Starmobile Engage 7HD

There are so many low cost tablets that I don't bother to write about most. But when I see a low cost tablet with a HD display, I do take notice.

The Starmobile Engage 7HD has is a 7-inch Android tablet with a 800 x 1280 resolution, priced at an affordable Php7,990. So it this a more affordable alternative to a Google Nexus 7. The lower price means you don't get quad core power. Instead the Starmobile Engage 7HD comes with a dual core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor on the AML8726-MX chipset. I am not too familiar with this AMLogic designed chipset, bit a little web search reveals that it comes with Mali-400 MP graphics processing unit, like the ones you find on Samsung devices. Backed up by 1 GB of RAM, this is no Nexus 7 killer, but you do get a reasonably powerful package for the money, at nearly half the price of a Google Nexus 7. Expect performance somewhere a bit below the level of an iPad 2.

Internal storage is only 8 GB, but it does come with a MicroSD card slow. The Starmobile Engage 7HD is a WiFi only device but it does support USB modems. The battery is a 4000 mAh unit, which is about right for a 7-inch tablet. For those of you who care about camera on tablets, it does come with a 8 MP primary camera, but at this price range, don't expect too much. It also comes with a secondary VGA camera which should be sufficient for video calls. The operating system is Android 4.0, which is fine for this class of device. 

The tablet has a brushed metal finish which looks nice enough. And at 11 mm's thick and 342 grams in weight, it is reasonably thin and light. 

All-in-all, not a bad option for someone looking for a low cost Android tablet.