The Bottom Line
The Contixo LR102 has impressive specs that too at an attractive low price, which makes it a good buy for normal usage like internet access, occasional gaming, video calling via Skype, email, Netflix, etc. But, for the reason, that Contixo is relatively unknown brand, you may end up with support related issues. So, it is recommended to buy a protection plan, like Squaretrade 1 Year Accidental protection plan along with the tablet. But, if you are looking for something from a reputed brand, then Kindle Fire HD 8.9" is worth looking.
Read full review...What You Will Like...
- Dual core processor clocked at 1.6GHz
- Good battery life
- Very responsive touch screen
- Low price compared to other tablets
- Aesthetically pleasing design
- Wider viewing angles
- HDMI port
- Bluetooth is present
What You Won't Like...
- Relatively unknown brand
- Screen attracts fingerprints
- Back is rather slippery
- Can't use in direct sunlight
- No GPS
- Bit heavy
| Contixo LR102 | |
|---|---|
| Read User Reviews | |
| Overall Rating | |
| Manufacturer | Contixo |
| Operating System | Android 4.2 Jelly Bean |
Do you find 7″ display size of Google Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD too small for your needs and going for much bigger Samsung Note 10.1 is not feasible? Then, the Contixo LR102 bolstered by an impressive specs sheet and low price of around $180 may just be an option worth considering. This 10.1 inch Android 4.2 Jelly Bean device hit the Amazon store on June 27, 2013, and since then, has quite been popular among the low budget shoppers. Is that enough to make the Contixo LR102 stand out from the competition? Lets take an in-depth look at its strengths and weaknesses.
Design & Build
Measuring 10.10 x 0.80 x 6.50 inches (L x W x H) in dimensions and weighing at 1.33lbs., the Contixo LR102 is a bit heavier and bulkier. At 20.3 mm thickness it is definitely not a sleek device specially when compared to 8.9 mm thickness of Samsung Note 10.1. However, the design is aesthetically pleasing. But, the once clean aesthetic of the tablet quickly loses its pristine allure with usage as it attracts fingerprint like magnet. Both the display and plastic body easily attract them. The use of a third party screen protector is able to reduce fingerprints problem significantly, at least on its display.
Other than that, it’s a solidly made tablet on par with those much more expensive. But, its not like problems will not crop up with long-term use, but there’s nothing that looks like it’s going to be an issue right away.
Display & Audio
The Contixo LR102 10.1 inch display at a 1024 x 600 resolution offers a 117 ppi pixel density. The picture quality isn’t anything impressive, but, the responsiveness is quite amazing. Even the viewing angles offered by the display are quite good. The only major problem you are going to face from the display is if you are planning to use this outdoors. As the display is too shiny for using outdoors.
Now, coming onto the audio section. The speakers produces average sound quality and are loud enough to make things audible. If you are planning to view movies and videos on this device, you may not find the audio output enough. So, for better viewing experience its better to go with good quality headphones as the sound quality from 3.5mm headphone jack placed on top right corner is very good.
Performance
Apparently, this is where the Contixo LR102 actually shines. Equipped with 1.6 GHz Dual-Core ARM processor, Mali400 GPU and 1GB DDR3 RAM, the Contixo LR102 does not make any compromise in providing good performance despite of its low price tag. The presence of dual core processor greatly improves its capability of handling tasks in a positive way. Putting this in simpler words, switching between apps that are running simultaneously (tech geeks calls this multitasking) is all very fluid. And, games like Angry Birds, Temple Run, Fruit Ninja works without any problem. Even transition from portrait to landscape is smooth. Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that its good benchmark test results reflect its performance when using it in real world too.
Apps & Software
The Contixo LR102 tablet uses Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system and comes preloaded with Play Store, Amazon Appstore, Amazon Kindle, SlideME Market, Netflix, Youtube, Skype, Facebook, Angry Birds, Talking Tom, Gmail etc. The availability of Play Store along with other Android app stores ensures, you have access to any app ever developed for Android.
Some well known apps like Netflix, Pandora, Dropbox, Adobe PDF, Adobe Flash, Wikipedia works without any glitch. Yes, you read it right. Netflix works without any problem. Streaming movies, shows, and animes via Netflix is hassle free –and the streaming quality is excellent. And, setting up Yahoo, Gmail & any other POP3 email account with the device didn’t took any longer.
Storage
The Contixo LR102 tablet comes with 16GB internal storage, though, only 13.20 GB is available for user content. The available storage space is enough for storing 200 apps, plus 20 movies or 2000 songs or 12000 books. If that sounds less to you, than the MircoSD card slot located on the right side of the tablet supports MicroSD card of up to 32GB storage.
Camera
Both the front facing and rear facing camera of this Contixo tablet are pretty ordinary and of low resolution. While the front facing camera is 0.3MP, the rear camera is of 2MP only. Its front facing camera is good enough to do video chat. But, the rear camera which is meant to take snapshots lives upto its low standard by producing pictures of terrible quality. Its not difficult to identify the poor resolution of the rear camera is the reason behind this. So, its better not to fall for the dual camera thing while considering to buy this Contixo tablet. Because, at the end of the day, its the front camera only which you will found useful, and not the rear camera.
Battery Life
The manufacturer claims that the Contixo LR102 tablet is capable of giving 10 hours of battery life. Although, they don’t mention the use case scenario when one can expect such battery backup. So, we must agree that the manufacturer is somewhat right. We got over eight hours battery backup while doing a mixture of playing games and web browsing. So, you too can expect the battery to last for roughly 8 to 9 hours while browsing the web. The only complain is that it does not support charging via USB port which could have given it an edge over its competitors.