I had a chance to use the Tecno PhonePad 7II for quite sometime and this gadget is impressive. If you want to see the un-boxing video check here. I am tackling this review from an entertainment point of view as you can see from the featured image.
The Tecno PhonePad 7 II goes for only Ksh14,499 on Jumia online shop. It supports 4G connectivity and its 7 Inch size is in between a smartphone and tablet. Although one hand typing (and also holding) is not possible, taking calls is not all that weird. The two SIM card slots are a Normal SIM and Micro SIM with an SD card slot in the middle. The illustrations that show how these cards should be inserted are very small and so the user has to be very keen.
Display
The 600 X 1024 capacitive screen is good for videos and gaming. The view angle is also wide plus it comes with a touch protector. The wide bezels at the top and bottom make sure no fingers are blocking the screen.
Cameras
As for the cameras they are not that impressive. The back camera is only 5MP while the Front Camera is 2MP. Though both cameras have Flash, its becoming very wierd to take photos or videos with a Tablet. Most smartphones have better cameras and wide angle lenses too.
Performance
The Tecno Phonepad 7II runs on Android 5.1 version powered by a quad core 1GHz 64 bit processor and 1GB RAM.
It handles multitasking well and the reason is that it reloads the data to the processor when you switch apps. When switching between tabs on chrome browser and returning to an already open tab, it completely reloads the whole page. This saves on RAM space but is not good news if you are on limited bundles. I typed this whole post almost twice on the Phonepad because as I switched aps to check mail and came back to chrome, it reloades the page to the unsaved version. The pre installed Opera Mini browser does not have that problem but it does not load some features on certain websites like disqus comments and thats why I dont use it.
The du speed booster that came preinstalled is also a nice addition to keep the processes and apps in check. Its HiOS version would be HiOS manager and I hope the next update will make the Tecno Phonepad 7II run on HiOS.
As for the cameras they are not that impressive. The back camera is only 5MP while the Front Camera is 2MP. Though both cameras have Flash, its becoming very wierd to take photos or videos with a Tablet. Most smartphones have better cameras and wide angle lenses too.
All the power and volume buttons are on the right side and are solidly constructed. None of the buttons is textured so in the first days I had to check before pressing any button. The power button has been interchanged with the longer volume keys so I guess this was the confusion. But I understand this arrangement because the PhonePad has a smart cover so instead of users pressing the power button to go to sleep, they simply close the smart cover.
What every tablet and smartphone manufacturer should keep in mind is to manufacture a set of good buttons.Those are the most used features on any phone.
The navigational buttons on the other side are on screen buttons with the multi tasking key on the left, the home key at the centre and the back ley on the right. Easily reachable and usually hide during gaming so you have to swipe your finger from the bottom to access them.
Speakers and Music
The two speakers at the bottom of the PhonePad do justice to the phone by providing clear vocals and music. The BesLoudness volume booster for the internal speakers does not seem to change anything. The speakers however suffer from the cupping effect where holding the Tecno Phonepad in landscape mode (when playing games or watching videos) blocks the speakers. Although the effect is not that much because of the bigger size of the tablet.
The BesAudEnhancer (audio enhancer for earphones) increases the volume of the mid frequencies. I prefer some bass from my earphones so I didnt use that enhancement.
Movies and Videos
so the Tecno PhonePad only has 16GB of internal storage for which the user only has about 8GB for usage. That can comfortably hold music files, images and documents. For movies and series however I found it easier to use an external USB flash-disk. since the tablet supports OTG, watching movies from anywhere is possible. In the featured image I’m using the OTG cable to do just that. The non removable 4100mAh battery makes sure I also watch TV even during a blackout.