You get what you pay for the recently launched Visio 8” tablet

Get the Visio 8-inch tablet only if you are on a shoestring budget

Pallab Jyotee Hazarika, Published 08/16/2011

Visio recently started shipping their surprise element called the Visio VTAB1008 with an 8” high resolution 1024 x 768 pixels touch screen, 1GHz Marvell Armada 600 Series single-core processor , 512MB RAM, 2GB of built-in storage which is expandable with additional 32GB via Micro SD card slot, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, a front-facing VGA camera and Android 2.3. One of its selling points is expected to be the price itself – which is a very competitive $298. But do you want this if you have budget to go higher? Well, Slashgear says no in a review they posted recently.

Exterior

It has a black body with a glossy screen. There are three hot-keys below (Back, Home, and Settings) while holding it in portrait mode with the front cam on top. The display panel is not IS so viewing angle is less. There apparently is pixilation while watching HQ videos. Absence of rear camera is a drawback.

The box contains a USB charger, wipe napkin and necessary documents. The top has the power button, headphone jack and two speakers. There is another speaker at the bottom, a micro USB port, micro HDMI out and a microSD card slot. The right side has the volume rocker. The back looks like providing a good grip – we particularly like the Visio logo.

One feature that the VTAB boasts of is its powerful audio properties. The tablet has as many as three built-in speakers and boasts of SRS TruMedia audio that promises to enhance the audio quality. Slashgear found a noticeably louder and fuller sound on the VTAB as compared to something like the Toshiba Thrive.

Inside

The 1GHz processor performs as expected and doesnot give you pleasant surprises. The review found it performing at par with older devices like the Galaxy Tab 7” and Dell Streak 7.

There are only 2GB of internal memory, but you can extend it to have up to 32GB in a microSD card. We personally think 2GB should be enough to hold your important docs and media. For those movies and songs – get the card.

The tablet can be used as a universal remote control for many of your home electronics. This is a useful feature, especially when you take into account the fact that it is saving you from buying a remote in case you don’t already have one. It can even control Blu-rays.

The battery is said to have given up to 11 hrs of life on a single charge.

Interface

The Vizio Tablet comes running a highly customized interface called Vizio Internet Apps Plus (VIA Plus) on top of Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread instead of Honeycomb. There should be an update to Honeycomb in the coming months though, but no details were given for now. The UI looks; well, not very high on visual delight. The main interface is broken into two parts – one on top of another. The top resides apps from a particular category with all the apps listed below. You can add/delete categories easily. Moving an app from the “all app” section below to its particular category above should have been through drag and drop. There is also a toolbar below listing your favorite shortcuts. The response looks inconsistence.

At the end, it comes down to the same old point – you get what you pay for! You get a slow interface with a single core processor and less internal storage than others – but pay a lot less at the same time. How badly you want them would help answer the question whether you should own this up, or save for another tablet.