The Best Budget Tablet Ever!?
Vendor: Tesco Stores
Price: £99 (less if you use Club Card Vouchers)
What's in the Box?: Hudl2 Tablet, Charging Cable and Plug, dedicated helpline support from Tesco Tech
Often spoken about as the best budget Tablet of 2015 the Tesco Hudl2 has a reputation to live up to.
Following the sad death of my regular Tablet recently I decided to have a hunt around to find a great spec Tablet for as little money as I could.
This is not as easy a task as you may have thought. Although the cheap Android Tablet market is more and more saturated with offerings, they are all pretty much similar in spec and finding a stand out choice was difficult.
I was looking for an Intel based Tablet x86 64bit with slightly more RAM and a better screen resolution than 1280x600....After looking at the Hudl2 I decided to look no further.
£99 seems amazing for a Tablet with the specs this has (details below). Now all I needed to do was see if I could find some stray vouchers to get it even cheaper.
Searching through drawers and papers I managed to locate some Tesco Club Card Vouchers to the tune of £10 this meant that I could effectively get the Hudl2 for £80 as opposed to the already reasonable £99 regular in store price. (Club Card point are doubled).
More than happy with the proposed price I set off to the nearest Tesco Extra to bag one.
Deciding on the "Perky Purple" colour I payed up.
Specifications:
CPU: Intel Atom Z3735D x64.
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics (Baytrail)
Memory: 2Gb
Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop
Display: 8.3in 1920x1200 Full HD IPS display. Toughened Dragontrail Glass
Internal Storage: 16Gb (9Gb free)
WiFi: Dual band 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz
Battery: up to 8hrs (more like 5-6hrs)
Sound: 2x 1W rear firing Speakers. Built in Dolby Digital processor
After 2 Weeks use:
Quite quickly after I initially got this Tablet home I received 5.1 Lollipop OTA update which was a pleasant surprise as I had assumed a new Hudl model was due (Hudl 1 and 2 were released around a year apart) and that Tesco Tech would have abandoned it for its newer interest?! Following earlier skirmishes with Lollipop (and coming off worst) I was initially apprehensive about installing it fearing the dreaded overheating, battery drain and general slow down I had encountered before. It would have been a bitter pill to swallow had it gone the same way as my Nvidia TN7! (Now deceased) I found in the end that a factory reset (preferably before the update) will sort most of the issues out.
After a nervous installation everything seemed to be fine. The Hudl2 seemed altogether snappier than KitKat. The added power save feature bundled with Lollipop certainly helps to support the slightly weak battery on the Hudl. I estimate I'm getting an extra 30mins battery life from each charge cycle (I think?) Which is welcome news.
Overall performance has been great over the past two weeks with the Hudl2 being used quite heavily on a daily basis. I have found no real causes for concern what-so-ever. The Child safety/profiles feature of the Tablet is absolutely first rate. Limiting your kids choice of websites and setting them web timers is really handy and it seems Tesco are leading the way in this department. I'm really impressed with the quality of the Screen, its sharp, bright and although not perfect, offers a great experience at almost every angle!. Another thing that ticked my whatsits was the 2Gb of system RAM which means I almost always have a spare 1Gb of memory to spare. Definitely no slow down of multi-tasking here! Every single Tablet I owned had the entry standard 1Gb on board.... Which was fine when I was happy to put up with jitters, lag and lathargic Keyboard syndrome. During my first fortnight of Hudl2 I have been treated to fantastic sound from the two rear facing speakers. This has been further enhanced by the black magic of the Dolby sound processor which really makes a difference to everything you listen to. Especially notable for its surround feature! The Speakers are not going to shake the Plaster from the Walls but they are really good none-the-less.
Moving on to have it performs with Wi-Fi I have to say that the internal (dual band) antenna is great and so far have not had any network drop-outs which is surprising. Dual band of course means I can run it at the 5Ghz standard too. Currently the fastest download speed achieved is 79.34Mbps ... I'm more than happy with that result. This thing is the dogs danglers!
Verdict: Firstly it has to be said that it is not fair to compare this Tablet with anything else at £99 or less.. The Hudl2 blows everything out of the water. Its fairer to compare it with devices much more expensive, The Display, RAM, Family safe mode and general performance of this devices are its main shouting points. The 64bit X86 chip is great, and although not a thoroughbred its plenty capable of the vast majority of tasks ypu throw at it. In essence this Tablet represents fantastic value for the hardware on offer. It really is that good. Take into account the great customer support, cheap accessories and a further price reduction with card Vouchers and you have the makings of a legendary deal. If you are in need of a new Tablet or just starting out this is the one to bag!
Just don't be put off with horror stories of overheating and battery drain if you accept the 5.1 Lollipop update.
The Good:
Great Screen, fast and suitable for most applications, dual band Wi-Fi. 2Gb of RAM
The Bad:
Only the Battery seems to let this Tablet down. It never acheives its 8hr life but you can live with this.
Although this Tablet is really built for Windows and not Android, it copes really well and is stable. Nothing major to worry about. At this price you would be mad to walk past it.
Bargain Award Winner!