Chromo Inc Tablet Review – Chromo Inc® 7″ Android 4.1 Tablet PC

If you are in hunt for a tablet below $100 price point, then there are chances that you may have already heard of this Chromo Inc 7 inch tablet. After all, its only priced at around $51(as of writing this), making it a popular choice among buyers under an extremely tight budget. Originally, it hit the Amazon store at the end of last year, 12 October, 2012, to be exact, but, Chromo Inc updated this model somewhere in the middle of September, 2013. The noticeable upgrade occurred in the form of operating system with the latest model featuring Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS instead of now much older, Android 4.0 ICS.

Does OS upgrade gives enough reasons to buy this Chromo tablet when Lenovo A1000 only costs $99? Lets find out all the strength and weaknesses of this slate, right here in this Chromo Inc tablet review.

What comes in the box?

Other than the Chromo Inc tablet, the box comes with a charger, a user manual, a micro USB cable for connecting the slate to PC, and a very much needed micro USB to USB adapter cable for attaching USB devices like flash drives, USB keyboard and mouse to the slate.

Key Specs Single core AllWinner A13 processor, 512MB of RAM, Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean OS with Google Play app store, micro SD card slot, 4GB internal storage, WiFi 802.11b/g/n and 1.3-MP front facing camera.

Design & Build

Design wise there is nothing unique about this Chromo Inc tablet as its design is identical to Tagital A13 tablet that we reviewed last year. The I/O port placements, button placements and speaker placement are all same except for the branding logo. Here, instead of Tagital, Chromo Inc is printed on its back panel. Nevertheless, this Chromo tablet measuring 0.25 inches in thickness and weighing just 9.8 ounces is more sleeker and lighter than the Lenovo A1000 having 0.42 inches of thickness and 12 ounces weight.

However, the build quality is something questionable. While it may last for years, it may also stop functioning within hours of usage. There is no surety for how long this slate can work without any fault. It won’t be wrong to say that this slate like other $50-$60 slates is highly unreliable. This is mainly due to the use of poor quality hardware components, and application of plastic as a building material. Remember, its a cheap android slate after all.

Display & Audio

For the price, the 7 inch display of this Chromo inc tablet having 800 x 480 pixels screen resolution is quite nice. It is responsive, respond to touches well except when running too many apps simultaneously, but, the main problem arises when you take it outdoor during day time. Under sunlight, the screen is not entirely visible making it less usable. In addition, the poor viewing angles makes it next to impossible for someone else sitting next to you to see with clarity whats being displayed on the tablet screen. While this may be good for your privacy, this may cause problem if you are watching videos along with your friends.

The single speaker placed on its back side don’t produce a booming sound. Its just loud enough enough to make things audible. Even, the placement of speaker on the back side leads to muffled sound when the slate is lying flat on a table. However, the 3.5mm headphone jack giving stereo output comes to rescue for audio enthusiasts. Just make sure to plug in a good quality headphone into the headphone jack to thoroughly enjoy music with better sound quality.

Hardware & Performance

The performance of this Chromo inc tablet is not like that whats delivered by Asus MeMOPad HD or even by $99 Lenovo A1000. Being equipped with an AllWinner A13 processor and only 512 MB of RAM, the performance of this slate is somewhat sluggish. With 1GB of RAM, Lenovo A1000 is far better at multitasking. Nevertheless, the Chromo inc tablet has enough firepower to do basic tasks like web browsing, and playing less intensive games. Only a proper care is required to make sure that not too many apps are running at once. But, despite of this, one can still expect some hiccups or freezes occasionally.

Software & Apps

With Android 4.4 Kit Kat on the verge of being released soon, Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean installed on this Chromo tablet already feels like an outdated OS. And, the chances of receiving any future OS upgrade are pretty much slim. Anyway, the Jelly Bean OS is still very much rock solid and for majority of users this shouldn’t be a problem though.

It comes with Google Play app store and support for plenty of file formats right out of the box. When connected to internet via its WiFi connection, it streams video from YouTube and Netflix without any issue. It also manages to run apps like Skype, Facebook, and gaming apps like Angry Birds, Subway Surfers, Candy Crush at playable frame rates.

Camera

This Chromo tablet has only 1.3MP front facing camera. By no means, this camera should be used for photography as pictures taken via it lacks clarity and looks pixelated. But, for video calling via Skype, it serves the purpose well.

However, if one need a tablet with better camera at less price, then Asus MeMOPad HD 7 packing 5MP rear and 1.2MP front camera is far superior and is a much better deal.

Storage Space

This tablet has only 4GB of internal storage which can be expanded further by upto 32GB using microSD card. It should be noted that not 4GB is entirely usable, you are only left with around 2GB of storage as other storage space is eaten up by operating system and other system files.

Battery Backup

While $99 Lenovo A1000 delivers battery backup of around 7-8 hours under basic usage, the 2200mAH battery of this Chromo tablet only manages to give backup of around 2 hours. Its no doubt, the battery backup for a device that is meant to be portable is very terrible by any standard.