Excellent build quality, 3G internet connection
Very slow processor, irritating sync software, underspecced for the price
Chinese manufacturer Huawei is hitting the market with a wide range of mobile devices at the moment. But can the MediaPad 7 Lite, a 7in Android tablet with a weak processor and outdated operating system, really hope to compete with the Google Nexus 7, even if it has got 3G up its sleeve?
It's on sale now for around £280 or from £10 a month with a phone contract.
Design
The MediaPad 7 Lite is a chunky beast, weighing in at 370g and 11mm thick but it feels sturdily built, with no flex at all in its metallic casing. On the side are two covered slots, one for a SIM card for a 3G connection (so that's one up on most tablets), and one for a microSD card up to 32GB to complement the 8GB of onboard memory.
The 7-inch touchscreen offers a resolution of 1,024x600 pixels, which equates to 216ppi. It's okay, but probably about the least you'd expect from a decent tablet these days, certainly at this midrange price. Disappointingly, it's running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which seems very old in these Jelly Bean days.
Features and performance
The single-core 1.2GHz processor is backed by 1GB RAM, which ought to give it a bit of heft, though in practise we didn't find this a particularly fast tablet. In fact, it's particularly slow, taking its own sweet time opening apps and displaying complex web pages.
Don't even think about playing HD games -- they all look juddery and inconsistent. Our usual AnTuTu benchmarking software gave it a record low score for a device with this spec -- just 3,133, we've seen ultra-budget handsets with more poke. Let's just say it falls well short of the Nexus 7's quad-core engine.
Connecting it to a PC is a bit of a palaver, as you're pushed to use Huawei's Hi-Suite device managing software. It works, but it's irritating that you should get pushed into it, rather than using simple drag-and-drop if that's what you prefer.
The camera isn't much to shout about either. It's only 3 megapixels and doesn't have much in the way of extra features.
Picture quality is so-so for the spec, with reasonably accurate colours, though they can look a bit washed out at times and you'll need to be careful with your light. The results are okay, certainly not disastrous, and there's a VGA-quality front-facing camera for video calls.
The 4,100mAh battery looks good on paper, but in practise it seems to drain really quickly -- we barely got a full day's use out of it.
Conclusion
The MediaPad 7 Lite comes with premium build but its underpowered processor really lets it down in the performance stakes, making it more of a hindrance than a help. Yes, you can insert a SIM to get a 3G connection -- something you can't do with a Nexus 7. But with Google's tablet available for considerably less, with a better screen and camera, plus a much faster processor and bang-up-to-date operating system, there's really no contest.
Software: Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Processor: Single core 1.2GHz
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 7in TFT LCD, 1,024x600 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 3.2 megapixel, LED flash, autofocus, VGA front-facing camera
Video playback: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
Audio playback: MP3, WMA, eAAC+
Radio: Yes
Battery: 4,100mAh
Size: 193x120x11mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
