Tablet Review: Huawei Ideos S7

Huawei's Ideos of a tablet


Tablet Review: Huawei Ideos S7

by Trevor Tan
05:55 AM Jan 28, 2011

Competitors scoffed when Apple released its tablet, the iPad. Now, product manufacturers the world over are eagerly pushing out tablets of various sizes. The Huawei Ideos S7 ($499) is one of the newest tablets to enter the market.

Looking at the S7, you can't help but notice its resemblance to the Apple iPhone 3GS, except that the former is bigger and sports three (not very responsive) buttons in front instead of one.

The tablet has a 7-inch 800x480 touchscreen and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor. It runs the Android OS 2.1 operating system and supports Bluetooth and WiFi. You simply need to insert a SIM card into the device to get online. Yes, you can make calls with it.

There are two cameras, one at the back and another in front for your video call needs. But the quality of both pictures and videos taken on this tablet is forgettable.

At 500g, the S7 feels almost as heavy as the iPad. Comparatively, the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab weighs only 380g. But the construction of the S7 feels sturdy. The tablet even has a pullout hinge that can be used as a stand so you can watch 720p high-definition movies on the S7 comfortably.

The user interface is neat and clean, and if you've used an Android device before, you will have no problem navigating around.

Given that the S7's touchscreen is resistive (compared to the capacitive screens favoured by most tablets), it is responsive enough for most tasks, such as web browsing and playing Angry Birds. But light taps will be pretty much ignored.

With Android Market pre-installed, you can immediately start downloading all the applications you need. But I am puzzled by Huawei's decision to run S7 on Android 2.1; Froyo (Android 2.2) would have been a better choice. Thus, you are stuck with running applications from the S7's 4GB internal memory and unable to utilise the microSD card slot.

Although I did some Web-browsing, checked emails, made some calls and played games throughout the review period, the S7 was left idle most of the time. However, it only managed to last four hours before displaying the low-battery alert. Luckily, you can easily swap the battery with a new one when needed. Trevor Tan

Source: www.todayonline.com