation.
- Build quality.
Saturn Pro Spec’s:
- Quad Core 1.3GHz.
- 1Gb of Ram.
- Android 6 OS
- 10.1 Inch Capacitive touch screen.
- Display resolution 1280*800.
- 32Gb Internal memory.
- Full-Size USB port.
- 2MP front and rear camera’s
- MicroSD card slot supports up to 64GB.
Design :
The Saturn 10 Pro is a 10.1 Inch, Android 6.0 tablet connected via a magnetic docking mechanism to a rigid keyboard to give the user the best in both form factors, a portable tablet for media consumption and keyboard screen set up for mobile productivity. I did find that the overall concept of Android tablet with detachable keyboard good, but I found that the build materials on the Saturn 10 Pro a little bit of a let down as it did feel a bit ‘plasticy’ in the hand, but I can see the device, being able to cope well with some heavy use and abuse.
Located on the left hand side of the tablet, are the various connection ports, including a full-size USB and HDMI ports a micro USB port the propitiatory charging port, (my original thought was this port was a bit of a let down, but the Saturn Pro also charges through the micro USB port as well) 3.5 mm audio port and the power button. On the back is the volume rocker that is easy to locate and use when holding the tablet, the speaker grill and the rear facing 2MP camera. On the bottom of the device is a four pin dock with stabilising mounts allow for a magnetic connection to the keyboard.
The tablet is powered by a MediaTek MT8127 chip which is clocked at 1.3Ghz, together with 1 GB of Ram ( which in my opinion should have been at least double that, as the table does stutter when pushed a little hard with tasks) the table does come with a respectable 32GB of flash storage built-in, of which around 26GB is available out of the box.
In Use :
As I said at the beginning of this review, I decided to use the Saturn Pro 10 as the replacement for my Asus Chromebook for my post writing, and other work ( in fact I’m writing this post from the Saturn). I do like the form factor of the Saturn Pro, and the ability to quickly remove the tablet form the keyboard, the keyboard was nice to use and I thought the keys were spaced well enough for my limited two-finger typing style, the track pad was responsive, but lacked a positive click when a selection was made. One downside that I found while using the keyboard was, the tapping the keys didn’t wake the tablet from sleep and I found myself tapping a number of time before hitting the power button to get things going again, also the angle of the screen just wasn’t quite enough for me 10 degrees more of travel back would have made use a more pleasurable experience, and the screen could have been a bit brighter for my liking.
The Saturn Pro comes with its own propitiatory charger, and I though this was a negative upon un-boxing the device, but as a nice surprise the tablet does in-fact charge from the micro USB port, of which I have loads of chargers all round the place, the inclusion of a full-size HDMI and USB port mean I didn’t have to faff about trying to find the correct cable to connect the Saturn to my TV or USB hub.
The Saturn Pro 10 comes with a 2MP camera fitted to the front and rear, which is OK for video calls, but not for snapping any holiday pic’s (to be honest a 10-inch tablet probably isn’t the best device to taking every day snaps on).
Conclusion:
The Saturn Pro 10 is a budget tablet that delivers well at its price point, it doesn’t look or feel like a premium product but as I said earlier I can image it standing quite a bit of abuse, I think that the pairing of MediaTek CPU, 1GB RAM and Android 6 just are not gelling together and the result is some stuttering and lag at times, but then if the internal specs get a bump so so will the price, Oh on the price front the Saturn Pro is currently available from Asda for £129.99, which for a device to be thrown in a school/college bag is a reasonable price.
Now on to the review of the Mercury 7L