Product reviews

A Conquering Modernity: Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD
08/02/2013

Many portable devices become obsolete quickly. Some of them have already become irrelevant just when they begin to be offered in retail sale. By contrast, the hero of our today’s review has every prospect not to lose its relevance for a wide range of buyers for a long time. To be successful, Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD has everything needed – a quality display, great battery life, and the latest version of Android operating system.

Delivery Set

Just when you see the hero of our today’s review for the first time, it is clear that this is a modern tablet with Android 4.2 on board as evidenced by the large inscription on the front of the package. The box is executed in the red and black colour scheme and is adorned with silvery writings. The package that looks like a gift box has long been Prestigio’s branded feature.

Let’s open the package and look what’s inside. Apart from the tablet itself, the box includes a stylish branded case, a 220V charger with plugs for European and English sockets, a USB-microUSB cable for synchronisation with PC, a USB-OTG adapter for connection of peripherals to the tablet, and a brief user manual.

The black leather case is quite capable of protecting the tablet from minor troubles in life, and its stylish appearance will fit the image even of the most discerning fashionmonger. The tablet rests in the case firmly – the likelihood of accidental slippage is minimal.

The presence of the OTG adapter is also pleasing – this useful accessory isn’t included in the delivery set of many tablets lately, so Prestigio products stand out among other devices of this price category.

Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD will please the buyer with its perfect delivery set that includes everything that may be required for the tablet’s operation.

Appearance

When you look at Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD for the first time, you will immediately pay attention to its screen. Display resolution is 1280*768 pixels. For an 8'' screen, such resolution ensures a very clear and bright image.

Viewing angles are also pleasing – there are almost no colour distortions, even when looking at the display at angles close to 180 degrees. The screen is covered with a durable reflective coating that protects the screen from scratches. The display is still readable in bright sunlight owing to high brightness capacity. It should also be noted that the oil-repellent screen coating copes with its task perfectly – fingerprints are virtually invisible.

Brightness, sharpness, and saturated colours – MultiPad 8.0 HD’s display has it all.

Tablet’s body is made of plastic. Display’s edges and rear panel are black, and the sides are silvery. I’d like to mention the back panel material separately – it is a slip-resistant plastic pleasant to the touch. The build quality is traditionally high as for all Prestigio products – I didn’t find any creaks or loose items, and the buttons have a tangible reaction.

The hero of our review has standard dimensions for an 8'' tablet: 216*138*10 mm. The weight is 460 grams. The tablet fits comfortably in the hand, and its weight is felt only slightly even after prolonged reading. In addition to the screen, the front panel has a 0.3 megapixel camera for video conferencing.

The device’s top side has the on/off button and a volume rocker, as well as a microphone aperture.

Both the left side and the bottom side have no functional elements. The right side has a microSD memory card slot, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a microUSB connector, and a round connector for charger.Needless to say, the memory card slot supports SDHC standard – even my newly purchased 32 GB memory card was read with no problems. The microUSB connector is used both for synchronisation and to connect various peripherals.

Device’s back panel is adorned with a large Prestigio logo, and its bottom right corner has a built-in speaker covered with a small silvery grill. The built-in 5,000 mAh lithium-ion battery allows Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD to play videos for up to 5 hours at medium brightness.

Smart Inside

Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD has a dual-core AML8726-MXS processor with 1.5 GHz clock frequency. This processor is slightly inferior in performance to the popular Rockchip 3066, but its power consumption is lower. The video accelerator used is the dual-core Mali 400. RAM is 1 GB. The result is a nimble and cost-effective platform. Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD coped easily with the majority of modern games and with FullHD videos. The results of synthetic tests are pretty much standard; see the details below.

See the benchmarks here

The USB host ensures connection to various peripherals, such as USB flash drives, card readers, keyboards, etc. This allows to greatly enhance the possibilities of communication with other devices and to arrange a convenient input of large amounts of text using USB keyboards. Another interesting feature of the USB host is the support of many popular USB modems, which allows supplying MultiPad 8.0 HD with Internet access anytime, anywhere. By the way, if you connect an external modem, positioning by cellular network base stations with will be available to you. Such method isn’t suitable for car navigation, but you’ll manage to determine your approximate location in an unfamiliar city.

While at home or in a café, you can use the Wi-Fi module. This wireless interface works flawlessly – the sensitivity can be assessed as good. The module supports the 802.11b/g/n standards, and ensured stable operation in the ‘n’ mode with every test access point that I used, including the low-cost TP-Link and ZTE.

The amount of internal space is 8 GB, of which 5.3 GB are available to the user.

As a fan of various labyrinth games, I can mention a very decent operation of the built-in 3D accelerometer. When connected to a PC via the microUSB connector, the device is defined as two removable disk drives, with no additional drivers required. The ADB mode is provided for developers and experienced users. Unlike many other 8'' tablets, MultiPad 8.0 HD can be charged via USB, though the charging time from a PC is significantly greater than that from the regular charger.

Operating System and Preinstalled Applications

An important advantage of Multipad 8.0 HD is the pre-installed Android 4.2 operating system. As of the date of writing the review, this version of operating system is the most up-to-date. Only a small number of devices can boast of having official firmware with this version of Android, while in the case of MultiPad 8.0 HD the buyer obtains the pre-installed 4.2 ‘robot’.

The manufacturer didn’t change the system interface – there are no extra launchers. The operating system is running without any delays – page scrolling and visual effects have no drags.

As in other Prestigio tablets, this tablet has two groups of pre-installed apps. The first group is integrated into the firmware, and consists of the proprietary app for e-books reading Prestigio eReader, OfficeSuite Pro 7.0.1, e-mail client Mail, multimedia player MoviePlayer, and Prestigio Installer. The latter can install a set of apps to choose from the following list: Flash Player, cloud notes client Evernote, the app for file storage in the cloud storage SygarSync with a free 5GB of network drive, a currency converter, the exchange informer Stock Alert, and the proprietary utility for working with stock quotes Blue.

In addition, the delivery set for the CIS countries includes a variety of utilities by Yandex (market, disc, maps, e-mail, etc.) and RIA Novosti news app. I have no remarks as for the stability of operation.

Conclusion

Prestigio MultiPad 8.0 HD really sets new standards among the tablets of the middle price range. High battery capacity, excellent performance, a perfect bright and non-stainable screen, as well as the latest version of Android – this new Prestigio tablet will take a decent place in its niche.