Sturdy build, good screen, child safety features, very cheap
Can be just a little sluggish, camera could be better
The original Tesco Hudl impressed by delivering a surprisingly high spec in an affordable tablet. For the Hudl 2, they've pulled off the same trick, only more so.
The Hudl 2 is clearly a tablet intended for the whole family. So we get a sturdy rubberised plastic case with a soft touch feel, available in a wide variety of colours -- what's not to like, whether you're six or 60? It feels a bit chunky at 410g though it's relatively slimline at just 9mm deep.
Screen & chassis The new version boasts a larger screen -- 8.3in rather than 7in -- and the resolution has been boosted from standard HD to full HD. That's 1,920x1,200 pixels (273ppi), which actually gives it a higher ppi than the admittedly larger iPad Air 2. That's very impressive for a device you can buy for a third of the price. And sure enough, it looks great, with sharp, well defined edges and deep contrast.
It sounds pretty good too thanks to the large stereo speakers which can crank up pretty loud without distortion, and don't seem to suffer too much from being located on the back. And if you need a bigger screen, there's a mini HDMI port for connecting to your telly.
Software & processor It's running the latest 4.4.2 KitKat version of Android and it's good to see that Tesco hasn't messed with it too much. So it looks and behaves pretty much like any other Android tablet you may have used. Tesco has added quite a bit of its own software however -- great if you regularly shop with them, not so much if you're more of a Sainsbury's sort.
So you get a scrolling news feed alerting you to special offers, as well as recipes, your ClubCard balance, your nearest Tesco store and suggested movies from Blinkbox, Tesco's own, somewhat beleaguered content service offering films, books and music.
Handily for new users, it also comes with videos on how to use and get the most out of your Hudl.
There's also quite a bit of emphasis on looking after kids. So you can set up different profiles for each of your offspring, with different access rights for each. You can set limits on how long they can play (it will even switch itself off at night) and there's a load of information on how to keep kids and young adults safe online.
The quad-core 1.8GHz processor is backed by 2GB RAM and is more than capable of doing just about anything you need it to. No, it's not quite as fast as the very best, and we did have the occasional hint of sluggishness when switching between apps, but it still puts in a terrific performance for the price. Our AnTuTu benchmark test delivered a score of 28,090 which is a significant jump from the 18,960 we measured on the original Hudl.
Photography
The 5-megapixel camera comes with autofocus but no flash and a few extras like Photo Sphere, which collates a range of pictures from different angles to form a composite images and an editing suite. Picture quality is quite poor, even for fun shots, with unrealistic colours, poor depth of field and very little detail.
The same goes for the distinctly so-so 1.2-megapixel snapper on the front for selfies. In short: it's not good for saving memories to pictures.
There's 16GB of memory on board and you can add another 32GB via microSD card.
Battery life held up reasonably well and we got close to two days of fairly heavy use out of it.
Conclusion If you're not a regular Tesco shopper, the constant ads and promotions can be a bit off-putting, but there's no denying this is an awful lot of family tablet for the money, with a fine full HD screen, powerful processor and plenty of extras for the kids.
Software: Android 4.4.2 KitKat
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
